Why are Disney cruises still so expensive?

[John VN]

You can find luxury on any cruiseline if you can afford concierge. I’ve read great things about the haven on NCL.

r.e. bold DW and I have cruised Yacht Club in the neighborhood of DCL's Verandah and thousands less than Concierge.

Ships within a ship are a good concept and I wouldn't rule it out for us but it's a bit different having the whole ship available to youas opposed to having to book a category just to get access to a particular part of a ship or have services to you or the particular subsidiary focusing their experience on it. We did concierge level for our honeymoon at Sandals in St. Lucia which was nice but it would be different had we booked for instance Sandals Ocho Rios which is an all-butler resort.

We just got back from Mexico last week and due to a room issue we were given access to an area we would have had to book a specific area of the resort to get (same price point as we paid actually just different part of the resort). When you aren't needing to book a specific category it's like having the Bali beds and in-pool service no matter what color your wrist band is and a restaurant is not off limits to you because of that wrist band color.

Not all ultra-luxury are the same like Silver Sea has all butlers but Regent Seven Seas only on Penthouse and above. For Seabourn every suite has a suite host and a room attendant and the suite host will do things but not necessarily booking your spa appointments such that a butler may do on another line. But they will draw baths (unexpected I might add meaning not something the passenger has asked to do) for passengers that I do know. People post pictures of a bath being draw with cute notes about thinking they may need one after a long day out on an excursion or the weather, often with a towel animal made or the bears (which are ubiquitous to Seabourn) arranged in a way. How frequently that happens I would imagine varies based on the exact room attendant and host you have.

I'm looking at how MSC does with their new ultra luxury line Explora. MSC has Yacht Club for their ship within a ship but even so you can tell they see the value in creating the experience only elevated and within it's own ship rather than carving out space on a larger ship. And that's sorta the difference in what people are looking for, nearly all the places we had been looking for strongly for our trip we did in Mexico would have been Club Level or Adults Only areas and some places were mega resort complexes with 5 or more resorts all together. You'd need more of that intimate feeling that way.

I agree with you you can get a more intimate refined experience doing the ships within a ship and you may have more tailored experiences even just at the concierge level.

r.e. bold You continue to have access to the entire ship when cruising Yacht Club with a perk being Premium drinks all day long at YC's 2 bars and any bar on the ship.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

r.e. bold You continue to have access to the entire ship when cruising Yacht Club with a perk being Premium drinks all day long at YC's 2 bars and any bar on the ship.

That actually wasn't what I was referring to. It was actually reverse. Yacht Club gets you access to a part of the ship that unless you booked Yacht Club you would not have access to. Of course you'd have access to the rest of the ship which is the same way Club Level or Concierge level works at hotels too. You usually have access to the rest of the resort but only you have access to specific parts of the resort.

 

[John VN]

That actually wasn't what I was referring to. It was actually reverse. Yacht Club gets you access to a part of the ship that unless you booked Yacht Club you would not have access to. Of course you'd have access to the rest of the ship which is the same way Club Level or Concierge level works at hotels too. You usually have access to the rest of the resort but only you have access to specific parts of the resort.

Sorry for misconstruing (haven't used that one in forever ) your reply.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Sorry for misconstruing (haven't used that one in forever ) your reply.

No worries

 

[DCLMP]

r.e. bold DW and I have cruised Yacht Club in the neighborhood of DCL's Verandah and thousands less than Concierge.




r.e. bold You continue to have access to the entire ship when cruising Yacht Club with a perk being Premium drinks all day long at YC's 2 bars and any bar on the ship.

I had a cruise booked in the Yacht Club during Covid and it got canceled I haven't investigated it since then. I'm really more about the destinations at this point. I'd like to cruise out of Japan, but I think I'll be hard-pressed to find anyone on this forum that has done that.

 

[AquaDame]

I had a cruise booked in the Yacht Club during Covid and it got canceled I haven't investigated it since then. I'm really more about the destinations at this point. I'd like to cruise out of Japan, but I think I'll be hard-pressed to find anyone on this forum that has done that.

It does seem pretty niche... Japan is one of the last places I'd ever want to spend time out at sea on a ship, personally. The food is SO GOOD and cheap I'd want all my meals on terra firma. Traveling by train is fast, or flights even faster and cheap, hotels are affordable, if you stay in a ryokan its memorable... I just don't see the draw of a cruise ship there. I digress though... I'm sure in a few more years there will be folk here who have. I suspect they'll do at least some kind of itinerary that includes Japan once they launch the new one in Singapore.

