Price comparison DCL vs. other lines

[trvlgirlmq]

I don't like party atmospheres either. Drunk people make me uncomfortable.

When we have tried a 4 nights to the Bahamas (during a long week-end!) I was very worried. DH and I are "In bed at 10 PM, up at 5 AM" type of people... If there was any partying, it must have happened during our sleep because we only noticed noise in the hallways on the first night, probably because we were mid-ship near the elevators. I was told by many Carnival cruisers that longer cruises tend to be more quiet. I'm cruising with Carnival again in October. Can't wait.

I have cruised exclusively with Carnival with my kids and never been on a "party" cruise. Are people having fun? Yes. Are people dancing and drinking? Yes. I have never seen anyone falling down drunk. I am sure it happens but we are usually in our cabin by 10 or 11 because we enjoy tucking into bed and falling asleep to a movie. I would never put my kids in harm's way and taking a Carnival (or NCL or RCCL) cruise is not going to hurt them.

 

[mevelandry]

I agree with the families being a target audience on many other cruiselines and really giving Disney some competition.

I do not, however, agree that a 3-night weekend cruise is a drunken party cruise. We sailed a 4-night on Carnival over Labor Day Weekend and we ran into no problems with loudness, drinkers or large groups. It seems that Carnival can't shake that reputation, but on that one cruise we didn't experience any of it. We sail again in September, so we shall see -- but that is a 7-night cruise.

Yes, and I'm not sure why.

Maybe they need to push the social media more. I don't know...

 

[cmwade77]

To my knowledge, you only get 10% if you book a cruise shorter than 7 nights on DCL (7 nights or more, you get 20%)... Apply it to the numbers I gave you and you still save over 1000$ with Carnival.

It is very possible that the price difference is closer when you sail from the west coast. I know Galveston is know to have the best rates on DCL too. But for most itineraries, as you may see in the two examples I just gave you, the price difference is huge and it's going to be the same for Bermuda and Alaska.

Now, when it comes to preferences, you will never really know for sure unless you try other cruise lines... I did and I like them both equally for different reasons.

I explained in a previous post how you can get essentially a 20% discount by using gift cards to pay for the cruise, if you start with a 20% discount, you will end up around a 30% discount. Factor in onboard credit, etc. and you can get the cost down to close to what the other lines charge. A little more yes, but overall a reasonable difference if you are willing to put forth just a little bit of effort.

And yes some cruises will be more with Disney no matter what, but ultimately we end up finding a different cruise if it is too highly priced for us. Like I said, in our case, Carnival was one week earlier than the Disney cruise of the same itinerary. If we went the same week on Disney as Carnival has we would have spent about $1,000 more than waiting one week, which is actually better for us anyway. Between this and saving with gift cards, onboard booking discount, etc. we ended up very close to the same price as Carnival.

 

[cmwade77]

Yes, and I'm not sure why.

Maybe they need to push the social media more. I don't know...

Yes, that is certainly the reputation they have here and EVERY person I have come into contact with that has gone on one out of Long Beach as said that it was a party cruise and if that wasn't your thing to look elsewhere, but we have considered Carnival to give it a fair chance, just the price difference is so small when do things smart with Disney, we go with Disney because we know they have a great product.

 

[mevelandry]

I explained in a previous post how you can get essentially a 20% discount by using gift cards to pay for the cruise, if you start with a 20% discount, you will end up around a 30% discount. Factor in onboard credit, etc. and you can get the cost down to close to what the other lines charge. A little more yes, but overall a reasonable difference if you are willing to put forth just a little bit of effort.

Well, I don't know how you can get those Gift Cards but they are most likely not available in Canada.

To get on board credit you usually have to book while you are still on board --you can get that when you cruise with Carnival too and book another cruise while on board-- or you have to have a good TA (and I've never seen a TA able to get us on board credit around here, unfortunately)...

 

[mevelandry]

Yes, that is certainly the reputation they have here and EVERY person I have come into contact with that has gone on one out of Long Beach as said that it was a party cruise and if that wasn't your thing to look elsewhere, but we have considered Carnival to give it a fair chance, just the price difference is so small when do things smart with Disney, we go with Disney because we know they have a great product.

Meanwhile, by staying on the west coast, you get very limited choice of itineraries. But I know some people don't mind doing the same over and over again...

 

[ZellyB]

I also don't understand the Carnival reputation as a party cruise. We've cruised with them 3 times and have yet to experience any of that. I did a 7 day cruise many years ago and then most recently 2 5-night cruises out of New Orleans. Obviously there were people drinking, but we never saw anything close to what I'd call a drunken brawl type of atmosphere. Now, on port days, we definitely saw some people at various bars around the port that had consumed quite a lot, but it was never an issue for us on board.

