How often do you cruise DCL?

[Jenleephoto]

We had a great experience on our April 22 4night on the Dream. We are now eager to go back and get cruising again. Initally my hubby said next summer (2013) but we got a wild hair in us and are now thinking about doing another 4 night in December of this year. I am pretty sure that our family members will think we are NUTS going on two vacations per year, much less two similar (Disney) cruises so it got me thinking.. for those of you that love Disney cruising..(and I assume that is almost everyone on here!) how often do you go?? (I know we all wish we could go more often, of course!) Realistically speaking though, would you go twice a year if you could afford it?

thanks!

 

[bmer1rick]

We had a great experience on our April 22 4night on the Dream. We are now eager to go back and get cruising again. Initally my hubby said next summer (2013) but we got a wild hair in us and are now thinking about doing another 4 night in December of this year. I am pretty sure that our family members will think we are NUTS going on two vacations per year, much less two similar (Disney) cruises so it got me thinking.. for those of you that love Disney cruising..(and I assume that is almost everyone on here!) how often do you go?? (I know we all wish we could go more often, of course!) Realistically speaking though, would you go twice a year if you could afford it?

thanks!

We would definitely go twice a year. We actually go 3 or so times a year. We love the DCL experience and enjoy getting away.

 

[Cruisefan2]

Im for going on disney cruises 2 or 3 times a year but the rest of my family says once a year is enough

 

[Dream_2011]

We are a family of six and we been on 5 cruise, we DCL every 2 year we been on almost all season our next on the fantasy spring break 2013. @ fantasy, but believe me I will never cruise on Xmas

 

[Silverfox97]

We cruise at least 2 times a year with DCL, but this year, 3 cruises

 

[linco711]

We had a great experience on our April 22 4night on the Dream. We are now eager to go back and get cruising again. Initally my hubby said next summer (2013) but we got a wild hair in us and are now thinking about doing another 4 night in December of this year. I am pretty sure that our family members will think we are NUTS going on two vacations per year, much less two similar (Disney) cruises so it got me thinking.. for those of you that love Disney cruising..(and I assume that is almost everyone on here!) how often do you go?? (I know we all wish we could go more often, of course!) Realistically speaking though, would you go twice a year if you could afford it?

thanks!

We love DCL and are going on the Fantasy in October. We don't cruise with Disney too often though. We usually choose RCCL or Celebrity. They are a lot of fun and much more affordable. The celebrity Solstice class ships are awesome and 1/3 the price....so a no brainer choice. But Disney is a class all it's own, and if you can afford to go more than once a year than I say go and enjoy.

 

[TXDCLfan]

Once a year on Disney and once a year on Carnival.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Two-week DCL cruise last year, and two-week DCL last month -- still isn't enough.

 

[OrcaPotter]

Of course, if I could afford it, I'd go once every year. I say that because cruising for my family is something super special. And one of the reasons is because we can only afford to go once every couple of years. So it's still unique and immensely spectacular for us. My brother and his family, when they're able, cruise at least twice a year--but on Carnival. He insists that Carnival's prices allow him to go that often, and they're "the same" as any other cruise. We've convinced him that DCL is a better experience, but we'd have to convince him with a special discount to get him on board.

My plan is to start saving to pay for at least my parents and myself to go to either Alaska on the Wonder or another Caribbean on the Fantasy for 2014, if not 2013. I found out yesterday that I finally got a permanent teaching job, so huzzah for regular paychecks! Is it sad that I'm more excited over being able to save money for a Disney cruise?

 

[socababy]

I would go as much as I could. I truly enjoy it that much! As my kids get older they may or may not outgrow DCL so I want to go as much as I can now. I have taken 2 cruises this year with 2 more to go. This, however, won't be the norm. I really took advantage of the Wonder being here on the West Coast and have done the Mexican Riviera 3 times. I'm sad to see her not doing those anymore after this year. Adding flights into your plans kind of changes things.

