Why is DCL worth the extra cost?

[Tonka's Skipper]

Considering that Disney only has ~3% of the mainstream cruise market, I guess ~97% of the cruising public have already made their choice. Disney is a niche line with limited capacity and a fanatic fan base. It costs more because they only have fours ships to fill, and a seemingly never ending supply of Disney lovers to fill them - even if they are "one and done". And, even that becomes problematic every time they move a ship away from a home port connected to a theme park, because they closely tie the cruise experience to the theme park experience. If you like Disney, you cruise Disney. If you like cruising and want to take a cruise more than once every few years (or as a once in a lifetime experience), there is a world of comparable (and often superior) choices out there.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

They still provide a specail and excellent cruise, 4 vessels or 20. They provide a excellent Cruse for all the reasons I have listed.

As to 97% , Who sail other lines is is quite likely they have sailed DCL more then once.

DCL specail cruises is not for everyone , but since they have no problem filling the ships at the rate they charge, they are doing things right.

It is really just a matter of charging what the cruising public will pay just like every other line does. In fact I expect all the lines to be charging more slowly in the next year, even after all the cut backs especailly on NCL.


AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

On one of our Disney cruises a comedian commented that it's more difficult to be funny without the filth. We appreciated his efforts.

Well my friend, I would beleive that is where talent , material, skill and practice come into the picture.


AKK

 

[eskimoinparadise]

They still provide a specail and excellent cruise, 4 vessels or 20. They provide a excellent Cruse for all the reasons I have listed.

As to 97% , Who sail other lines is is quite likely they have sailed DCL more then once.

DCL specail cruises is not for everyone , but since they have no problem filling the ships at the rate they charge, they are doing things right.
AKK

Have never argued that they don't provide an excellent product (niche players have to do that or they don't survive). And a niche player that knows its market can charge a premium over what the product is actually worth, as long as it doesn't do anything to dilute its brand - which IMHO is why Disney has not built any more ships. As I've stated before, both the best and the worst cruise we've ever had have been on Disney - same ship, same itinerary, same cabin, same week of the year (just 5 years apart) - so even Disney falls down occasionally.

As for what % of everyone who sails, has sailed Disney, who knows. The one constant is that on every one of our Disney cruises when they call for a show of hands at the welcome back party (remember when that was open to all repeat cruisers) almost all of the hands go down before they get to 10, and rarely do they ever get past 20. When we go to the welcome back parties on RCL, most of the hands don't go down until they get into the 800-900 cruise nights range. On our last cruise, the last hand went down at more than 2,500 nights.

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

Is DCL, on the average, more costly than other lines? Overall, probably yes, but the difference is nowhere near what it is being made out to be.

In fact, I checked, comparing the Fantasy in April (that we are booked on) to the Freedom of the Seas. Both are 7 night Western Caribbean cruises out of Port Canaveral. The RCCL cruise is almost exactly 25% cheaper (and that's with the special "Buy 1 Get Half"). Without that discount there would be almost no difference in price. This is for a balcony room, 5B on the Fanatsy and "Superior Ocean View Stateroom" on RCCL. Plus, the DCL room, at 246 sq ft., is bigger than the RCCL 214 sq ft. room. That's a 15% bigger room for 25% more cost. A difference? Definitely. But again, nothing like the "100%" difference we've seen quoted here.

 

[The Sasquatch]

Is DCL, on the average, more costly than other lines? Overall, probably yes, but the difference is nowhere near what it is being made out to be.

In fact, I checked, comparing the Fantasy in April (that we are booked on) to the Freedom of the Seas. Both are 7 night Western Caribbean cruises out of Port Canaveral. The RCCL cruise is almost exactly 25% cheaper (and that's with the special "Buy 1 Get Half"). Without that discount there would be almost no difference in price. This is for a balcony room, 5B on the Fanatsy and "Superior Ocean View Stateroom" on RCCL. Plus, the DCL room, at 246 sq ft., is bigger than the RCCL 214 sq ft. room. That's a 15% bigger room for 25% more cost. A difference? Definitely. But again, nothing like the "100%" difference we've seen quoted here.

thats been my experience as well. You come on here and the way people talk, I would think its 50% less to sail other lines. Every time I compare, the difference is not enough to make me leave DCL. As a comparison, we still stay on property at WDW and a week on land or sea is going to cost me roughly the same amount. Realistically a Disney vacation costs us $10k per week when its all said and done. Based on the comparison to their resorts and parks, the cruise is in the same ballpark.

