Why are Disney cruises still so expensive?

[Memorymakerfor4]

For employees and travel industry. Kind of like people who work for airlines, get to fly at reduced rates. It’s a benefit for working in the industry. But it does have its drawbacks. I’m just saying in the past I never really saw Disney having any availability but now they do on certain sailings it’s not across-the-board. and in most cases, you would be able to get a guaranteed rate to that is highly discounted.

It’s also way for travel, professionals to experience the product and be able to sell it

Ah, gotcha.

 

[lanejudy]

I disagree with your unskilled and lower-level jobs comment. It's a rather presumptuous way of speaking about the work culture we have in the U.S.

Agree. I am a professional with an advanced degree. I didn’t get 3 weeks vacation until I hit 10 years at my company. By comparison my European colleagues (international company) start at 4 weeks paid time off.

1. California is farther from here than London. Hawaii and Alaska are even farther. I can travel to all kinds of places without a passport. That's much less true in European countries. Many of those countries are smaller than some of our states, even if you exclude Alaska and Texas.

My point to the PP I quoted is that as a non-American (or American living in Europe) it’s far from accurate to state a flat “Americans make more money” based on what they see working in the travel industry. Americans traveling to Europe is a small segment of the population who have the means to travel internationally. It’s much easier to travel domestically on the cheap. And you apparently missed where I said the majority of students in my daughter’s elementary school have never traveled outside our state. Yes it’s a very large country but many do not travel far.

As to disposable income, I’m not understanding the definition of “disposable” or “net” income from that link. To me, disposable income is what’s left after meeting all responsibilities such as housing, food, healthcare, education, loans, etc. Maybe my definition isn’t accurate but that’s what I meant — Americans spend much more on things like healthcare that is no cost or very low cost to people in other countries. I might have a higher salary on paper, but knock $15k off immediately for healthcare.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Agree. I am a professional with an advanced degree. I didn’t get 3 weeks vacation until I hit 10 years at my company. By comparison my European colleagues (international company) start at 4 weeks paid time off.

Exactly. My husband has an aerospace engineering degree working as a mechanical engineer with a P.E. license in 6 states and the company he works for now like I mentioned starts new hires at 3 weeks of vacation he just negotiated to 4 weeks because of working for a prior company for 15 years. His salary is good and commiserate of the above but the PTO is just based on what the company does for new hires.

Benefits such as time off related to someone's occupation are often based on a company's choice to give as little as they can, that's part of our workplace culture in the U.S. and shouldn't be connected to how unskilled or low-level someone is on the employment ladder.

For other countries they, like you mention above, tend to start out with a base amount higher than ours. There's an Australian poster who would talk about how many weeks they get in comparison to us, UK offers for Disney parks packages get more than we do because they know that when they come they spend more chunks of time here.

 

[Flossbolna]

By comparison my European colleagues (international company) start at 4 weeks paid time off

That’s the statutory minimum for all EU countries.

 

[Kwami]

That’s the statutory minimum for all EU countries.

Is it? The EU website isn't clear on that. It simply says "at least 4 weeks of paid holidays per year". Does that include national and state paid holidays, like Christmas? Or does it only include individual time off?

(And there's a big carve out, too. "If the working hours of your employees are not measured or predetermined, such as for managing executives, you might not have to apply working time obligations." That sounds a lot like "salaried, exempt" employment in the US. There are also carve outs for hospitals, fire and civil service, agriculture, and certain other industries.)

 

[Flossbolna]

Is it? The EU website isn't clear on that. It simply says "at least 4 weeks of paid holidays per year". Does that include national and state paid holidays, like Christmas? Or does it only include individual time off?

Individual time off. Holidays are considered something totally different. Since the EU uses British English terminology it’s a bit confusing as the British use the word holidays for vacation. If you look at German for example it’s clear as “Urlaub” is personal time off, “Feiertage” would be public holidays.

 

[Kwami]

Individual time off. Holidays are considered something totally different. Since the EU uses British English terminology it’s a bit confusing as the British use the word holidays for vacation. If you look at German for example it’s clear as “Urlaub” is personal time off, “Feiertage” would be public holidays.

Got it. Thanks!