 

[Saratoga75]

Two times a year would be ideal. Did 2 last year & 1 so far this year. Hoping to do another one towards the end of the year. Question is which one. . . .

 

[taaren]

I'd definitely go twice a year if I could afford it. I'd probably try to alternate itineraries though (ie one Caribbean, one Alaska/Europe/TA/PC) to keep it "fresh".

Unfortunately we can only go once a year, but we feel extremely fortunate that we can afford that + a parks vacation every year (and the parks are a must, we won't trade that for a cruise since that's a multi-family group tradition now). Plus those two trips plus our annual skiing trip takes up almost all of our vacation time, even though we work for the government and get a ample amount.

 

[PizzieDuster]

If I could afford it, of course 2 times a year. We have been lucky to cruise every year for a while, splitting DCL with Royal Car. (My teen boys liked Royal Car. better.) However, with college tuition now, things change, and the boys in college change. They would rather study abroad then go on a cruise. My DH and I talk about this all the time. We weigh the cruises vs. banking the money for college. I'm pro cruises and the family experiences. My DH is set on gifting the boys (two) a loan free undergraduate degree. Which = no cruises for me, which I can live with. We started cruising when my oldest was 12. He's now 22. So, I would cruise with young kids and some point, save that money for college. Like I say everywhere here, I'm just looking for deals now. Kids sail free (I have a D13). My last DCL cruise was a KSF and that was the only way I could sell it to DH and it was a MR which meant no airfare for us.

 

[postalchick71]

We went last year, and went this year. That's a pattern I don't mind repeating

 

[lulubella1609]

We went in February and are going again in 3 weeks! We also have one planned for the Fall. So once every season .

 

[MickeyMinnieMelanie]

We went on one in 2009 and one this year. We love Disney. In between we have been on Carnival and to WDW. Between the two cruiselines, we love Disney hands down. But, our friends can only afford Carnival and we enjoy cruising with them. Although our dd's would now rather cruise DCL than go to WDW now that they are older, me and dh are bigger fans of WDW. Like some people have already said, we have one going to college in a couple of years and can only afford DCL in October. So I have talked DH into going this year as next October will be MNSSHP. Then off to college. Sadly, because of DCL prices, this year will be our last disney cruise for probably 8 years by the time we get both out of college. But, I say if you can afford to go more than once a year. Go for it. You only live once. That's why our money goes to vacations and not new cars and expensive homes (You can't take them to heaven)

 

[kcashner]

Way too much.....I think our record was 6 cruises in a year. I know we did 25 consecutive nights in 2011, and we have 45 nights booked in 2013 (not counting dummy bookings). However, I'm seriously considering switching the Med to another line.

Yes, once upon a time we did one per year. Then we added another, and now it just depends on our available time and where the ships are going.

 

[SNicksed]

We cruise at least 2 times a year with DCL, but this year, 3 cruises

Us too!

 

[MrsMas]

Since my first cruise in 2009, I have cruised only once a year. I wish I could afford to do it 2-3 times a year. I think it is awesome that so many people can. One day...

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

We've done twice a year on DCL since 2010. Sometimes back to back since with airfare to Florida that makes it more affordable for our family of 4. We too LOVED having the Wonder here for the MR and have done that twice. We originally had December 2012 MR on the Wonder but DCL cancelled that in favor of repositioning to Miami.

So, DCL did not get a 3rd cruise out of us this year. Spending that cruise budget on Aulani instead. So far we have booked just a big family Alaska cruise booked for 2013. We'd love to do the Fantasy, but so far the prices are too high for dates when school is out. The IGT/VGT rates are appealing but hard to do for us with airfare prices when having to book so close to sailing. And I admit I am much less enthusiastic about using my dummy bookings with the new restrictions and downgrading of OBC/platinum experiences. So, DCL might be pricing themselves out of us cruising as frequently as we have.