Talk Me Into A Disney Cruise

[mevelandry]

I'm planning my girls' birthday trip in November. Our plan was always to activate APs this summer and surprise them with a birthday at Disney World. You know, back in December when we thought the AP pause might just be for the holiday season? Whomp, whomp.

Instead, we're now looking at a 4 night cruise from Canaveral and then just a one day ticket for their actual birthday in MK. We're doing the long Disney trip this summer, so a cruise and one park day feels like more bang for our buck than another week of parks.

There's a Disney Wish cruise that perfectly overlaps our dates. But, there's also a Royal Carribbean cruise that does the same. Same basic itinerary (Canaveral, Nassau, Private Island, Canaveral), same dates, half the cost of DCL and I could be in two balcony rooms or a suite versus a five person veranda on the Wish.

I know there's a reason Disney costs more, and with soon-to-be nine year old girls we're right in their sweet spot, but double the price? I could do RC and book a VIP tour on their birthday for the same cost. Every time I've looked at Disney cruise pricing, I keep coming back to the incredible cost difference.

So, Dis friends, is it really that much better? Please convince my cheap-at-heart self that I'm sitting here comparing a motel three blocks from the beach with a four star resort on the water.

It’s not « paying double the price« better. In fact, IMO, it’s different but definitely not better.

p.s.: Sailed on DCL x3, CCLx6, RCCL x2.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Ooof, I feel this. My son was born in December 2019 after five years of infertility. I finally got the baby I'd always dreamed of and had all these travel plans and great ideas to take him everywhere we went to get him flexible. Fast forward to him turning 3 months.

We're local AP holders and pop into the parks all the time, but I agree, if we weren't locals we wouldn't go. Cruises are so much more relaxing.

We had our second baby in Feb 2020 after having secondary infertility and suffering a miscarriage. I had SO MANY plans of how my second mat leave would go... 1 month later I was suddenly home with a newborn and a 4.5 year old.

We just took our first real vacation with both kids (DCL to Alaska with 3 generations!) with our now 2yo and almost 7yo. By the time my oldest was 2 he had been on over 20 flights and been to Arizona (multiple times) Hawaii and WDW.

Such a different time than we were expecting after planning for these sweet babies for so long!

 

[nancipants]

We just took our first real vacation with both kids (DCL to Alaska with 3 generations!) with our now 2yo and almost 7yo.

Oh wow, I’m so glad you got to go. That sounds amazing. I hope you had a great time! Will you be doing a trip report? Alaska was supposed to be our son’s first cruise in 2020. We’re hoping to go either in 2024 or 2026 (doing Western Caribbean this summer).

 

[runbikeswim3]

Your biggest problem on DCL is you are a family of 5. Getting one cabin to fit 5 people is a hidden up charge. Those cabins are expensive since there are so few of them and no other options for one cabin. I'd say look at a verandah and an inside across the hall but your kids are young. My kids were 7 and 9 on our first cruise and they loved it so much they never wanted to go back to WDW.

Yes! Family or five here and it cost me less to book an inside across the hall from a verandah than the suite. And I get 2 bathrooms!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Oh wow, I’m so glad you got to go. That sounds amazing. I hope you had a great time! Will you be doing a trip report? Alaska was supposed to be our son’s first cruise in 2020. We’re hoping to go either in 2024 or 2026 (doing Western Caribbean this summer).

I’m going to try to write a trip report, but I’ve never really finished the other two I’ve started!

We had an amazing time though traveling with a two year old who did not want to nap did present some challenges that, being on a ship, could not be handled with a long drive. Our oldest (now almost 7) loved it.

 

[Sleepyluke]

While I haven't looked at your specific dates, some of the newer RC ships that have the special touches are not doing the short cruises compared to the newest latest greatest DCL ship. You could possibly add a couple days and do a Fantasy 7 night the same week for less than the Wish sailing and still get a MK day out of it.