 

[quickcat]

Is DCL, on the average, more costly than other lines? Overall, probably yes, but the difference is nowhere near what it is being made out to be.

In fact, I checked, comparing the Fantasy in April (that we are booked on) to the Freedom of the Seas. Both are 7 night Western Caribbean cruises out of Port Canaveral. The RCCL cruise is almost exactly 25% cheaper (and that's with the special "Buy 1 Get Half"). Without that discount there would be almost no difference in price. This is for a balcony room, 5B on the Fanatsy and "Superior Ocean View Stateroom" on RCCL. Plus, the DCL room, at 246 sq ft., is bigger than the RCCL 214 sq ft. room. That's a 15% bigger room for 25% more cost. A difference? Definitely. But again, nothing like the "100%" difference we've seen quoted here.

Funny you bring this up because I always check Royal's pricing because of always reading how much you can save and I never find it to be a big savings at all. It must be room categories and family size because when I compare room sizes, we never have found it to be saving enough to switch.

 

[Ofinn]

Is DCL, on the average, more costly than other lines? Overall, probably yes, but the difference is nowhere near what it is being made out to be.

In fact, I checked, comparing the Fantasy in April (that we are booked on) to the Freedom of the Seas. Both are 7 night Western Caribbean cruises out of Port Canaveral. The RCCL cruise is almost exactly 25% cheaper (and that's with the special "Buy 1 Get Half"). Without that discount there would be almost no difference in price. This is for a balcony room, 5B on the Fanatsy and "Superior Ocean View Stateroom" on RCCL. Plus, the DCL room, at 246 sq ft., is bigger than the RCCL 214 sq ft. room. That's a 15% bigger room for 25% more cost. A difference? Definitely. But again, nothing like the "100%" difference we've seen quoted here.

It depends on the cruise and the time of year. DCL is about Double on many Alaska and European cruises, and the Fantasy during the Summer can be as high as 10k for a family of four that is about double what you will find on NCL or RCI. Off season closes tend to be closer in price. DCL has to discount a lot of their off season which brings it more in line with other cruise lines. You really need to compare opening day prices. RCI cruises have gone up quite a bit since opening day even with the special discounts they offer now. I'm not sure what week your looking at in April, but if it's after Spring break then those week tend to be some of the best prices on DCL. Often times some great GT rates will come out the weeks following Spring break. I've done a lot of price comparisons on Alaska and Europe, and I can honestly say DCL can be as much as double in cost.

 

[bumbershoot]

Realistically a Disney vacation costs us $10k per week when its all said and done. Based on the comparison to their resorts and parks, the cruise is in the same ballpark.

So your threshold is already set at more than double my threshold. No wonder you have no issue with DCL pricing.

Every dcl cruise I've priced out recently (except one dvc discounted one recently but we were busy during that time) has left me on the floor in laughter at the cost. Whereas I have two royal cruises in 2016 whose prices are immensely more reasonable. And longer. I don't even price out the 7 night ones on DCL.

 

[aggiedog]

just wanted to say enjoy your Christmas cruise.

Thank you! We've done WDW a handful of times over the last 30 years for Christmas. It is indeed magical. It's a surprise for the kids. They think we're staying at the water park in Galveston. Can't wait to see their faces.

 

[Ofinn]

thats been my experience as well. You come on here and the way people talk, I would think its 50% less to sail other lines. Every time I compare, the difference is not enough to make me leave DCL. As a comparison, we still stay on property at WDW and a week on land or sea is going to cost me roughly the same amount. Realistically a Disney vacation costs us $10k per week when its all said and done. Based on the comparison to their resorts and parks, the cruise is in the same ballpark.

I'm another person that would never pay 10k for a DCL cruise. I paid 3K for our cruise out of Galveston and I could cruise out San Juan next month for 3k. I believe that is the discounted price now. You must cruise in the Summer or Spring break. I guarantee you I could find a Summer cruise on another line for half that, and probably with a better itinerary. What your willing to pay for a weeks vacation is much more than what I'm willing to pay.

