Why did you chose a European (port-intensive) Disney cruise?

[KashasMom]

I've always said I wouldn't take a European (port-intensive) cruise on Disney but as AquaDame mentioned on another thread, they sell like hotcakes. So I was wondering WHY did you chose Disney? Was it your first time in Europe and you felt more comfortable with Disney? Was is that you wanted to have a taste of ports that you'd return to on a land trip along with some Disney magic? Was it the only way you'd see the fjords and Iceland? Are you just a Disney fanatic? We did a Baltic cruise on RC and it was awesome - probably my favorite cruise ever. We had 3 full days in St. Petersburg, which was the draw for me - and I had not been to a few of the other ports. But...it was a 13 night with only 1 sea day and we were going from morning to night! We were exhausted - never made a show and mostly ate dinner in port or at the buffet. We would have never had time for anything Disney! (Just a note: I would take a TA but the timings don't work with a school schedule.)

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So I was wondering WHY did you chose Disney?

Well, we've traveled in Europe previously. We booked a westbound trans Atlantic on DCL one year. About a month out from the cruise, we looked and saw decent pricing on the preceding Med cruise, and we thought, well, we're flying to Barcelona to catch the TA, why no go early and do the Med just before?

So we booked it.

Also managed to get the same room for both cruises.

 

[KashasMom]

Well, we've traveled in Europe previously. We booked a westbound trans Atlantic on DCL one year. About a month out from the cruise, we looked and saw decent pricing on the preceding Med cruise, and we thought, well, we're flying to Barcelona to catch the TA, why no go early and do the Med just before?

So we booked it.

Also managed to get the same room for both cruises.

Excellent reason!

 

[bcwife76]

Next summer we are booked on a b2b, the 11 night Iceland and then the 7 night Northern Europe after. For us we waffled between NCL and DCL, but at the end of the day we went with DCL for several reasons (which may not make sense to everyone but they do to us). DCL is a brand we are very familiar with, we've sailed 8 times so far, we know what to expect. Yes they will be port intensive cruises and at the end of the day we are coming back to a ship we know, to a brand that we know - to us it will be like coming home at the end of a very busy, exhausting day and knowing exactly where to go for dinner, where to go for a beverage, our kids know exactly where everything is that they want to do. The last thing we want after coming back from 8 hours of touring in a foreign country is to come back to a ship we've never been on and will probably still get lost on even after several nights. Visiting Europe will be a big enough adjustment for us after tropical vacations (I'm the only one who's been to Europe in our family and my last trip was in 1993), I want something familiar to come home to at night.

 

[otten]

I’ve always wanted to do a European cruise but the prices are obviously very high, especially once you factor in flights. But we got a 40 percent discount for being on the Panama Canal pandemic cruise which made it attainable. We were going to go this August, which obviously isn’t happening so rebooked for next summer.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

We picked a European the first time because we wanted a TA cruise and figured we would go see ports we didn't have any interest seeing anyway to be able to go on the TA. Turns out we loved the ports. Now we choose DCL for Europe because sometimes it's just really nice to take a vacation where you don't move all over hotels to see different parts of a county or Europe in general. It's also sometimes nice to come back to your "floating resort" every night and have the staff speak the same language you do, have entertainment in a language you are comfortable with, and just relax for a few hours before going out to tour again.

We've picked DCL in Europe to take us places we didn't think we'd want to go that much- just enough to make it worth cruising there, and turns out we really loved them! We also do Europe on our own from time to time. If we do DCL or not depends on the style of trip we want, or maybe where we want to go.

I really do love coming back to the ship in the evenings tired from touring, to enjoy a Disney themed dinner, a nice show, or just collapse in my stateroom and enjoy that glorious scented shampoo!

We choose DCL over other lines because we like DCL, we know what were getting and we like it. That's it.

 

[Geomom]

For us it's a lot of things you mentioned. It was our first trip to Europe. We had only cruised once before on the Disney Wonder to Alaska. (And the Disney part is what actually got us onto a cruise ship, but we're still cruising for the itinerary first, Disney second.). We did the 7 nt Baltic cruise and loved it. We loved sampling 5 countries and only unpacking once (ok twice as we did 3 days in Copenhagen before the cruise.). We love the comfort of going back to the ship at the end of our excursion and feeling "at home". We are big Disney fans, so that is a big part of it. Our first 2 cruises were in August, so a little bit cheaper than the height of the summer season. We have the Magic booked again for a Greek Isles cruise next June...we have OBB and FCC which makes it a little more affordable for us. We're still not comfortable traveling thru Europe on our own and a Greek Isles cruise sounds like a great cruise destination, again with the familiar comfort of the Disney ship at the end of the day.

We're not ready to try another cruise line...we've only done 2 cruises. And DH is not big on the cruising part, he loves Disney though and we enjoy the shows, etc.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

We found a good deal; $3,000 for two adults for a 7-day Mediterranean cruise.
This way I was able to take Europe-based family members who love Disney but were very skeptical about cruising on their first cruise. Rome was the only new port for us. If we would be exploring Europe by cruise (really not the most efficient way imo), I would go with another cruise line that has more adventurous itineraries than DCL for a better price.
So it really got down to it being Disney which is the only way family would try cruising, the great deal with got, and convenience since the family members live in Europe.

