Why DCL is worth the price, to me

[darkwing818]

Not going in with the expectations of the trip being bad. Just with the idea that it isnt DCL & I shouldnt be expecting the same level of service & quality DCL provides. Trip is costing a pretty enough penny that I hope not to be disappointed.

My apologies for jumping to conclusions. I mistakenly read to much into you previous post regarding NCL, where you noted "I'm going in with very low expectations and am not expecting anything close to DCL but for the cost and lack of having to fly somewhere its a week away from work & those are always good."
Hope all goes well with on your NCL cruise.

 

[JnDRader]

My coworkers all grimace when they ask me how much I paid for the cruise and asked me so many times why I didn't go on carnival or RCL.

You need better coworkers! Mine ask me if I can adopt them

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

. My coworkers all grimace when they ask me how much I paid for the cruise and asked me so many times why I didn't go on carnival or RCL.

None of their beezwax, that's what!

"Love your shoes, Judy! How much did you pay for them?"

...Never gonna happen...

Too many variables about DCL cruising when it comes to pricing. Time of year, *GT, how many days, how many staying, where it's going (Castaway is a bit more but we love it), where it's leaving from (Galv less than PC) etc.

 

[roxy84]

We had a very similar experience when we sailed NCL two years ago (horrible service, lacklustre entertainment, mixed communication). We are also a late 20's couple without kids - and every time we say we cruise or vacation with Disney we get grilled about why we choose an expensive *kid* vacation. Disney is a family friendly vacation that has superior entertainment and amazing service.

With that being said, the itinerary for our NCL cruise was awesome - (Norway, British Isles, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland) - our time off the ship in ports was amazing, the time on the ship was not so great. We know we will always choose Disney over other cruise lines as long as Disney is sailing the itinerary we want to travel.

 

[rusafee1183]

Never been on NCL, so I'm curious - what I've heard is that if you're going on NCL, you need to budget for the specialty restaurants. A lot of reviews say that all the specialty places are good, but then you end up paying each time. Did you try many of the other restaurants, or stick to the MDR and buffet?

We did try one of the "paid" restaurants, and it was really good! We went to Moderno, which is like a Brazilian steakhouse. (Kind of like O'hana also) They bring you a bunch of different meats out on a stick and keep bringing them until you tell them you're done. (My DH actually waddled out of the restaurant and made one of the servers laugh really hard at him. He's an idiot ) It was $20 per person, so $40 wasn't a bad price for a good meal. It was disappointing that it was one of the ONLY good meals we had though.

Hey, we were on that cruise ... except it was a few years ago and in the Med!!! Main Dinning Rooms - Service Horrible!! Food only slightly better. Buffet food - WORSE THAN HORRIBLE. And we were on a NoroVirus cruise so we could not serve our selves. The servers would visit with each other and when we tried to get their attention, they would turn their backs on us!! Shows were slightly better than your description. One highlight was the cruise director - he was amazing. Actually the only amazing thing about the cruise, where everything was pretty poor. About half way through the cruise we started eating dinners in the additional charge restaurants and the service and food improved - but not even to DCL's MDR levels and no where near Palo. We went on this cruise for the ports - and they were spectacular. Just the floating hotel / restaurant sucked. Oh Yea, freestyle means that you are invisible.

So sorry that you had a bad experience too.

I couldn't agree with your last sentence more. That is a perfect way to say it. Just, very disappointing.

 

[calmpets]

Just to give the flip side of the coin, I've sailed DCL six times and NCL three times, and I've been perfectly happy with both lines. DCL is great, and worth an upcharge from NCL, just not worth twice the cost IMHO. My general assessment is that they are worth a 30% markup from NCL. My experience with service on both the Norwegian Star and the Pearl was outstanding. They include less in the base cost (mainly soda and specialty restaurants), but I have no problem paying extra for extra services and amenities. I do think they hand-hold you a bit less than DCL does, but I can find the pier on my own without being walked there. Nightly shows are absolutely better on Disney, but I've enjoyed most of the production shows on NCL too. NCL definitely has more innovative itineraries, so if you are tired of the same of old ports, as I was, and want to branch out it's probably worth considering. I don't have any experience with NCLs kids clubs - to be honest my stepkids hated the clubs on DCL anyway and haven't sailed with us on Norwegian - but I'm happy to answer any questions anyone might have. It's probably worth noting that I also tried Royal Caribbean but was unimpressed with their service, finding them efficient but not personable.