 

[Kwami]

It does seem pretty niche... Japan is one of the last places I'd ever want to spend time out at sea on a ship, personally. The food is SO GOOD and cheap I'd want all my meals on terra firma. Traveling by train is fast, or flights even faster and cheap, hotels are affordable, if you stay in a ryokan its memorable... I just don't see the draw of a cruise ship there. I digress though... I'm sure in a few more years there will be folk here who have. I suspect they'll do at least some kind of itinerary that includes Japan once they launch the new one in Singapore.

I don't disagree. But...

Well, I took a look at some of the itineraries that Princess offers in Japan and they're actually pretty interesting. Many of them visit cities and towns that aren't easily accessed by train and that visitors might not visit very often. For example, some cruises visit small towns along the Sea of Japan. Others visit Okinawa (and not just the main island!). And, if you're looking for easy variety, then you can take 2- or 3-week cruises that travel all around and then you don't have to worry about repacking, moving hotels, or wasting daylight on a train.

Still, as you say, traveling in Japan is fairly easy and fairly cheap. Cruises aren't cheap at all and they're certainly more restrictive. It would be a hard sell, I think.

 

[shawy1269]

Why are Disney cruises so expensive and why are they not offering discounts like the other major cruise providers? My son just booked a 7 day European / Mediterranean cruise for $900 a person. This is a Norwegian cruise at that, on a fairly new boat. Disney is not offering anything close to those rates. I was looking to book for my family of 4 and it was going to cost over $10,000 since both of my children are adults and I would need two staterooms or a deluxe family stateroom. I decided to decline at this time

Disney only has 5 ships so it’s low supply and high demand for a product that many are familiar with. Maybe rates will go down when there are more ships to fill. I think that has a lot do do with the better pricing on other cruise lines.

With that being said, being flexible with dates you can still find some decent rates on DCL. Take a look at August/September.

 

[DCLMP]

It does seem pretty niche... Japan is one of the last places I'd ever want to spend time out at sea on a ship, personally. The food is SO GOOD and cheap I'd want all my meals on terra firma. Traveling by train is fast, or flights even faster and cheap, hotels are affordable, if you stay in a ryokan its memorable... I just don't see the draw of a cruise ship there. I digress though... I'm sure in a few more years there will be folk here who have. I suspect they'll do at least some kind of itinerary that includes Japan once they launch the new one in Singapore.

That makes sense and if I build up enough hotel points I could probably do it for free. Cruising is easy though without all the packing and unpacking. It will be interesting to see what Disney does over there. I expect it will be short cruises.

 

[darnheather]

I have only been sailing with DCL since 2017 so my experience may be a bit different. However, next year I'm going to be trying Princess in Alaska for a few reasons. 1) The price. I was able to get a veranda room with all drinks included for just a little more than an inside stateroom on DCL. 2) The itinerary. I know everyone says this about DCL in Alaska, but they just aren't able to go all the places some of the other lines are.

After talking to people here, I'm very excited about cruising on Princess. It will probably be quite a long time before I'm able to vacation again and I doubt it will be Disney related. There are so many places in the world I want to visit or revisit.

But if I still had children under 18, I would be sailing DCL next summer for Alaska and our future vacations probably would be DCL. I just feel like they get it right for my kids. Take people like me, add in new cruisers who have heard the hype and you've got high prices.

 

[Sykes]

Well, I took a look at some of the itineraries that Princess offers in Japan and they're actually pretty interesting. Many of them visit cities and towns that aren't easily accessed by train and that visitors might not visit very often. For example, some cruises visit small towns along the Sea of Japan. Others visit Okinawa (and not just the main island!). And, if you're looking for easy variety, then you can take 2- or 3-week cruises that travel all around and then you don't have to worry about repacking, moving hotels, or wasting daylight on a train.

Still, as you say, traveling in Japan is fairly easy and fairly cheap. Cruises aren't cheap at all and they're certainly more restrictive. It would be a hard sell, I think.

True, although Japan also has an extremely robust ferry system which is an experience in and of itself, so doing day trips to those areas pretty easy even on a land-based trip. But, as you note, there's still something to be said for not having to re-pack as you move and letting someone else do all the route planning for you.

Having just gotten back from Tokyo, I will say that because of the exchange rate Japan is insanely cheap right now, and I don't imagine that cruise prices really reflect that exchange rate discount. To echo AquaDame's sentiments, it's hard for me to imagine coming back to the ship and slumming it in the main dining room when there there is so much amazing (and cheap) food on shore.

 

[DCLMP]

True, although Japan also has an extremely robust ferry system which is an experience in and of itself, so doing day trips to those areas pretty easy even on a land-based trip. But, as you note, there's still something to be said for not having to re-pack as you move and letting someone else do all the route planning for you.