 

[Pens Fan]

We sailed on DCL back in 2015 when our son was 17 on the Norway / Iceland itinerary out of Copenhagen.
It was mostly for our son. At 17 it was his swan song with the youth facilities so we really wanted to get him that one last cruise before he turned 18. Also, the price wasn't nearly as high as what you see now. I will always remember that cruise fondly and think that we kind of found a sweet spot, price wise. We had an OBB placeholder and for the 3 of us in a 5B we paid just north of $10K for an 11 night cruise in late June / early July. We've never seen pricing like that for Europe during the prime summer months again. The very next year, that cruise started at somewhere like $14K for that same cabin.

After that we switched to NCL for port extensive cruises and love the value they bring. Back in 2019 we took a 14 night NCL Med cruise with only one sea day. We were so exhausted at night that we just grabbed a quick dinner and were in bed by 9 or 10 every night. The ship was great but it was also immaterial to the experience. Our money would have been completely wasted on DCL for that type of cruise. My husband and I are back on the DCL Magic May 2022 for the EBTA. We feel it's a great value and are very much looking forward to it as we really enjoy the DCL onboard experience more than NCL (though we think the food is better on NCL). So I guess this is a long winded, rambling post that says it comes down to price and number of sea days. Now that we are a family of all adults, I won't pay unlimited premiums for DCL over another line for a port intensive cruise, but if the price is right I'll pay for the fun of extra sea days on DCL.

 

[ajgardner]

Pre-pandemic my husband and I would go to Europe a couple times a year (his company has several factories over there) and our teens had been over 5 times. Summer of 2019 we decided we would Use our onboard booking placeholder and was looking at cruises (figuring we would do a 7 night Fantasy). I found a 10 night cruise leaving in 7 weeks, Guaranteed verandah for a decent discount, plus our travel agent offered a hefty obc. Why not? 7 ports that we likely wouldn’t go to outside of a cruise, unpack once and experience all these places, evening entertainment was done early enough that we could get to sleep for more excursion. It was an awesome trip.

 

[auntlynne]

We had done 3 cruises on Disney and booked the EBTA. Teenage niece and me. $795 pp. Then an offer of 11 night Med for $1K pp. no brainer.

The only way I could take my nieces on a cruise was on Disney, per my sister’s wishes.

We had more confidence that Disney would be the safe way for us to go. And we did some ports (most) on our own (not DCL Port Adventures).

I agree with others that it is nice coming back to a known entity at the end of the day. Even if you come in late for second seating dinner.

I wouldn’t / couldn’t pay the current prices on most Disney European cruises now (Some are doable). My nieces’s honeymoon cruise to AK in 2018 is now priced 40% higher in 2022 (same itinerary, cabin, dates).

We‘ll do Princess or Celebrity if ship time or Castaway Cay is not the main focus.

 

[Intr3pid]

We love spending our summers in Europe and have cruised regularly. Several reasons come to mind.

1. There are some itineraries where land tours either are impractical or miss out on key themes.

- For example, a Baltic cruise allows you to visit 5 or 6 key cities in one trip for which you would otherwise have to constantly fly in and out. Most of these cities - probably Stockholm excluded - can be toured reasonably well in the amount of time you are provided in port. You also get to visit SPB without having to secure a separate Russian visa!

- Adriatic sea and the Greek isles are also similar. You can tour a lot of islands and coastal towns together without having to fly in and out - or be lugged around in a ferry.

- Norway is a great example of hitting the key theme. The fjords and the coast are what the country is known for, and you can't really tour the best parts from land (like in Alaska).

- Northern European cruises aren't as port intensive as those in the Mediterranean, so you can relax just as well.

2. The best overland parts of Europe aren't "cruise-able" anyways - such as Switzerland, Germany, Austria, most of France, and central European countries. We head to Europe in the summers, and our larger plan is always half land and half cruising. There is no reason you need to do only one or the other. You can also do pre-/post-cruise tours like anywhere else.

3. Many cruisers spending their summers in Europe are well traveled - and particularly in Europe. They aren't using cruises to tour a place for the first or only time. Like the annual Caribbean cruises we take, there are annual European cruisers too. (We do it every other year.)

4. For a family, cruising in Europe in the summer can be incredibly cost effective. Most hotel rooms in cities with entrenched history make you feel like staying in medieval NYC-size rooms, lol. For a family of four or more, this would invariably mean two rooms. And the summer rates at some of these hotel will really make your eyes pop!

5. The general value of cruising is still very much there. You pack/unpack only once. Your meals, pools, and entertainment are included. Your travel at night while you sleep. Your kids enjoy the vacation independently from yours.

 

[SailingScout]

I’ve always wanted to do a European cruise but the prices are obviously very high, especially once you factor in flights. But we got a 40 percent discount for being on the Panama Canal pandemic cruise which made it attainable. We were going to go this August, which obviously isn’t happening so rebooked for next summer.