 

[cmwade77]

Well, I don't know how you can get those Gift Cards but they are most likely not available in Canada.

To get on board credit you usually have to book while you are still on board --you can get that when you cruise with Carnival too and book another cruise while on board-- or you have to have a good TA (and I've never seen a TA able to get us on board credit around here, unfortunately)...

Usually a good TA will add OBC, at least on Disney from their commission and this is in addition to anything that Disney offers. As for the gift cards, the best deals that I have found are at BJ's when they put them on sale. A little less of a discount is at Sam's Club or Costco by purchasing with a rewards card, and a little less is Target with the red card. Toss in the Disney Vacation Savings Account and you can save even more. There are plenty of websites that describe how to do so.

 

[cmwade77]

Meanwhile, by staying on the west coast, you get very limited choice of itineraries. But I know some people don't mind doing the same over and over again...

Yeah, I go more for the ship than the ports, so it isn't that big of a deal to us.

 

[cgolf]

I explained in a previous post how you can get essentially a 20% discount by using gift cards to pay for the cruise, if you start with a 20% discount, you will end up around a 30% discount. Factor in onboard credit, etc. and you can get the cost down to close to what the other lines charge. A little more yes, but overall a reasonable difference if you are willing to put forth just a little bit of effort.

And yes some cruises will be more with Disney no matter what, but ultimately we end up finding a different cruise if it is too highly priced for us. Like I said, in our case, Carnival was one week earlier than the Disney cruise of the same itinerary. If we went the same week on Disney as Carnival has we would have spent about $1,000 more than waiting one week, which is actually better for us anyway. Between this and saving with gift cards, onboard booking discount, etc. we ended up very close to the same price as Carnival.

Even with a 30% discount, we would have been paying enough more for DCL that we said no way and got our money back for our OBB. These were off peak cruises, so maybe other times of the year DCL is closer to other lines?

 

[mevelandry]

Usually a good TA will add OBC, at least on Disney from their commission and this is in addition to anything that Disney offers. As for the gift cards, the best deals that I have found are at BJ's when they put them on sale. A little less of a discount is at Sam's Club or Costco by purchasing with a rewards card, and a little less is Target with the red card. Toss in the Disney Vacation Savings Account and you can save even more. There are plenty of websites that describe how to do so.

As I previously mentioned: none of it is available in Canada (BJ's, Sam's Club, Target, Disney Vacation Savings Account). But I guess it's good to know for those who live in the USA.

We have Costco. But they don't have good deals here. Every time I checked, I always had a better price by booking on my own and you basically end up paying the whole amount of your gift cards. LOL

 

[cruiser21]

Well, I don't know how you can get those Gift Cards but they are most likely not available in Canada.

To get on board credit you usually have to book while you are still on board --you can get that when you cruise with Carnival too and book another cruise while on board-- or you have to have a good TA (and I've never seen a TA able to get us on board credit around here, unfortunately)...

I would never pay for a cruise with gift cards. If you have to cancel all the money goes back on the gift cards. What if you need that money for something else. I had to cancel a cruise once. I only lost the deposit, but I was glad to have that money back on my cc where I could use it for whatever I wanted. Other cruiselines run sales where they offer obc and you don't have to book on board. I'm sure you can find discounts on Carnival gift cards if you want to go that route.
It may be possible to jump through hoops and get 20% discount on DCL, bit honestly I could do the same thing for any cruiseline if I wanted.

 

[mevelandry]

I would never pay for a cruise with gift cards. If you have to cancel all the money goes back on the gift cards. What if you need that money for something else. I had to cancel a cruise once. I only lost the deposit, but I was glad to have that money back on my cc where I could use it for whatever I wanted. Other cruiselines run sales where they offer obc and you don't have to book on board. I'm sure you can find discounts on Carnival gift cards if you want to go that route.
It may be possible to jump through hoops and get 20% discount on DCL, bit honestly I could do the same thing for any cruiseline if I wanted.

I had a small OBC when I booked with RCCL. It was part of the promo. I haven't sailed with them yet.

 

[cmwade77]

As I previously mentioned: none of it is available in Canada (BJ's, Sam's Club, Target, Disney Vacation Savings Account). But I guess it's good to know for those who live in the USA.

We have Costco. But they don't have good deals here. Every time I checked, I always had a better price by booking on my own and you basically end up paying the whole amount of your gift cards. LOL

Costco will sometimes sell the Disney Gift Cards at 5% off. BJ's will ship to Canada last I checked.

 

[cmwade77]

Even with a 30% discount, we would have been paying enough more for DCL that we said no way and got our money back for our OBB. These were off peak cruises, so maybe other times of the year DCL is closer to other lines?

