Why is DCL worth the extra cost?

[eskimoinparadise]

Yes they can be made to say what ever we want!

Open day price Fantasy 02/27/16 Eastern

Veranda.

Price Created Updated
$ 1,519 2014‑10‑30 2015‑02‑25

From Cruise Fish.

I didn't make them say anything. Those prices were a direct lift off of DCL and RCL's booking sites, and I specifically stated that they were the prices as of yesterday. I also posted the price we paid for a 5 category upgrade from the cat E3 RCL balcony price (the baseline price) when we booked on opening day. Taking an opening day price for Fantasy two weeks earlier in 2016 (which is still off season) and trying to use it to debunk yesterday's prices is ludicrous. BTW, the $1802 was the "all in" price for two adults, and included port fees, taxes, prepaid gratuities, and cruise insurance. The stateroom price was $1348.

Edited to add: Today's DCL booking site price for the 2/27/16 Eastern on Fantasy for the base veranda is $4384

 

[cdoc29]

Is Disney Worth The Extra Cost? There is a story today in the news about an 8 year old boy who drowned on Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas this week. All of the Major cruise lines have experienced children drowning or near drowning in the pools on their cruise ship, even Disney. Do you want to guess which cruise line in response to this occurring is the only one to place lifeguards at all their pools? Thats right only one cruise line has lifeguards so when we talk about about extra expense I think I will go with the company that actually addresses safety issues and customer experience rather than ignore those two things.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Look, all comparisons can be adjusted to make them show whatever the poster wants and I am not saying Eskimo in paradise was being anything but honest in the figures she presented. My point is that with hundreds of ships, thousands of cabins and classes, the difference of a week and the age of the vessels, the figures can and do lie. Everyone knows Disney is more and expensive. Different lines and different times of year can make a big difference as line market to different people.

I don't believe many of the other postings as some of the posters are known to be working on trying to make Disney seem more expensive then they are. But I also know Disney is more expensive most of the time.

Disney also had classic /expensive vessels, better trained crews and provide more characters, better entertainment in my mind. In short they provide a unique and more expensive cruise and should charge more......They are worth the extra money.

AKK

 

[cgolf]

Look, all comparisons can be adjusted to make them show whatever the poster wants and I am not saying Eskimo in paradise was being anything but honest in the figures she presented. My point is that with hundreds of ships, thousands of cabins and classes, the difference of a week and the age of the vessels, the figures can and do lie. Everyone knows Disney is more and expensive. Different lines and different times of year can make a big difference as line market to different people.

I don't believe many of the other postings as some of the posters are known to be working on trying to make Disney seem more expensive then they are. But I also know Disney is more expensive most of the time.

Disney also had classic /expensive vessels, better trained crews and provide more characters, better entertainment in my mind. In short they provide a unique and more expensive cruise and should charge more......They are worth the extra money.

AKK

The flipside is true too, when I compare DCL to Royal, I treat the Magic as an equal to the oasis (in my eyes it would be far superior). We really don't take into account the age or activities of a ship too much in price comparisons. When looking to sail another line however we are considering itinerary, ship, cost etc when we book (finding newer smaller ships is tough). But for DCL ships we treat them all as somewhat equals, classics get a priority over dream class for us in comparisons and it has nothing to do with the fact the classics are cheaper.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

The flipside is true too, when I compare DCL to Royal, I treat the Magic as an equal to the oasis (in my eyes it would be far superior). We really don't take into account the age or activities of a ship too much in price comparisons. When looking to sail another line however we are considering itinerary, ship, cost etc when we book (finding newer smaller ships is tough). But for DCL ships we treat them all as somewhat equals, classics get a priority over dream class for us in comparisons and it has nothing to do with the fact the classics are cheaper.

I agree 100%. This is why the figures can and often are distorted. Personal choices as to what a cruiser is looking for makes all the difference as to whether any cruise is worth more to them.

That is why I fully understand why some people feel DCL is to expensive. What I find upsetting is why many people will not except that other people choice in DCL and feel the cruises are worth the money for them. DCL is not cheating any one. If someone doesn't want to pay for a DCL cruise, pick another line, plain and simple.

Example, if you make a good stool and can charge $100.00, that person is going to charge $100.00, not $50.00. The other lines all charge the maximum they can charge, they are not charging less to be nice to the cruising public. They are charging less, because cruisers will only pay the lesser amount to cruise on their vessels.

