Disney cruise... is it worth the price

[brentm77]

Celebrity Retreat, MSC Yacht Club, and NCL Haven are essentially DCL concierge on steroids—they are more a ship within a ship concept. You don’t need to leave the private area for the entire cruise. We have sailed NCL Haven but not DCL concierge because for us DCL concierge doesn’t offer enough perks to justify the price difference compared to regular DCL. We found more perks with NCL Haven to justify the cost difference. We have 4 DCL cruises with a 5th and 6th booked.

Some differences compared to DCL concierge—there is a private restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a different higher grade menu than the MDRs, think filet and lobster every night. The bar is open all day and drinks are included all day, not just certain hours in the evening. The private areas are bigger than DCL concierge from what I can see on the deck plans—most are 2-3 deck spaces with pools, hot tubs, adult only sun deck, family sun deck, indoor observation lounge, outdoor and indoor dining, outdoor and indoor bar, etc. Some offer a private area on the private island for suite guests. You have a butler that brings treats every afternoon to your room aside from the treats available poolside or in the lounge all day. Sandwiches, shrimp cocktail, chocolate covered strawberries, etc. The butler will do things like unpack for you or draw a bath if you ask (seriously, I dont want them to do that but they will). Same stuff as DCL concierge as first on the ship, priority bookings, dedicated concierge team, etc.

Thanks for the detailed information. I know so little about MSC, but had the general impression that they weren't that nice. But it sounds like the club level is very nice.

 

[Mango7100]

Thanks for the detailed information. I know so little about MSC, but had the general impression that they weren't that nice. But it sounds like the club level is very nice.

I haven’t been on MSC but from some reviews I read the club level is much much better than the regular rooms and ship, so the experiences can be completely different. I felt that way on our NCL cruise a bit. We absolutely adored the Haven and would do it again, but I’m not sure how I would have felt if we weren’t in it and had to contend with the main pools being wall to wall people. not having a better restaurant, etc.

 

[John VN]

I haven’t been on MSC but from some reviews I read the club level is much much better than the regular rooms and ship, so the experiences can be completely different. I felt that way on our NCL cruise a bit. We absolutely adored the Haven and would do it again, but I’m not sure how I would have felt if we weren’t in it and had to contend with the main pools being wall to wall people. not having a better restaurant, etc.

r.e. bold -- Agree 100% not knowing what a *standard cabin booking experience might be like, but then again the price being paid is much lower so caveat emptor.

We cruise to relax and RELAX some more. A priority for cruising is to receive a great bang for our buck$ AND when we can cruise in YC at DCL Standard Verandah Rates or thousands less than DCL Concierge and experience a higher Concierge offering than DCL can provide, (fact not fiction) it would be financially foolish of us to feed the mouse. We do not need the Disney Hype or Theming or Characters or ...... but for those in need of the feed - I understand the desire to not venture away from the Disney Brand so Happy Sailing to y'all.

 

[John VN]

Thanks for the detailed response! It's great to hear alternative viewpoints and what people like. I plan to look up the ships to check them out.

For the overnight stay, can you say on the island as late as you want? Are restaurants/bars open late? I am trying to picture what that looks like.

I believe that all must be back on the ship by midnight. Never stayed up that late so not sure the offerings. Waking to the rising sun over the Island is extremely tranquil.

 

[Lorana]

What people enjoy and what they want out of a cruise absolutely dictates whether it is worth it.

When we want to escape and relax, DCL is our go-to hands down every time. The experience is exactly what we want, and we love Castaway Cay.

When we’re looking to visit a destination, that’s often when we look at other cruise lines. We’ve sailed RCCL before kids, did a Costa cruise when the kids were very little, and since then have down a number of NCL cruises as a family. Last year, much as I would have loved DCL for Europe, it both did not have the itinerary we wanted AND was double the cost for 2 less days. So we sailed NCL. We all agreed that it wasn’t the Disney experience and we liked Disney better, but NCL was perfectly fine, and our focus on that trip was less the ship experience and more the getting from port to port in Italy & Greece.

 

[peder]

What people enjoy and what they want out of a cruise absolutely dictates whether it is worth it. When we want to escape and relax, DCL is our go-to hands down every time.