 

[Flossbolna]

(And there's a big carve out, too. "If the working hours of your employees are not measured or predetermined, such as for managing executives, you might not have to apply working time obligations." That sounds a lot like "salaried, exempt" employment in the US. There are also carve outs for hospitals, fire and civil service, agriculture, and certain other industries.)

That’s for the daily and weekly limits on working time. The individual time off is 4 weeks. Nobody can force you to actually take it though.

As you see in the directive the derogations are not allowed for Article 7, which has the 4 weeks of annual leave. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32003L0088

 

[Kwami]

That’s for the daily and weekly limits on working time. The individual time off is 4 weeks. Nobody can force you to actually take it though.

As you see in the directive the derogations are not allowed for Article 7, which has the 4 weeks of annual leave. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32003L0088

You know, something's broken when the actual article is clearer than the website. They ought to fix that.

Thanks again!

 

[SirDuff]

It's not so bad as all of that.

1. California is farther from here than London. Hawaii and Alaska are even farther. I can travel to all kinds of places without a passport. That's much less true in European countries. Many of those countries are smaller than some of our states, even if you exclude Alaska and Texas.

2. According to the Bureau of Labor & Statistics, the average American worker gets 10-14 vacation days per year and that number increases to 15-19 days per year after 10 years of service. That's not too far off from most European countries, which offer around 20-25 days.

3. Americans actually do have more disposable income than anyone else. Here's a simple chart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_capita_income

The chart is simple enough to be pretty misleading. For example, it subtracts taxes and social insurance contributions from salary but doesn't substract the cost of health insurance. Since most other countries cover much/most of their health care costs though insurance, it accounts for that in those countries but not for most Americans.

 

[holula]

One of the things I think why people tend to see more Brits on the European cruises now is due to the staycations they did over COVID. That attracted a lot of new cruisers wanting to get their Disney fix, and those short cruises from the UK are 100% aimed at them (including me ) as I would guess they are priced comparatively to one of the better hotels at DLP, but without having to pay for flights. And if you have more than one or two people it’s much cheaper than paying for flights and cruising from the US.

 

[bigAWL]

I would say DCL is luxury cruising for kids. They even have their own ship-within-a-ship dedicated to kids. What you’re paying for on a Disney cruise is that premium for the kids.

From my experience and reading, DCL food and service may be slightly elevated from the Carnival, RCCL, NCL range but not quite to the Celebrity level. Where Disney may excel in comparison is in premium dining.

MSC in my experience has beautiful ships but is a big step down in every other aspect. You pay a discounted price for an inferior product. As long as you aren’t expecting Disney quality that’s fine.

 

[European]

That’s the statutory minimum for all EU countries.

4 weeks off is indeed the minimum. On top of national holidays. A lot of people have more though, depending on the sector/company you work for. As for health insurance, it is cheap. But we do pay for it indirectly through our taxes. Roughly half our income goes to taxes.
It all does vary from country to country.

 

[Mango7100]

I get 5 weeks + 11 paid holidays (including the week off between Christmas & New Year). I guess that's not typical for the US overall, but it's probably fairly typical for skilled jobs. It's mostly unskilled and lower-level jobs that don't get paid time off, unfortunately.

I think that statement is not accurate at all. There are tons of “skilled“ jobs who don’t get 5 weeks off plus all the paid holidays. DH is a mechanical engineer who works at a nuclear reactor and will now just be getting 5 weeks off after being there for 20 years. I am a veterinarian and I got 2 weeks off and 6 paid holidays. no veterinarians I know get 5 weeks off, and I would assume that qualifies as a skilled job. SIL is high level in banking and just now gets 4 weeks after 15+ years.

 

[mousefan73]

Is it? The EU website isn't clear on that. It simply says "at least 4 weeks of paid holidays per year". Does that include national and state paid holidays, like Christmas? Or does it only include individual time off?

(And there's a big carve out, too. "If the working hours of your employees are not measured or predetermined, such as for managing executives, you might not have to apply working time obligations." That sounds a lot like "salaried, exempt" employment in the US. There are also carve outs for hospitals, fire and civil service, agriculture, and certain other industries.)

