Summer 2018 prices!!!

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Prices are one thing... but same itineraries (for the most part) on the same ships over and over and over again... I don't know. Plus mostly same shows and entertainment. We cruised Magic twice and the Fantasy twice and I feel like it was all the same with no surprises. We still love it but are finding it harder to justify paying DCL prices.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Prices are one thing... but same itineraries (for the most part) on the same ships over and over and over again... I don't know. Plus mostly same shows and entertainment. We cruised Magic twice and the Fantasy twice and I feel like it was all the same with no surprises. We still love it but are finding it harder to justify paying DCL prices.

Well, we're still doing different itineraries on DCL. Haven't even touched the British Isles ones, or all the Med ones. And it seems that DCL is expanding the Fantasy offerings (Southern Caribbean).

And we've not done DCL for Alaska, but that's not likely to happen.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Well, we're still doing different itineraries on DCL. Haven't even touched the British Isles ones, or all the Med ones. And it seems that DCL is expanding the Fantasy offerings (Southern Caribbean).

And we've not done DCL for Alaska, but that's not likely to happen.

Oh yeah we haven't done all of them either, and some we never will with the pricing (the 11 night southern cruise).
I can see us doing a Med, maybe Alaska so these are something to look forward to. The Caribbean and Bahamas on the dream and fantasy though .... as much as I love dcl not sure I can convince DH to keep sailing the same itinerary.

 

[Buzzsawelp]

Everytime new itenararies are announced its like Groundhog Day on these boards with concerns about prices. Disney is a for profit company and always has been. As long as the demand is there, prices will continue to increase with each new offering. Especially for summer months where they know they are going to sell out the sailings. Until enough people talk with their wallets and the ships do not sail at capacity the prices will not stabilize much less decrease.

From a business standpoint, they have probably been extremely smart in keeping the inventory low with only the four ships. We will see what the new ships bring, but honestly I don't see six ships being based out of US ports. I fully expect one ship, either new or existing, to be based in Asia and another ship to spend most if it's time in Europe. Expand their market base, but keep demand high out of the US at the same time.

 

[TheHannas]

Prices are one thing... but same itineraries (for the most part) on the same ships over and over and over again... I don't know. Plus mostly same shows and entertainment. We cruised Magic twice and the Fantasy twice and I feel like it was all the same with no surprises. We still love it but are finding it harder to justify paying DCL prices.

You sound exactly like us, we were really considering 2018 for the third time on Disney. But I knew what to expect with prices. Still I was willing sorta. Then we thought about Royal (oasis) which we have never been on and for what I was going to pay for on Disney cruise for inside state room during summer, I can book 2 balconys on Oasis and bring along grand parents! So we opted for Royal this time. We are not done with Disney but it will have to be an off season cruise for us when our son can afford to miss a few days of school.

 

[mkh531]

we were going to change our Feb 2018 4-nt Dream cruise for a 5 night European cruise--one day more, but about $2k more, and a higher airfare to get to Barcelona as well! No can do. PLus it seems like most of the cabins are already gone! Good for Disney that this works so well, sad for us though.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

You sound exactly like us, we were really considering 2018 for the third time on Disney. But I knew what to expect with prices. Still I was willing sorta. Then we thought about Royal (oasis) which we have never been on and for what I was going to pay for on Disney cruise for inside state room during summer, I can book 2 balconys on Oasis and bring along grand parents! So we opted for Royal this time. We are not done with Disney but it will have to be an off season cruise for us when our son can afford to miss a few days of school.

Exactly, I'm not shocked with the pricing. At all. We just can't keep sailing the same itineraries (I'm just talking Bahamas/Caribbean) over and over and pay these prices in the summer when like you said we can do it on the Oasis class ship for half. We have not given up on Disney cruise either, but will likely only sail during the off-season especially if GT rates come out. We are ok with that.

 

[tinkerone]

You sound exactly like us, we were really considering 2018 for the third time on Disney. But I knew what to expect with prices. Still I was willing sorta. Then we thought about Royal (oasis) which we have never been on and for what I was going to pay for on Disney cruise for inside state room during summer, I can book 2 balconys on Oasis and bring along grand parents! So we opted for Royal this time. We are not done with Disney but it will have to be an off season cruise for us when our son can afford to miss a few days of school.

