Is everyone that cruises with DCL rich?

[Rogillio]

I suppose that we will take our fair share of Disney cruises when our DDs get older, Our DD3 has been on 3 cruises already and our DD1 has been on 2, we are taking our first Disney cruise in Feb after they announced the kids free program. Once the girls get older we will get into the longer cruises, the kids free program just couldn't be passed up...just enough to wet our appetites for the cruise line. I have to agree with most posters, Disney from what I have heard does offer the most for the money, certainly most do indeed see the value based on service/cost of cruise. I have cruises 11 times before on other cruise lines and i'm certainly looking to compare. But i've heard once you've been on Disney you'll never go back...I think thats the way the saying goes as for being rich, my 1997 Ford F-150 that has 75,000 miles on it, it looks somewhat out of place in Beverly Hills

That is too funny.

 

["Got Disney"]

Exactly! Our two cars are 18 yrs old and 12 yrs old. We buy clothes at Goodwill and other thrift stores... we do our shopping at stores that make Walmart look like Bloomingdales. We don't even have cable TV. Not because we HAVE to, but because we love family vacations... and all that money that COULD go to car payments and cable TV -- we put into our family trips instead. A single $200/m car payment ($2400/yr) and a $99/m cable TV bill ($1200/yr) can instead add up to some nice family vacations. We have gone to Paris - twice! - and taken 4 DCL cruises, all in the past 5 years.

Whenever I start to yearn for a new car.. my wife asks "how many Disney cruises will it cost?".... and that gets me to change my mind real quick. I can drive my 1991 Honda a little while longer. hahahahaha

We are financially blessed and still have cars that have over 100,000 miles on them. Can we afford new ones...yup.. can afford DCL and so on...yup... but we do make sure that each week we throw more and more money into our Emergency fund. Something we never worried about until the past 2 years...thanks to Suzy Orman.....

It was all about vacations. All about DCL....we would worry about our debt and EF later. Well no longer. We saved for them even before we had no money... We saved for the DCL and did not go into debt for it but never used that money towards our debt either.r We are DVC members and use that for DL and use our Disney rewards visa card for everything so to get the reward dollars to use for all things Disney....but we run NO balance on it.

DH wanted to buy a new house bigger than what we have. But I looked at him and said ...NO way...if we do that we will have to give up on our vacations.....so we did not buy that house.

We have been working very hard at getting rid of all our debt and are almost there. And we have not cruises since 2008 and will not again till 2011 Alaska. Can we afford to go...yup....but we are in our 50's and need to face things a little different...mostly after loosing so much of our retirement 3 times over the last 25 years. WE want appsolutely NO more debt.

We however do not regret any of our choices of going on the cruises instead of paying off our debt ...although things were a bit different with the Economy than......We treasure every vacation we have had with our kids. But I do want to stress to everyone......

please dont forget to save for emergencies at the same time for your vacations....even if it is $25 a week.

My definition of Rich is "You don't HAVE to go to work tomorrow"

.

that would be nice.

I tell everyone that I am filthy rich.

My wife says I am half-right...........

See you all on DCL

 

[tvguy]

Just curious ....how many miles on the suburban?

Rob

131,600

This has been one of those "years" that owners of older cars hate, when you have to replace components. Distributor, Power Steering pump, brake master cylinder, vacuum booster and battery. $1,500 total so far this year, or about 3 months car payments !
Went 5 years without an expense other than oil changes....had to replace the a/c compressor in 2004, that was over a grand.

 

[orlandothebeagle]

I pride myself on my penny-pintching, yet LOVE DCL!

I am not wealthy, by income standards. But I have a wonderful wife and sweetheart of a daughter, a roof over my head, and a full belly. I consider myself very rich. It's all about your perspective.

Same here except, hubby,beagles and little cottage,work my butt off and love my life.
Recently done a marathon, was running past a bloke who told me, get going, not long, i said Im fed up, he said, " no, youre bored, to be bored youre are alive, get a move on"
so true.
What were we talking about?

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Same here except, hubby,beagles and little cottage,work my butt off and love my life.
Recently done a marathon, was running past a bloke who told me, get going, not long, i said Im fed up, he said, " no, your bored, to be bored you re are alive, get a move on"
so true.
What were we talking about?

Agree.

LIFE is rich, we are all just passing through, enjoy what you want to do, some people drink, some people get season tickets to Sport, some expensive hobbies, my DS went to his new school yesterday and they were very impressed with his geography, and knowledge of places of interest in the world, he did a quiz and did very well, above his age group. DD is also good at Geography, and Art. DCL in part has inspired them, and with Russia, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Malta and Tunisia to come added to Panama, South America, (Columbia) Caribbean and Mexico, they have done a lot and have a Rich experience.
Disney is not cheap, and for some we must respect is out of their vacation budget. We should think of others less fortunate.

 

[tvguy]

My definition of Rich is "You don't HAVE to go to work tomorrow"

.

Of course, being the good employee you are, you WILL call in sick...the night before.......and mention you are "calling in sick, forever"

 

[wdwfan]

Interesting thread.

