Just Saying No?

[PrincessShmoo]

fully refundable deposit

Well, fully refundable except on Concierge rooms.

 

[cruiser21]

And nearly all the time I choose “ prefer not to answer.”

Agreed. I would just love me to see more surveys that asked me what I thought of the cruise not how much money is in my 401k.

 

[seacruise]

I'm saying no in 2019 due to a combination of price and uninspiring itineraries. The weeks we can go in early 2019 both happen to be holiday weeks (Presidents Day, Eater) and the prices those weeks are way higher than the surrounding weeks. I'm still willing to pay a premium to cruise with DCL, but just not working out for next year (so far).

 

[cruiser21]

I understand what you are saying and I did try to include the target market price adjustment in my note. It isn't the first thing that should be looked at, but it must be a consideration.

DCL has an interesting problem. First day demand is skewed by their fully refundable deposit and the perception that prices will only go up. People scramble to book, just trying to get in on "the deal" The feeding frenzy creates a false demand. Unlike many products though, nobody owns anything yet. It's basically a purchase intention rather than a purchase.

There are so many analytics tools these days, they are probably trying to set prices at a rate that will change this behavior. It's really a strange problem. I'd love to talk to their marketing department, but pricing strategies are some of the most confidential things a company has.

Yes and if you have a Disney Visa you don't even have to pay the deposit for 6 months. I could hold 3 or 4 cruises for 6 months with just the minimum credit card payment which isn't much.

 

[cgolf]

No gouging is happening when supply and demand are a portion of the market.

That’s like saying a meal at fast food is price gouging because costs in general are going up.

Real estate has increased, minimum wages have increased. It all works.

There are also a lot of jobs that haven't seen an increase in wages or very small increase, while the amount of work we have to do has greatly increased when we don't replace people that leave the company.

I could sell our house for a boatload more than we paid for it, but I don't want to buy or even remodel in this market.

 

[cgolf]

Yes and if you have a Disney Visa you don't even have to pay the deposit for 6 months. I could hold 3 or 4 cruises for 6 months with just the minimum credit card payment which isn't much.

Maybe they should make everyone forfeit part of their deposit if they cancel and don't book a cruise at all. That may limit some of the issue. If they end up using the deposit on a different cruise there should be no penalty.

I do like what they did with the OBB placeholder which probably cut down on this by people not booking the cheapest cruise on board to move it to the one they really wanted later.

 

[cruiser21]

Maybe they should make everyone forfeit part of their deposit if they cancel and don't book a cruise at all. That may limit some of the issue. If they end up using the deposit on a different cruise there should be no penalty.

I do like what they did with the OBB placeholder which probably cut down on this by people not booking the cheapest cruise on board to move it to the one they really wanted later.

Cruiselines and hotels just don't do that. I think it's just bad business. It's bad enough you pay them off 3 months in advance. If they did that people would just wait until a month before to book a cruise.

 

[cruiser21]

No gouging is happening when supply and demand are a portion of the market.

That’s like saying a meal at fast food is price gouging because costs in general are going up.

Real estate has increased, minimum wages have increased. It all works.

Minimum wage going up has increased prices on everything for those of us that don't make minimum wage. Minimum wage jobs should be for teenagers and college kids. We rarely eat out for lunch anymore because of the price hikes. Real estate has increased in some areas not in all. There's a lot of land between California and New york where real estate is not up.

 

[cgolf]

Cruiselines and hotels just don't do that. I think it's just bad business. It's bad enough you pay them off 3 months in advance. If they did that people would just wait until a month before to book a cruise.

I am not saying it is great business, but people just booking a cruise or cruises on opening day to only drop them later increasing the prices for the rest of us isn't great either. It would be interesting to know how many of the cruises booked on opening day get canceled outright, maybe the isn't that big of an issue. Not sure if there is a way to fix this, DCL doesn't care, because it allows them to charge more if early bookings drop out they can sell the room at the now higher going rate.

Being able to book the placeholder onboard didn't impact the off peak cruise prices like I thought it would. I think before that change many onboard we're booking the cheapest cruise to lock in the discount only to move it later to the cruise they want.

