Really? ABD for Eastern and Western Caribbean Sailings??

[deerh]

It *is* the per person price NOT including the cruise. You book the cruise first, then add the ABD on. (You can do both with the same phone call, as you book it through DCL). You book any cabin you want, for any price you want, then the ABD is $2499-ish on top of that. That's why people are pretty flabbergasted on this thread. And the language is *definitely* mis-leading. If you look at the River Cruises, which *do* include the cabin, they are more like $4500 - $5000 *per person*.
See my answer above. You book whatever cabin you want, for whatever price you can, then *add* the ABD to that. Cabin is not included in the price.
Can't help you with this one. I'm not DVC.
"Worth it" is so subjective. I don't think it's worth it for a Caribbean cruise with only 3 ports, one of which is *Castaway Cay*. I just don't think the value is there. It was worth it as an add-on to a Mediterranean cruise when they first offered it in 2010 for a 12-day cruise for around that same $2499 per person. But for a 7-day Caribbean cruise at that price? I just don't see it.
Hope this helps

Sayhello

ETA: If you dig, here's the verbiage on what's actually included:

Included on Your Adventures by Disney Cruise Package

• Curated itinerary of premium port excursions
• All meals in port
• Private welcome and farewell receptions
• Priority deboarding for excursions and Castaway Cay
• All onboard and excursion photography
• One-day spa pass to Rainforest Spa for guests 18+

No mention of a cabin or cruisefare.

Well, I did call DVC and ABD today, and you are correct. It does NOT include Cruise stateroom cost to the price. It is in addition to it!!
WOW!! Holy Points/Cash Batman!!! A LOT of points (DVC) and or cash for that. No reason to book that as it is way out of our price range!!

I thank you for your help and we will go in a different direction for cruising...
Thanks again for your help, and I appreciate it!!!

 

[Jess_S]

If you are interested in doing the Eastern Caribbean cruise, consider just booking it with DCL. It is pretty easy to then book port adventures on your own or through the ship (options will be displayed on the DCL website). We did the Western itinerary last month. Given that and prior cruise experiences, I definitely do not see the value in an ABD add on for the Caribbean. The only logistics ABD would really be handling is port adventures. Everything else is included in your standard cruise fare, so it is not like you get additional value from ABD for arranging things like rooms, dining, etc. as you would on a land based trip.

 

[syannlynn]

It *is* the per person price NOT including the cruise. You book the cruise first, then add the ABD on. (You can do both with the same phone call, as you book it through DCL). You book any cabin you want, for any price you want, then the ABD is $2499-ish on top of that. That's why people are pretty flabbergasted on this thread. And the language is *definitely* mis-leading. If you look at the River Cruises, which *do* include the cabin, they are more like $4500 - $5000 *per person*.
See my answer above. You book whatever cabin you want, for whatever price you can, then *add* the ABD to that. Cabin is not included in the price.
Can't help you with this one. I'm not DVC.
"Worth it" is so subjective. I don't think it's worth it for a Caribbean cruise with only 3 ports, one of which is *Castaway Cay*. I just don't think the value is there. It was worth it as an add-on to a Mediterranean cruise when they first offered it in 2010 for a 12-day cruise for around that same $2499 per person. But for a 7-day Caribbean cruise at that price? I just don't see it.
Hope this helps

Sayhello

ETA: If you dig, here's the verbiage on what's actually included:

Included on Your Adventures by Disney Cruise Package

• Curated itinerary of premium port excursions
• All meals in port
• Private welcome and farewell receptions
• Priority deboarding for excursions and Castaway Cay
• All onboard and excursion photography
• One-day spa pass to Rainforest Spa for guests 18+

No mention of a cabin or cruisefare.

I wonder if they even include a photo package. I did the digital package for $250 and definitely made use of it.

 

[virtuoso1989]

I wonder if they even include a photo package. I did the digital package for $250 and definitely made use of it.

It should be included unless they changed it from last year. The guides gave us the USB dongles at our final dinner. This was for the Mediterranean.

 

[sayhello]

I wonder if they even include a photo package. I did the digital package for $250 and definitely made use of it.

