Disney Cruise Prices

[DCLMP]

One six pack of beer per person or a bottle of wine.

It's two bottles of wine per person or 1 six pack per person at each port.

 

[Sykes]

As a new poster here, I have a thought about why Disney cruises cost more.
I believe part of it is because they do not have a casino on any ship and they also do not sell drink packages.
I think they both bring in a lot of revenue for the cruise ships.

I could be wrong though as we have only done Disney so we do not know how many people utilize these services.
It is also one of the main reasons we prefer the Disney cruises as we do not drink or gamble and they are not prone to have a lot of partying people.

Disney cruises cost more because people have been willing to pay it. They'd charge the same for the base cruise even if they started offering casinos or drink packages. Why people are willing to pay it varies from person to person. For me, the Disney magic is is a real factor. Disney isn't best-in-class in really any category except for the shows and probably the kids clubs (the MDR food is passable but unexciting, the crew is usually just as friendly and outgoing on other premium cruise lines, the ship amenities aren't extensive), but for me the theming and cohesion of the experience elevates DCL substantially--it feels like one whole vacation rather than traveling from port-to-port in a floating hotel. But there is no doubt (despite some dubious comparisons here) that Disney is more expensive than other premium mainstream cruise lines.

Also, fwiw, I've seen more bad alcohol-related behavior on my DCL cruises than I've seen on my Celebrity, MSC, or Royal Caribbean cruises, all of which have drink packages (and, in fact, on my Celebrity cruises this year the drink package was a mandatory inclusion for most passengers). Across similarly positioned/priced cruise lines the departure port and cruise length seems to impact the type of crowd more than the availability of drink packages. Speaking from personal experience, I probably drink a little bit less with a drink package. I'm willing to order the same number of drinks regardless of the drink package, but I'm much more willing to not finish a drink once I've had enough if I haven't paid for it individually.

 

[DCLMP]

I think the biggest factor is the number of ships. As Disney increases their fleet size you’ll see prices come down on the older ships. You are already seeing that with the addition of the Wish.

 

[longboard55]

I really don’t get these discussions. No one is forcing anyone to go with Disney.

 

[DSLRuser]

Disney cruises cost more because people have been willing to pay it.

Isn't capitalism great!!!

We cruised in 2008 on the Wonder. (kids were 6 and .5) We didn't think cruising was for us, so we stayed away. Cruised agin in 2019 when kids were older on ROYAL OASIS. All we could do is compare RC to our Disney experience 12 years earlier. RC just didn't compare to our memories.

My wife and I did an adults only cruise on the Dream during covid, and LOVED IT. Have booked 2 more cruises since.

Point is, The Disney service and quality is there for cruising and I do not mind paying extra for it.

 

[DSLRuser]

my biggest example of "service" on a Disney ship was on the Dream January 2022. 1st night soup was a French Onion soup, and I had 2 bowls. LOVED it.

2nd night, they only had some potato soup. Not a fan. My server went to the other restaurant and got me a bowl of the French Onion soup. It was a classy move that earned him a $20 bill that night night.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

my biggest example of "service" on a Disney ship was on the Dream January 2022. 1st night soup was a French Onion soup, and I had 2 bowls. LOVED it.

2nd night, they only had some potato soup. Not a fan. My server went to the other restaurant and got me a bowl of the French Onion soup. It was a classy move that earned him a $20 bill that night night.

It has been our experience that servers on other cruiselines do this. This is not unique to Disney.

 

[hrhdhd]

It has been our experience that servers on other cruiselines do this. This is not unique to Disney.

Indeed. On my Celebrity WBTA this year, a server in the buffet traveled to the dining room kitchens to get me a creme brulee twice.

 

[sethschroeder]

This isn't a very useful topic without actual numbers to compare. For what it's worth, I just compared a Disney cruise to an NCL cruise and they came out about the same.

Pick any cruise essentially with Disney I can find better options for less or with more included likely elsewhere.

This isn't a shell game it's just simple information that by and far will hold true.

You need to put a large premium on the theme and the family entertainment to have DCL come out ahead.

 

[sethschroeder]

Disney cruises cost more because people have been willing to pay it

Not exactly the full story.

It's in part because they have so few ships. There are people who spend a bunch on other cruise lines.

Look at DCL they just got their 5th ship.

RCL - 27
Carnival - 24
MSC - 19
NCL - 17

This isn't even counting something like Royal and Carnival and NCL that have a family of cruise lines with a plethora of ships as well.