Having just gotten back from Tokyo, I will say that because of the exchange rate Japan is insanely cheap right now, and I don't imagine that cruise prices really reflect that exchange rate discount. To echo AquaDame's sentiments, it's hard for me to imagine coming back to the ship and slumming it in the main dining room when there there is so much amazing (and cheap) food on shore.

I had two trips completely planned, but they never opened. It will probably be 2025 now. I need to build up the miles agian I don't want to fly coach that distance.

 

[holula]

Having just gotten back from Tokyo, I will say that because of the exchange rate Japan is insanely cheap right now, and I don't imagine that cruise prices really reflect that exchange rate discount. To echo AquaDame's sentiments, it's hard for me to imagine coming back to the ship and slumming it in the main dining room when there there is so much amazing (and cheap) food on shore.

I have to echo this about the food. I didn’t love Japan and will likely only return to visit TDR again, but the food was amazing and so cheap. I wouldn’t want to miss that.

 

[kiford]

As far as the VPN thing most people don't work on cruises and honestly, I don't think most people worry about i

We always use a VPN service when using public wifi. It has to do with keeping your data private and secure and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with working. We do that in Starbucks, in hotels and on the ship. That a site prevents you from doing that is very offputting IMO.

Yacht Club gets you access to a part of the ship that unless you booked Yacht Club you would not have access to. Of course you'd have access to the rest of the ship which is the same way Club Level or Concierge level works at hotels too. You usually have access to the rest of the resort but only you have access to specific parts of the resort.

This is one of the factors that has prevented us from going on another cruise line. In order to get the kind of experience that I want, or to compensate for some deficiency that a standard booking would get you on those lines, I typically find that I would have to book concierge or special status. Which typically then puts me in the same price category as DCL, makes me pay for things I'm not interested in or won't bother to take advantage of, and makes me feel like I have to spend more time in those restricted-access areas to justify the cost which means I'm spending less time in the rest of the ship. So then I question why I'm considering that line in the first place instead of booking Disney. The only reason we've so far come up with to jump ship (pun not exactly intended) from DCL is itinerary. And so far, none of the itineraries that I've seen on the short list of other potential cruise lines has been stellar enough to make me move.

 

[DCLMP]

We always use a VPN service when using public wifi. It has to do with keeping your data private and secure and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with working. We do that in Starbucks, in hotels and on the ship. That a site prevents you from doing that is very offputting IMO.


This is one of the factors that has prevented us from going on another cruise line. In order to get the kind of experience that I want, or to compensate for some deficiency that a standard booking would get you on those lines, I typically find that I would have to book concierge or special status. Which typically then puts me in the same price category as DCL, makes me pay for things I'm not interested in or won't bother to take advantage of, and makes me feel like I have to spend more time in those restricted-access areas to justify the cost which means I'm spending less time in the rest of the ship. So then I question why I'm considering that line in the first place instead of booking Disney. The only reason we've so far come up with to jump ship (pun not exactly intended) from DCL is itinerary. And so far, none of the itineraries that I've seen on the short list of other potential cruise lines has been stellar enough to make me move.

I just use my cell data plan in public.I never new DCLs Wi-Fi was special other than it rarely works.

I booked a balcony room on Royal. What am I not getting that I’d get on DCL. I have a room that sleeps 4, housekeeping, MDR food, fast food, entertainment, pools, hot tubs all the same stuff as DCL.
I’m confused as why I would need to be concierge for it to be comparable to DCL.

 

[AquaDame]

We always use a VPN service when using public wifi. It has to do with keeping your data private and secure and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with working. We do that in Starbucks, in hotels and on the ship. That a site prevents you from doing that is very offputting IMO.


This is one of the factors that has prevented us from going on another cruise line. In order to get the kind of experience that I want, or to compensate for some deficiency that a standard booking would get you on those lines, I typically find that I would have to book concierge or special status. Which typically then puts me in the same price category as DCL, makes me pay for things I'm not interested in or won't bother to take advantage of, and makes me feel like I have to spend more time in those restricted-access areas to justify the cost which means I'm spending less time in the rest of the ship. So then I question why I'm considering that line in the first place instead of booking Disney. The only reason we've so far come up with to jump ship (pun not exactly intended) from DCL is itinerary. And so far, none of the itineraries that I've seen on the short list of other potential cruise lines has been stellar enough to make me move.

