What makes DCL worth the extra money?

[Liz]

After reading several posts about other cruise lines being less expensive, I checked RCCL's website to compare. For our cruise in 2006, RCCL is $1,000 less. Their rooms are a little smaller but I just wonder what makes Disney more expensive, other than it has the "Disney" name.

We have no intention of switching to RCCL, but I'll admit its tempting since for the same price we could get oceanview instead of inside. We're such Disney geeks though, I can't imagine going any other way. If I was on RCCL and I saw the Magic I'd probably cry wishing I was on it!!!

 

[MickeyMania]

I am sure there are million reasons - I would love to hear some! The only cruise I've ever been on - about 15 years ago - not kidding:

1. Only allowed ham sandwiches and orange juice for room service

2. Had one bathroom for four girls - where you had to put your leg on the toilet to shave your legs - WHILE you were in the shower!

3. And we were always the smallest ship at every port - very depressing!

So - the bar has not been set very high!


Cruising - March 11, 2006

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I can't speak for RCCL, but we sailed Carnival Glory this past spring break because it was 2000.00 less for our family of three, and I'm here to say, you definitely get what you pay for!

You're not paying just for the Disney name, you're paying for the service which is incomparable. Carnival employees were friendly, but if you had a question which they were unable to answer, it stopped there. DCL staff will go out of their way to assist you. Eating in the same dining room each night is very much a 'let-down' after DCL's 'rotational dining.' DCL's disembarkation and immigration procedures at St. Thomas are very efficient, organized and enough to make me never want to sail another cruise line. (On Carnival, it took forever to disembark at Port Canaveral, and took 2 1/2 hours to go through immigration for St. Thomas. We spent almost half our day trying to get off the ship before we had to be back!)

Again, I can't speak for RCCL, but I think one pays less on other cruise lines because they're not receiving the same quality and service. JMHO.

 

[crisi]

A lot of people have said very nice things about the RCCL ships. Service and dining seem to be on par. RCCL has better things to do for older kids and teens. Disney has Mickey.

Our kids will be seven and eight for our next Disney cruise - and that will likely be our last Disney cruise. Once the kids aren't hyped about pictures with Pluto, it isn't worth it to us.

 

[TiggerKing]

I have only cruised on DCL, but I spend a great deal of time traveling (around the world) for my job. The one thing that impressed me about DCL last year was the service and the cleanliness of the ship. Our dinner partners were a retired couple who had cruised many other lines, and were on their first DCL cruise. By the end of the 4 day, they had booked a 7 day for the same time this year, and made the comment that they would not cruise with anyone else, again.

DW and I are very cost conscious. For the first 5 years of our marriage, we vacationed in Gatlinburg, TN for our anniversary. This location is very special to us. When I asked DW where she wanted to go for our anniversary this year, I barely had the question out of my mouth before she said a Disney cruise. And, this is a woman it took me 6 years to even talk into getting on a cruise ship.

Cruising as a couple with no kids, we don't drink, don't gamble, so the amenities on the other ships are not attractive to us. When I travel, I have always been willing to pay a little more for cleanliness and service. I feel like I am getting my money's worth when I cruise DCL.

 

[tvguy]

I've cruised Disney, HAL, NCL, RCCL and Paquet.
I'd cruise all but Paquet again. Disney is a premium cruise, a cut above.
And you pay a premium price. Yes you get more, but they charge you about $2 for every $1 they provide.
Would I go again? Yes, if I could afford it. Would I go on another line if that is all I could afford? Yes. Any cruise is better than not cruising.

 

[Spectro is #1]

DW and I have only been on DCL but on our 03 Wonder Cruise we went with another couple who have cruised other lines (rccl & ccl). Never being on another cruise line we took a lot for granted, here are a few things that I remember they were impressed about:
luggage service from home airport to cabin and how easy it was getting luggage after debarcation

Freash not salt water in the pools
3 pools
rotational dinning and dacor of restaurants
# of choices of free snacks
blown away by how large a standered cabin and veranda (cat6) were
split bathroom.
level of overall service
a lot less nickel and diming. for example they said to eat in the upscale resaurant it was 15.00 a person and the food and service was not even close to Palo.
Castaway Cay!!!

what they missed:
casino
shopping: not enough stores onboard

 

[taeja71]

I'm willing to fork out the extra money because we have three young children (all under the age of 5 1/2). I'd explore another cruise line except with the kids being young and loving Disney why not DCL. The evening stage shows are clean (G rated), no casino gambling to steer them away from, and little smoking. I think my kids would love to ice skate on RCCL's ships, but my kids are barely old enough to ride their bikes WITH training wheels. So, until my kids whine- Disney again???!!! I'll fight to keep us on the Wonder or Magic.

