MATH is a Wonderful Thing...

[pontikes67]

So after today's DU Show, I got really interested in RCL. Great show today, btw, check it out.

I have a trip planned for March of 2017 but got to thinking as I looked at how amazing the Oasis class and Quantum seem to be that it is worth another look...maybe RCL was the way to go; you know DISNEY is the most expensive cruise line out there (that's what they always say).

Well, it's funny, maybe DCL is the more expensive of the two, but today I ran some numbers and they might not be that expensive. Granted this is just the one cruise and I do have an OBB Discount (but I've done it with and without the discount to be fair). Also, there are some very cool looking experiences on RCL that are not on DCL and the suites etc are pretty awesome, but this is just an exercise in Math!

So I'm in a 4E (299 square feet including the balcony). RCL has a Jr. Suite that is about 78 feet bigger (advantage RCL).

Room for 4 (2a, 2k (11/9)) - 6208.00, including Port Fees on DCL vs. 8600.80 on RCL. RCL then has a 'deal' that drops the net price to $6134.00 and they give you an OBC of $100 (with this specific cruise).

Disney allows my agent to give me an OBC in addition to Disney's OBC that they gave me for booking on board (I'm sure RCL has something similar). RCL doesn't allow the agent OBC, maybe agents work around that, but it's not an OBC. So I'm getting $450 in OBC's on Disney vs. $100 on RCL. In addition, DCL gave me an OBB discount, but I'm not using that here and to make it more even, I'll drop my OBC credit as well to give the advantage to RCL. I'm keeping my agent's OBC because that's legit regardless of when I book. I've priced Excursions at $1,000 for both; and I took the Soda Package for kids and the High End beverage package for my wife and I on RCL. I added in the 825 in beverage packages for the week to my bar bill on DCL and I've included gratuities. No Specialty Dinners though I know there's a 'deal' on RCL for 3, 4 or 5 specialty dinners; though I don't know that we'd use more than 3, so let's call that a push.

Finally, I don't know if there are any fees for the very cool RCL experiences onboard and Disney has the simulators that we don't waste our time with anymore.

drumroll please...

DCL is cheaper by $370.

Now maybe my bar bill will be more than 825...though I doubt it. Disney allows you to bring 2 bottles of wine on per adult at embarkation (RCL - 2 per stateroom). DCL lets you bring 2 bottles on at ports (no spirits of course, they lock those up until the end now...bummer) so I think DCL has the advantage fun and fiscally there.

Now if I take my OBB discount, my DCL OBC, AND throw in my Disney Credit Card points (I've got enough to pay for my excursions and my alcohol), I'm getting a $9800 cruise for $6800...

winner winner chicken dinner.

 

[Frozen2014]

Jr Suites are pricey on Oasis but there are many other more affordable options on Oasis for a family of four.

We're a family if 4 going on Allure for under $4k (and that's Canadian amount so in USD, under $3k)

Either way, I'm sure both are amazing cruises. Enjoy.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

So after today's DU Show, I got really interested in RCL. Great show today, btw, check it out.

I have a trip planned for March of 2017 but got to thinking as I looked at how amazing the Oasis class and Quantum seem to be that it is worth another look...maybe RCL was the way to go; you know DISNEY is the most expensive cruise line out there (that's what they always say).

Well, it's funny, maybe DCL is the more expensive of the two, but today I ran some numbers and they might not be that expensive. Granted this is just the one cruise and I do have an OBB Discount (but I've done it with and without the discount to be fair). Also, there are some very cool looking experiences on RCL that are not on DCL and the suites etc are pretty awesome, but this is just an exercise in Math!

So I'm in a 4E (299 square feet including the balcony). RCL has a Jr. Suite that is about 78 feet bigger (advantage RCL).

Room for 4 (2a, 2k (11/9)) - 6208.00, including Port Fees on DCL vs. 8600.80 on RCL. RCL then has a 'deal' that drops the net price to $6134.00 and they give you an OBC of $100 (with this specific cruise).

Disney allows my agent to give me an OBC in addition to Disney's OBC that they gave me for booking on board (I'm sure RCL has something similar). RCL doesn't allow the agent OBC, maybe agents work around that, but it's not an OBC. So I'm getting $450 in OBC's on Disney vs. $100 on RCL. In addition, DCL gave me an OBB discount, but I'm not using that here and to make it more even, I'll drop my OBC credit as well to give the advantage to RCL. I'm keeping my agent's OBC because that's legit regardless of when I book. I've priced Excursions at $1,000 for both; and I took the Soda Package for kids and the High End beverage package for my wife and I on RCL. I added in the 825 in beverage packages for the week to my bar bill on DCL and I've included gratuities. No Specialty Dinners though I know there's a 'deal' on RCL for 3, 4 or 5 specialty dinners; though I don't know that we'd use more than 3, so let's call that a push.