 

[cruiser21]

I am not saying it is great business, but people just booking a cruise or cruises on opening day to only drop them later increasing the prices for the rest of us isn't great either. It would be interesting to know how many of the cruises booked on opening day get canceled outright, maybe the isn't that big of an issue. Not sure if there is a way to fix this, DCL doesn't care, because it allows them to charge more if early bookings drop out they can sell the room at the now higher going rate.

Being able to book the placeholder onboard didn't impact the off peak cruise prices like I thought it would. I think before that change many onboard we're booking the cheapest cruise to lock in the discount only to move it later to the cruise they want.

Only popular cruises go up in price. Many offseason cruises do not.

 

[cgolf]

Only popular cruises go up in price. Many offseason cruises do not.

They may not climb in price, but opening day went way up. Our example is we did a 4 and 5 night B2B on the Magic in 2016. When we looked to book for 2017 we saw a 3 and 3 B2B on the Magic in the same time period and the only difference was the 3 and 3 had one less port, other ports were the same. Here is the kicker 6 nights in 2017 was more expensive than what we had paid for 9 in 2016. That truly was our breaking point.

Both would have been booked onboard, so the 2016 cruise wasn't a last minute booking.

 

[cruiser21]

They may not climb in price, but opening day went way up. Our example is we did a 4 and 5 night B2B on the Magic in 2016. When we looked to book for 2017 we saw a 3 and 3 B2B on the Magic in the same time period and the only difference was the 3 and 3 had one less port, other ports were the same. Here is the kicker 6 nights in 2017 was more expensive than what we had paid for 9 in 2016. That truly was our breaking point.

Both would have been booked onboard, so the 2016 cruise wasn't a last minute booking.

You won't get an argument out of me that prices are too high. Opening day or any day. There wasn't a whole lot I could use my OBB on in 2018. I think the WBTA and Quebec were about the only ones that interested me that were withing my budget. I ended up with Quebec. This year I booked the Sept 2017 Alaska cruise in May 2017 with an OBB. It never went up in price from opening day. I don't rush to book popular cruises on opening day because they are way more then I want to spend anyway. I tend to take the unpopular cruises.

 

[JW9DVC]

Minimum wage going up has increased prices on everything for those of us that don't make minimum wage. Minimum wage jobs should be for teenagers and college kids. We rarely eat out for lunch anymore because of the price hikes. Real estate has increased in some areas not in all. There's a lot of land between California and New york where real estate is not up.

Exactly my point. It’s not gouging. It’s the market. The market in California for a house on average $300-400k in my area.

Business also costs more. So many are used to paying more money for things, including unnecessary vacations.

 

[cyclenut]

I am not saying it is great business, but people just booking a cruise or cruises on opening day to only drop them later increasing the prices for the rest of us isn't great either. It would be interesting to know how many of the cruises booked on opening day get canceled outright, maybe the isn't that big of an issue. Not sure if there is a way to fix this, DCL doesn't care, because it allows them to charge more if early bookings drop out they can sell the room at the now higher going rate.

Being able to book the placeholder onboard didn't impact the off peak cruise prices like I thought it would. I think before that change many onboard we're booking the cheapest cruise to lock in the discount only to move it later to the cruise they want.

When on board, I book a placeholder. That's what they call it now. It used to be that you had to book an actual cruise. We picked the cheapest cruise in the cheapest cabin just to get the discount and OBB. Then you could move it multiple times until you landed on the cruise you wanted to take. Now the rules are different. You've got to figure out what you want and land on it rather quickly or you lose OBB.

I believe Disney is raising opening day prices to counter the booking rush. Over time people will realize that prices won't actually go up and they can relax and take their time to decide what they want, then book it. For now though, that's a game of roulette. Not just because of pricing, but availability.

 

[cgolf]

When on board, I book a placeholder. That's what they call it now. It used to be that you had to book an actual cruise. We picked the cheapest cruise in the cheapest cabin just to get the discount and OBB. Then you could move it multiple times until you landed on the cruise you wanted to take. Now the rules are different. You've got to figure out what you want and land on it rather quickly or you lose OBB.

I believe Disney is raising opening day prices to counter the booking rush. Over time people will realize that prices won't actually go up and they can relax and take their time to decide what they want, then book it. For now though, that's a game of roulette. Not just because of pricing, but availability.