 

[tinkerjo]

I will start off by admitting we have never cruised other than Disney, and even then it has been several years. My kids were young, between DS was 2 our first cruise. ( I have only been on 3 but we loved them) I will say why we chose to continue to pay Disney prices though and when we were priced out, we just chose not to cruise at all instead of switching to another cruise line. Here was our reasoning for cruising Disney
1. Kid/family friendly!!!!
2. Top notch service
3. Disney entertainment
4. No casino
5. It feels safe because there are mostly families and although there probably were some, we never saw a bunch of drunk adults that had been out at the bar all night partying. People pay big money to go on these with their families and it may sound awful but you don’t get the riff raff you may encounter on a cheaper cruise line who are only there to party it up.

 

[lovedisneycruise]

I am late to this thread but I wanted to add something that I don’t think anyone mentioned. In my opinion the character interactions are above and beyond on the cruise as compared to Disney World. I cruise solo or with an older child but I still enjoy watching the little ones at the princess gatherings etc. If your daughters like meeting or seeing the characters, you can’t beat it on these cruises. Another thing that makes these special in my opinion is the random character interactions you get just wandering around the ship. I have a photo from years ago where I was in a lounge chair watching the movie midday on the upper deck and Minnie in her Hawaiian dress came strolling by and took a photo w me. I think it’s part of the magic of a Disney cruise.

 

[DCLMP]

I'm planning my girls' birthday trip in November. Our plan was always to activate APs this summer and surprise them with a birthday at Disney World. You know, back in December when we thought the AP pause might just be for the holiday season? Whomp, whomp.

Instead, we're now looking at a 4 night cruise from Canaveral and then just a one day ticket for their actual birthday in MK. We're doing the long Disney trip this summer, so a cruise and one park day feels like more bang for our buck than another week of parks.

There's a Disney Wish cruise that perfectly overlaps our dates. But, there's also a Royal Carribbean cruise that does the same. Same basic itinerary (Canaveral, Nassau, Private Island, Canaveral), same dates, half the cost of DCL and I could be in two balcony rooms or a suite versus a five person veranda on the Wish.

I know there's a reason Disney costs more, and with soon-to-be nine year old girls we're right in their sweet spot, but double the price? I could do RC and book a VIP tour on their birthday for the same cost. Every time I've looked at Disney cruise pricing, I keep coming back to the incredible cost difference.

So, Dis friends, is it really that much better? Please convince my cheap-at-heart self that I'm sitting here comparing a motel three blocks from the beach with a four star resort on the water.

It depends on the ship. Royal has some great new ships that have more to offer than DCL. They also have some run-down old ships. Without knowing what Royal ship you're comparing the Wish to I can't answer that question. My guess is that any Royal ship

doing that itinerary will come nowhere near the experience you'll get on the brand new Wish. If you were comparing the Fantasy to Harmony or Odyssey that would be a different story.

 

[mousefan73]

The VIP experience would be one really incredible day for sure, but it is only 10 hours instead of 4 days of fun...

yeah the cruise isnt really 4 days either. If you remove the day spent on an island ( CC or Royals) and the Nassau excursion, the amount of ship time is actually very limited.

I havent been backt to WDW since the Genie and If this is that vIP tour that includes FP basically all you want, that might be the thing for me that would make to do WIsh some other time.

We actually jusst cancelled our 4 night Wish in September.. 5000 grand for 4 nights just because its a new ship... we realized that is insane.. especially seeing that 7 night and longer sailings on other ships can be cheaper.. We will save the New ships for longer itineraries..at some point when 2 are there we hope they exist.

 

[JM_97]

What are some good ways to budget to help alleviate the cost? Specifically, do you have to pay it all up front or can you chip away at the total?

 

[ScooterScott44]

Coming into this thread a little far in but for the OP I have a follow up question and thought. You stated…

I know there's a reason Disney costs more…

So, Dis friends, is it really that much better?

So what are the reasons you think DCL cost 2x others? My thought is it is mostly because people see the Disney name and don’t question the price.

We have done plenty of cruises on DCL (platinum, aLL for ships and staterooms from inside up to the Walt suite) and about to become Diamond on RCL (but only a small percentage of their overall fleet). We do have had a good feeling of what it is like on both lines. The two lines are really not that different, sure there are some things that we like about DCL, but like you are asking we really can’t quite justify the cost difference. We believe both have their positives and negatives.

