Divah
Disney Diva
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2015
Interesting - I have been finding cruising much more expensive than going to the parks. I like cruising - but can't reconcile the value and the parks still seem more worth it. Then again, I haven't done more than preliminary price checking for cruises or WDW park stays in a couple of years. We used our non-expiring passes at the parks last year and our last Disney cruise was 2013.
We are headed to Disneyland this year so I will compare prices based on what I am most up to date with. Mind you I am doing most of this particular trip with reward points (half of my tickets and my hotel stay are all with points). But if I had to pay normally, four 5 day hoppers would have been about $1200, off-site motel across the street seems to avg about $150/night, say food about $200/day (I'm hoping to keep it about $100/day). Around $2950 for 5 days. I'm pretty sure a 5 day Disney cruise prices out at more than $3k for a family of 4 sharing a cabin.
We started a few years ago with the cruise ...for us a family of five it was so much cheaper. The first time we went we used a travel agent and she did amazing and showed us tricks to ask for for free...room upgrades...packages....the closer you get to the dates the more freedoms and discounts they work with you....example:
We are Sailing April 20 this year...We had it planned for 6months in advanced. We just upgraded rooms to adjoining deluxe ocean view rooms on deck 2 for free... drink package for half price and when balance paid off on card had other perks...all in all for 5 of us with upgrades total was 3200 and we added a shore excursion. We spent a week last year at Dworld ( for daughters graduation ) all 5 of us and all said and done it was close to 4500...
Yes we could have gone cheaper and stayed at a lower cost resort or worked our meals and suvioners etc....cheaper but for me personally ...I don't have to fight the lines on the boat everything's included ...We see the same characters for most part...the dinning and shows are amazing it is just more relaxing for me.
I found better deals for the cruise than I have in the parks for what we want to do. I guess it boils down to when you go what deals you find and what makes you happy...