Finally, I don't know if there are any fees for the very cool RCL experiences onboard and Disney has the simulators that we don't waste our time with anymore.

drumroll please...

DCL is cheaper by $370.

Now maybe my bar bill will be more than 825...though I doubt it. Disney allows you to bring 2 bottles of wine on per adult at embarkation (RCL - 2 per stateroom). DCL lets you bring 2 bottles on at ports (no spirits of course, they lock those up until the end now...bummer) so I think DCL has the advantage fun and fiscally there.

Now if I take my OBB discount, my DCL OBC, AND throw in my Disney Credit Card points (I've got enough to pay for my excursions and my alcohol), I'm getting a $9800 cruise for $6800...

winner winner chicken dinner.

Sounds like a great time! What DCL ship is it?

 

[bumbershoot]

(that's what they always say).

They also say that oasis and quantum class aren't the norm for royal.

Find a cruise on freedom class, which is more comparable to Disney ships anyway, and see what happens.

 

[plutolovr]

I'm not sure why you're not getting OBC from your TA. Dreams Unlimited Travel gives shipboard credit if you book through them.

 

[pontikes67]

They also say that oasis and quantum class aren't the norm for royal.

Find a cruise on freedom class, which is more comparable to Disney ships anyway, and see what happens.

I know, I was trying to compare availability out of Port Canaveral. Oasis is my only option from there over the same dates. I cruised on RCCL on my very first cruise. After the experience, I pretty much swore off ever cruising again until we took our first Disney Cruise. It changed our perspective completely. That being said...RCCL has certainly built some beautiful ships in the last several years, and I agree with what Tracey Heinrichs mentioned in the podcast about the inventory of DCL being vastly smaller than RCL and thus pricing and availability is different. In the end, it's perceived value. In my first DCL experience vs. my first RCCL experience I would have paid $5,000 more for the former. After today's podcast and a lot of the positive feedback on RCCL it's likely we'll cruise them again, as they seem to have really changed their game on these new ships.

 

[pontikes67]

I'm not sure why you're not getting OBC from your TA. Dreams Unlimited Travel gives shipboard credit if you book through them.

That's a great question. Having never cruised RCCL I wouldn't know from experience and the verbiage on DU's site was confusing to me.

 

[pontikes67]

Sounds like a great time! What DCL ship is it?

Fantasy!

 

[Thnlk]

Sometimes rccl is cheaper and sometimes Disney is cheaper. The key is that research saves you money not loyalty.

 

[pontikes67]

Jr Suites are pricey on Oasis but there are many other more affordable options on Oasis for a family of four.

We're a family if 4 going on Allure for under $4k (and that's Canadian amount so in USD, under $3k)

Either way, I'm sure both are amazing cruises. Enjoy.

I'd agree! I noted in my original post that I'm sure it's not likely to go this way for me every time I do the math...I guess it made me feel like I wasn't getting as badly over charged. The math is more in RCCL's favor when you compare a room that is 30 feet smaller (like in my scenario where RCCL was bigger)

 

[pontikes67]

Sometimes rccl is cheaper and sometimes Disney is cheaper. The key is that research saves you money not loyalty.

I think as our kids are getting older, we're looking more at our 'options' because the kids clubs won't mean as much as they did when they were 7 and 5 which opens up more to us. We cruised with another line last year and the kids options were really bad. The RCCL ships that they talked about and I've looked at are amazing! We're sure to do RCCL especially since they have some awesome itineraries in Asia and South Pacific.

 

[Thnlk]

Since our kids are grown itineraries and cost are our major considerations. Our last cruise was on Disney our next cruise is on RCCL and the one after that is on Celenrity.

 

[Iamaplanner]

Now if DCL just allowed us Canadians to book and pay in CDN, as RCCL does, we'd be all set......

 

[Hundredacre]

It seems like you should be comparing a balcony room with just a balcony room to get an accurate comparison, not a balcony to a suite.

 

[pontikes67]

It seems like you should be comparing a balcony room with just a balcony room to get an accurate comparison, not a balcony to a suite.

I think "Suite" might be stretching it a bit; it's a standard room from what I can see...that being said, compared to a 'balcony' room, there's an advantage to RCCL but the room is 40 square feet smaller and in my case the cabin I have is 5052 which has a deck that is as big as the room...more valuable to me then a 'suite'.

 

[bumbershoot]

I took the Soda Package for kids and the High End beverage package for my wife and I on RCL. I added in the 825 in beverage packages for the week to my bar bill on DCL

Are you actually likely to drink to the extent that those packages are required?

I'm not sure why you're not getting OBC from your TA. Dreams Unlimited Travel gives shipboard credit if you book through them.