Exact same answer from me.
I never thought we would do Europe on DCL.

 

[fredandkell]

My husband and I had been to Europe three times and we wanted to use a Disney cruise as they way to take our kids to Europe the first time. We did not want to have to be responsible for finding everything, directions, driving, picking a restaurant every blessed time, all of those little planning things that add up and make you crazy on trips with kids. We thought that we would not use the ship that much, and because we had a hurricane Irma rescheduled cruise, we had not planned on going to Europe initially anyway. We ended up being wrong, we used the ship a lot and it made the whole trip more relaxing since all of the transportation and the majority of the food was taken care of. If some members of the family wanted to go be active on the ship they could in the ones who were tired could just lay around in the stateroom. The trip was absolutely perfect and it felt like the best way to introduce our kids to Europe. They have been begging to go back ever since. We were going to do a two week Europe land-based trip with them last year but of course you all know that didn’t happen.

I will say that I feel when we booked our European cruise in September 2017, it felt like a really good deal. By the time we left on the cruise in July 2018, it had doubled in price and European cruises have remained super expensive since then. I have always thought that Disney is generally worth a price premium; just not sure if it’s worth “today’s” price premium.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I have a different perspective. I am European and I have travelled a lot in Europe. Cruising never appealed to me before but when I joined DIS and found out about DCL it gave me a new interest in that type of holiday. I chose A European itinerary for the convenience and ease, the same way Americans feel about the DCL routes to Bahamas and Caribbean. I don't have a long flight to the port and the flights are cheap. The ship is the destination for me, I want the Disney Cruise experience, the Disney themeing, the Disney customer service. The ports are also kinda irrelevant, its more about the ship and the time of year for me.

 

[braysmommy]

We decided to add a 7 night Med after our Transatlantic cruise. I mean since we were already there why not stay a little longer! We researched a lot and did every port on our own. Was an amazing trip and my son celebrated his 8th birthday on Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii.

 

[Marthasor]

We did Norway/Iceland/Scotland on B2B DCL Magic cruises when my DS was 7. We knew a trip that was exclusively a land tour would not work for him at that time in his life, so the cruise gave us a chance to see a bit of that part of Europe while still giving him the down time he needed (and the chance to meet other children in the kids club) by having some fun, chill-out time on the cruise ship. While we enjoyed it and I would like to cruise parts of Northern Europe again, there are parts of Europe that I think are better accessed with a land or land/small ship tour.

 

[Budzooka]

We decided to book a European cruise for my daughter’s high school graduation present. I had read that the DCL premium was not worth it for some on these cruises because they were port intensive. So, we looked at other lines trying to find another option, but we have only sailed DCL to this point. It was overwhelming with all of the different lines and itineraries. We ultimately decided that it was worth it with our OBB, TA credit, and gift card discount. Yes, we may be paying a little higher, but it is a product and ship we are familiar and very comfortable with. It may not be the best value, but definitely feels right to us.

We are bookending a few nights on both sides, so will get to do some other things as well.

 

[kaseyC]

For port intensive cruises we usually sail other cruise lines. When sailing DCL, we want plenty of time on the ship to enjoy the Disney experience. We also realized in 2010 when I took my girls on their first non-DCL cruise which was the NCL Epic's inaugural sailing - 7 night (no ports) TA crossing from Southampton to NYC that my kid's were cruisers not just DCL cruisers. Like me, they just love to cruise, period. We are also concierge/suite cruisers and we enjoy trying other lines concierge offerings. That definitely helped make the transition to other cruise lines for port intensive cruises and other itineraries much easier. Also eye opening was in 2013 we sailed the 14 night DCL EBTA from Galveston to Barcelona, flew to Copenhagen for a few days and then sailed a 9 night Baltic on NCL in a 2 bedroom suite with all private port tours and spent a week in Paris with a couple of days in Disneyland Paris. Best of both worlds!! The second portion of our trip (Copenhagen, Baltic cruise and Paris - a total 18 days) did not cost much more than a DCL Baltic sailing would have for our family of 5 at the time.

Let me add, this is what works for our family.

 

[belle032]

We sailed the British Isles in 2019 on the Magic. Very port intensive, 7 day cruise. We booked because it was our first time on DCL and had always wanted to give it a try. And we figured if we were going to pay the premium, we were going to do it on a "bigger" cruise. Plus, the ports and dates of the sailing worked out great.

We had a wonderful time, but DH and I agreed that for this type of itinerary, we could have saved a lot of money choosing a different line. The ports were what made the trip and because I'm comfortable with and actually prefer doing all the intensive planning myself (transportation, third party tours, reservations, etc), I didn't really need to rely on DCL through the process.

We absolutely plan on more international itineraries in the future, however, it will most likely be on other cruise lines. We were supposed to do Alaska this September on NCL, then we had our eye on a Carnival Journey cruise - Iceland, Scotland, Ireland & Wales....but obviously the pandemic had other ideas!