 

[DMMarla07860]

I've only been on DCL and I'm 17, I don't cruise as much as some people on this site, but I have been on two cruises, I'm going on my next cruise August 19 in 2006 with two stops at CC that should be fun, I hope I go on other cruise lines, but the only person I know that likes to go on trips for 7 days is my dad, and I don't think I'll like another cruise line if I don't have a friend with me, so for a grad present me and my girls might take a cruise anyone have any good ideas on witch line RCCL or CCL?

 

[WDWLVR]

I've been cruising since the mid-70's and I think what makes Disney stand out and worth the extra money is the quality and innovation that Disney is known for.

The thinking that went into room designs with split baths.

The rotational dining while keeping your same servers.

The quality of the shows and entertainment.

The attention to children's programming.

The way the adult areas are kept for adults only.

The disembarkation process which to me is the best in the industy.

It all is what has made our last 6 cruises Disney cruises (with 2 more booked for the future).

 

[staceymerrill]

We pay, with FL res discounts, the equivalent to a comparable Carnival cruise...nevertheless, we would still pay more to cruise DCL.....although many other ships offer like accommodations, but IMO DCL offers all the intangibles - an excitement that you just cant get with other lines ...and , IMO, after seeing it 9 times, Disney Dreams is the single greatest show in the cruise industry today....

 

[my3kids]

Interesting that one of the comments was room servoce would be better on Disney. That is one area I think Disney actually falls in.....On RCI, HAL and others I think, you can order hot breakfasts, get dining room meals served in your cabin...on Disney, I thought their options were pretty limited. Cold sandwiches, chicken tenders, no hot breakfasts unless you're in a suite.

 

[tvguy]

SPECTRO IS # 1 Most ships built in recent years have fresh water pools.

WDWLVR If you are referring to the disembarkation process ON the pier, I agree. If you are referring to the process of getting off the ship, no it's the worst I have encountered because there IS no process. Getting off when you want did nothing but create gridlock and almost made us miss our 12:35 pm flight. HAL's system, where they have your departure flight information, and have you go to public rooms and depart based on when your flight departs is far superior.

 

[scuba.mom]

The way the adult areas are kept for adults only.

This aspect is what truly surprised me about Disney especially after talking to a number of friends who have cruised other lines (we have cruised 4 different lines ourselves). A teacher of my sons went on a Carnival Cruise last year and picked them for their "party" atmosphere. She is sinlge and she really wanted to be away from kids. Well, unfortunately for her, Carnival did not enforce the no kids rule anywhere. She said she was in a dance club after midnight as where a number of pre-teens. The pools were crowded with kids playing Marco Polo. And, because there really wasn't much for the kids to do from her observation, they were running all over the ship. She was disappointed with her vacation. On each of our Disney cruises, the adult areas have been kept for the adults.

 

[dobelover]

The Disney ships are special. Service, food and entertainment are very good to excellent. I do cruise RCI for the variety of ports and although I enjoy everything it is not 100% outstanding like my DCL cruises. On a recent trip on RCI many adult venues were non-smoking, something DCL has not addressed very well.

 

[Lisa]

We just returned from a Carnival Canadian cruise yesterday. While the food and the shows were very good, that is about all I could find that was appealing.

The ship was dirty, poorly maintained, often while walking around the ship, you could smell trash. The water slide was "being maintained" the entire week and not open once. When we got on the ship, only one pool was opened and that didn't open until later in the day. The evening before we docked the pools were shut early. We were disappointed that the facilities that we enjoy using weren't available to us. We were on a five day cruise but felt we only got three days of use of the ship. We did have a wonderful waiter, he was great, and that was a relief considering the wait staff we had on the Magic in January was the worse. Ahmed, however, was one of the few staff members that we encountered on Carnival that cared. It seemed the ship was short staffed.