If DCL reach's the point and the cruising public will not pay the rates they are charging, you can bet the price will come down fast. I sure will not cry over that.

AKK

 

[KingRichard]

Sorry but the first week of March is not spring break for school children!

Everyone knows that DCL raises prices as the ship fills up!

The first price comparison was not the same cruise date so I moved it up a week. Don't get mad!

A cruise that cost about $75 per day? How do they feed you, clean up after you and take you on a SAFE journey for that price?

They must be skimping somewhere?

If you don't like DCL prices then don't cruise DCL! Everyone gets so mad and it never ends?

Found a Carnival 14 day cruise veranda for $1100 per person. You know why it is so cheap?

BECAUSE IT HAS TO BE!

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Sorry but the first week of March is not spring break for school children!

Everyone knows that DCL raises prices as the ship fills up!

The first price comparison was not the same cruise date so I moved it up a week. Don't get mad!

A cruise that cost about $75 per day? How do they feed you, clean up after you and take you on a SAFE journey for that price?

They must be skimping somewhere?

If you don't like DCL prices then don't cruise DCL! Everyone gets so mad and it never ends?

Found a Carnival 14 day cruise veranda for $1100 per person. You know why it is so cheap?

BECAUSE IT HAS TO BE!

AMEN! Figures do lie!......AKK

 

[Ofinn]

I love DCL, but I don't put blinders on, live in denial, and try to convince myself I'm not paying a premium. I don't get why some people do.

Sorry but the first week of March is not spring break for school children!

Everyone knows that DCL raises prices as the ship fills up!

The first price comparison was not the same cruise date so I moved it up a week. Don't get mad!

A cruise that cost about $75 per day? How do they feed you, clean up after you and take you on a SAFE journey for that price?

They must be skimping somewhere?

If you don't like DCL prices then don't cruise DCL! Everyone gets so mad and it never ends?

Found a Carnival 14 day cruise veranda for $1100 per person. You know why it is so cheap?

BECAUSE IT HAS TO BE!

It is in our state. We are on the August to May schedule. Most states with this schedule have early spring breaks. Ours is always the first week in March. Peak season at WDW starts last week of Feb to Easter.

 

[cgolf]

Sorry but the first week of March is not spring break for school children!

Everyone knows that DCL raises prices as the ship fills up!

The first price comparison was not the same cruise date so I moved it up a week. Don't get mad!

A cruise that cost about $75 per day? How do they feed you, clean up after you and take you on a SAFE journey for that price?

They must be skimping somewhere?

If you don't like DCL prices then don't cruise DCL! Everyone gets so mad and it never ends?

Found a Carnival 14 day cruise veranda for $1100 per person. You know why it is so cheap?

BECAUSE IT HAS TO BE!

The numbers I found in our apples to apples compare were DCL was slightly above the 300$ a night and other lines were around 200$ a night for an inside state room. Personally we are having fun researching the cruise options. Will be watching the fall of 2016 for any last minute good deals on DCL, we have gotten them before hope to again.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Sorry but the first week of March is not spring break for school children!

Sorry, but it may not be for you, but the first 2 weeks of March are spring break for many districts in AZ.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Sorry but the first week of March is not spring break for school children!

Everyone knows that DCL raises prices as the ship fills up!

The first price comparison was not the same cruise date so I moved it up a week. Don't get mad!

A cruise that cost about $75 per day? How do they feed you, clean up after you and take you on a SAFE journey for that price?

They must be skimping somewhere?

If you don't like DCL prices then don't cruise DCL! Everyone gets so mad and it never ends?

Found a Carnival 14 day cruise veranda for $1100 per person. You know why it is so cheap?

BECAUSE IT HAS TO BE!

A: Never said I don't like Disney or Disney prices. We usually do one Disney cruise every year. B) In Florida March is definitely spring break month, and if you add in colleges, the two peak spring break weeks are 3/6 and 3/13 next year. C) you disingenuously tried to compare a Disney opening day price to defend your position, while I was quoting the exact prices found on both companies websites the day I posted. I prefer to compare apples to apples. Apparently you prefer to compare apples to aardvarks, and D) What does Carnival have to do with anything regarding a comparison of DCL and RCL prices?

