What to do? Decisions, Decisions

[ChicosWife]

Backstory: We sailed on our first Disney cruise in January and loved it so much, we booked on board. Recently, they opened up itineraries in 2017 and we booked right away.

Now, that we have such a high expense to pay off by next year, we are now considering other options, like just doing a Disneyland, Legoland, Universal Studios tour (Southern California). The expense will be about half of the cruise cost. We really want to do another cruise before our kids get too old to enjoy it, but are having a hard time justifying the expense, when there are lots of other things we could do with that money. Any advice?

 

[RedSox68]

How about other cruise lines? There are many that have been reported on these boards who have great kid clubs and almost identical itineraries as DCL -- but cost half or more less than one DCL cruise.

Disneyland is fabulous -- loved that both parks were within walking distance and so different than WDW. Haven't been to Legoland.

Universal Studios tour is amazing according to my boss -- he has been trying to get me to go back out there since he went last year. It's on our bucket list, but really sounded awesome.

I understand about the expense -- we became platinum in 2014 and can't afford another Disney cruise to make use of our platinum benefits We priced out 2017 cruises and decided to either do another cruise line, or fly to Miami and finally drive to the Keys for our anniversary.

 

[NancyIL]

If you really want to do a Disney cruise - you could move to a less expensive Disney cruise, or keep your cruise and move to a less expensive cabin. I like your SoCal land trip idea, too.

 

[Jess_S]

From your post, it sounds like the cost of the DCL cruise is high enough that it is causing you stress. In that situation, I would say it's not worth it. What about doing a less expensive vacation this year and using the time to save up for DCL in 2018 (assuming your onboard booking is good for that long).

Having lived in Los Angeles for 10 years, I am a big fan of Disneyland and Universal and there's lots of other sights in the area that are worth seeing and fun for kids. As compared to WDW, I find Disneyland less stressful -- particularly because it's walkable. If you are staying on site, you can easily get to the parks when they are open and have a few hours with lows lines before things fill up. It will be very different from a cruise, but still a nice trip.

 

[dclpluto]

I don't understand how your kids can get too old to enjoy a Disney cruise.

 

[dcassetta]

If your kids are Harry Potter fans, Universal Hollywood just opened their Harry Potter section.

 

[FigmentSpark]

We've wanted to take a cruise for awhile now. But my boys were still at the age where WDW was fun and cool. So we did that when they were little. Now, we're finally doing the cruise. Yes, it's expensive, but I don't know if this is a once in a lifetime thing or the start of a new tradition. Do I wish we'd done it when the kids were smaller? They might have had fun, but I think they enjoyed what we did anyway.

I'd say do the cheaper landbased trip in 2017 and put the savings into a 2018 cruise. That way you won't be stressed out and it will diversify what your kids experience.

 

[TrySomethingNew]

Don't stress over the cost of a vacation, it should be fun and/or relaxing. The idea of saving for a later date is good, or moving your current reservation to another less expensive date, or changing up cabin categories are all good strategies.

Money saving strategies for Disney vacations are plentiful. Do a search on this forum and WDW and DL forums here. You might see some ideas you can employ. Disney has a vacation account you can open. Google it. Once acct is open for 120 days you can get back $20 per $1000 used. Some people combine this benefit with credit card benefits (DVA deposits were considered "travel" on one of my credit cards that gave generous rewards for travel expenses as an example). Others buy discounted Disney gift cards (Target red card and SAMs club are popular tactics here), to deposit into DVA for extra discounts. You get the idea-look into a variety of strategies (as I'm only giving you some Popular examples) and one or two may work well with your family.

Good luck!

 

[ChicosWife]

Thank you all for the advice!

 

[ChicosWife]

We're still going back and forth. No decisions made yet (no cancellations made yet either!)

 

[cruisehopeful]

You don't have to cancel until you hit your pay in full date. You can wait until then to decide and you'll still have plenty of time to plan a california vacation if you cancel the cruise.

Personally, I'd cancel and use the money to pay the upcoming expenses. The Disney cruise is still great fun no matter how old the kids are. They will probably do different things, but there's still lots to do.

 

[ChicosWife]

You don't have to cancel until you hit your pay in full date. You can wait until then to decide and you'll still have plenty of time to plan a california vacation if you cancel the cruise.