Will we ever go on another Carnival cruise? No. Will we go on another Disney cruise? Oh, yeah.

 

[paulmc80]

Is DCL really more costly than most?

I was just looking at pricing for the Pride of America cruises around the Hawaiian Islands. A 7-night cruise is a lot, lot more than a DCL cruise. The inside cabins on the Pride of America are more than balcony cabins on DCL. At least from what I found on the Internet. That ship is expensive!

 

[logan1_2000]

Much of what makes any Disney experience, well, a DISNEY experience is intangible. The OP even said " We're such Disney geeks though, I can't imagine going any other way. If I was on RCCL and I saw the Magic I'd probably cry wishing I was on it!!!" Have to pay to soothe that need.

So it may well be tough to come up with a checklist that shows what makes DCL worth a premium price. But in 2002, when I took my first DCL cruise for 4 nights on the Wonder, and this was one year after 4 nights on RCCL, DW and I could not stop raving about what a better cruise the Disney Cruise was. We liked the food better at dinner and the buffet restaurants, we liked the availability of casual food from Pluto's compared to limited hours of burger and hot dog selections with a long line on RCCL, we liked the dining experience of themed restaurants/rotation dining, we liked fresh water pools, we liked the production shows on DCL instead of the noxious "When Swing was King" salute to the big band era. We liked not having to avoid a casino we didn't want to use, and we liked that Disney seemed busy fixing things all along--compared to our RCCL cruise during which one of two pools was broken and not in use for the entire cruise, which made the remaining pool darned crowded, if you couldn't guess. That would not be acceptable on DCL. We liked the split baths, the oversized rooms the more convenient layout for oceanview instead of the window behind our heads as we slept in the bed on RCCL oceanview (obstructed view, by the way, but priced as oceanview). 214 ft. in a cat. 8 compared to 139 ft oceanview--50% more room--and next year's RCCL cruise will be 154 sq. ft. oceanview, again close to 50% larger on DCL. Yes, less shopping on board--that's not necessarily a bad thing, is it? Now, we have not done a Voyager class cruise. And next year's isn't Voyager either. might have enough points on my royal caribbean VISA for a free 7 night caribbean cruise by '07, so maybe check it out then. But even DS, who wants to be an adult right NOW (he's 9 and terrific!) likes characters and says he would miss the characters if he would cruise w/o them. And service is so wonderful on DCL from everyone all over the ship.

That's my partial list.

 

[Connie of Trenton]

Your question brings to mind the saying "you get what you pay for". So many people commented to us before our cruise they wouldn't cruise DCL because we don't want to be around all those kids. I can honestly say after having been on it we hardly ever saw any kids. We tried DCL after some friends (a couple sailing w/out kids) kept talking about how wonderful it was. We had the best time (yup w/out our kids) and have booked another cruise in 2006 w/out kids. The amazing thing is on our 1st cruise we hardly ever saw any kids because of the programs offered and seperate pools/beaches.The Disney cruise was a family atmosphere but adult if that was you preferred. We so enjoyed the performance the kids put on the last evening-but then again we wanted to attend the show. I look forward to our next cruise and posing for pictures with the characters w/out our kids! Afterall we are really a couple of BIG kids!

 

[MelissaE1]

I am not trying to be cliche here, but what makes DCL worth it is...well...the <i>magic</i>.

Any cruise is good in my humble opinion, but things happen on DCL that just don't happen anywhere else. After we boarded the Magic and were waiting for DS to check out the lab, my 4yo DD and I were just standing in the alcove overlooking the lobby and a cast member walked over to my daughter and pointed across and one deck up. There, in an alcove all by herself was Minnie Mouse. She waved and blew a kiss to my DD and the look on my daughter's face was worth it right there. One night at dinner my 8yo ds was talking about the adobo he loved that our neighbor fixed... and guess what showed up on his plate at dinner one night? It's these little magical surprises that make the difference for me.

If you are a WDW fan, think of it this way... why go to Disney when Six Flags has great rides for a bit less? It's the <i>magic</i>.