The placeholder definately helped us get the rooms we wanted. We especially liked the sideways inside rooms on the magic, felt roomier than the Cat V on the Fantasy.

There are only a couple of room styles we haven't tried yet a suite and oceanview. Oceanview gets checked off next cruise, not sure if we will ever splurge on a suite.

 

[DisneyHelen]

I am not interested in Caribbean cruises.Given the prices I will be going every 2 years now.Lost my placeholder credit but I still got a good price by booking opening day for September 2018.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Cruiselines and hotels just don't do that. I think it's just bad business. It's bad enough you pay them off 3 months in advance. If they did that people would just wait until a month before to book a cruise.

2 of the major cruiselines now have non refundable deposit rates - Carnival and Royal Caribbean. You get a lower rate for booking the non refundable deposit. I have a 2018 cruise (Royal) and a 2019 cruise (Carnival) booked with non-refundable deposits. I'm certain that I'm getting the best rates on those 2 cruises so it was worth it to me to book that rate (and Carnival guarantees that by booking the non-refundable deposit rate that I can price match to any decreases in cabin cost up to 2 days prior to sailing).

 

[cruiser21]

2 of the major cruiselines now have non refundable deposit rates - Carnival and Royal Caribbean. You get a lower rate for booking the non refundable deposit. I have a 2018 cruise (Royal) and a 2019 cruise (Carnival) booked with non-refundable deposits. I'm certain that I'm getting the best rates on those 2 cruises so it was worth it to me to book that rate (and Carnival guarantees that by booking the non-refundable deposit rate that I can price match to any decreases in cabin cost up to 2 days prior to sailing).

The difference between a non refundable and a past guest rate was about 40.00 dollars. I'd rather just pay 40.00 dollars more and have it refundable. People like the early savers rates because you get a reduced deposit, but it's not for me. There would have to be a really significant savings for me to pay a non refundable deposit.

 

[KashasMom]

The difference between a non refundable and a past guest rate was about 40.00 dollars. I'd rather just pay 40.00 dollars more and have it refundable. People like the early savers rates because you get a reduced deposit, but it's not for me. There would have to be a really significant savings for me to pay a non refundable deposit.

We booked RCI Harmony while on board the Allure so deposit was only $100. A few months later they had a special going on ($500 less than we paid) with a non-refundable deposit. We were able to get the special without adding any additional money to the deposit. Saved $500 and only paid $100 deposit. I know we won't be cancelling this one. Love that RCI honors discounts/specials up until paid in full date. Our original rate wasn't an early saver rate though...not sure I've ever gotten one of those (sure didn't for the Bliss!).

 

[COASTIEandMATE]

I don't often come to the defense of the "DCL only" crowd, but we kind of do this with Hawaii. We paid less than $3000 the first time we went to Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island and fell in love with the place. It's our version of paradise. I imagine the waterfalls and the turtles when I need to relax. So now when we go to that island, we stay there, and we pay about twice as much as that first time. So I guess I understand spending so much more if a DCL cruise ship is your version of paradise. We could maybe go to the Keys (well, not now) or some other island and have just as much fun. But we're unwilling to risk it.

Now with cruising, I would love to sail DCL again, but I don't think I'll ever be able to justify the cost. We cruise to see new places, to experience new things, and to spend time as a family. We can do that on any line. We just got back from Princess in NYC to Canada. We saw the Magic there too. She was doing a 7-night and we were on a 5-night. The Magic was about $4000 more than the Princess cruise. With that "savings", I can do another vacation. My kid will always pick 2 vacations over 1, even if it means not sailing Disney. I do still love DCL though. We happened to be on the 102nd floor of One World Trade Center when the Magic sailed out on Saturday and I took a gazillion pictures of her. I think she'll always hold a special place in my heart since it was my first cruise.

We live in Hawaii and we feel the same about Hilton Waikaloa Village, locals call it Hawaii's Disneyland! We celebrate our anniversaries there and feel it is worth the extra bucks! We only cruise Disneycruiseline because of the cast members that make our vacations magical! From the big smiles of our room stewards to the fun MDR servers we love our Disney cruise, and pick one we can afford !