Disney is just so far behind in the cruise industry regarding volume.

These other cruise companies that have premium lines that charge well over DCL as well.

 

[sethschroeder]

It has been our experience that servers on other cruiselines do this. This is not unique to Disney.

I think it used to be that Disney was more likely to do this but they lost CMs and also had been short staffed.

I am a parrot but as an example on our January cruise for roughly the same price as connecting balconies on Fantasy we will get a butler and a variety of other things in the Haven on NCL. Disney isn't even competing and if they did would be drastically more expensive.

 

[Nabas]

Not exactly the full story.

It's in part because they have so few ships. There are people who spend a bunch on other cruise lines.

Look at DCL they just got their 5th ship.

RCL - 27
Carnival - 24
MSC - 19
NCL - 17

This isn't even counting something like Royal and Carnival and NCL that have a family of cruise lines with a plethora of ships as well.

Disney is just so far behind in the cruise industry regarding volume.

These other cruise companies that have premium lines that charge well over DCL as well.

In addition to fewer ships, I’d also argue that a lot of other cruise lines supplement their revenue on gambling.

Effectively, you pay more on DCL because there is no gambling.

 

[sethschroeder]

Point is, The Disney service and quality is there for cruising and I do not mind paying extra for it.

And you can upgrade and get a different level of service on Royal and others as well.

The comparison of balcony to verrandah is not exactly the same. Take your money and compare it to what you can get on other lines.

 

[Sykes]

Not exactly the full story.

It's in part because they have so few ships. There are people who spend a bunch on other cruise lines.

That's part of why they're able to charge more. With far fewer staterooms to fill they don't have to lower their prices to attract more guests. I fully expect that their prices will go down some (at least relative to similarly positioned cruise lines) once they add more ships, but it still boils down to them charging as much as they can while still filling cabins, and for a variety of reasons people are willing to pay more for Disney than for a similar itinerary elsewhere. If people stopped being willing to pay the Disney premium then even if everything else remained the same (no casino, no drink package, no more ships) they'd lower their prices until they reached acceptable load factors. (They already do this on a per-sailing basis with *GT fares, but their yield management is relatively unsophisticated compared to the major players.)

There are quite a few people here that say that they aren't willing to pay the Disney premium as often because the magic is gone, or because of degradations in the quality of the product. If that's widespread I'll be curious to see if that has any impact to the pricing down the line. Anecdotally there seem to be more *GT fares earlier than I've seen in the past (while other cruise lines are reporting record bookings), but so far the standard fares are mostly holding steady.

 

[DCLMP]

I see they dropped some discounts on European sailings.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I see they dropped some discounts on European sailings.

What kind? GT or VGT or actual percentages off? Rolling into a recession for the first quarter, I look for more vacancies at DCL.

 

[DCLMP]

What kind? GT or VGT or actual percentages off? Rolling into a recession for the first quarter, I look for more vacancies at DCL.

It looks like GT on all categories. Quite a bit off I'd say 35%.

 

[kiford]

3. No casino and no smoking in main areas or balconies.

For me, any smoking in any interior area is a no-go. I don't care about casinos. IMO it takes space away from some other function that I'd prefer to have but isn't a deal breaker (though most cruise lines generally allow smoking in the casino even if nowhere else on the ship). My father, on the other hand, won't cruise Disney because it has no casino. He says bingo doesn't cut it

DH and I follow several cruise vloggers to see their experiences, and it has solidified a lot of our feelings about certain cruise lines and/or ships. It's not just about price, service and specific amenities, it's about the vibe, the general environment, the ship design, staff-to-guest ratio, the target market/guest demographics, etc. Even without my requirement for no interior smoking, these various vlogs and other research have made it clear that Carnival, NCL and Royal Caribbean are just not for us. We may try Viking. Virgin is definitely not for us. Celebrity - eh, maybe. Princess - don't hate it but probably not plus the interior smoking is a hard no.

If price is the most important thing to you when selecting a cruise, then DCL is probably not the right cruise line. If concierge service is the most important thing, DCL is probably not the right cruise. If food is the most important thing - well, what that means is very subjective. If there are certain ports you want to go to, DCL may not go there. Etcetera, etc. What is most important is to determine what you value in a cruise and whether the price makes it still worthwhile. There are less expensive options than DCL and more expensive options than DCL. The only wrong decision IMO is picking a cruise based on the wrong criteria knowing you selected it for the wrong reasons.