What's our best "bang for buck" from West Coast?

[limace]

We are contemplating a Disney cruise in 2019-2 adults, kids who will be 13 and 9 at the time. The kids have never been on a cruise; I've done an 11 day Southern Carib. on HAL and the two of us did a 7 day on Celebrity out Puerto Rico. Really enjoyed them both and would like to have our kids experience cruising. No special need to do the Caribbean again, but would consider combining a trip with a WDW trip next summer if that's the best deal.

We can pull kids out of school for a bit but it's not our preference. Airfare to the East Coast tends to be expensive for us so we have to add that in to costs if it's cheaper to do Caribbean.

We'd be interested in an ALaska cruise though I'm not convinced DCL is the best line for that-thoughts?

Not interested in Europe-incredibly expensive on DCL and we would prefer traveling and spending time in cities to just experiencing a few hours in a port.

So, what would you do? Mexico? Alaska? Caribbean? We are DVC members so can book on the 7th, I believe, and I'd love to at least get a deposit on something.

 

[GPaLarry]

Don't know were you live on the West Coast, but we live in Portland, OR and drove to Vancouver, BC last June for a 7-day DCL Alaska cruise. It took us 5 1/2 hours to drive (crossing the border takes a while, longer coming home and Seattle via I-5 can be a mess) to get up to Vancouver. You can also take a train or fly. I rented a van (son and family of 4 met us in Seattle) for the trip up and back (rental company would not let me turn it in then get another after the cruise, so I paid for parking for a week)(daughter and family drove up separately). It was easy to park, get around the terminal and check in. There are other cruise lines that use this terminal, so you need to follow your mouse nose to get to the right ship.
We have also looked at the repo 5-night cruise from San Diego to Vancouver, BC with stops in San Francisco and Victoria, BC (love this port/city). It is listed for this year, but not next...curious!! Check the DCL web site for the various itineraries out here, many go to Mexico. We hope they will station one of the new ships out west when they are launched.
We loved the mouse's cruise to Alaska. Many other lines do similar trips, some with land travel included (Denali, Anchorage, etc.) However, DCL made our trip awesome...we may even do it again, just the two of us. Every one of our 11-member crew, with kids 8, 11, 13, 16 & 18, loved every minute, even with a bit of rain here and there. Happy sailing!!

 

[limace]

That is super helpful-thank you! We are in Oregon as well and I’ve been eyeing those Vancouver round trip itineraries.

 

[limace]

GpaLarry, a few questions. My understanding is that Disney doesn't have enclosed pools; did the kids on your trip mind that? They are about the ages of our kids. Did you have balcony rooms?

The repo cruise would be great-I was hoping for more Mexico itineraries over the summer, but looks like no go there.

 

[AquaDame]

The repo cruise will likely be the best "deal" but Alaska is an amazing place, so asking value is hard. I also live in Portland, Oregon and we were very happy to either not have to fly (Alaska) or just have a couple hour hop down to San Diego. We had a great time in Mexico but if those are out you might find a good deal on Alaska if you can travel on either the earliest or latest departures. Flying anywhere further than Cali adds a huge burden to any budget but those are pretty much our choices on the west coast.

I honestly don't know quite what to say about Alaska... DCL is not the best value there, nor do they have the best itinerary. They ARE however getting better every year. When we sailed with them in 2014 we had one itinerary choice but now they've added Sitka, Hubbard Glacier and Icy Strait Point. They only thing they lack now that I know is a huge draw is Glacier Bay and having one way options up to Whittier or Seward (Anchorage) which allows you to take some time up and around Denali (which is absolutely fabulous IMO). If you haven't already fallen to the siren song of DCL and have been happy on other lines you might want to go with Princess or HNL - they have been doing Alaska forever and I hear they do it right. Carnival, RCCL and NCL cruise the same choices too, at that point you would just want to look at dates, ships etc and see which one is the best fit.

 

[ludari]

Living on the west coast I've done a couple of Mexican Rivera Cruises, a Pacific Cruise, a cruise to nowhere, and reposition cruise from Vancouver all on Disney Cruise Line. As far as the most bang for the buck I would say was the five day reposition cruise from Vancouver. Yeah, the only port was stop at was Victoria but I've always preferred sea days over port days. If you are interested in the ports the Mexican Rivera Cruises had a lot of interesting things to do at the various ports. At the time I took the cruise to nowhere it was inexpensive which is not the case any longer (IMHO) and it seems like everyone on the ship was running crazy trying to do everything in two days. Lucky for me I added the cruise to nowhere to one of the Mexican Rivera Cruises I took so I had 9 days of fun. Good Luck.