That is quite possible, we try to avoid peak times, as we like smaller crowds.

 

[cmwade77]

I would never pay for a cruise with gift cards. If you have to cancel all the money goes back on the gift cards. What if you need that money for something else. I had to cancel a cruise once. I only lost the deposit, but I was glad to have that money back on my cc where I could use it for whatever I wanted. Other cruiselines run sales where they offer obc and you don't have to book on board. I'm sure you can find discounts on Carnival gift cards if you want to go that route.
It may be possible to jump through hoops and get 20% discount on DCL, bit honestly I could do the same thing for any cruiseline if I wanted.

I haven't been able to find a way to get quite 20% off for other cruise lines and maybe I am the strange one that would never cancel a cruise. Of course for us Disney Gift cards as good as cash since we live so close to Disneyland and go so often, but also if you deposit them into the Disney Vacation Account, then pay with that, the refund would go there and you can withdraw the money to any bank account that is linked, so that can eliminate that issue all together.

Now granted, I probably wouldn't go the gift card route with Carnival because like you if I had to cancel what would I do with that? With Disney, I can spend it on my Annual Pass, dining, merchandise, etc. I can also sell them for face value, although like I said when combined with a Disney Vacation account you can get around the issue completely.

 

[cruiser21]

I haven't been able to find a way to get quite 20% off for other cruise lines and maybe I am the strange one that would never cancel a cruise. Of course for us Disney Gift cards as good as cash since we live so close to Disneyland and go so often, but also if you deposit them into the Disney Vacation Account, then pay with that, the refund would go there and you can withdraw the money to any bank account that is linked, so that can eliminate that issue all together.

Now granted, I probably wouldn't go the gift card route with Carnival because like you if I had to cancel what would I do with that? With Disney, I can spend it on my Annual Pass, dining, merchandise, etc. I can also sell them for face value, although like I said when combined with a Disney Vacation account you can get around the issue completely.

I guess if it works for you. I don't go to Disneyland or WDW very often. Other cruise lines are always 20 to 50% less then DCL. Don't get me wrong I still cruise on DCL, but if I want to save money I'll go to a different cruiseline.
You will occasionally see DCL cruises that don't sell and they will drop the price 20 to 30 percent below opening day prices. Those are always fun to book if the timing is right. They still don't come anywhere near the price of Carnival or NCL.

 

[cmwade77]

I guess if it works for you. I don't go to Disneyland or WDW very often. Other cruise lines are always 20 to 50% less then DCL. Don't get me wrong I still cruise on DCL, but if I want to save money I'll go to a different cruiseline.
You will occasionally see DCL cruises that don't sell and they will drop the price 20 to 30 percent below opening day prices. Those are always fun to book if the timing is right. They still don't come anywhere near the price of Carnival or NCL.

For our cruise that is pretty much what we got, it was just the right timing as it was more expensive a couple days before we booked and a couple days after, so we timed booking perfectly, but that is my point, it is always possible to save on DCL with some effort. But in addition to the lower price, we got an extra discount because of our Onboard Booking Offer, then using the Gift Card trick we got essentially another 10% off, which really brought the cruise price way down.

 

[cruiser21]

For our cruise that is pretty much what we got, it was just the right timing as it was more expensive a couple days before we booked and a couple days after, so we timed booking perfectly, but that is my point, it is always possible to save on DCL with some effort. But in addition to the lower price, we got an extra discount because of our Onboard Booking Offer, then using the Gift Card trick we got essentially another 10% off, which really brought the cruise price way down.

I get your point I really do. My point is no matter how many ways you can come up with to save money on a DCL cruise. Other cruiselines will still be less.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

I agree with the families being a target audience on many other cruiselines and really giving Disney some competition.

I do not, however, agree that a 3-night weekend cruise is a drunken party cruise. We sailed a 4-night on Carnival over Labor Day Weekend and we ran into no problems with loudness, drinkers or large groups. It seems that Carnival can't shake that reputation, but on that one cruise we didn't experience any of it. We sail again in September, so we shall see -- but that is a 7-night cruise.

Yes, not all 3 or 4 night cruises on other lines will be party cruises - but some will be. For people who are hesitant to cruise on other lines, I always recommend staying away from those short week-end cruises as a tryout. It's the best chance of seeing the worst. A 6 or 7 night cruise will be filled with families, couples and others just looking to have an enjoyable cruise. The short week-end ones are the most likely to attract bachelor and bachelorette parties or other large groups out for a 3 day party. Especially from the West coast - Carnival keeps 2 of their smaller ships out there (Inspiration and Imagination) and they are popular for big groups.