Why is DCL worth the extra cost?

[MakiraMarlena]

The fact is there are emotionally scarred and/or fragile people who are drawn to Disney parks and Disney cruises, not saying that's a bad thing, really I'm glad they have a place to feel safe. Just pointing out that many emotionally fragile people are likely to prefer a Disney cruise over other cruise lines.

This does not mean that Disney attracts the "emotionally fragile." They are everywhere, not just at Disney or on Disney ships. It's not an explanation as to why the majority of people who cruise Disney over cheaper cruise lines continue to choose to cruise Disney. It may explain why a few cruisers enjoy Disney. It would also not be fair to look at an adult couple on a Disney ship carrying a Duffy bear or a grown woman wearing a princess costume (Disney does sell costumes in adult sizes) and rationalize that they are onboard the Disney ship because they are "emotionally scarred or fragile" and they would feel safer there than they would on say, Royal Caribbean.

I'm not sure how this got into a discussion on how cruising Disney might be worth the price.

 

[AquaDame]

Hi everyone, mod here! Please keep the topic in this thread to why you think DCL is worth a higher price tag and remember not to pass judgement on others. Keep it clean, keep it friendly. Thanks!

 

[KLB9]

That may be true for that cruise but fast forward to October 1, 2016, a family ocean view (241 sq feet), Western on the Fantasy is $5600 for 4 people.

Exact same itinerary (except CC), on Liberty of the Seas (Freedom Class) on October 2 is $3200 for the family panoramic room that boasts over 400 sq feet, sleeps six and has a full bathroom, plus a 1/2 bath. By the way, the $3200 includes paying for 5 people because you have to book at least 5 to book the room. Liberty is receiving 3 water slides and this new category of rooms in January and this will be my view everyday.
View attachment 140307
The DCL price is 75% more than RCCL, not quite double but if I booked 5 in a room on DCL it would be double.

Just booked a spring beak cruise for this March

NCL Geteaway $4,800 for family of 4 balcony cabin which included alcohol and specialty dining package (aprox $600-800 value)

compare to

Disney Fantasy @ $7,800

 

[KLB9]

For my family what makes Disney "worth it" is the Disney Princesses(2 young girls) and Shows. It is certainly a unique feature nobody can match. When looking at Christmas break and Spring Beak options the price difference seams to be a bit to much, at least to do often. You could easily spend a few days at the parks with the saving of a different line.

 

[TXDCLfan]

Just booked a spring beak cruise for this March

NCL Geteaway $4,800 for family of 4 balcony cabin which included alcohol and specialty dining package (aprox $600-800 value)

compare to

Disney Fantasy @ $7,800

The $3000 price difference is one of the reasons that we left DCL and have gone with NCL for our last 2 vacations. The water parks,rock wall and the ropes course on NCL were a huge hit with my family and the wife and I love all the specialty dining on NCL.

 

[mreasier]

On RCCL, Princess, etc. I feel more like I was at a resort.

I must say that I agree with you about the 2 newest Princess ships, the Royal and the Regal. They do indeed feel more like a resort than a ship and it was hard to get a feeling that we were at sea. Unless you pay extra for their Sanctuary, there is no place on the ships, neither interior nor exterior, to get a forward view. Except for a few small areas on Deck 7, we had to go to Deck 16 to get any view of the sea. None of the interior bars or restaurants had good sea views. Fortunately, Princess has about 15 other ships where this is not the case.

 

[JimGA]

My older son bumped into Ariel by accident one day and managed to squeak "Hi Ariel!" and she smiled at him and said "Hi, handsome!" And he turned bright red and didn't stop smiling until we got to wherever it was we were going. Moments like that are just priceless. .

A moment like that happened to my Kids and I. We were meandering around on one of the upper decks overlooking the main strium, all of a sudden Peter Pan runs past my kids and says "hello lost boy, hello lost girl" and he went to the railing and did his Peter Pan crow. It was so cool!

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

A moment like that happened to my Kids and I. We were meandering around on one of the upper decks overlooking the main strium, all of a sudden Peter Pan runs past my kids and says "hello lost boy, hello lost girl" and he went to the railing and did his Peter Pan crow. It was so cool!

Just one of the many things that give DCL magic and Pixie Dust and makes DCL worth the cost.

