Has the price of DCL chased you away?

[Mushu's Twin]

It hasn't stopped us completely, however we used to do 7 night cruises every year, but now we do 4/5 night cruises. You could look at a shorter cruise and the possible addition of WDW before or after.

 

[OSUZorba]

No.

I am fine with an ocean view or even an inside cabin. I cruise solo.

The bottom line is I trust DCL and I like DCL. I will consider RCCL (Radiance Class or smaller only - no Behemoth of the Seas for me), but bottom line is I would rather cruise less often and go with DCL than multiple times a year with the less expensive lines because their "freestyle" and "fun ship" schtick doesn't work for me. If it does for you, great. We all have choices!

Really the only RCL ships that are much bigger than Fantasy and Dream are the Oasis and Quantium classes. The Freedom class is a little bigger, but if you like the size of Fantasy there is no reason to think of Freedom as a Behemoth.

 

[seacruise]

No, we are booked on DCL for 2018. We are limited to school break weeks as well and have managed to find "reasonable" prices by using future cruise credit discounts and booking the first day the cruise becomes available. However, this year we did a great 10 day HAL cruise for quite a bit less than our 7 day cruise on the Wonder for next year.

 

[Dug720]

You cruise solo. It's a lot different for families with 2 or 3 kids. You can trust DCL all you want, but have a couple of kids and I'll guarantee you'll be singing a different tune.

Thankfully ZERO plans for kids. Don't mind teaching them, but do NOT want them anywhere else in my life.

But your response isn't surprising - because the thing about kids is legitimate for you, it seems to negate my opinion in your eyes. I realize that it is different cruising solo, but it is MY experience. For you to reply "oh, do this and you'll see" is to negate my experience.

I anticipated someone (TBH I figured it would probably be you based on our posting history on here) would delegitimize my response by calling out my solo-ness and headed it off at the pass - or tried to - by including that in my post.

And I did not say that anyone else has to cruise solo. I was answering the question "Has the price of DCL scared you away?" which is a personal experience question from my personal experience. The topic wasn't for us to answer for everyone, but for us to answer for ourselves and OUR experience. And that's what I did.

 

[squirk]

I've never paid 10k for a DCL cruise or 7k for a cruise on another line. Are you cruising concierge? You know cruising on another line doesn't mean the vacation won't stick the landing...so to speak. Trust me I know. You just have to get over your fear of trying new things. You miss out on a lot in life if you don't take chances. You might find you're pleasantly surprised. BTW I've had DCL cruises that haven't stuck the landing. They are not always a perfect 10.
Choosing another cruise line is not always about saving money. It can be about variety and not doing the same old thing over and over and over and over,........You shouldn't assume people that choose other options can't afford DCL.

Certainly, other lines offer different experiences that may appeal to a given individual more than what DCL offers; DCL is not the best fit for everyone, of course. However, since the OP's post was clearly about affordability vs. personal taste, that's what I was focusing on.

No, I'm not sailing Concierge, but the actual amount I pay is irrelevant. The point is that, for some people, there are comfort and reliability factors associated with Disney that are worth paying a premium for.

And just because someone chooses to stick with a cruise line that's worked well for them in the past doesn't necessarily mean that person has a "fear of trying new things" and is "missing out on life". As I said above, for some people, their one family vacation for the year might be something in particular that they just don't want to mess with. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", in other words.

 

[Dug720]

Certainly, other ships offer different experiences that may appeal to a given individual more than what DCL offers; DCL is not the best fit for everyone, of course. However, since the OP's post was clearly about affordability vs. personal taste, that's what I was focusing on.

No, I'm not sailing Concierge, but the actual amount I pay is irrelevant. The point is that, for some people, there are comfort and reliability factors associated with Disney that are worth paying a premium for.

And just because someone chooses to stick with a cruise line that's worked well for them in the past doesn't necessarily mean that person has a "fear of trying new things" and are "missing out on life". As I said above, for some people, their one family vacation for the year might be something in particular that they just don't want to mess with. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", in other words.

Thank you!

And some of us have in fact tried other things and found that they do not work for us. HAL comes to mind for me. Other things like the whole "freestyle" thing simply does not work for me for reasons I've outlined in another post. Still other things simply do not appeal to me based on how they are marketed - which is what marketing is all about really: to find your target audience and appeal to them. I'm sure all of us can name at least one thing that we do not do/buy/whatever because it is not marketed to us in a way that appeals to us.

 

[Stinkerbe11]

We are a family of 4 and our first 7 night DCL cruise in 2011 was less than 2,000 (KSF) and our cruise this summer is 11,000. We still love DCL but now I book opening day w/obb, use military discounts or *GT rates.