 

[limace]

Thanks guys! The repo cruise is sounding better and better. I haven't been super excited about Disney for Alaska-it seems like HAL and Princess have better itineraries, though neither are really "kid" lines. I would like a Mexican cruise (and our kids are in a Spanish immersion school so getting them to places where we can mortify them by making them use their language is always a bonus!) but that looks like it's out in 2019-I'll have to go look again.

 

[Geomom]

We did the Disney Cruise to Alaska in August 2016--our first ever cruise. We loved it. My youngest daughter was 12 at the time and we went in the pool with her. The pools are heated when the air temperature is below 75F. From what I've heard/photos I've seen, the pools are much less crowded than a 'warmer' cruise. The hard part is getting out of the pool--so, we went straight from the pool to the family hot tub, sat there for a while to 'overheat'--and then the cold air didn't bother us. The kids might not like to do the waterslide due to the cold air, but the pool is good! My girls loved seeing all the characters dressed in their Alaska clothes. I liked going to the various Nature Talks, learning about the sea mammals of Alaska, glaciers, etc.

 

[xlxo]

We'd be interested in an ALaska cruise though I'm not convinced DCL is the best line for that-thoughts?

• What month are you looking at a cruise to Alaska if you went ahead with it? Avoid August to September. It starts to get wet in August and stormy in September. May for cheap and July for warmth (peak price month).
• if not DCL.... look at Princess or HAL to include Glacier Bay as an itinerary. HAL does 7 return in Vancouver.
• the Bliss megaship debuts this summer in Seattle. Sadly it skips Glacier Bay.

 

[seacruise]

We are in Seattle so have your same dilemma. I still think the Caribbean is the best "value" on DCL. We can fly four people to MCO and do a 7 day DCL Caribbean cruise for less than we can do Alaska on DCL with no flights.

 

[MouseOfCards]

Don't know were you live on the West Coast, but we live in Portland, OR and drove to Vancouver, BC last June for a 7-day DCL Alaska cruise. It took us 5 1/2 hours to drive (crossing the border takes a while, longer coming home and Seattle via I-5 can be a mess) to get up to Vancouver. You can also take a train or fly. I rented a van (son and family of 4 met us in Seattle) for the trip up and back (rental company would not let me turn it in then get another after the cruise, so I paid for parking for a week)(daughter and family drove up separately). It was easy to park, get around the terminal and check in. There are other cruise lines that use this terminal, so you need to follow your mouse nose to get to the right ship.
We have also looked at the repo 5-night cruise from San Diego to Vancouver, BC with stops in San Francisco and Victoria, BC (love this port/city). It is listed for this year, but not next...curious!! Check the DCL web site for the various itineraries out here, many go to Mexico. We hope they will station one of the new ships out west when they are launched.
We loved the mouse's cruise to Alaska. Many other lines do similar trips, some with land travel included (Denali, Anchorage, etc.) However, DCL made our trip awesome...we may even do it again, just the two of us. Every one of our 11-member crew, with kids 8, 11, 13, 16 & 18, loved every minute, even with a bit of rain here and there. Happy sailing!!

Some folks have mentioned that the repo cruise for 2019 may be the DVC member cruise.

 

[GPaLarry]

Some folks have mentioned that the repo cruise for 2019 may be the DVC member cruise.

Bummer!!!

 

[mmmears]

We are on the West Coast, too. We've taking DCL to Alaska and it was amazing. I loved, loved, loved that cruise. The pools weren't covered but there were still kids in the pools. There were blankets and hot cocoa up on that deck. I agree that the itinerary isn't as good as some out there, but we liked what we saw. And we also liked having the Disney activities and shows when we were on board the ship.

We've also taken a couple short cruises to the Bahamas and combined them with trips to WDW - those were wonderful vacations, too. Both of those were during spring break, so it was crowded but still fun. I know what you mean about the cost of air to FL making those trips so expensive though.

 

[CanuckOnaBoat]

i did my first Disney Cruise to Alaska. I felt sorry for people on the other cruises. Our's just looked so much more fun!!!

But with that said - perhaps other lines have better itineraries ..and I'm sure they are more economical.