Your kids are a little younger so they still might be a little more into Disney but there are still plenty of things to do and the kids clubs are relatively close. Our son was just as happy with the RCL kids programs. You stated you were looking at sailing Independence, we did the sister ship, Freedom, and with ice skating, climbing and other things more adventurous kids would be happy, Mini golf might work for less active or younger kids. If you are considering a suite the extra space will be nice also.

Happy planning.

 

[lisaburnsmiles]

I struggle with this as well - I've been spoiled and never cruised on anything other than Disney. Every time i consider going to another linen I go through the struggle. My "why Disney" is summed up with this post by a fellow Dis-er here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/currently-on-harmony-of-the-seas.3885878/

Take a look - the service on Disney keeps me coming back and I'm willing to pay for it. Good luck and hope the girls have a truly magical birthday!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Well, since this has popped back up for folks, I figured I'd respond even though we did decide to go Disney, in case other people are feeling similarly divided.

What are some good ways to budget to help alleviate the cost? Specifically, do you have to pay it all up front or can you chip away at the total?

So, a few people in the thread mentioned affordability or staying within a budget.

For our family, we can easily afford either version of the trip. We live well within our means, have significant monthly savings, and a vacation budget that's been accumulating for 2.5 years of not only not getting to go on trips but also not spending on things like concerts, amusement parks, general kiddie outings during Covid.

But, just because we can afford something doesn't mean we do it. Part of the reason we have so much socked away is because we are picky about the opportunity cost and whether something is worth the price tag. We do this for big and small decisions alike, often to the point that we're probably wasting energy worrying about things that are only a few dollars in the long run. Of course, this one is not a few dollars, so I think it's well worth asking not only, "Can we afford this?" but "Should we spend our money this way?"

I understand that other people have different relationships to vacation spending. For us, I never would have even started this thread if we couldn't comfortably afford the Disney cruise while still maintaining a healthy emergency savings, long term savings, etc. If we can't pay for it out of the "fun" fund, it's not on the table.

So what are the reasons you think DCL cost 2x others?

I assumed a combination of entertainment and branding.

My kids adore characters of all kinds, so Disney is obviously the hands down winner there. I'm sure RCL has a great kids club, but Pluto doesn't come to the PJ party.

Likewise, they will enjoy Disney shows like Aladdin and The Little Mermaid much more than Grease on the RCL ship we were considering.

And, yes, I'm sure the Disney name adds to the price tag, too. Which is essentially the point of this thread. How much of that difference is actually buying a higher quality product versus how much is overspending on, say, Beats headphones for the name when there are plenty of brands with less recognition but better audio quality at the same price point.

Because, I'll pay more for the name brand when the quality and features are better, but not when the name is doing all of the heavy lifting without the product supporting the premium price.

 

[mousefan73]

I struggle with this as well - I've been spoiled and never cruised on anything other than Disney. Every time i consider going to another linen I go through the struggle. My "why Disney" is summed up with this post by a fellow Dis-er here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/currently-on-harmony-of-the-seas.3885878/

Take a look - the service on Disney keeps me coming back and I'm willing to pay for it. Good luck and hope the girls have a truly magical birthday!

I read and commented in that thread. I would take that opinion with a grain of salt. And to Tbe honest. the latest service I have had with DCL was not always justifiable with a "Disney premium" surcharge. When we recently embarked in Vancouver, the friendliest, and smoothest interaction was of all people the US Immigration guy. On the ship get services to not go any extra step to make sure I was happy. To explain I have done the star Gazing thing and the officer had commented that if we want to get a flyer with more information to go down to guest services. So the next day I go down and say hey the officer last night said you guys would have a pamphlet for us and the guy looked at me with a blank face and had no idea what I was talking about. Nor tried to go find out what I was talking about. So I left a bit disappointed thinking OK I just made an *** of myself asking for something that probably doesn’t exist.

If paying a premium to always expect great customer service, you are setting youreself up to be disappointed. Sure Disney is much better than most cruise lines. But there are many out there, like Royal, We’re on some of their ships you can expect the same or some times even better service. I cannot say that Royal was better or worse than Disney in my experience. I do know that with Royal I am not waiting literally 6 hours to get through to a person.

Whais someone mentioned above people pay for Disney and they can charge so much because people want that “Disney” experience that is basically their USP.

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

They are only this age now. Do the Disney I say. Soon they will be teenagers and then you can do the cheaper cruises