 

[WeLoveDisneyAlways]

We considered NCL only because we liked the ships they seem to have more kids play areas, pools etc but at the end of the day they were the same price forb7 nights as our up coming Disney 5 night. We all agreed we'd still prefer Disney even though we know we're getting a lesser trip. Disney just feels like home

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Yes. We used to take two dcl cruises a year. Then about two years ago we started trying other cruise lines. As die-hard disney people we were shocked to find we liked other lines. Actually, in most cases preferred other lines. This year we are taking one three night off season on dcl, one 8 night on carnival and one 7 night ncl + plus a week in disney world, all for less than our 2 prime season dcl cruises a year. Our lives have improved dramatically! Next year we have five cruises scheduled and plan on dropping one. Which one looks like it will get the chop? The dcl four night on the magic off season. The others are one six night and three seven nights. Not sure why, but dcl just appeals to us less and less. And yes we still have two young kids who like dcl. But they like other lines too. I have to say, the biggest difference I have found is a lack of pretension that I did not even realize was there with dcl. And we never tried a balcony with dcl. So our savings is just from inside/oceanview rooms. On other lines we usually do balconies. Completely different experience.

 

[lbus42]

Thankfully ZERO plans for kids. Don't mind teaching them, but do NOT want them anywhere else in my life.

Didn't I see you in a Booking.Com commercial. LOL

And I did not say that anyone else has to cruise solo. I was answering the question "Has the price of DCL scared you away?" which is a personal experience question from my personal experience. The topic wasn't for us to answer for everyone, but for us to answer for ourselves and OUR experience. And that's what I did.

I personally believe that the purpose of threads like this are to try and convince others to leave DCL in the hope that if enough cruisers leave, then Disney will have to drop their prices. Posters will regale their stories of how they have been priced out by Disney or how great their experience was on another cruise line. And some of them will dismiss or even attack anyone who disagrees with their opinion and their hopes of Disney lowering their pricing.

 

[Dug720]

Didn't I see you in a Booking.Com commercial .

Ha! No. But after the day I had yesterday it could have been. LOL.

I don't mind them being around - usually...meltdowns are another story - but I have no desire to have any of my own.

 

[mevelandry]

After 16 great cruises with DCL, we have for the 1st time cancelled a future cruise because of the price of the cruises. We unfortunately can only cruise during peak time since me wife is a teacher and as everyone knows.............Peak time = $$$$$$. For the 1st time in 10 years we are considering other cruise lines. Anyone in the same "boat" as us?

Yes and no. We happened to try a more affordable cruise line (we had a credit with Carnival and we could book plane tickets with points. The trip cost us about 400$ total!) we realized that we had just as much fun with Carnival than with DCL for about 50% less than what a cruise with DCL would have cost us.

Also, my husband doesn't care for the mouse... He loves the sea, the beaches and Castaway Cay.

But he prefers adult entertainment (casinos, comedy shows, alcohol tasting). He comes to WDW with me only because he likes the nice weather, the palmettos, some of the rides and the food.

Now that we know what we get for a lower price, we simply refuse to pay the premium.

I love Mickey but he'll have to see me in WDW in 5 years.

 

[cgolf]

For our family that has sailed DCL 12 times over the last 8-9 years the answer is yes. The largest reason for us is that we don't find the value in doing the same trips over and over for more money. We already were staying in inside rooms, after having tried everything from a Cat V on the fantasy, we found insides to fit our needs, but that doesn't leave us with anywhere to downgrade to get a better price point.

What triggered us to try another line was this - was going from 2016 to 2017, where we saw a huge jump in prices where a 4 and 5 night B2B in 2016 was less money than a 3 and 3 night B2B in 2017 on the Magic. The itinerary was identical and the time of year was comparable with no holidays mixed into the 2017 date, except the 3 and 3 had one less port. We didn't want to pay more for much less than we had just gotten.

We are trying a Radiance class on RCCL next year, similar to the size of our #1 ship the Magic, to see how that goes. We are also checking a oceanview stateroom off the room types we haven't tried yet when we scored a forward facing deck 7 room which should give some amazing views

As for the nickel and diming, I think all lines do it in different ways, I have a closet full of DCL hoodies that I still wear along with a few shirts and other items. On later DCL cruises we found ourselves only buying clearance items. To the RCCL cruise, with two days left we bought a 10 drink card for 75$ to use up our obc, we didn't find the need to pay for the upcharge dining, or even drink a lot. Plus RCCL gear isn't as cool as DCL gear which saved us some $, but we did get in on a buy 3 shirts for 20$ deal.

@pennymike take a look at the comparison review I did on here between DCL and RCCL, I feel it was very fair and balanced and I gave credit to each line where it was due The only part of RCCL I couldn't comment on was the kids spaces because we are part time empty nesters while our kid is away at school <-- depending on the day a different emotion applies

I totally respect others choices for sticking with DCL, it is just that for us we have seen to many increases from when we started cruising them.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

While we'll still sail DCL occasionally, their pricing means that they are not the default choice for us.