 

[DCLDVC1]

I think DCL is worth it. I don't really care if others do or not.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Have never argued that they don't provide an excellent product (niche players have to do that or they don't survive). And a niche player that knows its market can charge a premium over what the product is actually worth, as long as it doesn't do anything to dilute its brand - which IMHO is why Disney has not built any more ships. As I've stated before, both the best and the worst cruise we've ever had have been on Disney - same ship, same itinerary, same cabin, same week of the year (just 5 years apart) - so even Disney falls down occasionally.

As for what % of everyone who sails, has sailed Disney, who knows. The one constant is that on every one of our Disney cruises when they call for a show of hands at the welcome back party (remember when that was open to all repeat cruisers) almost all of the hands go down before they get to 10, and rarely do they ever get past 20. When we go to the welcome back parties on RCL, most of the hands don't go down until they get into the 800-900 cruise nights range. On our last cruise, the last hand went down at more than 2,500 nights.

Actually, I think we agree more then we disagree.

AKK

 

[MakiraMarlena]

There is a post above throwing out the idea that adults who cruise Disney do so because they "have issues coping with life" or are of a "conservative" bent and they cruise Disney because they consider it "safe." This is not true. Being a Disney fan and an adult does not make one either conservative or unable to cope with life. You might as well ask what makes one a Disney fan. There are many reasons.

 

[bumbershoot]

OK I'm on my computer now vs cell.

DCL specail cruises is not for everyone

Hmm, now it feels to me that you're saying that if I prefer Royal, then it's somehow a personal failing of mine, that I don't see the specialness of Disney. That's how reading those words feels to me. Seriously Tonka, there has been nothing special on DCL that we haven't experienced on Royal. I get that you don't get that, but can you maybe get that other people have *just as special an experience* elsewhere?

No I don't have Mickey or Cinderella on Royal. But I don't care about them. I am anti-characters (except for Jack Sparrow, which, yes, I cannot get on other lines, but since it's for my son not me (my fave Sparrow thing was to just watch him walk around New Orleans Square at Disneyland, interacting with people in a piratey way) and he's over Sparrow we're cool with that). Though Po on Freedom of the Seas did rope me into a hug which got my first EVER genuine smile in a character photo.

Is DCL, on the average, more costly than other lines? Overall, probably yes, but the difference is nowhere near what it is being made out to be.

Nothing is being made out to be anything. You've priced some things and gotten your results. Others have priced some things and gotten different results.

I price things out *that I want to take*. I don't cherry-pick the highest DCL cruises or the lowest Royal cruises. I think "where do I want to go and when", find those cruises, and check out the pricing.

And while I do have an upper spending limit, I also have a "dollars per night, is this worth it?" limit.

Our highest per night cost cruise was a 3 nighter Dream in concierge. 720.22/night. (that's figured by taking the total fare/taxes/fees and dividing it by number of nights)

The fact that it was 3 nights is what saved it, because the cost for the 3 of us didn't go over a threshold. (and the concierge room was a total of $300 more than the room we had previously booked, so even the upcharge for concierge wasn't all that much, that's 100 per night or 100 per person or you can do the math of per night per person LOL)

Was it worth it? Uh, no. It was very nice, Dream is pretty and we really liked the one concierge host we interacted with (who recognized us several months later on the deck when we were staying Inside that time), but she's no longer with Disney. But 720 per night worth it? Oh gracious no.

I actually keep a document with all of this; total price, per night price, high to low, low to high, and chronological orders. DCL cruises are the top three highest per night cruises. Again, since they are 3 or 4 nights, the total cost stays under where I want to be.

Least expensive per night has been our 5 night on Vision in a cool panoramic oceanview stateroom, at $324/night. That was a very nice cruise. No characters at all for me to avoid, huzzah! Good food, good service, nice room (no shampoo, but I brought the DCL H2O+ LOL)! [And being honest here, lest anyone think I'm whitewashing history b/c I've written about it before....the only issue was a combo of lousy weather and Vision class's Centrum being a funnel that pulls the smoke from the casino, but I knew they had a casino with smoking and a Centrum ahead of time. Just didn't anticipate the lousy weather for 2 days...so we won't book a ship with a Centrum going forward until they finally ban smoking* in the casino, easy peasy] But in terms of fun, that cruise was not any less fun than the 720/night cruise on DCL.

And for the record our Inside stateroom cruise was still $525...third most expensive per night cruise we've taken. And still not worth that much more per night than our less expensive cruises.