And you sound a lot like us. We did our first Oasis sailing last November and have a b2b booked for this October. They are cruises that we would have typically booked with DCL however finding the Oasis to be such a wonderful ship, plus the fact that b2b is costing less than one week with DCL, we probably will not go back to DCL until the new ships arrive. There is so much out there that I'm a little annoyed I didn't expand sooner. For us, it was just getting past the initial 'but its not DCL'. You'll be surprised what is also on offer.

 

[MUN]

I'm looking at Alaskan prices and there double what we paid in 2015!! I think I'm gonna chance what the eastern PC prices come out with instead - unless my lotto numbers come in this weekend then it's cruises on me

I am skeptical of your claim that prices have doubled for the same cruise in 3 years.

Our family of 5 took an early June Alaska cruise in 2013 and we booked 2 OV rooms. I compared the same category of rooms for a similar cruise date for 2018 back to 2015 for our party of 5 and I noticed that prices increased by 48%. That is more than a healthy increase! I'm not saying your statement is incorrect, just pointing out what I noticed. Perhaps for a verandah (which I know go for a premium for Alaska) the prices have increased more.

MUN

I will add, we paid about the same price for our Alaska cruise in 2014 as we did for Western Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy over Easter 2013. So at the time of our Alaska cruise, I thought we were getting a good deal.

 

[ldo]

pricing for many of the European sailings for 4 persons in IN/OV cabins is not that bad, IMHO. We have 5 persons and bumping to a Verandah is $$$. For 11 days N Europe, it's $11K for 4 persons Inside, but for 5 a verandah is $21K on DCL. Thus, we booked 9 days NCL Breakaway in Family Ocean view for $6200. If they had a Family OV on Magic, we would likely pay a few thousand more to do that, but $15K more is out of the question. Last year, we did Norway in OV for 4 with our 2 youngest kids (DD#3 in college) and the pricing looks about the same for this year for that cruise as well as the BCN-Dover one.

 

[squirk]

Yeesh, I think I am with the rest of you re: not giving up on Disney, but being a lot more choosy about when I sail with them. That 2018 11-night S. Carib cruise will cost me about $21k for the five of us in two Cat 5D's. Since today is "release day", since I am not eligible for the military or FL resident discounts, and since I can't do GTY becuase we need connecting staterooms, that's about as good as that fare is going to ever get for me.

A 2017 9-night Bermuda/Carib on RCCL with equivalent stateroom (Superior Ocean View w/Balcony) is $11,500. Obviously, that is two days less than the DCL cruise, so I'm not quite comparing apples to apples, but two things:

1.) That RCCL cruise is sailing in about four months vs. DCL's sixteen. I can only imagine how much cheaper the RCCL fare was on that sailing's opening day;

2.) Breaking it down to a per-day cost to equalize the comparison, the RCCL is @$1269 per day. The DCL is @$1979 per day. So a roughly 56% markup over RCCL. That premium is to be expected when comparing the two lines, and not a huge deal if you're talking a 3- or 4-day Bahamian getaway. However, as much as I love Disney, I don't see my family getting an additional $700 of value per day from DCL on this S. Carb sailing.

So, yeah, I think we need to stick to offseason for DCL, which is when we usually cruise anyway, and stick with RCCL or NCL if/when we ever sail in the high season.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I booked the 9-night Alaska sailing yesterday morning when they opened, and after thinking about the cost all day long, I cancelled it when I got home last night. I just could not justify the $9,500+ they wanted, and that was after the OBB was applied. I am now investigating Princess for Alaska, but I read that smoking is an issue on the Princess ships, and that would be a problem for me.

 

[LadyLvsTramp]

We have done 6 Disney Cruises and I will not pay the prices they are charging now. I keep looking for a better deal but the prices do not seem to come down except maybe in Galveston! But that is the same itinerary we have already been on. We get no price discount for returning customers or DVC members and over a year in advance. I priced the lowest inside cabin for the Southern yesterday it was over $8000 for two adults no thank you! We have done two MSC cruises and feel they are a very good value we have done two cruises for well under $1000 total. I enjoy Disney but they are just not offering enough variety in itineraries and a reasonable return for my $.

 

[n2mm]

I was watching the September 2018 prices. They were very similar to the September 2017 cruise we are taking this year. I was surprised that there wasn't too much of a change. Looking more for a Jan/Feb 2019 cruise, so will be waiting a little longer.