 

[Savikins]

I cruise Disney for multiple reasons. My number one reason for choosing DCL is, of course, my love for Disney. As far as decor goes, nothing can compare to the way Disney ships look, from the cabins, to the restaurants, to the hallways, and everything else. I think the biggest thing for me is the fact that Disney doesn't have a casino onboard. Casinos make me feel sick - the fact that most cruise lines have such a giant, open space where they let people smoke indoors to their hearts' content grosses me out. The one RCL cruise I've tried, the entire atrium always smelled like a cigarette thanks to the casino. It really made my stomach churn. Also, since I don't gamble and the smell of smoke makes me feel sick, casinos (to me) are literally just a giant waste of space. I get more enjoyment out of the kids' clubs on DCL thanks to the open house (okay, I don't go in the Oceaneer's club/lab, but I do go play video games in Vibe during open house).

I've looked into lots of other cruise lines (NCL, Celebrity, Carnival, Princess, Cunard), and I just don't think they're for me. Maybe when I'm older I'll give Celebrity a try, since they don't let people smoke wherever they want in the casinos, but I hear Celebrity is mostly older people (50+), so if that's the case I'd feel somewhat out of place - especially if I were cruising solo. It seems like lots of young couples (with and without children) sail with DCL - I've never felt out of place on a Disney ship. That said, I did feel out of place on my RCL cruise, as there were very few young people on that ship.

 

[Ofinn]

Just one of the many things that give DCL magic and Pixie Dust and makes DCL worth the cost.

I would have to snort something a lot stronger than pixie dust to convince myself a caribbean cruise in the Summer is worth 10k.

 

[TXDCLfan]

I would have to snort something a lot stronger than pixie dust to convince myself a caribbean cruise in the Summer is worth 10k.

EXACTLY...LOL

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I would have to snort something a lot stronger than pixie dust to convince myself a caribbean cruise in the Summer is worth 10k.

Obviously it.depends on the cruise, accommodation etc. You will.find 10,000 accommodations on almost ALL VESSELS. Just as obviously is that you don't have to.spend anywhere near 10,000 for a.DCL Caribbean.

HOWEVER I never mentioned 10,000 for a.cruise, My points are quite clear and most times agreed with here. They demostrate why a DCL cruise is well worth the money.

There are however 2 lines I will not even consider sailing for safety reasons.


The bottom line is if.you or anyone.else doesnt.think DCL is worth the.rate, don't sail.with them. No one is forcing you nor does.anyone think you should.sail DCL if you dont.want too.

I honestly hope you enjoy your choice of cruises and have a.wonderful.time.

AKK

 

[emilymad]

I cruise Disney for multiple reasons. My number one reason for choosing DCL is, of course, my love for Disney. As far as decor goes, nothing can compare to the way Disney ships look, from the cabins, to the restaurants, to the hallways, and everything else. I think the biggest thing for me is the fact that Disney doesn't have a casino onboard. Casinos make me feel sick - the fact that most cruise lines have such a giant, open space where they let people smoke indoors to their hearts' content grosses me out. The one RCL cruise I've tried, the entire atrium always smelled like a cigarette thanks to the casino. It really made my stomach churn. Also, since I don't gamble and the smell of smoke makes me feel sick, casinos (to me) are literally just a giant waste of space. I get more enjoyment out of the kids' clubs on DCL thanks to the open house (okay, I don't go in the Oceaneer's club/lab, but I do go play video games in Vibe during open house).

I've looked into lots of other cruise lines (NCL, Celebrity, Carnival, Princess, Cunard), and I just don't think they're for me. Maybe when I'm older I'll give Celebrity a try, since they don't let people smoke wherever they want in the casinos, but I hear Celebrity is mostly older people (50+), so if that's the case I'd feel somewhat out of place - especially if I were cruising solo. It seems like lots of young couples (with and without children) sail with DCL - I've never felt out of place on a Disney ship. That said, I did feel out of place on my RCL cruise, as there were very few young people on that ship.

I agree with you completely. We have sailed a lot on RCL but it is hard to think about going back due to the smoking issue. I would love to try NCL but I feel like the smoke would be a huge deal to us.

We cruised one Celebrity cruise. It was nice but we were the youngest by a lot. We are in our mid 30s now and this was a few years ago. We sailed President's week so there were more families than usual. It is the only cruise were we had a problem with kids. I would sail with them again but I wouldn't bother going to the main dining room. Service was awful and the food wasn't great. I think this was mainly caused by the fact that the servers catered to the older crowd and ignored us. And by older crowd I mean over 80s.