Yep. Includes all your onboard photos (as well as Adventure Guide photos)

Included on Your Adventures by Disney Cruise Package

• Curated itinerary of premium port excursions
• All meals in port
• Private welcome and farewell receptions
• Priority deboarding for excursions and Castaway Cay
• All onboard and excursion photography
• One-day spa pass to Rainforest Spa for guests 18+

Sayhello

 

[acndis]

I missed this thread because we were away on a DCL Western Caribbean cruise. We hired private guides for our family in port for a cost of $200-$300 for the whole day. That's total, not per person. I would agree that the ABD is not offering value with these cruise add-ons and, as others said, I do not get the target demographic. The folks on our cruise who didn't want to plan just booked ship tours. Our table mates planned their next days activities the evening before and then went to the port excursion desk after dinner, for example. And I don't think that those who were convinced that the ports weren't safe to visit with a ship tour would somehow feel safe on an ABD tour. Once you eliminate the non-planners and the nervous travelers, you would seem to be left with people who either like to pre-plan or prefer to DIY.

(We really loved all of the ports and tours we did in the Western Caribbean, by the way. Beautiful island, lovely people and interesting history all around. And very easy to book and plan on your own).

Jess,

We just switched onto the Western Caribbean in March (to make room for Egypt). I would love to hear about your excursions providers in those ports! We want to do some fun, active stuff where my 12 year old son won't drive us crazy begging to get back to Edge.

Thanks!

 

[Jess_S]

Jess,

We just switched onto the Western Caribbean in March (to make room for Egypt). I would love to hear about your excursions providers in those ports! We want to do some fun, active stuff where my 12 year old son won't drive us crazy begging to get back to Edge.

Thanks!

I can't promise your son won't want to go back to Edge because all of the kids areas on the Fantasy are awesome. My husband and I were jealous we couldn't use them. (We did go to open house in the kids club, but didn't get to do any of the cool Star Wars stuff because it was always mobbed by other adults. Ha).

But we were very happy with the tour providers we used. We used Courtney Taylor in Jamaica and Tours Plaza in Cozumel. We did the private tour option with both, so we were able to customize. (Our issue was that we did want to run back to the ship after about 4 or 5 hours because that's my son's max for being out in heat and humidity). Both tour providers have ideas for places you can go on their websites. I also used cruise critic to research options.

In Cozumel, we went to the San Gervasio ruins, drove to the "other side" of the island and did a beach stop at the end. In Jamaica, we did Green Grotto caves and then a beach stop. There are definitely more adventurous options too. We were focused on wildlife viewing and hiking since those are things the whole family enjoys at this point.

 

[acndis]

I can't promise your son won't want to go back to Edge because all of the kids areas on the Fantasy are awesome. My husband and I were jealous we couldn't use them. (We did go to open house in the kids club, but didn't get to do any of the cool Star Wars stuff because it was always mobbed by other adults. Ha).

But we were very happy with the tour providers we used. We used Courtney Taylor in Jamaica and Tours Plaza in Cozumel. We did the private tour option with both, so we were able to customize. (Our issue was that we did want to run back to the ship after about 4 or 5 hours because that's my son's max for being out in heat and humidity). Both tour providers have ideas for places you can go on their websites. I also used cruise critic to research options.

In Cozumel, we went to the San Gervasio ruins, drove to the "other side" of the island and did a beach stop at the end. In Jamaica, we did Green Grotto caves and then a beach stop. There are definitely more adventurous options too. We were focused on wildlife viewing and hiking since those are things the whole family enjoys at this point.

I think I will book both of these for our group. All the DCL excursions just look crowded and depressing or we have already done them! Thanks for the info. I appreciate it!

 

[Jess_S]

I think I will book both of these for our group. All the DCL excursions just look crowded and depressing or we have already done them! Thanks for the info. I appreciate it!

You're welcome. And I agree on the ship tours. With private tours, even if you are going somewhere that the ship tours go, you can generally get there a bit earlier than the ship tours and get a better experience. For example, in Jamaica, as we were finishing our cave tour, the DCL bus arrived. It was a group of 40 plus. While we were at the caves, it was just my family and another family that had booked a private tour (7 total people). The downside is that we did have to get up early in Jamaica, but I think it was worth the trade off.

 

[Sakura1017]

The descriptions and wording on the website is vague. There are quite a few people on the cruise board who believe the price includes the cruise as well. I think there is going to be some serious sticker shock on booking day.

I definitely fell for that thinking the price included the cruise as well. Until I talked with an agent they were like book cruise first and then add it on as a package. So I ended up deciding not to due a cruise + package and doing a land adventure instead. They probably increased the prices of the cabins on those destination trips too.