Do DCL prices ever change?

[mmbrad02]

We have several Disney Land vacations under our belt, as well as one Carnival cruise, but a DCL vacation is a new concept to us but one I am very much interested in. We are looking at the second week of October, as that is my daughter's fall break. I've been watching prices but noticing they never change. Is that what I will continue to see, or do they ever fluctuate?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We have several Disney Land vacations under our belt, as well as one Carnival cruise, but a DCL vacation is a new concept to us but one I am very much interested in. We are looking at the second week of October, as that is my daughter's fall break. I've been watching prices but noticing they never change. Is that what I will continue to see, or do they ever fluctuate?

Well, they "fluctuate" up. Rarely down. The lowest prices are generally on opening day, with them rising as the space onboard fills.

But, some cruises that DCL deems as not selling well may offer last-minute restricted rates. This happens, usually, after the Paid in Full date for any given cruise. And those prices, typically, while lower than the prevailing rate, are often still higher than the same cruise price on opening day.

 

[mmbrad02]

Thank you so much for the info! Do you happen to know off hand how far out the Paid in Full date is? Is it 45 days before cruising?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thank you so much for the info! Do you happen to know off hand how far out the Paid in Full date is? Is it 45 days before cruising?

Most cruises it's 75 days, I believe. Here's a link with that info:
https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/contracts-terms-safety/terms-conditions/united-states/

scroll down to the "Cruise Cancellation Fees" section. The Paid in Full date is the day that penalties kick in.

 

[summerskye]

Could be wrong but waiting for Disney to possible lower a cruise they deem necessary will most likely end with limited choices. Be careful if you have specific needs or desires. (sleeps 5, particular view, or level, etc.) I also believe that at that point you have to pay in full...

 

[Bishoparc]

I highly suggest watching the Dreams Unlimited Travel podcast they did on DCL. Very informative and worth a watch if you're a first time DCL customer or even a repeat.

 

[Ofinn]

Could be wrong but waiting for Disney to possible lower a cruise they deem necessary will most likely end with limited choices. Be careful if you have specific needs or desires. (sleeps 5, particular view, or level, etc.) I also believe that at that point you have to pay in full...

This is true, but many of us like to book this way. I've always gotten great rooms. I agree with you though if your dead set on taking on cruise on a certain date with no flexibility you are better booking ahead. As far as paying in full.. well no mater how you book it your going to have to pay in full at some point.

 

[mmbrad02]

Thank you all for your help. I will watch the podcast this evening at home, thank you for the link to that. As for dates, we are locked in to a particular week in October, but that being said, we are not 100% set on cruising yet. I want to do a Disney World vacation, while my husband is more into the idea of a cruise, so the obvious choice seemed like a Disney Cruise but there are several details we have to consider, with price being a huge factor. We are a family of 3 (5 year old) with overall no particular wishes on the boat as far as rooms.

 

[Jess_S]

Could be wrong but waiting for Disney to possible lower a cruise they deem necessary will most likely end with limited choices. Be careful if you have specific needs or desires. (sleeps 5, particular view, or level, etc.) I also believe that at that point you have to pay in full...

We have booked after the paid in full date. We had to pay a deposit and were given 24 hours to pay in full. (Not sure that amount of time would make a difference for anyone, but it did give us a day to mull things over and decide we were 100% in before paying up).

 

[BrownFamilyDCL]

We have several Disney Land vacations under our belt, as well as one Carnival cruise, but a DCL vacation is a new concept to us but one I am very much interested in. We are looking at the second week of October, as that is my daughter's fall break. I've been watching prices but noticing they never change. Is that what I will continue to see, or do they ever fluctuate?

It seems like i have seen them go up and down before. For instance when booking our cruise for this summer, it seemed when i looked a few months ago the prices were down but went up closer to time?

 

[BrownFamilyDCL]

We have booked after the paid in full date. We had to pay a deposit and were given 24 hours to pay in full. (Not sure that amount of time would make a difference for anyone, but it did give us a day to mull things over and decide we were 100% in before paying up).

.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Not sure what sailing you are looking at but I am booked 10/8 on the Fantasy and it would cost us over $1000 more to book that same sailing today. So it could be prices have stayed the same since you have been watching but have gone up quite a bit since being released. At any rate, since it is fall break booking sooner rather than later is a good idea.

 

[NancyIL]

Look up your cruise on www.cruisefish.net. There you can see the pricing history for many cruises. Click on "Finder" - and then cruise line, ship, itinerary, and sail date.

 

[ludari]

On my first Disney Cruise in 2010 did the actual price I paid for the cruise decrease and I got money back. Since 2010 I've sailed seven more times with Disney and the prices have always gone up and never gone down.

 

[lucianam]

The prices usually go up. From December to January I ended up paying $400 more for the exact same cabin . They don't usually announce any IGT/OGT/VGT until final payment is due on that specific cruise otherwise people would just cancel without penalty and book those categories.