 

[croppincolburn]

Popular topic. When I look at the kids we sponsor and projects we contribute too I feel very rich. When we have a kid in college I don't feel so rich. But I'm happy with the choices we make. We usually end up with some money from tax returns. When dh gets bonuses they take out extra taxes so we get the difference at tax time. That often goes toward vacations. Sometimes we are able to use the bonus towards travel too.

I hope everyone, at sometime, is able to travel to wherever interests them.

 

[LAWalz23]

Far from rich here. I have a degree and work in Mental Health as a program supervisor because I get satisfaction from helping people get their lives back. I save for my vacations and sometimes use my DVC points for cruises. The way I look at it is as long as I don't go into serious debt (have to save for retirement and that "rainy day", too) and want to do something like a Disney cruise that is what I do. Of course my thinking is influenced by the sudden death of my older sister at 43 years old, 9 years ago, and my "healthy" mother having surgery for an anuerysm, 3 years ago, saved her life, but left her with ongoing balance and stamina problems and a paralyzed vocal chord so now we have to take a wheelchair on vacation but we still go. As others have said nothing will replace memories so I take the opportunity to make them whenever possible.

 

[KSandbergFL]

KSandbergFL wrote:

Whenever I start to yearn for a new car.. my wife asks "how many Disney cruises will it cost?".... and that gets me to change my mind real quick. I can drive my 1991 Honda a little while longer. hahahahaha

I'm glad our family is not the only ones who measure purchases in "Disney Trip Costs". --- I want that, but we could go to Disney for 5 days for that price . . . Could we do "X", but we that would be a Disney trip . . . , etc.

I didn't even tell you the half of it... my wife is a total Disney addict. June 2008 was our 10th anniversary -- so I "man-ed up" and gallantly offered to considerably upgrade my wife's wedding ring to something far more impressive. She said "I'd rather have Disney cruises instead". How's THAT for a Disney freak?!?

 

[mr.b]

Yes...

 

[jship210]

Is it exspensive??? My DW won't show me the bills. I do notice an up surge of peanutebutter & Jelly sandwich luches for many, many weeks afterwards..

It's all about priotitizing. We use our Disney CC for alot of stuff, we save by making our to-go cups at home rather than buying coffee at the local shops everyday. We save where we can, Small things add up.

 

[SoGrateful]

We've been eating Ramen Noodle Soup since we got back from our western carribean cruise way back in April--and still havn't been able to afford to get all my photos developed--but IT WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY!

 

[SoGrateful]

P.S. It was really expensive for 5 of us ---and I never showed my Hubby a bill either!

 

[JDBlair]

I didn't even tell you the half of it... my wife is a total Disney addict. June 2008 was our 10th anniversary -- so I "man-ed up" and gallantly offered to considerably upgrade my wife's wedding ring to something far more impressive. She said "I'd rather have Disney cruises instead". How's THAT for a Disney freak?!?

Last week, before arriving in St. Thomas, I told DH he needed to buy me a fancy ring when we were in port. I have a simple band and told him he'd get more bang for his buck there. He wasn't sure if I was serious and then I laughed and said, "You just keep saying 'yes' to these Disney cruises and we'll call it even! I would rather cruise than wear a cruise on my finger." So, I am with your wife.

 

[DrD]

I think I've heard it said that as a rule of thumb you should spend only 1-2 weeks salary on a vacation.

Probably shouldn't spend anything unless you're clear of credit card debt and have 1-2 months emergency savings.

Sorry for the bad news!

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I think I've heard it said that as a rule of thumb you should spend only 1-2 weeks salary on a vacation.

Probably shouldn't spend anything unless you're clear of credit card debt and have 1-2 months emergency savings.

Sorry for the bad news!

WOW if that's the case then I should be camping at the nearest lake in a tent

Rob

 

[makaylee]

I think I've heard it said that as a rule of thumb you should spend only 1-2 weeks salary on a vacation.

Probably shouldn't spend anything unless you're clear of credit card debt and have 1-2 months emergency savings.

Sorry for the bad news!

My DH is in the AF and only brings home about $1400 a week but we don't owe anyone a dime and we have a large savings so I don't feel bad taking an expensive vacation. I don't think it matters how much you make, it depends on how much you can afford (safely)

 

[Lil' Grumpy]

...rich? , unless.."wishing" counts?

we have done... 6~cruises...& our piggy looks liked he had gastic
bypass...surgery,


...maybe there's a connection? dcl & skinny piggys'?..nahhhhh



of course, rationization..comes in handy...my 1988 ranger.....
...has so many miles....the speed-o-monitor lost count.

{ worst..my wife "found"..the prefect bargain....a ring in aruba that
cost more..than the cruise. while i'm still trying to "figure -out"
the "bargain"..part....., i bet i won't forget her birthday,
"back in the future" . too bad, they didn't make a "time machine" ,
for us... common folks. }

 

[KSandbergFL]

of course, rationization..comes in handy...

We cut our hotdogs in half, so we can make the pack last longer.