How do they feed me for $75 a day? Well, for starters, 1802/14 is ~$129/per day per person, and even if you back out taxes, etc, it comes out to ~$96/day, so I don't know where the $75 figure came from. But the answer is simple - by charging the nimrods who buy into the "last minute discounting" myth and wait to book until the cruise line jacks the base price through the roof and then offers a "great last minute deal" - i.e. FLR rates or GT rates. If I were to look at the two cruises I quoted (or the one you misquoted) today, I wouldn't be sailing next March on either line - they're both ripping their customers off at those rates.

BTW, I'm not a she

 

[eskimoinparadise]

AMEN! Figures do lie!......AKK

And liars do figures

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Duplicate post - don't know how that happened

 

[KingRichard]

I didn't make them say anything. Those prices were a direct lift off of DCL and RCL's booking sites, and I specifically stated that they were the prices as of yesterday. I also posted the price we paid for a 5 category upgrade from the cat E3 RCL balcony price (the baseline price) when we booked on opening day. Taking an opening day price for Fantasy two weeks earlier in 2016 (which is still off season) and trying to use it to debunk yesterday's prices is ludicrous. BTW, the $1802 was the "all in" price for two adults, and included port fees, taxes, prepaid gratuities, and cruise insurance. The stateroom price was $1348.

Edited to add: Today's DCL booking site price for the 2/27/16 Eastern on Fantasy for the base veranda is $4384

A: Never said I don't like Disney or Disney prices. We usually do one Disney cruise every year. B) In Florida March is definitely spring break month, and if you add in colleges, the two peak spring break weeks are 3/6 and 3/13 next year. C) you disingenuously tried to compare a Disney opening day price to defend your position, while I was quoting the exact prices found on both companies websites the day I posted. I prefer to compare apples to apples. Apparently you prefer to compare apples to aardvarks, and D) What does Carnival have to do with anything regarding a comparison of DCL and RCL prices?

How do they feed me for $75 a day? Well, for starters, 1802/14 is ~$129/per day per person, and even if you back out taxes, etc, it comes out to ~$96/day, so I don't know where the $75 figure came from. But the answer is simple - by charging the nimrods who buy into the "last minute discounting" myth and wait to book until the cruise line jacks the base price through the roof and then offers a "great last minute deal" - i.e. FLR rates or GT rates. If I were to look at the two cruises I quoted (or the one you misquoted) today, I wouldn't be sailing next March on either line - they're both ripping their customers off at those rates.

BTW, I'm not a she

I'm so sorry I did not know that taxes, port fees, tips and insurance was only $200 per person. My last few cruises it was triple that or more.

Just because a few states with the first week of March off doesn't compare to the 30 million children who get Easter week off.

The March 26 cruise is the most expensive by thousands over end of Feb. or first week of April.

So I guess DCL thinks that is spring break for CHILDREN. I don't think all that many college students are booking DCL?

Also I quoted opening day price because, that is what you did!

Again everyone knows to get the best deal on DCL you book opening day and as the ship fills up it gets more expensive.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

I'm so sorry I did not know that taxes, port fees, tips and insurance was only $200 per person. My last few cruises it was triple that or more.

Just because a few states with the first week of March off doesn't compare to the 30 million children who get Easter week off.

The March 26 cruise is the most expensive by thousands over end of Feb. or first week of April.

So I guess DCL thinks that is spring break for CHILDREN. I don't think all that many college students are booking DCL?

Also I quoted opening day price because, that is what you did!

Again everyone knows to get the best deal on DCL you book opening day and as the ship fills up it gets more expensive.

And the nimrods who don't subsidize those of us who do

If you don't like reality, you are free to ignore it. It is obvious that you never read my initial post before you responded to it, because if you did you would have seen that I used the RCL opening day price to show how the two cruise lines raise their prices over time. BTW, where did a 3/26 cruise come from. I never used that date as a reference. And, the 3/26 cruise is Easter week, so it is not at all surprising that it is the most expensive. Those "few" states (actually more than half) that have spring breaks in March include Florida, where DCL draws a substantial % of its cruisers, and is the 4th largest state in the U.S. (So it probably exerts just a bit of influence on the numbers.) As for college kids who cruise DCL, you'd be surprised how many that really is - guess what...college kids like Disney too.

