Holy Inflation Batman!

[Karlzmom]

I am starting my prep for tomorrow's general opening day and was looking at the quote thread to get an idea of where prices are. I saw that for Alaska for my size party and category the prices are 33% higher than what the price was for my 2015 cruise to Alaska...33%! That is outrageous....
I get costs go up...but 33%.....seriously? Even though I'm a shareholder and get the object is to make money, I'm still blown away.

I will likely be switch lines for the extended family trip. Love the Mouse but there comes a point where enough is enough, or in this case too much is too much. I can pick up a lot of "nickel and diming" that we keep hearing about in that 33% increase. Guess I need to start researching other lines.....

 

[lexlaw69]

I agree--- a premium is fine and expected but they have reached gouging territory. My comparison is my euro cruise which went from around 5k to over 15k. Best travel experience I've ever had but maybe they need to double or triple the number of boats.

 

[perditax]

Join us, friends. Bring booze.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/the-priced-out-pity-party-thread.3393752/

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Yes Alaska is popular

 

[Bree]

DCL wants $10K for their 7 night Alaskan cruise for my family of 4 with a verandah. I can get a 7 night on Princess with an additional 3 or 4 night land tour for the same price.

 

[cwdefouw]

We are DVC members and when I looked at all of the new Point Charts yesterday it became pretty obvious that the 2016 Alaskan Cruises after the second week in June are simply the most expensive 7 day cruises ever offered by Disney. Even the 7 day Med cruises are substantially less expensive. What gets me is that these cruises are not even on a reimagined Wonder. What will they cost in 2017 if the Wonder gets its rehab and is essentially a new ship? Prices will certainly even be higher. My guess someone high up at the cruise line decided to milk the cash cow for as much as they can possibly get. The only way prices will go down is if they see a sharp decline in bookings, which at the level the prices are at for 2016, this is certainly possible.

 

[Dug720]

I agree--- a premium is fine and expected but they have reached gouging territory. My comparison is my euro cruise which went from around 5k to over 15k. Best travel experience I've ever had but maybe they need to double or triple the number of boats.

I definitely agree that the rates are sky high. But I'm pretty sure "price gouging" is generally only used in reference to necessities. And though they are nice to take, cruises are a luxury. Not a necessity.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

 

[Bill B.]

View attachment 84323

I love this post. I looked at the same cruise and had Mickey's reaction myself, $12k for an inside stateroom, come on!

 

[TJA]

I'm new to cruising and after being priced-out of an Alaskan cruise for this summer, I was SO looking forward to a great deal for 2016. Sad to see this is NOT happening.

 

[jetskigrl]

Just for the heck of it, I tried pricing out the same Alaska cruise that we took in 2014. Same number of people (ages) and room type. It was approx $8000 (less the OBB discount) in 2014. For 2016, it is $11,700 Almost 4K more for the exact same cruise/room.

 

[Karlzmom]

Nice Pic Fantasy!

Seriously, just ran the number on this year v. next year. Same cabin (exactly) with a 1 week difference as DCL has not posted for week of 8/24.
The adults each went up 32.86% year over year. Our DS went up a whopping 48.93% in real OOP cost. If I put back the *real* cost for this year by backing out the OBB advantage we still have year over year increases of nearly 20% per adult and more than 35% for a child. I really do *get* that Alaska is super popular but I'm still struggling to see the real value for dollar this time around. When I can book full suite on Celebrity or Princess (and get some fantastic perks rather than being just one of the masses) or an Aft Mini Suites on NCL or even book a 14 night Alaska for less than my 7A there just flat seems to be something out of balance.

Having cruised DCL to Alaska last year I appreciate the immersive experience and had fine service. I don't know that I would rave over it, but then in my 1 cruise experience vacuum I can't really compare it to anything to give it points for being so much better than somewhere else. I really have to question is the whole experience SOOOO much better than anywhere else. Most of us here love Disney. But what is the true *gap* between them and another line? Is it the difference between Applebees and Macaroni Grill - different but fairly on par? Is it Ruth's Chris to MacDonalds? Is it Victoria and Albert to your garbage can? What ever we spend will be a fair amount of money OOP and you can 't get the time back as a do-over for your family. I worry that the fear of the unknown coupled with spending my time here in the Disney-is-the-best-echo-chamber is making the whole DCL experience take on a rose-tinted hue that is simply costing me $ that I could easily save and still have an over the top experience with another line. Can anyone relate?