 

[Ofinn]

Obviously it.depends on the cruise, accommodation etc. You will.find 10,000 accommodations on almost ALL VESSELS. Just as obviously is that you don't have to.spend anywhere near 10,000 for a.DCL Caribbean.

HOWEVER I never mentioned 10,000 for a.cruise, My points are quite clear and most times agreed with here. They demostrate why a DCL cruise is well worth the money.

There are however 2 lines I will not even consider sailing for safety reasons.


The bottom line is if.you or anyone.else doesnt.think DCL is worth the.rate, don't sail.with them. No one is forcing you nor does.anyone think you should.sail DCL if you dont.want too.

I honestly hope you enjoy your choice of cruises and have a.wonderful.time.

AKK

If someone asked me if disney caribean cruise in the Summer was worth the price I would flat out tell them no. After 11 dcl cruises in 4 years that is my honest opinion. If you can cruise off seaso with a good price the yes its worth it. If you want to sail dcl when schools out you're to pay about 8 -9k for a family of four in a verandah when you add in tips and extras its going to top 10k. I personally dont think the Fantasy or the ports are worth that much. Yes you spend that much on another line but you would be in a concierge suite. Maybe I just dont get the pixie dust thing. Im guessing most of the Summer cruisers are the one and done. I cant imagine too many platinum cruisers are going to pay that much.

 

[DisneyNDecember]

My first EVER cruise was just on the Disney Dream- Aft room - deck 9- 5E category !!! LOVED it !!!
First cruise & first EVER massage !!!!

I can't compare costs to any other cruise line because I have never been on one, but I truly feel we got our $'s worth & it was worth every penny.
It was a 4 night - category 5E verandah room for two adults- $2000 total cost- which this also included round trip DCL ground transfers.
I was amazed in the detail, service (they clean your room TWICE a day), & they ARE always cleaning the bathrooms, hallways, they give EVERYONE cleaning towels when entering all eating areas, there was Christmas music even in the bathroom stalls (LOVED that)-- the service, beauty of the ship compared to the others in ports was not even a close comparison, the Dream was beautiful.
We had no kids, we took advantage of Serenity Bay, Quite Cove Pool, & all the adults areas on the ship.

Would love to book a 7 night cruise, but cost basically doubles for a verandah room like we had, it would be approx $3700 for a 7 night cruise.

Other than the GTY discounts, do prior cruiser's get any type of PIN codes or anything like that? Or do you just book as early as you can for cheaper costs?

 

[Ofinn]

My first EVER cruise was just on the Disney Dream- Aft room - deck 9- 5E category !!! LOVED it !!!
First cruise & first EVER massage !!!!

I can't compare costs to any other cruise line because I have never been on one, but I truly feel we got our $'s worth & it was worth every penny.
It was a 4 night - category 5E verandah room for two adults- $2000 total cost- which this also included round trip DCL ground transfers.
I was amazed in the detail, service (they clean your room TWICE a day), & they ARE always cleaning the bathrooms, hallways, they give EVERYONE cleaning towels when entering all eating areas, there was Christmas music even in the bathroom stalls (LOVED that)-- the service, beauty of the ship compared to the others in ports was not even a close comparison, the Dream was beautiful.
We had no kids, we took advantage of Serenity Bay, Quite Cove Pool, & all the adults areas on the ship.

Would love to book a 7 night cruise, but cost basically doubles for a verandah room like we had, it would be approx $3700 for a 7 night cruise.

Other than the GTY discounts, do prior cruiser's get any type of PIN codes or anything like that? Or do you just book as early as you can for cheaper costs?

If you book on board you can get 10% off plus 200 OBC. Discounts(which are random)at 60 days out inclue GT(restricted public rates), military, Florida resident, travel agents, airline employees, and cast members. There could be others that I'm not aware of. DCL does not send out pin codes or anything like that.

Are you restricted to certain dates? There are some 7 night cruises in the Fall out of Miami and Galveston that are a really good price. Do you have to have a balcony. The more I cruise the more a realize the room is not that important. We spend very little time in our room. I'm happy just being on the ship. Most platinum cruisers I meet that cruise several times a year book inside rooms.

