Like many on this thread, my first DCL cruise was before 2010. My 2nd, and my wife's 1st, was our honeymoon. Some years we do 1-2 cruises a year if they are longer ones. Some years we do 3-4 is they are shorter ones. Once we had kids, we really started to pick up the DCL cruises more than other lines, but cruising has always been our go-to vacation...and YES living in FL helps a lot. No we don't do last minute cheap cruises, we only sail when school is out so I feel we pick the most expensive times to cruise.
I'm a handful away from Pearl now...my daughter hit Platinum when she was 11, I think my son hit it when he was 8. I always used to joke with my wife that we were either the world's best parents, or the world's worst for enriching/spoiling them so, but they have good heads on their shoulders and appreciate what it takes to save up for vacations.
We drive Hyundai's, shop at Costco, Target & Walmart, cook more often than dining out, etc. Travel is what we save for. It is our passion.
Lately we do more Royal cruises than Disney so it make take longer to hit that Pearl status (of course depends on what the perks are, not rushing to hit a level that I know nothing about just yet) but I can easily see how people have done 30, 40, 50 cruises without breaking the bank, especially those that have been sailing for 25 years.
I'm a handful away from Pearl now...my daughter hit Platinum when she was 11, I think my son hit it when he was 8. I always used to joke with my wife that we were either the world's best parents, or the world's worst for enriching/spoiling them so, but they have good heads on their shoulders and appreciate what it takes to save up for vacations.
We drive Hyundai's, shop at Costco, Target & Walmart, cook more often than dining out, etc. Travel is what we save for. It is our passion.
Lately we do more Royal cruises than Disney so it make take longer to hit that Pearl status (of course depends on what the perks are, not rushing to hit a level that I know nothing about just yet) but I can easily see how people have done 30, 40, 50 cruises without breaking the bank, especially those that have been sailing for 25 years.