How do you afford these cruises??

[tinkerbell13]

We just had our first trip to WDW in Oct 04 and I thought it would be a great follow up to do the Cruise since it will be here this summer.
My quote for our family of 5 was $8000. That hit me pretty hard.
Are everyones elses trips that high or am I missing out on some discount. I have been a Disneyland AP holder for like 15 years and couldn't find any discounts that way.
I guess I'm just sad that we probably won't be able to go(at least on Disney's boat). Any suggestions?
Susan

 

[TiggerInNY]

Did you try Dreams Unlimited? It's the Travel Agent that sponsors these boards. I booked my cruise, 7 night Western Caribbean, and for a family of 4 it was $4830 in a Category 6. And people have gotten it cheaper. We are curising May 27, 2006, but I just booked it 1/29/05. Maybe yours is high cause it's late? I don't know. I would check around. Do you belong to a discount club like Costco or BJ's? That quote sure does seem high. Is that for 2 cabins?

Good luck.

TTFN,
TiggerInNY
Maria

 

[tinknsnow]

I am pretty sure that the special itineraries (all W Coast ones) are more $ than the usual ones.

Also, the earlier you book, the better price. We just booked for Sep 06.

For a family of five, your choices of stateroom are limited to the lower (higher priced) categories as well. My TA booked two Cat 10s (connecting) for her family and was able to get a deal that way.

I'm sorry you're disappointed. GL

 

[my3kids]

Try getting a quote through www.cruisequick.com. But honestly, families of 5 cost exponentially more than a group of 4. I'm guessing you probably priced a category 4, family stateroom. We found it cheaper to get 2 staterooms, even with having to pay for 4 full adult fares and 1 child since the first 2 in a room pay the full amount. You can get connecting rooms in category 10 and up. If your kids are older, you can get rooms across the hall, with you and your spouse in one with a view and the kids in an inside.

Travel off season to save thousands. Buy your insurance from an independant company. Don't use the Disney transfers....rent a car instead. Buy your own airfare or even drive to the port if you can. This all saves a good deal of money.

 

[aprilgail2]

Familes of 5 and really expensive since you can't get a regular stateroom! I am traveling with a family of 3 in April, booked a year in advance and it is costing me 2750 for a Cat 11, plus I got a 200.00 stateroom credit. The last cruise we also booked a year in advance and had a cat 6 and paid under 4,000. We never go during the times the kids are out of school, its to expensive for me and we book well in advance.

 

[jel0511]

We are going on one of the West Coast Cruises and it's costing me $7,000 for a cat 6 for a family of 4. Sailing DCL in the summer is expensive, regardless of the itinerary. We want to sail summer of 2006, and the Eastern we're interested in is already around $7,000 for the 4 of us in a cat 6. I'm waiting until we're on-board to book to get the discount and on-board room credit. Our DD is only in first grade, but we've decided that we're not taking her out of school to vacation anymore. Eventually it would have to stop in a few years anyway, so we've decided to suck it up and start vacationing during school vacations now. We've usually sailed DCL during November and it cost around $4,000 for us. Since you sailed in October last time, which is considered off season for DCL, you will notice a sticker shock between fall sailing and summer sailings with DCL.

 

[StuartMI]

Talk to Dana at MICDAN.COM. 1 800 385-8233.

I cant tell you how many thousands I've saved booking through her, PLUS she is a DISer as well!

Wonderful lady, as many here will attest to!

 

[crisi]

Our first was a three day....we cruise again two years after that on a seven day. We are cruising in October because its cheap and booked on the ship two years out. We are a family of four, so that's just one cabin, but will take my parents - so we are going as a family of six in two cabins. We also live in Minnesota, home of expensive airfare.

But, we are a two good income family. Vacations are one of our few "luxuries." We live in a house that (fingers crossed) will be paid for before my 40th birthday - and before we sail again, my kids college is fully funded and my daughter isn't in kindergarten yet.

The West Coast iteneraries sold quickly with no need to discount.

 

[ljql_5969]

Did you try Dreams Unlimited? It's the Travel Agent that sponsors these boards. I booked my cruise, 7 night Western Caribbean, and for a family of 4 it was $4830 in a Category 6. And people have gotten it cheaper. We are curising May 27, 2006, but I just booked it 1/29/05. Maybe yours is high cause it's late? I don't know. I would check around. Do you belong to a discount club like Costco or BJ's? That quote sure does seem high. Is that for 2 cabins?

Good luck.

TTFN,
TiggerInNY
Maria

Just curious...

Have you cruised with Disney before? We booked a Category 11 for July 8th (7 day) and ours cost about $600 more than that. Just curious if it is because of the time of summer that we are going.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I booked with Costco as soon as dates came out for 2006. We're paying under $3500 for a category 6, 7 night night Eastern Caribbean for 2 adults and 2 children! I think that's a great deal.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

When you price it online on the DCL website for more than 4 people it will automatically put you in a suite as opposed to two standard staterooms. The suites are much more expensive. I have a friend who really wants to try DCL with her DH and 4 children. She wrote it off because on the DCL website it would have cost her $10K. I called for her and by booking 2 Cat 10 rooms we were able to lower the price by several thousand. We probably could have saved even more by transferring over to another TA but now she's not sure she can go.