 

[cgolf]

If you book on board you can get 10% off plus 200 OBC. Discounts(which are random)at 60 days out inclue GT(restricted public rates), military, Florida resident, travel agents, airline employees, and cast members. There could be others that I'm not aware of. DCL does not send out pin codes or anything like that.

Are you restricted to certain dates? There are some 7 night cruises in the Fall out of Miami and Galveston that are a really good price. Do you have to have a balcony. The more I cruise the more a realize the room is not that important. We spend very little time in our room. I'm happy just being on the ship. Most platinum cruisers I meet that cruise several times a year book inside rooms.

Agree inside rooms are the way to go, especially if you can score a sideways room on the classics. Having done veranda rooms a few times including concierge, we really didn't gain much from it. I will say that on the concierge cruises we really used the room a lot more and lounge too. This was mostly due to the stage shows being repeats for us, and the variety acts were not our favorites.

What is crazy was that for 2 people we paid a little over 4000 for an inside and another group of 2 was under 8000 for the 16 night inaugural Hawaii cruise. The crazy part was that the demand was so high, you had to check multiple times a day to see if someone cancelled. Looking back on it, it was the best vacation deal we have ever gotten.

 

[cgolf]

Now if DCL could guarantee that John Charles would be on all of my cruises and play two shows I would be in. Will never forget the first time we saw him in Rockin Bar D, he played a set of James Taylor songs and sounded amazing, and from seeing him multiple times now, him playing three songs straight in a row is quite rare. He is an amazing talent. If you can get him to sing some songs straight you will find out just how good of singer he really is.

As far as the little memories everyone talks about, I really only have them from the Hawaii cruise, most DCL related, one guest related. Another was being lucky enough to have Fitz as our head server on the Magic twice. Fitz was the best, thoughtful, friendly, just a great person, hope he is doing well now back home Generally we have just liked the experience enough to rebook over and over.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

If someone asked me if disney caribean cruise in the Summer was worth the price I would flat out tell them no. After 11 dcl cruises in 4 years that is my honest opinion. If you can cruise off seaso with a good price the yes its worth it. If you want to sail dcl when schools out you're to pay about 8 -9k for a family of four in a verandah when you add in tips and extras its going to top 10k. I personally dont think the Fantasy or the ports are worth that much. Yes you spend that much on another line but you would be in a concierge suite. Maybe I just dont get the pixie dust thing. Im guessing most of the Summer cruisers are the one and done. I cant imagine too many platinum cruisers are going to pay that much.

Yet DCL has little problem filling their vessels so I doubt it one and go.

I will not debate what has to done over and.over on the dis, the prices for dcl are well below 10,000. In fact depending on the time of year, the cabin and the.vessel DCL is sometimes cheaper.then the other lines and provide thier specail.and unique cruises.none of the other lines can offer. The Disney Magic and Pixie dust, classic liner vessels, better trainer crews and service etc etcake.the DCL cruises well worth theoney.


Again ,if.you don't feel.they are are worth the price, please find a.line you like.

ALK

 

[cgolf]

Yet DCL has little problem filling their vessels so I doubt it one and go.

I will not debate what has to done over and.over on the dis, the prices for dcl are well below 10,000. In fact depending on the time of year, the cabin and the.vessel DCL is sometimes cheaper.then the other lines and provide thier specail.and unique cruises.none of the other lines can offer. The Disney Magic and Pixie dust, classic liner vessels, better trainer crews and service etc etcake.the DCL cruises well worth theoney.


Again ,if.you don't feel.they are are worth the price, please find a.line you like.

ALK

I wish you were right about the prices being sometimes cheaper on DCL for 2017. In years past I would agree with you, in fact I would always be on the price threads saying that we honestly got a better deal on DCL. We did an apples to apples price compare an DCL was much higher in 2017. We will still stop on board and inquire about pricing in case of any deals and will see about a placeholder in case of better pricing in 2018.

For us that Pixie dust really doesn't apply, my DD has never in the eight years we cruised stood in line for a character picture, we like Disney, just don't love Disney. I am surprised that you are defending them so much, nobody is bashing the product, just the price increases that year to year are larger than the other lines, we know this because we researched other lines each year even though we always have sailed DCL, 2017 was the first year that we couldn't find a trip that was a decent deal compared to others. Since we didn't price out every month, there may be some where this is true, but based on people's responses, I am guessing that it is similar to what we saw.