TBH this is how I started to feel about my time on the Wish.. it was the first time I felt my level of access and service was diminished in some way vs. concierge. I've been a little jealous of the location of the lounge space on the Wonder, and of course the premium coffee that is included, but those are minor minor things that were mostly out of sight. The adult pool area on the Wish is so small, and the conciege area is on view as mighty empty and temping when there was nowhere to sit for me, but of course is off limits. Even for concierge guests there was no hope of guaranteed cabana access, nevermind the rest of us also. The lounge still isn't a full resturant but it is a big step forward on that ship as well... it was approaching a distinct feeling of us vs them that I hadn't felt on previous ships. I don't think its in my head as it feels like the majority of positive reviews I read on that ship are from concierge guests and the poor ones from regular passengers, but maybe I'm mistaken and that was just in the beginning.

 

[DCLMP]

TBH this is how I started to feel about my time on the Wish.. it was the first time I felt my level of access and service was diminished in some way vs. concierge. I've been a little jealous of the location of the lounge space on the Wonder, and of course the premium coffee that is included, but those are minor minor things that were mostly out of sight. The adult pool area on the Wish is so small, and the conciege area is on view as mighty empty and temping when there was nowhere to sit for me, but of course is off limits. Even for concierge guests there was no hope of guaranteed cabana access, nevermind the rest of us also. The lounge still isn't a full resturant but it is a big step forward on that ship as well... it was approaching a distinct feeling of us vs them that I hadn't felt on previous ships. I don't think its in my head as it feels like the majority of positive reviews I read on that ship are from concierge guests and the poor ones from regular passengers, but maybe I'm mistaken and that was just in the beginning.

I noticed that too. I could never afford concierge on Disney so I don’t give it too much thought when I’m on the ship.
I did not feel like I got substandard vacation on Royal being in a standard room. I never saw the concierge area. I did pass the diamond lounge a few times and thought it was nice they have a loyalty perk

 

[kiford]

I just use my cell data plan in public.I never new DCLs Wi-Fi was special other than it rarely works.

I booked a balcony room on Royal. What am I not getting that I’d get on DCL. I have a room that sleeps 4, housekeeping, MDR food, fast food, entertainment, pools, hot tubs all the same stuff as DCL.
I’m confused as why I would need to be concierge for it to be comparable to DCL.

That's your decision. Mine is different. Not only is RCCL not even on my list of potential other cruise lines, but the type of experience that I value is obviously quite different than yours. That's why different cruise lines target and appeal to different types of cruisers.

 

[DCLMP]

That's your decision. Mine is different. Not only is RCCL not even on my list of potential other cruise lines, but the type of experience that I value is obviously quite different than yours. That's why different cruise lines target and appeal to different types of cruisers.

If I understood you correctly you made the point that you would need to upgrade to concierge to get the same experience as a basic room on DCL. Not true at all. That was my interpretation. Were you comparing concierge rooms?

I get that the experience you value is more hi brow than mine. I don’t take offense to that, but the way you worded it was kind of offensive.

I’m not really sure what kind of experience you are looking for. Maybe if you explain it more detail I’ll understand.

For the record I value quality too.

 

[kiford]

Were you comparing concierge rooms?

I do not cruise concierge on DCL - I don't see the value of it. The question that was asked was why is DCL so much more expensive with the implied question, why do people pay that high price for it. I was trying to provide one perspective as to why I would pay the high price for it rather than going with another cruise line

If I understood you correctly you made the point that you would need to upgrade to concierge to get the same experience as a basic room on DCL. Not true at all. That was my interpretation.

I get that the experience you value is more hi brow than mine. I don’t take offense to that, but the way you worded it was kind of offensive.

My point was that to get the experience that I want, I would need to upgrade. That doesn't necessarily result in the same experience. That is, in fact, part of my problem.

There are a limited number of competing cruise lines that I would consider and to get the experience I want (which isn't necessarily "high brow" but does have certain expectations of crew/guest ratio, dining options, room size, access to other things), I would need to pay for a higher level of cabin/concierge than I need which I feel is wasteful. Thus, I do not find them particularly competitive price-wise with DCL unless there is an itinerary that I can't get with DCL.

I get that the experience you value is more hi brow than mine. I don’t take offense to that, but the way you worded it was kind of offensive.

To be honest, I found your response rather offensive and hostile. Questioning why I would not find a RCCL line to be as good of a value because you do.

I’m not really sure what kind of experience you are looking for. Maybe if you explain it more detail I’ll understand.

I'm not really sure why it's incumbent upon me to justify to you my preferences. It's lovely that you have found competing cruise lines that meet your needs, but I have not yet found a cruiseline that is competitive pricewise that gives me what I want. For the record - ANY cruise line that has smoking in ANY space in the interior is not on my list and never will be. This limits my options. I was simply trying to provide an opinion and perspective from someone who is willing to pay the price that Disney charges