When pricing cruises, it's been stated before, but Oasis and Allure (and possibly Quantum and Anthem, don't know, not interested in them) are the outliers in terms of pricing. If you want to cruise on those, price them out. If you're only pricing them to prove a point (on either side) that's being silly. They are far bigger than anything DCL has, so it's hard to compare the actual experience. I really like the comparison of Dream (b/c I've been on it) and Freedom (b/c I've been on it), personally. So they are my two faves to compare. And so far Freedom keeps winning price-wise (total cost, despite it being 7 nights on Freedom and 3-4 on Dream, as well as per night cost)



*and going forward in 2017 we'll look at Celebrity, as they have the casino (which DH likes but can't use b/c of my allergies and asthma) but don't allow smoking in it. and b/c we've heard that they are quite good.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Actually, I think we agree more then we disagree.

AKK

Very likely. I just get tired of the zealots who feel the need to interrupt every rational discussion with the worn out mantra of "I love Disney therefore every other cruise line is a garbage scow that only miscreant degenerates would sail on". The reality is that every cruise line we've ever been on (and yes, that includes Disney) have provided us with both outstanding and sub-par experiences. When you cruise 5-6 times a year you occasionally get a turnip truck cruise.

 

[perdidobay]

There is a post above throwing out the idea that adults who cruise Disney do so because they "have issues coping with life" or are of a "conservative" bent and they cruise Disney because they consider it "safe." This is not true. Being a Disney fan and an adult does not make one either conservative or unable to cope with life. You might as well ask what makes one a Disney fan. There are many reasons.

Since you mentioned my post and didn't seem to understand the point I was making I'll clarify that I was not implying that all DCL guests have issues coping with life, or are conservative. As I stated some adults who are big Disney fans cruise for the fact it's Disney, OR some are very conservative and/or religious and do not like adult entertainment that is not G rated, they feel DCL delivers that. OR the fact there are some DCL cruisers who have emotional issues and feel safe in a Disney environment where they can bring their make believe baby dolls onboard and pretend that they are real, or dress like a princess the whole cruise and know that no one blinks an eye, just to name a few coping behaviors I've heard of DCL cruisers doing. You can be any of those 3 cruisers as a reason to cruise DCL exclusively.

 

[perdidobay]

I just wanted to add, my first cruise was on DCL, because I am a big Disney fan, and continue to be. Not knowing if a cruise was going to be something we'd enjoy, we chose a short 4 day DCL cruise thinking that if we didn't enjoy cruising at least it was Disney. We stayed with DCL for our next 14 cruises, but truthfully we have tired of the entertainment offered on the ship, and the food choices that seem limited and never changing now that we have tried another cruise line. Gasp! I do enjoy more adult entertainment too, and not being roped into set dining times so other cruise lines work better for us now. DCL is a quality cruise line, it's just not appealing to us anymore at prices we are paying for features we never use.

 

[The Sasquatch]

Very likely. I just get tired of the zealots who feel the need to interrupt every rational discussion with the worn out mantra of "I love Disney therefore every other cruise line is a garbage scow that only miscreant degenerates would sail on". The reality is that every cruise line we've ever been on (and yes, that includes Disney) have provided us with both outstanding and sub-par experiences. When you cruise 5-6 times a year you occasionally get a turnip truck cruise.

The reality is I find more people on here who interrupt every rationale discussion with the worn out mantra of "DCL is priced too high, they are depriving me of whatever and I can sail XYZ for far less."

This place is overrun with the negative. If I were someone trying to plan a first time cruise on DCL and came to these boards, I might be inclined to cancel. I never understood how a forum or its participants embrace the negative more than the positive.

(Enter the trolls...)

 

[perdidobay]

As to suggestions that DCL is not much more expensive than other lines, when we cancelled our DCL Fantasy cruise for last October, a regular concierge veranda stateroom on DCL was $3400 more than the Haven H5 stateroom (NCL's concierge level), so we ended up booking on NCL. It included an unlimited drink package, unlimited specialty dining package, $300 stateroom credit, and all gratuities paid. And by far the Haven blows away DCL's concierge offerings. Our service was every bit as good and friendly all over the ship as DCLs, on a very elegant and new ship.

In looking to book a cruise next October, same date, same eastern itinerary,the cheapest inside stateroom on DCL is listed at $1734 pp, compared with NCL Escape's (brand new ship) family inside stateroom at $694pp. and I can choose two perks with that, including free unlimited beverage pkg and a 4 night specialty restaurant package. I just can't justify DCL prices anymore.