Personally, I'd cancel and use the money to pay the upcoming expenses. The Disney cruise is still great fun no matter how old the kids are. They will probably do different things, but there's still lots to do.

We thought about that too, but with either trip is going to be a big expense that we have to plan and save for. There is a big difference in costs for each trip though, so we need to figure out how much we need to save each month. If we wait until the paid in full date, we won't have enough money to actually pay it in full. LOL. I agree, that the kids will probably still like the cruise in a couple of years, but then I hate to lose the discount and OBC. Ugh, we are still unsure what we want to do!

 

[DnA2010]

We won't be doing DCL again unless it's a good GT rate, but even then the cost is often still twice the cost of a cabin on RCL which is a better cabin who we have also cruised with and love. We did a week DL trip last year and loved it, looking at either a trip like you mentioned with Universal next year, WDW or a cruise on another line, but the difference in cost just isn't worth it to us

 

[TeaBee]

We thought about that too, but with either trip is going to be a big expense that we have to plan and save for. There is a big difference in costs for each trip though, so we need to figure out how much we need to save each month. If we wait until the paid in full date, we won't have enough money to actually pay it in full. LOL. I agree, that the kids will probably still like the cruise in a couple of years, but then I hate to lose the discount and OBC. Ugh, we are still unsure what we want to do!

You could try saving your monthly amount based on the cruise price and if it gets to be too painful to set that amount aside every month, your decision is made. Then you have a vacation stash already set aside for CA instead.

 

[ChicosWife]

Now, we are flip-flopping between WDW and our 7-night cruise!!! Just when I was swaying towards WDW, I saw a special on the re-imagining of the Magic and I swayed right back to the cruise! Argh!!!

 

[MickeyEarrings]

Now, we are flip-flopping between WDW and our 7-night cruise!!! Just when I was swaying towards WDW, I saw a special on the re-imagining of the Magic and I swayed right back to the cruise! Argh!!!

That's why they keep showing them!......

 

[ChicosWife]

How about other cruise lines? There are many that have been reported on these boards who have great kid clubs and almost identical itineraries as DCL -- but cost half or more less than one DCL cruise.

Disneyland is fabulous -- loved that both parks were within walking distance and so different than WDW. Haven't been to Legoland.

Universal Studios tour is amazing according to my boss -- he has been trying to get me to go back out there since he went last year. It's on our bucket list, but really sounded awesome.

I understand about the expense -- we became platinum in 2014 and can't afford another Disney cruise to make use of our platinum benefits We priced out 2017 cruises and decided to either do another cruise line, or fly to Miami and finally drive to the Keys for our anniversary.

We looked at other cruise lines and although they were a little cheaper, not everything was included, like with Disney. For example, you would have to purchase drink packages, just to get soda and not all the restaurants were inclusive in the price of the cruise. And the kicker, they don't stop at Castaway Cay (because it's Disney's), and that is one of the main selling points to us.

That's why they keep showing them!......

Well, it's working!

 

[ChicosWife]

Any ideas how to convince my husband to just sway back over to the cruise? BTW, it's already booked, but he is worried about the expense compared to WDW.

 

[DizMagic]

I am in a similar situation where we have the Oct 2nd 5 Night New England Coast cruise out of NYC currently booked. I have about a month before my PIF date, and we are trying to decide if we take that trip, or do a lesser cost week at WDW later in the month. We did get a really good deal on the cruise, but it would still be about 2x the cost of WDW. I am leaning towards the cruise, though. Since it is a special itinerary that doesn't sail every year, I really don't want to miss the opportunity if they never go back.

I will say, being an east coaster and going to WDW annually- I LOVE Disneyland. I agree with PP that the walkability is awesome and the park itself is more charming and less stressful.

 

[Ofinn]

Backstory: We sailed on our first Disney cruise in January and loved it so much, we booked on board. Recently, they opened up itineraries in 2017 and we booked right away.

Now, that we have such a high expense to pay off by next year, we are now considering other options, like just doing a Disneyland, Legoland, Universal Studios tour (Southern California). The expense will be about half of the cruise cost. We really want to do another cruise before our kids get too old to enjoy it, but are having a hard time justifying the expense, when there are lots of other things we could do with that money. Any advice?

How old are your kids?