Why are Disney Cruises so expensive?

[3floridarays]

I keep seeing prices over $1000pp for 4 and 5 day cruises, when other cruise lines have similar itineraries for $400-500pp. I mean, I know Disney is awesome and everything, but is it really worth the extra cost?

Or are there major discounts out there that I'm not finding?

 

[kcashner]

Well, on the one hand they charge it because they can get it. Next summer the Magic will be in Europe...you'll either pay airfare or you'll pay for a high priced Wonder cruise if you want to be on a DCL ship.

On the other hand, they don't have a casino. Every other line plans on a certain amount per cabin being dropped in the casino (of course, you can choose not to do that!). DCL is truly all inclusive. Except for Palo, you basically don't pay extra for food, you don't buy a soda plan, etc. On many cruises there are multiple "extra cost" restaurants including some geared to kids. True, it would take a lot of $30 soda plans and $4 upcharge meals to equal the cost of the DCL cruise, but every little bit counts.

They have a product that is at least somewhat different than what anyone else can offer--characters, first run movies, fireworks...and service second to none. If people will pay for it, they'll charge top dollar.

 

[DisneyDoc1895]

Many things contribute - larger kids programs (more staff), no casino, free soda, the characters and other Disney "Magic". Supply and Demand has something to do with it - many of us are willing to pay it so Disney is happy to take our money!

We plan to stick with DCL til the kids are in college and then mix and match with other cruiselines.

 

[VeroBeach]

I keep seeing prices over $1000pp for 4 and 5 day cruises, when other cruise lines have similar itineraries for $400-500pp

What time of year?

 

[bbn1122]

I also wonder if it is because they only have 2 ships. That makes the cruises high in demand and probably usually sell before of the lines. I agree about the casinos. Plus, all that Disney Magic (the pixie dust not the ship)!!!

 

[itutorfortravel]

if you're looking at 5 day cruises, that means you must be looking at the bahamas cruise with 2 stops at cc or a stop at kwf. at that time of year, only the wonder will be departing from FL (the magic will be in the med). i have heard and noticed that prices are much much higher when only one ship is departing from a particular port...in other words, like others have said, supply and demand.

i would rather go 7 days for the price you are quoting. our family is traveling during Christmas week on the magic for $999 pp. we did the same cruise for a little less over spring break. you have to be willing to book the lowest cat, tho, to get deals like that. often those lower cats don't open up until closer to sailing and if the ship sells well may not open up at all. so it's a chance you have to be willing to take.

spontaneity typically gets you the best prices nowadays, as deals on dcl come and go all the time in this economy...

 

[Anal Annie]

I keep seeing prices over $1000pp for 4 and 5 day cruises, when other cruise lines have similar itineraries for $400-500pp. I mean, I know Disney is awesome and everything, but is it really worth the extra cost?

Or are there major discounts out there that I'm not finding?

There are a number of factors involved. First, it's Disney; second, they only have 2 ships, third they also have this tiered pricing which means the VERY BEST prices are offered when the schedules are first released which can be 18 months ahead. The prices only go UP from there. So if you're looking at an itinerary that's been out for awhile the prices have already started going up. And finally the time of year affects it tremendously - esp. for summer vacations & holidays.

Then there are the different cabin categories. You need to make sure you're comparing the same type of cabin. DCL offers some of the largest per sq. foot cabins available. If you are a larger family (5+) try pricing two connecting cabins in lower category cabins VS one of their "family staterooms". That is often a cheaper alternative.

IMO the pricing for their longer cruises (7 nights +) works out to be a better deal than their shorter itineraries as far as a cost per night pp. We just booked a 10 night Med cruise with 7 ports for 2011 which breaks down to $1,864 pp (in a Cat 10A) (after our re-booking discount). That works out to be about $186 per person per night. Porthole & balcony categories were SIGNIFICANTLY higher so they were not an option for us. But if you compare that to a 4 n cruise that's $1,000 pp to only get to go to the Bahamas...well...NOT the same value. $1,000 pp for 4 nights is $250 pp per night... You didn't say what category you were looking at for $1K pp so I don't know if that's an equal comparison or not. I know we probably paid ABOUT that much when we did back-to-backs last summer. We booked a 4 n with DVC points and then a 3 n on cash & it was I think about $3,200 or somthing like that for the 3 of us for the 3 nighter (in a Cat 10).


ETA: the annual Conde Nast Readers Choice Awards just ranked DCL as the number 2 cruiseline out of ALL the "large ship" cruiselines. That's a statement in of itself - you will be cruising top of the line not bottom of the barrel. This covers itineraries offered, staff, cabins, food, excursions offered etc.