Add in that this trip is essentially a "make a wish" trip for my Dad. He is 6 years post lung transplant and has had a really, really rough time. Despite him make a darn near miraculous up turn after the last crisis, we aren't really confident that he will make it, but is really wanting/needing it to look forward to and it was his choice to go for Alaska. I really can't make a mistake with this one....forgive me adding the seeming the bit of seeming drama, but I haven't been able to express the pressure that I am feeling to make everything as perfect as I can while still making the numbers make some kind of sense. I suspect its going to be a long couple of months until I can re-shop for OBB and then make the final call on what to do.

In the mean time I'll have to seriously research the options and try to sort out the apples from the oranges. I do note that even if the prices don't move at all from opening day (which is about as likely as pigs flying) the OBB will still result in the OOP costs being a year over year increase of just under 20% for the adults and still more than 34% for our son. Some help, but doesn't really make a game changer here......

 

[quickcat]

Completely agree about Alaska pricing. We are going on Princess this summer and I was thinking about canceling and booking Disney 2016 summer instead. I am so glad I didn't wait. The prices are much higher than last year opening day.

 

[nhgirl]

So this is how they get the money to build the new ships

 

[Bill B.]

Completely agree about Alaska pricing. We are going on Princess this summer and I was thinking about canceling and booking Disney 2016 summer instead. I am so glad I didn't wait. The prices are much higher than last year opening day.

Mine in 7A is up $1,515 from the exact same time last year. That's crazy in my book.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I just looked up the cost for our 7 night EC on the Fantasy. Same week, same cabin, same number of guests and ages, just one year later. The price increased 13.5%. Wow! I wasn't expecting that kind of increase since we are approaching the PIF date for our cruise and there seems to be plenty of availability still. I would bet there ends up being a *GT rate for our June cruise. I don't understand a double digit increase when they are having to offer lots of *GT rates this year.

 

[Ofinn]

I just looked up the cost for our 7 night EC on the Fantasy. Same week, same cabin, same number of guests and ages, just one year later. The price increased 13.5%. Wow! I wasn't expecting that kind of increase since we are approaching the PIF date for our cruise and there seems to be plenty of availability still. I would bet there ends up being a *GT rate for our June cruise. I don't understand a double digit increase when they are having to offer lots of *GT rates this year.

Maybe if they can sucker enough people in it at the high price it makes up for the discounts. I was talking to a man on our Feb Magic cruise who paid 6500 for cat 4b for 2 adults and 2 kids. I paid 3,300( 2a and 2k) for an OGT got a 9a. I could have booked a VGT for 3,800. I thought he was going to throw up when I told him this, but it was his first cruise, and he didn't now anything about the pricing. Anyway I'm sure they get enough people to pay the high prices, and then they can discount it down to normal prices, and then we all get excited thinking we're getting a great deal.

 

[quickcat]

Maybe if they can sucker enough people in it at the high price it makes up for the discounts. I was talking to a man on our Feb Magic cruise who paid 6500 for cat 4b for 2 adults and 2 kids. I paid 3,300( 2a and 2k) for an OGT got a 9a. I could have booked a VGT for 3,800. I thought he was going to throw up when I told him this, but it was his first cruise, and he didn't now anything about the pricing. Anyway I'm sure they get enough people to pay the high prices, and then they can discount it down to normal prices, and then we all get excited thinking we're getting a great deal.

I have to say I am thinking the same thing. Then the *GT rates are actually not really such a great deal, but still better than what their current pricing is and more of a 'normal' of what people are willing to pay for Disney.
I am bummed about the price hikes. In the past years, I didn't think it was too bad and would book but this year I am not....yes, joining the pity party!!

 

[98slowbra]

I am a DVC member also, I looked at all the cruises for 2016, I could not believe my eyes and the cost, might be time to sell the 430 points a year and go with RCI, I did some checking on the British Isles and Disney is at least $9000 to $10,000 more for a family of 4. This might be my last year cruising with Disney.

 

[Ofinn]

I have to say I am thinking the same thing. Then the *GT rates are actually not really such a great deal, but still better than what their current pricing is and more of a 'normal' of what people are willing to pay for Disney.
I am bummed about the price hikes. In the past years, I didn't think it was too bad and would book but this year I am not....yes, joining the pity party!!

I have a 8a gty booked in Sept for around 4k. That is about my max for a Caribbean cruise. I have been on the Fantasy 3 times, and I'm not going to pay an arm and leg to go again. The 7 night Med cruises in Sept are semi reasonable( I may book one of those) but everything else over the Summer seems absurd. I will continue to cruise DCL when I get a good GT rate, but for Europe and Alaska I'm going to have to check out some other lines. I was really disappointed in the 5/23 Alaska cruise. I was expecting that one to be a good price, but it's still over 7k for a verandah. I could probably sail another cruise line in July with a verandah for around 5k.