 

[Goldberry]

You need better coworkers! Mine ask me if I can adopt them

Lol I know! It's ok, I'll take lots of pictures for them lol.

 

[CanuckTraveller]

This just goes to show that we are all different
As you can see from my signature, we like NCL. I found the DCL servers too obtrusive (yes, we asked for privacy), the shows relied on a lot of Disney background knowledge (great if you have it, we don't), and rushing off the beach to clean up for dinner just isn't our thing. Yes we've had mediocre service on NCL, but also fantastic service. Meal service doesn't make or break a cruise for us. Their buffet is amazing (the Indian food is fantastic), and my boys prefer the kids club set up on NCL better than Disney. Go figure. We have an aft penthouse suite booked on Breakaway for less than a non-concierge veranda would cost us on DCL. Even if we ate in specialty restaurants every night, we wouldn't come close to the price of DCL, plus we can drive to NYC to catch Breakaway. We will cruise DCL again, but it isn't our preferred cruise line.
If the poster embarked in Vancouver recently, it is well known that there are many repositioning cruises in the area at this time and the whole situation is chaos, regardless of what cruise line you are using.
(DS2 likes to add emoticons, here he goes! )

 

[ironwill1979]

None of their beezwax, that's what!

"Love your shoes, Judy! How much did you pay for them?"

...Never gonna happen....

My response would be "Exactly what I felt comfortable paying."

 

[DDM101]

Our first "real" cruise was in 2000 and we opted for a 4 day Carnival cruise instead of Disney, primarily due to price. Oh, how I wish I would have chosen Disney! Our Carnival cruise was fine (just DH and I), but nothing so memorable as to make me EVER want to cruise again. Fast forward to 2008 and DH and I finally decided to try a Disney cruise to mix things up a bit. Our son was a teen at the time, and had no interest in going. We loved it! I only wish I had figured out sooner how great Disney cruises are, so I could have planned a few Disney cruise vacations with my son when he was younger.

 

[noahdove]

I am pondering a cruise to Alaska for my husband in 2015 for our 40th wedding anniversary..So, since your review was so awesome, I guess I may rebook next April when I cruise again on the Dream.......not sure what Disney ship will cruise there, but, at least I will know that we will have an awesome time...thank you for your detailed review....

 

[rusafee1183]

I am pondering a cruise to Alaska for my husband in 2015 for our 40th wedding anniversary..So, since your review was so awesome, I guess I may rebook next April when I cruise again on the Dream.......not sure what Disney ship will cruise there, but, at least I will know that we will have an awesome time...thank you for your detailed review....

So glad to help! I am really happy that people are reading this review as I intended. I am really not trying to bash NCL as much as I am trying to praise Disney. I know how difficult it can be to justify the cost in your head, so I just wanted to give some perspective as to why we will be sailing with Disney more often than not.

One thing I have heard is that Disney's itinerary to Alaska isn't that great. I don't know for sure, because I didn't even bother looking because of the group we were going with.

I would definitely look for an itinerary that sails Glacier Bay when you are looking It was the highlight of our cruise, especially since we had a balcony in our room.

Absolutely STUNNING! Pictures do it no justice at all

 

[calmpets]

One thing I have heard is that Disney's itinerary to Alaska isn't that great. I don't know for sure, because I didn't even bother looking because of the group we were going with.

I would definitely look for an itinerary that sails Glacier Bay when you are looking It was the highlight of our cruise, especially since we had a balcony in our room.