 

[goofy4tink]

Why are Disney cruises so much more expensive? Because they can be.... Disney knows full well how much they can charge and expect people to continue paying.
I've cruised several times. My dh has cruised once. So...we are looking at doing something special for our 20th anniversary. He thought a cruise might be nice. So, I looked at other cruise lines, as well as DCL. When I told him we could cruise for half the cost of a Disney cruise on another line, his answer was 'no way, it's either DCL or we don't cruise.' You get what you pay for. We aren't gamblers so a casino isn't something we need. We aren't big drinkers so don't need fancy clubs to hang out in. The DCL meets our needs perfectly. Not to mention the staterooms. After checking out what other cruise lines had, it made it hard to move away from DCL.

 

[NancyIL]

Why is DCL (sometimes) so expensive? Because there are plenty of people who will roll over and pay whatever DCL charges just because it's Disney - especially if it's a new itinerary (e.g. - the 2010 Northern Europe cruises starting at $3649/pp plus taxes). However, not all Disney cruises are priced out the wazoo! But if you have to cruise during the summer, spring break, or Christmas time - you will usually pay a lot more for your cruise.

 

[DaParkers]

All the pp's made great points. Also, there staterooms are a little bigger and they actually have bathtubs. I haven't been on another cruise line, but I sa a Samantha Brown episode when she was on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. She stressed the fact that you get a bathtub in one of the suites. On DCL, that's in every stateroom. It's just the little things that makes it more expensive.

 

[NancyIL]

All the pp's made great points. Also, there staterooms are a little bigger and they actually have bathtubs. I haven't been on another cruise line, but I sa a Samantha Brown episode when she was on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. She stressed the fact that you get a bathtub in one of the suites. On DCL, that's in every stateroom. It's just the little things that makes it more expensive.

I think the main reason for bathtubs on DCL is because there are so many young children on the ship - most of whom take baths and not showers.

 

[DaParkers]

I think the main reason for bathtubs on DCL is because there are so many young children on the ship - most of whom take baths and not showers.

Exactly! Disney actually cares that kids take baths. Other lines claim to have these great kid areas, but kids are really an afterthought. The best way to get to a person is to be good to their kids. People will go to any length to ensure their children are happy, even spend more money for a cruise. I did!

 

[lmhall2000]

1. Their standards for quality (i.e. clean ship, quality servers, amenities) are higher..that comes with a price.
2. Both ships are fairly average in size (not the megalith ships) so less paying, means more $$

That said, we've never sailed Disney or any ship. Our first trip is this May. We were able to book the kids sail free for a 10 day cruise and it cost us less than 1000 per person! I think that is pretty reasonable. We have been fortunate that we always manage to find a deal when choosing Disney...we wanted our first cruise to be Disney while the kids are still young enough to appreciate the shows and the theming...plus we can really only manage a big vacation every few years....we have a farm and it's just hard to get away. Pretty much everytime we've chosen Disney for a family vacation we pay 1/2 of what the 'standard' pricing would be...so if you hang around and look for the deals..you'll find great value.

HTH!
Tara

 

[HFC1969]

Well, on the one hand they charge it because they can get it.

Exactly!

We keep going back... we love it!

 

[Mike Bartenhagen]

We have been on a 4 day Wonder and a 7 day Magic, we have also cruised on other lines. We just returned from a 3 day cruise on Carnival and actually went on a very similar trip to the Wonder. We saw them in Cape C when we left and in Nassau when we arrived and saw them when we were at sea. For 4 of us the Carnival cruise cost about $800, I checked the same Disney cruise for the dates prior to booking and it was about 3 times as much. The Wonder cabins were certainaly much larger than the same catagory on Carnival. We like the fact that you go to different dinning rooms on DCL as opposed to the same on other lines, we thought the food and staff were comparable on both. The private island on DCL is a certain plus. For us we were happy with the Carnival Cruise but if our kids were younger (10 and 13) we probably would have paid the additional amount for DCL. Looking back at videos from our DCL cruises when they were younger you can see the excitment of meeting the charachters and seeing the shows. Now that they are older they still like Disney but swimming in the pool, enjoying the water slides and sitting in the sun is just as enjoyable.

Mike

 

[3floridarays]

Thanks for all of the replies! You have all definitely given me some things to think about, and I see how only having two ships could make a big difference. I hadn't even thought about that before.

We live on the east coast of Florida and can drive 20 minutes to a cruise terminal (and a couple of others within 2 or three hours), so mostly we like to be a little spontaneous and only book a few weeks or couple of months out and take multiple trips per year, not just one big one every one or two years. Since we're Florida residents and can go on short notice, we can get ridiculous prices. If DS has a teacher-in-service day or some other Monday or Friday out of school, we can just run off for a long weekend.

Maybe Disney will slowly add to their fleet and can start reducing the prices on the older ships. Then maybe I'll get to go on one. Of course, I'll probably be about 70, but I'll still love Disney!