 

[Garyjames220]

I was watching the September 2018 prices. They were very similar to the September 2017 cruise we are taking this year. I was surprised that there wasn't too much of a change. Looking more for a Jan/Feb 2019 cruise, so will be waiting a little longer.

Are u doing a carribean cruise in sept ?

We are from uk and were planning doing the eastern carribean in sept as that's the only one that fits our budget

But we are worried is it a bad time to go, peak of hurricane season and could end up with no holiday

Any advice, we are sooo stuck

 

[klick182]

What made you think this?

I think thats why he said hoping. I was hoping as well, wasn't expecting it though

 

[pearljammer]

I booked the 9-night Alaska sailing yesterday morning when they opened, and after thinking about the cost all day long, I cancelled it when I got home last night. I just could not justify the $9,500+ they wanted, and that was after the OBB was applied. I am now investigating Princess for Alaska, but I read that smoking is an issue on the Princess ships, and that would be a problem for me.

I booked the 9-night Alaska sailing yesterday morning when they opened, and after thinking about the cost all day long, I cancelled it when I got home last night. I just could not justify the $9,500+ they wanted, and that was after the OBB was applied. I am now investigating Princess for Alaska, but I read that smoking is an issue on the Princess ships, and that would be a problem for me.

I know some swear by Princess which I've looked at for 2A1C for sailing over July 4th and it was around $3600 for interior. I have a NCL on new Bliss booked for a bit more than includes drink package. This same cruise for DCL was over $6K even with discount. So no brainer for us. While I've not sailed another cruise line since we started doing Disney, I'm a bit nervous but excited that at least it's a new boat so that should be fun. We have to add in flights/hotels/dog kennel/Seattle sight seeing, etc. So it's going to all add up. My understanding of NCL though is if you aren't happy with service, you have to jump through hoops to change your gratuities as those are auto like DCL. Only DCL let's you adjust with no problem (decrease/increase). I don't know if it will be so easy with NCL as I think you have to submit a formal complaint on why service wasn't great and they submit and decide on your refund. I'm going to wait to see what RCCL comes out with once their dates are released as well.

Also, NCL had $50 deposit pp which made it easy to reserve and we can change our minds later if we like.

 

[havaneselover]

In 2015 we cruised the Fantasy the week before Labor Day for $3,600 (cat 8d, obb, 1A2c). Same cruise next year was $4,700.

We booked Alaska. I choose a secret porthole 10A. $5,300 with OBB. My mom will be joining us. I know she'd prefer Celebrity and we could cruise ocean view on celebrity cheaper. We could almost have two Aqua class rooms for what two cat 10As are costing.

I keep booking with DCL because the value is still there for my family but it's certainly getting close to that not being the case. OBB, using Costco, booking early, and paying with gift cards help some.

I do think the increases are very high but if they weren't filling the ships, I think they would slow down. Seems like they've generally been in the double digits since 2013.

 

[AquaDame]

I am now investigating Princess for Alaska, but I read that smoking is an issue on the Princess ships, and that would be a problem for me.

Oh dear.. that would be a problem for me also. The smoke from the casino whipping around on the RCCL ships I have been on were right at my limit and I really don't want to deal with it again at all...

Are u doing a carribean cruise in sept ?

We are from uk and were planning doing the eastern carribean in sept as that's the only one that fits our budget

But we are worried is it a bad time to go, peak of hurricane season and could end up with no holiday

Any advice, we are sooo stuck

We've sailed end of Sept/beginning of October a few times and so far have gotten lucky with the weather. Our cruise in January almost didn't happen in 2016 due to a snowstorm shutting down JFK right when we needed to get to our port. Get travel insurance no matter when you go... the higher chance of a storm isn't enough to deter us. Yet.

 

[Garyjames220]

Oh dear.. that would be a problem for me also. The smoke from the casino whipping around on the RCCL ships I have been on were right at my limit and I really don't want to deal with it again at all...



We've sailed end of Sept/beginning of October a few times and so far have gotten lucky with the weather. Our cruise in January almost didn't happen in 2016 due to a snowstorm shutting down JFK right when we needed to get to our port. Get travel insurance no matter when you go... the higher chance of a storm isn't enough to deter us. Yet.

So we wouldent be mad going at end of sept lol

Do they normally still sell out the sept carribean cruises and do u think prices will go up on them much from now till then