Here in Germany ( maybe also eU law? Most likely), it’s law that if you have a full-time permanent contract / witking 5 days a week , you get 20 days vacation.( 4 weeks) if you are part time and let’s say you work three days a week it gets prorated will you still have four weeks off if you count in your days off ( in this case 12 days vacation) my company starts everyone at 25 days and I believe after three years you go up to 28 and then 30 at some point. This is also a newer policy when I first start I got six weeks right away. Between vacation, public holidays and burning over hours. I get two months of the year. Most people including professionals legally get to bank hours. You don’t get paid for overtime but if you work more than your weekly contract, you can burn those later.


Vacation is defined as “rest” from your job. Germany has nine federal holidays plus one or two additional ones depending on what state you’re in important to know is that this does not include sick days in fact, there is no such thing as sick days in Germany. Most companies have a policy if you’re sick, you just had called in sick for up to three days. If you’re sick for more than three days, you need a doctors note and legally, this doctor’s note can’t even tell your employer why you are sick. ( most employers and employees have a relationship where they just tell them what’s going on ) but legally speaking, this piece of paper just says so and so is not able to work from until. If you are ill with the same diagnosis for longer than six weeks, then disability kicks in sick pay is the same as regular pay. Only your health insurance pays for it not your employer.

Back when I still worked in the states, my company had vacation and sick days of separate things. Our old contracts you got 1per month and you could accumulate these over the years ( and get paid out when you left). Many women worked and saved those sick days for years and when they had a baby they were able to use those and stay home for two months with pay.

but that great policy is over 20 years old now you basically have PTO, which I think is the biggest way to screw employees. So basically you’re saying your off time from work is the decision you make. Would you rather go into work sick or take vacation?

 

[Nabas]

I have no desire to ever set foot in the parks. When I talk to my friends who go, it sounds like a horrible competition, but to each their own. I'll keep my cruises thank you, and sail mostly in the off-season when it is cheaper.

Cruise ships are packed. Our sailing on the Wish had 4000 guests. Every seat for the shows were taken, every table for evening dining was full.

Theme parks are packed. Our last WDW saw waits of over 2 hours for the most popular attractions.

If you want to avoid crowds, don’t bother with either.

 

[Calantha]

Our sailing on the Magic had 4000 guests

Please clarify ship, the Magic only holds 2400/2700 people.

 

[Nabas]

Please clarify ship, the Magic only holds 2400/2700 people.

Oops, the Wish!

 

[Cheburashka]

Cruise ships are packed. Our sailing on the Wish had 4000 guests. Every seat for the shows were taken, every table for evening dining was full.

Theme parks are packed. Our last WDW saw waits of over 2 hours for the most popular attractions.

If you want to avoid crowds, don’t bother with either.

I've sailed 9 times on DCL and been to the parks countless times, and can say there is no comparison in regards to crowding. The crowding in the parks can get truly extreme, and that is not the case on DCL. You can have a full ship, and it will feel nothing at all like a busy day at the parks.

 

[Kwami]

I think that statement is not accurate at all. There are tons of “skilled“ jobs who don’t get 5 weeks off plus all the paid holidays. DH is a mechanical engineer who works at a nuclear reactor and will now just be getting 5 weeks off after being there for 20 years. I am a veterinarian and I got 2 weeks off and 6 paid holidays. no veterinarians I know get 5 weeks off, and I would assume that qualifies as a skilled job. SIL is high level in banking and just now gets 4 weeks after 15+ years.

Anecdotes aren't data. I didn't say that all skilled workers get more vacation time, just that most do. The BLS statistics back me up on this since the average vacation time in the US is 10-14 days, increasing to 15-19 days after 10 years of service at a company. Of course, my 25 days is above average. But somewhere in the 3-5 weeks range is probably representative once you average in the 0-2 weeks that low-skilled jobs usually offer. So, I stand by my statement and I hope that your time off improves in the future.

@mousefan73: Thanks for that information! You're right that PTO sucks. They try to sell it to us as "more flexible", but it's really just a way to eliminate sick days. Fortunately, I can work from home whenever I'm sick. Unfortunately, not all jobs allow for that arrangement. Some jobs still offer real sick time, though.