Never been on a cruise. need help.

[amore]

hello. im havging abit of a dilema and dont know what to do.
i am planning a little vacation with my son and need advice.
we usually go to disney around 4- 5 x a year. (used to be more but my son is now wanting to do different things) he has mentioned he wants to do a disney cruise. i have seen the prices
on the disney cruise as compared to Carnival. its just about double. my question is this, is the price difference justified or...
will i be better off taking the carnival cruise and take the money i save and go to disney the following week. i live three hours away from disney so its really not much of an expense. i can probably do both and still spend less money than if i were to do ther disney cruise. i dont know what there is to do on either boat as i have never taken a cruise.

HOWEVER..... if the price is justified and my son will have the experirence of a lifetime, then i dont mind paying for the disney cruise.


thanks soo much for yor help

 

[mmouse37]

First, welcome to the DIS board!!!! You will find great information here and wonderful people.

Secondly....you are a florida resident and that is a good thing for discounts. Typically DCL offers FLA resident rates different times of the year. If you can plan your trip around one of these discounts you price will not be that much different than Carnivals.

A good source for seeing what sailing may have Florida Res rate is www.allseastravel.com

They show Fla res rates a few months in advance.

You and your son will have the vacation of a lifetime....we have sailed 10 times on DCL and keep coming back for more. There is an extensive array of activities for both you and your son, together or apart.

Some other good sources for info are

www.dlctribute.com

www.castawayclub.com

Another source for info is called the Passporter which is a guide book for DCL exclusively. It is an independent resource book with great information.

A big factor in determining price is what stateroom category you chose....if you want a private veranda (balcony) that is going to cost you more than just an oceanview (porthole, no balcony) or you can even book an inside cabin (the least expensive category but is has no view or window so no natural light coming in).

DCL categories 1,2,3 are suites, 4,5,6,7 have verandas of one type or another, 8 & 9 have portholes and 10, 11, 12 are inside cabins (no windows). Check out www.dclcruise.com for deck plans that show which cabin categories are on which decks.

And, of course...keep asking your questions here....we love to answer them!!!!

MJ

 

[crisi]

We have only cruised Disney.

Disney does not have a casino, and due to the "traveling with kids" nature of the ship, doesn't tend to have a lot of heavy drinkers on board. So no one is subsidizing your fare via gambling - and fewer drinkers are subsidizing your fare via alcohol (although plenty is served - if you choose to drink, you will have plenty of opportunities). Once you realize that, you begin to understand why Disney is so much more expensive.

If you are big Disney fans, you will enjoy the Disney theming, the characters on board. DCL is really a class act. Whether that justifies the difference in price is something only you will be able to answer - and you may never know if you don't cruise Disney.

I've never been there, but www.cruisecritics.com is often recommended for comparing cruise lines.

 

[makaylee]

Can you see my timer? I had to book over a year out to be able to afford my cruise without raping my saving account or charging up my credit cards. Is it worth it? HECK YES! We all had the time of our lives on the last trip! It wont be just your son who will have a WONDERFUL time, you will too!

 

[TammyC]

How old is your son? I think that could make a difference in your decision.

 

[skoi]

I had the opposite problem. No one wanted to cruise except me. We went, and they (dh, dd 9, dd5) all loved it. My in-laws were with us, and they don't like Disney but said they much prefered DCL to RCCL-- they had been on one of the mega ships a few months before. They even offered to take us again, and we're going!

My kids loved the character interaction, the shows, getting dressed up for dinner, and each being treated like a little prince and princess-- especially by the waitstaff. (Thumbs up to Sunni and Johnny). When they're older, we'll try a big RCCL ship, but for now we'll save more and vacation less to do Disney.

Julie

 

[amore]

thank you all for your help. my son is going to be 7.
he is not really into all the characters. its a fuss for him to take pictures with the characters (not that he is afraid, its just no big deal to him). character dinners at WDW are always more for the adults.

 

[amore]

BTW, the price difference is approxiamtely $1200

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Our first cruise (Feb 2000) DDs were 11 and 9 and not into the character thing. As a matter of fact we took the cruise as part of myself and DW negotiating. She wanted a WDW vacation and I (being in the sales and Finance industry) wanted a RELAXING vacation. Thus a land and sea package. We figured the kids would LOVE WDW and not care for the ship......how wrong we were. We all LOVE the sailing and have taken one each of the next 3 years and have another booked for Dec. 2004 (Western this time) The DDs don't want to go anywhere else but on the Magic. I gave them choices.....beaches (jamaca), Mexico, Arizona, another cruise......they wanted none of it.......

 

[maminnie]

Amore:

We took a 4 day DCL cruise in '01 and my DS was 8. He absolutely loved the kids' camp and had a great time on the cruise. The day at sea he stayed in the camp from 10:00am until 11:00pm. He ate lunch and dinner there. We had to practically drag him out to go with us to the afternoon show of Disney Dreams. He asked if he could stay until 12:00am. Finally at 11:00pm he finally gave up and had us paged; he was exhausted! We will be going on the 7day next month and he can't wait. So is it worth the money, we think so. Hopefully our DD6 will like the camp better this time. She was bit intimidated by the whole thing and had us paged a lot.

The characters are available for signatures/pictures but your son does not have to participate if he does not want to. I can't imagine at 7years old that he wouldn't enjoy the various parties and shows that have the characters in them. We adults even love them!

Good luck deciding what to do.