Agreed.

We have over $300 total OBC from Royal and costcotravel.com on our cruise on Freedom next month (and around the same in December on Adventure).

I don't know what that verbiage OP posted had to do with not getting OBC from the TA.

I cruised on RCCL on my very first cruise. After the experience, I pretty much swore off ever cruising again until we took our first Disney Cruise.

Interesting.

We started with Royal, went to Disney a few times, and we're back to Royal. Royal has never changed, in our opinion, and I mean that in a great way. DCL isn't worth it to us.

Of course, we are spending *nowhere NEAR* what you're spending.

I think "Suite" might be stretching it a bit; it's a standard room from what I can see...that being said, compared to a 'balcony' room, there's an advantage to RCCL but the room is 40 square feet smaller and in my case the cabin I have is 5052 which has a deck that is as big as the room...more valuable to me then a 'suite'.

Junior Suite is a Jr Suite. You get double points for it, at the very very least, which means you go up in loyalty level quicker.

 

[pontikes67]

Are you actually likely to drink to the extent that those packages are required? NO, but I added it and then washed it with similar beverage expense on DCL. I've removed it now, and just put in the soda package as we would use that and beverage expenses for adults would be similar (though we do save a little because we can bring more wine on board with DCL)



Agreed.

We have over $300 total OBC from Royal and costcotravel.com on our cruise on Freedom next month (and around the same in December on Adventure).

I don't know what that verbiage OP posted had to do with not getting OBC from the TA.

The TEXT is from DU's website about OBC's but they are only good for travel through the end of last month (according to what I copied and pasted) but they were good for travel that was booked through the end of this month? I was confused. All that being said, if my TA is simply not offering OBC's (I used her prior to becoming a bit of a DIS Unplugged junkie) I may have to find another avenue. Also DU seems to give your OBC based on transfers, the cruise, fees, pre and post night...that's pretty sweet. Costco isn't usually an OBC it's typically a gift card for Costco...but maybe that's changed as well.

Interesting.

We started with Royal, went to Disney a few times, and we're back to Royal. Royal has never changed, in our opinion, and I mean that in a great way. DCL isn't worth it to us. I have wondered the same thing which is why I wanted to do the math. Back Story on RCCL. There was literally no fresh air on my cruise, elevators were terribly slow, the food was terrible, imho, the service was average, the room was bad and the shower was absolutely the WORST! You could use the toilet and the shower at the same time. Man it was bad. NOW, that was 13 years ago, but it was so bad I never thought we'd cruise until the kids begged for a Disney Cruise. Like I noted, as they grow older, we'll likely move to ships that have more 'big kid' activities for now it's get creative with Disney pricing...get all the discounts you can and use your Disney Credit Card points to cover shipboard expenses.

Of course, we are spending *nowhere NEAR* what you're spending.

OUCH! Well my price included 4 traveling, a pre night stay, my gratuities, flights, excursions, etc...I didn't think it was that bad...lol.



Junior Suite is a Jr Suite. You get double points for it, at the very very least, which means you go up in loyalty level quicker.

I have no reference, thus no argument with this one I bolded some replies above.

 

[pontikes67]

They also say that oasis and quantum class aren't the norm for royal.

Find a cruise on freedom class, which is more comparable to Disney ships anyway, and see what happens.

Did as you suggested. Liberty out of Galveston...about $850 cheaper on RCCL (slightly larger balcony room on DCL, but not much bigger). They've remodeled so again activities might be a much bigger plus now with RCCL. I have $2,000 in Disney Rewards that I can use on DCL, so while that doesn't make it 'cheaper' it let's us experience more for the same price as RCCL. I just was simply hoping that when you took everything into account on the money side, that you can do a Disney Cruise for a reasonably 'similar' price. For 7 nights...$150 a night for me isn't INSANELY higher...though I have seen some DCL cruises that are $1,000 more a day...I've not done those...to date. lol.

 

[Hundredacre]

I think "Suite" might be stretching it a bit; it's a standard room from what I can see...that being said, compared to a 'balcony' room, there's an advantage to RCCL but the room is 40 square feet smaller and in my case the cabin I have is 5052 which has a deck that is as big as the room...more valuable to me then a 'suite'.

The problem is a jr suite costs approximately 70% more than a balcony room on royal carribean oasis of the seas. The suite may not give much more space than a balcony room, if any, but the suite costs a lot more. A lot more. Like there is no comparison.

 

[pontikes67]

The problem is a jr suite costs approximately 70% more than a balcony room on royal carribean oasis of the seas. The suite may not give much more space than a balcony room, if any, but the suite costs a lot more. A lot more. Like there is no comparison.

I took Bumbershoot's sugggestion and compared to Liberty / Balcony (non suite). You' can see post above my thoughts.