DCL does not go to Glacier Bay at all, they go to Tracy Arm instead.

 

[rusafee1183]

DCL does not go to Glacier Bay at all, they go to Tracy Arm instead.

That's disappointing. I would say that is definitely a downside to DCL's Alaska itinerary. I loved it so much there

 

[CanuckTraveller]

That's disappointing. I would say that is definitely a downside to DCL's Alaska itinerary. I loved it so much there

ITA. We have been looking at NCL Sun (which now does a one way itinerary) or RCCL as options. Plus f I'm going to pay DCL prices, I don't want to be spending significant amounts of time away from the ship Give me a boring eastern Caribbean itinerary lol!

 

[Spwhoney]

I have been on 3 cruises, PC, NCL and DCL. By far DCL was the best all around, NCL worst, (but still not bad). Almost any cruise is a good cruise to me, it would have to be really bad for me to complain. I was not impressed with NCL's food, I don't know if it matters but we were the next to last ship sailing for the season, Maybe using up the left overs just kidding wasn't that bad. People always ask about the kids on DCL, but honestly, unless its dinner, picture with characters, or the pool, you really don't see them a lot. and there is a adults only pool. I will definitely cruise DCL again, just hoping for a good deal like the last one.

 

[KashasMom]

We had the opposite experience and I think it may have something to do with the ship you were on. We sailed on the Epic in December and LOVED it! We had sailed the Magic out of NYC last June and it was SO overpriced compared to the Epic. There's no way I'd sail on the Magic again. I was very underwhelmed. The food was mediocre and I did not like that there was no buffet available at night. Sometimes you just don't feel like doing the sit down thing. One of the DCL shows was very good and maybe another was good but having seen several Disney shows on Broadway I don't think the Magic shows were anywhere near those. We did enjoy the Epic shows a lot. My daughter would not go in the kids club on the Magic but enjoyed it on the Epic. We liked the live music and pool area on the Epic. The Mickey pool was a little....gross. The cabin on the Magic was bigger and I did like the set up better but it was definitely showing its age. Seriously for $$$$, can't they change the bedding? We didn't feel nickeled and dimed at all on the Epic. We don't drink soda so that wasn't a big deal to us on the Magic. I don't think there was much to do for adults on the Magic expect for spending a lot of time waiting in line for character photos. We found the service to be similar on both - actually our dining team on the Magic were not great - they always seemed in such a rush.

We're sailing on the Breakaway in 2 weeks and it looks amazing (and even that brand new ship was so much cheaper than the Magic). We're also sailing on the Fantasy in December and I'm looking forward to that (even with air fare the same category on the Fantasy was much cheaper than on the Magic). I know I will like the Fantasy more than the Magic. But sadly, once we're done with the Fantasy, the Magic/Wonder aren't considerations for us and neither are the short Dream cruises. I always sail with an open mind, never fully believe anyone else's reviews, and always recommend trying new lines/ships. There's plenty of choices for us all!

 

[rusafee1183]

ITA. We have been looking at NCL Sun (which now does a one way itinerary) or RCCL as options. Plus f I'm going to pay DCL prices, I don't want to be spending significant amounts of time away from the ship Give me a boring eastern Caribbean itinerary lol!

That's an excellent point! I said to my DH after we got back from our criuse on the Fantasy that I wished we had swapped itineraries. We did the Eastern on the Magic and the Western on the Fantasy. I wish I had that extra sea day on the Fantasy

 

[KELLY]

So glad I'm reading this. We are taking our first cruise and it is a disney one before our package at disney starts.

 

[KashasMom]

I have found this to be very true. I often look at RCL to see if there is something there that might be cheaper but most of the itineraries I look at and the cabin area I'd prefer all end up costing close to what I'd pay on DCL. So as long as I am cruising by myself, I'll choose Disney!

My aunt sailed with us on NCL Epic. She had one of the studios (for singles) and it was fantastic. The studios even had their own lounge and separate entrance.