Completely agreed with the first part, that each person will take from a cruise a different experience, but wow, I have completely the opposite take about the 2nd part of your statement. I felt almost as "on" as I did in the parks, it was far from a low-key environment. And we're experienced cruisers, we weren't trying to do "everything", but something as simple as dinner + theater show afterward felt like a huge chunk of our day dedicated to stimulus overload. And because of the price premium, it's hard to justify skipping the entertainment.

That's probably why we've like "value" cruising more: everyone gets a bit bored honestly, but then we end up playing foosball, we end up swimming a bunch, we take our time eating snacks at the buffet, we even just sit in the sun and watch the high clouds float by. And we do all that together. Weird to say, but it feels a bit like camping. And then on port days, we go on adventures together. And absolutely none of what I've mentioned above is something that's unique to DCL, these are things that all cruise lines offer. So at that point, it's really really hard to pay extra for some characters and shows.

Again, I'm not really knocking DCL. We did have a great time on the Wish. The two things I want specifically from DCL are more interesting itineraries on their newer ships (Wish + Treasure have really boring itineraries IMO that hit the same ports that every single mass-market cruise line hits... feels a bit stale for those that have already visited those ports), and a lower price point. And price isn't going to come down because DCL still currently has limited cabin inventory compared to other lines and demand for their product is very high (especially Concierge, which I find tends to sell out on many sailings remarkably early). I have some more minor quibbles about the rest of the experience, but no dealbreakers. But because DCL has no incentive to change my two major issues with DCL, I suspect it'll be quite some time before we return to DCL, if ever.

 

[brentm77]

Completely agreed with the first part, that each person will take from a cruise a different experience, but wow, I have completely the opposite take about the 2nd part of your statement. I felt almost as "on" as I did in the parks, it was far from a low-key environment. And we're experienced cruisers, we weren't trying to do "everything", but something as simple as dinner + theater show afterward felt like a huge chunk of our day dedicated to stimulus overload. And because of the price premium, it's hard to justify skipping the entertainment.

That's probably why we've like "value" cruising more: everyone gets a bit bored honestly, but then we end up playing foosball, we end up swimming a bunch, we take our time eating snacks at the buffet, we even just sit in the sun and watch the high clouds float by. And we do all that together. Weird to say, but it feels a bit like camping. And then on port days, we go on adventures together. And absolutely none of what I've mentioned above is something that's unique to DCL, these are things that all cruise lines offer. So at that point, it's really really hard to pay extra for some characters and shows.

Again, I'm not really knocking DCL. We did have a great time on the Wish. The two things I want specifically from DCL are more interesting itineraries on their newer ships (Wish + Treasure have really boring itineraries IMO that hit the same ports that every single mass-market cruise line hits... feels a bit stale for those that have already visited those ports), and a lower price point. And price isn't going to come down because DCL still currently has limited cabin inventory compared to other lines and demand for their product is very high (especially Concierge, which I find tends to sell out on many sailings remarkably early). I have some more minor quibbles about the rest of the experience, but no dealbreakers. But because DCL has no incentive to change my two major issues with DCL, I suspect it'll be quite some time before we return to DCL, if ever.

While I haven't sailed the Wish, it is a very different ship than Disney's classic ships. It is designed to be more of a Disney hotel on the seas than a classic cruise experience, which might be part of why you felt it was more like the park experience. It also has two "loud" dining experiences, and the only non-loud dining experiences is very cramped from everything I have read, which makes dinner less relaxing.

On the other ships, we don't feel "on" at all. My wife and I spend a good portion of our time these days in the adult area, watching the sea and chatting or reading, and a good portion of our evenings listening to live music in the adult areas. We skip most of the evening shows, often only hitting up the best show for the week. Dinner is relaxing because it gives us lots of time to talk, but it does get tedious if we aren't in the right mood, so we aren't afraid to skip it either. We don't do character meets, and we don't do many activities during the day. We do like Match Your Mate and some of the adult-only evening events, but, the majority of our non-port time is just relaxing.

So why pay the Disney premium when we can do all of that on other lines for less? It's honestly more of a "feel" or ambiance that DCL has, plus great service, very clean ships, and a hundred little things that add up to a great experience for us. It's so subjective though, and I can see why some people feel pressured to maximize their time on board.

 

[CaseyCruiser]

Is the high cost worth the hype?

Absolutely