Besides the great suggestions by posters above, I'd just like to add that in order to fuel our addiction we've decided as a family we can go without other things that are less important to us than our vacations are. So we are able to budget that way which really adds up (e.g. making coffee at home instead of buying - savings $10/wk DH and I each = $800+ per year; cooking at home rather than frequent expensive meals out; creative ways to buy clothes such as on clearance or second hand shops, etc... and of course getting a bit of OT helps). Once we started changing our habits it *almost* felt like our vacations paid for themselves! Good Luck.

 

[zeldacruiser]

Two suggestions:

1) If possible, see if a grandparent or two wants to come along, or other family members or close friends. My brother has a family of five and I have a family of two, so we booked two Category 11s, and my nephew slept in our room, right next door.

2) Try Cruise Compete website (cruisecompete.com, but I don't know if I'm allowed to post the actual website here). You say what cruise and dates you want, and different travel agents make bids. That's how we ended up with Michelle at Magical Escapes 866-698-7849. She had the best bid (even over Dreams Unlimited, whom we had used twice before) and has been very helpful with everything.

 

[ljql_5969]

I booked with Costco as soon as dates came out for 2006. We're paying under $3500 for a category 6, 7 night night Eastern Caribbean for 2 adults and 2 children! I think that's a great deal.

Just curious when you are going?

 

[Tylerandalliesmom]

We booked our trip (for school vacation/high season) but a year in advance. I was browsing and found a cat 6 balcony room for $5100 including taxes and transfers through cruise direct. I started having a small amount of money directly deposited to my savings account and didn't touch it. When the final payment came due it didn't hurt a bit....now when the bar bill comes I may cry a little!

 

[webray]

We have always used midcan.com also. They are excellent, and the best prices we can find anywhere.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I'm going Sept 2, 2006. And yes, I plan on purchasing insurance. We did a four night Disney cruise Aug 31 and really enjoyed it.

 

[lbgraves]

We have paid 2500 for our two cruises for a family of 4. The first time we booked an 11 on the eastern 11/03 & were upgraded to an 8. The second on a western 12/4 we booked a 10. This next eastern is 12/10 and is over the 3000 mark because we wanted to be near our friends in an 8 and when we changed from the 12/17 cruise the 10 we were in was the same price as the 8 on the prior week. Last year I ebayed to help with the cost of the cruise. This year we will be losing the preschool expense of 1500 a year for DD when she starts Kindergarten in August and will also save around $336 a year in gas from that round trip to the school. That is close to 2000 right there that we wont miss...so we can deduct that from the cost of the cruise, right??? We don't eat out alot. I sign up with mystery shopping companies who evaluate the places around us so our meals are reimbursed. I use multiple coupons, usually buy only what is on sale that week & there is a coupon for it so I stock up on 10-20 of the item to last until the next sale, shop clearance year round to save on clothing & gifts (toys, books, games) for the kids. The Christmas shopping is already done here so I wont have that coming in at the same time our onboard charges hit our statement.

 

[crzy4dsny]

We too are a family of 5 and always thought we could never afford to go. Whenever I priced the cruise it was through DCL and they always gave me 1 room big enough for all 5 of us. This time I tried calling other TA's to see what kind of prices I could get. I was surprised at the price difference when we looked at booking 2 connecting cabins rather than 1 larger one. We also booked as far out as possible and are taking the kids out of school for this trip.
The thing that stinks about the 2 rooms is that they price you for 2 adults per room so my DD 7 is paying an adult price. Not a big deal but must be difficult for single parents as well.

We personally put the deposit down with our tax return last year and are paying off this cruise with this years tax return. I am a SAHM and my DH is a NYC police officer. We are far, far from wealthy but vacation is what we look forward to. We could and should use our tax return for home improvements or paying some bills but that wouldn't be as much fun, would it?

Good luck and I hope you can find a way to go!

Just realized I posted under DH's name. Oops! I can't stand when he doesn't log out it's as bad as leaving the toilet seat up!

Married2Grumpy

 

[jhorstma]

We really can't take the kids out of school for our cruise, so we're limited to the holidays, spring break (Easter week), or the summer. As a result we're paying top dollar - our 3/19/05 Eastern would cost us $2K less (same cabin, same everything) if we did the same cruise 2 weeks earlier.

Posts in this thread talk about ways to squirrel the money away to pay for what is a very expensive trip, no matter how or when you book. I submit that you also need to evaluate cheaper (and perhaps better, depending on your family's makeup) alternatives such as RCCL.

 

[cjsmith]

That is about right for a family of 5. We actually find it cheaper to book 2 cabins for the five of us rather than all of us in a Cat 4. We've done the the 7 night under the Florida resident discount this way and it's still a bit over $5000 for the 2 cabins, around $8000 without the discount.
There is a big difference when you have over 4 in your party, sorry to say. I keep telling one of my kids that I have to get rid of them!