We're doing side by side cruises this November - the Disney Fantasy followed by the Carnival Magic. All in, DCL comes out about $770 US more than the Carnival cruise.

On the Carnival cruise I've planned for very healthy gambling budgets (without this the Carnival cruise would be crazy cheap), 2 nights of specialty dining, soda and water delivered to the cabin and extra gratuities. I also don't budget for alcohol because I know I'll get my "Drinks on Us" card from the casino. We also have 2 interior cabins booked for this cruise so I get my own cabin.

For DCL, there's no specialty dining, a 6 pack of water for the cabin (ordered onboard so it can be Evian), and minimal alcohol (maybe 3-4 drinks for the week). And of course - no gambling. We have 1 balcony cabin booked so we'll all be in together.

I expect that on both cruises we'll have loads of fun (different fun, but fun none the less). As the price gap increases, it makes it very difficult to justify DCL when we have just as good of a time on Carnival.

I've also been lucky that we've been able to do several long cruises (14 night and 21 nights) on Carnival. I can't imagine cruising for that length on DCL.

 

[mevelandry]

I'm currently organizing my second cruise with Carnival and I would like to put the nickel and diming and hidden fees rumors to rest (or at least nuance it a bit).

About the soda packages (which we never bought because soft drinks are bad for us and we are trying to stop drinking them), let's be honest: they are not really "free" on DCL... You pay for them when you pay for the premium and unfortunately you don't have the choice to say no. You are not going to get a better rate because you don't drink them.

We can get 12 bottles of water for 4$ on Carnival. How much does a pack of water cost on DCL? 9,75$ for 6 bottles (Side note here: most of the stuff you can order from the gift shops are much more affordable, they don't look cheap and the food and candy are just as good as DCL).

Specialty dining cost extra... But so does Palo & Remy on DCL.

The coffee from the coffee shop has a fee. Same for the Cove Cafe on DCL.

On Carnival, the pop corn is free. On DCL you have to pay for it.

So yes, on some other cruise lines Room Service may come with a fee (it's different from cruise lines to cruise lines)...

But I'd have to order a lot of food to compensate for the premium paid on a DCL cruise. (800$ more than Carnival for a 4 nights Bahamian cruise for 2 people.)

 

[squirk]

I personally believe that the purpose of threads like this are to try and convince others to leave DCL in the hope that if enough cruisers leave, then Disney will have to drop their prices. Posters will regale their stories of how they have been priced out by Disney or how great their experience was on another cruise line. And some of them will dismiss or even attack anyone who disagrees with their opinion and their hopes of Disney lowering their pricing.

I think in some cases (operative word being "some"; not necessarily the OP), it's more a case of people looking for validation - "I've come to the conclusion that DCL is no longer worth the premium. Don't you agree? You do agree, right?". Almost as if they need some measure of "herd mentality" - in the form of a DCL pile-on - to assure them that they are making the right decision in moving on from DCL.

Honestly, it's fine. If you find DCL too expensive for you and/or you feel like you get better value from another cruise line, go. And I don't mean that in a "good riddance" way at all. I mean that only you know what's right for you, and your feelings on the issue don't need to be validated by anonymous strangers on a message board.

 

[AustinMommyofThree]

No, the price did not chase us away. Boring shows, a lack of amenities, below average food quality and a lack of specialty options for families, uninspired itineraries, and overly cloying but not particularly exceptional service chased us away. We'll happily pay the premium price, but we expect a premium product in return.

 

[mevelandry]

I personally believe that the purpose of threads like this are to try and convince others to leave DCL in the hope that if enough cruisers leave, then Disney will have to drop their prices. Posters will regale their stories of how they have been priced out by Disney or how great their experience was on another cruise line. And some of them will dismiss or even attack anyone who disagrees with their opinion and their hopes of Disney lowering their pricing.

Shoot, I just got caught! Behind that cat avatar I'm a Disney villain, in a mission to keep DCL for myself...

 

[Firedog]

Yes.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Didn't I see you in a Booking.Com commercial. LOL



I personally believe that the purpose of threads like this are to try and convince others to leave DCL in the hope that if enough cruisers leave, then Disney will have to drop their prices. Posters will regale their stories of how they have been priced out by Disney or how great their experience was on another cruise line. And some of them will dismiss or even attack anyone who disagrees with their opinion and their hopes of Disney lowering their pricing.

Actually there is a part of me that hopes other dcl cruisers will not find out what a value other cruise lines are and drive up the prices. But it is hard not to identify with other families who have chosen dcl as their vacation destination for years only to find the cost practically double over the last three years! Of course people will reevaluate under such conditions. Some people will decide to stay the course while others will adjust their behavior in a variety of ways.