Disney Cruise costs

[Disaussie]

Can anyone give me an idea of how much you've paid for a Disney cruise?

I've looked in a few places online and the prices seem to vary about $1000 for the same cruise.

I'm open to all the cruise options leaving Port Canaveral

What are the incidental costs that need to be considered on top of the cruise cost? Tips? Drinks? Excursions?

Also how far in advance do you need to book? I was hoping for next November 2015 but might be October 2016 now


Thanks

 

[losfp]

Our cruise for next year is the 7-night Western Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy, leaving PC on 31 Oct. I put a deposit on about 1-2 days after they were available to book (must have been sometime in June?) and the total price for us is about $4000 USD.

Oceanview Family stateroom (category 8B? or 8C. I forget). 2 adults, 2 kids.

I would assume that you can still book for Nov next year, but maybe not as cheap or with as much choice in staterooms as if you'd booked a couple of months ago.

Most meals are paid for.. You would just need to shell out for:

- Babysitting under 3 years
- specialty restaurants - Palo or Remy
- Drinks at the cafe
- Alcoholic drinks
- non-fountain soft drinks (I think)
- tips
- shore excursions and optional activities

 

[xlxo]

For me...

• 1gb at $89 internet
• shore excursions.... you get tired of the boat and want to explore the ports
• photos..... prints? CD? $450? When your kids see other kids in line for $21 a print character pictures... how can you say no? How much do you love your kids? Are they worth it?
  http://www.people.com/article/man-proposes-disney-princesses

For others....
-spa services
-Costumes?

Good news.... no casino's and your duty free shopping options will be limited.

 

[mickeyd78]

Book as far in advance as you possibly can. Booking when the itineraries are first released is the way to get the best price. Otherwise you need to wait for possible discounts close to sailing date - which doesn't really work very well for those of us in Australia who usually need to plan way in advance. Otherwise what you save on a possible cruise discount would be more than eaten up by higher airfare costs by booking last minute.

We are doing 7 Nights on Fantasy 24 October 2015, and paid around $4,500 for 2 Adults, 2 kids (4, and 2) in a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Veranda.

As a comparison, this is roughly $1,000 more than for a comparable stateroom on Freedom of the Seas (Royal Caribbean).

The price you pay depends on the sailing date (the same cruise over thanksgiving week was over $6,800!!), the number of people and the stateroom category. We could have cruised cheaper by selecting a lower category stateroom or forgoing the veranda, but we wanted the extra space
of the deluxe family room and we love having a veranda, particularly to sit on while the kids are sleeping.

My understanding is that all (US) travel agents will charge the same price for DCL cruises - the point of difference is the other extras thrown in, such as on board credit. We booked with Dreams Unlimited and received $200 OBC. The price variations you mentioned might be if you are looking at Australian travel agents or slightly different stateroom categories. I'd strongly suggest considering booking with a US agent, as most Australian TAs can't offer anywhere near as good a price for a Disney product. We certainly get price gouged in Australia.

Feel free to PM me if you want any other details.

 

[Babysaurs]

We booked our 5 night wonder cruise for 4th oct 2015 within 2 days of dates benign released for $2500 2 adults 2 children.

 

[LisaAJ]

We booked our 4night Dream cruise the day it was released and it's gone up since then.

I searched around and the only real difference in price was attributed to OBC the agent have you. I ended up booking through an Aussie Disney agent for a lesser OBC as I was tired of waiting days for an answer to my emails. The time difference really delayed things.

 

[cola]

Touring Plans website has a DCL fare tracker. It's a bit cumbersome because it selects by a particular cruise but it gives you a really good indication of where the prices start and how they go up.

 

[WearegoingtoAmerica]

We are doing 7 Nights on Fantasy 24 October 2015, and paid around $4,500 for 2 Adults, 2 kids (4, and 2) in a Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Veranda.

We'll be getting off the ship as you are getting on. We have 2 of the Deluxe Family Oceanview Staterooms with veranda.

Prices go up each year, by A LOT. At least they did this year. I had been keeping an eye on prices for October this year, knowing we wanted to go next year. In April of this year, I thought our fares shouldn't be too much more than this, because they apparently go up the closer it gets to the sail time, and I was going to book the cruise the day the dates were released. The dates were released in May, and for the same cruise, same category, same time of year, for 2 of the above staterooms, the price had gone up by $2500. Way more expensive than we thought it was going to be.

 

[WickedDreamer]

Hey,

My tip is to book in advance , pretty much as soon as the dates become available. It is surprising how much cheaper you are able to get a room a year or so in advance compared to a few months out for the same room.

We booked our next cruise for January 2015 about a month after the dates were available, and were able to upgrade to a 1 bedroom suite on the Dream for just $7, which is a concierge room. If you book a few months before you could be looking at a couple hundred depending on the time of the year.

You can also set a limited I believe for your personal spending, so if you have kids or even for yourself so you know what your buying/purchasing, its a good way to keep track, as you can always go to concierge and add more money.

The only things we purchased on board were some cups to use onboard, our Port Adventure at Castaway, 1 drink of the Day, and the photo package. We always buy the photo package from the parks and the cruises, we always find some great photos on the CD's, plus its always great in case something happens to your camera. [I know that dreaded thought]

If you have any questions, feel free to either PM me or just ask on this thread

Shannon

 

[losfp]

We'll be getting off the ship as you are getting on.

Lol and we are getting on the ship as they are getting off. Aussie tag-team.

 

[BrizMarc]

As a few people have already said book ahead. Cruise prices work on supply and demand and the more the demands for rooms as they fill up the higher the prices go.

 

[Snickals]

Stupid question but how do you know when they are about to release dates? I see the dec 2015 dates are out already, which I am looking at but am flexible with dates so if I can get anything cheaper (eg. later dated) than that would be great

 

[LisaAJ]

DCL releases their dates for the year all at once (unlike WDW) so 2016 will be released altogether. We booked for 2015 in the middle if November 2013. This was the day the rates were released.

 

[losfp]

DCL releases their dates for the year all at once (unlike WDW) so 2016 will be released altogether. We booked for 2015 in the middle if November 2013. This was the day the rates were released.

Not quite true. As far as I know, they release part of the season, then the rest of the season later. I booked my Nov 2015 cruise in May 2014, in the first 2 days it was released. BEfore that I think they only had up to Aug or something.

 

[LisaAJ]

Sorry, I thought they released them all at once. Ignore me then!! I booked for Jan so the first half of the year must have been released Nov 2015.

 

[Vicky2jeff]

I'm with everyone else... Book as early as possible..we are doing the 2015 west bound Panama Canal in May which was $6900 and now it's over $9000.
It was not released all at the same time this year but it was last year I think... So we couldn't book until March this year which was apparently really late.
When we went in 2013 on the fantasy the extra charges will like others have said... Your alcohol, port adventures. Photos..yep costs lots, spa treatments, tips eating at adult dining, extra boat activities like wine or beer tasting. Kids arcade..