 

[keaster]

And the nimrods who don't subsidize those of us who do

If you don't like reality, you are free to ignore it. It is obvious that you never read my initial post before you responded to it, because if you did you would have seen that I used the RCL opening day price to show how the two cruise lines raise their prices over time. BTW, where did a 3/26 cruise come from. I never used that date as a reference. And, the 3/26 cruise is Easter week, so it is not at all surprising that it is the most expensive. Those "few" states (actually more than half) that have spring breaks in March include Florida, where DCL draws a substantial % of its cruisers, and is the 4th largest state in the U.S. (So it probably exerts just a bit of influence on the numbers.) As for college kids who cruise DCL, you'd be surprised how many that really is - guess what...college kids like Disney too.

And don't forget us here in Canada...many school breaks fall in the first two weeks of March, and are not tied to Easter at all! And we like to cruise to escape winter for a short time

 

[Ofinn]

And don't forget us here in Canada...many school breaks fall in the first two weeks of March, and are not tied to Easter at all! And we like to cruise to escape winter for a short time

Many states in the South and West are on the August to May school year and have Spring break in early March. People in the Notheast US may not dont realize this.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Many states in the South and West are on the August to May school year and have Spring break in early March. People in the Notheast US may not dont realize this.

In Florida, with more than 2.6 million students currently enrolled in Pre-K through grade 12, the counties have to stagger their spring break weeks so everyone's not off the same week. It works out to about 750K students off each week of the month. Add about a half million Florida college students to the mix, and an average of ~4 million students (Pre-K through college) from other states that are off each week in March, and it gets a bit crowded on the beaches, in the theme parks, and I-4 turns into a 4-week parking lot

Also, more than 97 million people visited Florida in 2104 (that works out to about 1.8 million each week), and the numbers for 2015 are expected to be up by 5-10%.

 

[ICEMANPAD]

We love DCL. Our signature shows how many times we have cruised with Disney. We have sailed on all four ships and have had amazing experiences! We ended up cancelling this week on the Fantasy because for a cat 7 it was costing us 8500, just for the cruise. We are currently on the Oasis. The fare for our family of 3 was 3500 for a ocean view veranda guaranty.

This ship is amazing! There are parades and parties with characters, the shows are just as high quality as DCL and there is more variety. We have seen Cats, the Oasis of Dreams water show and we have the ice show and come fly with me booked.

The food choices are incredible! We have eaten in many venues and our son who is 16 has enjoyed eating in specialty restaurants with us.

The crew has been just as friendly, hardworking and professional as DCL. Yesterday the tours in Jamaica all arrived back late and the Captain and other officers were waiting outside welcoming us back to the ship with smiles on their faces.

We love DCL, but due to the high prices we are very happy that there are other high quality choices so that our family can still afford to vacation during school holidays!

 

[rosaciri]

We have 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on the Disney Fantasy in January followed immediately by a 6 day Western Caribbean cruise on the Coral Princess. They both stop at 3 ports, one of which is the same. We have a balcony cabin on both cruises and we have cruised on both cruise lines previously. The cost per person on the Fantasy is $1,676 including taxes, fees, etc. which comes to $239 per day per person. The cost on the Coral Princess is $839 per person which comes to $140 per day. We are also getting $175 on board credit per person which comes to $29 per day with a net cost per person day of $111. This is less than half the cost of the Disney Fantasy. Other than the excellent cabin and the fireworks on Disney, we prefer the on board experience on Princess. In our minds there is not enough on Disney to justify the additional cost other than the name. This is especially true now with the change in the Disney alcohol policy. The only (but very important) reason we are sailing on the Fantasy is to be with the grandsons who love Disney. Please tell me why sailing on DCL is worth twice the cost.

We are from Melbourne Australia with 2 DDs 4 and 9 and we travelled to Port Carn last year to do our first DCL cruise on The Fantasty. Yes its expensive especially when converting AU dollars to USA dollars but sooooo worth it. It was our first cruise ever on The Fantasy (Western Carribean) and we just luved the whole experience. Everyone on board was great and the experience was well worth it especially since the little ones luv all things Disney. We met a lovely family from Pennsilyvanna who we keep in contact with and are looking at maybe doing another cruise together in 2017. Disney know how to hit the market with little ones ages 1 to 14 years of age.

In saying all the above and although we luv all things Disney I think our next cruise will be the last we do with DCL as my older DD will be growing out of the Disney hype and after our next DCL cruise in 2017 we are looking at Royal Carribean who have hit the nail on the head with catering for tweens and teens. We are hoping we are going to enjoy Royal Carribean as much as DCL when we do this one and the good thing is one of their new ships (Ovation of the Seas) is coming to us here in Australia so no more looonngggggg flights for us after our next DCL.