Another Disney pricing post

I really love cruising with Disney and I try and talk family, friends and coworkers into giving Disney a shot. The common message I hear is that they just can't see the value given the price of other lines.

You'll note from my signature that I've sailed Royal twice, Carnival twice and Disney three times and I have a Carnival and Disney cruise coming up. I'm not loyal to one line and while that seems like a lot of cruising, I know many of you on these boards are far more avid than that.

My upcoming Carnival came in at $1,500 for two, including port fees and taxes. Plus there is an onboard credit. This is for a deck 10 midship balcony cabin. I was called and offered an upgrade to a suite for $500 and I jumped at it. So now I'm paying $2,000 for a suite! That includes priority benefits. This is aboard the Breeze, a ship built in 2012 and sailing out of Galveston.

My upcoming Disney is on the Wonder and it clocks in at $3,000 for two, including port fees and taxes. This is a deck 7 aft white wall balcony (6A). This was an board booking with the ordinary benefits of on board bookings.

Both are 7 day sailings and neither are during any peak period. One is Caribbean and the other is Bahamian. A coworker just returned from a Carnival cruise with her two small children and they had a blast. She priced a Disney cruise at my urging and she was able to do the entire vacation for less than the cruise fare alone.

I guess if you don't know what you're missing, you don't miss it.

I know Disney does things different and you have to pay for the additional touches like more staff on the ship, shorter lines, rotational dining and the characters. The price difference in my case (comparing two balcony rooms) is more than $50 per day per person. That adds up in a hurry. The price difference during peak season is even higher.

Just venting I guess. I'm obviously willing to continue to pay the Disney premium on occasion but I really wish the price was lower and I'd sail them more often.

Did you tell them about the unlimited pixie dust?

To myself and DW , the issue is the number of kids . Also we aren't big fans of Disney.

Price is a huge factor for us (we did a 10-night in a mid-ship hump balcony on RCL for $2100 last March...I shudder to think what a comparable cruise on Disney would have been) but by no means the only thing.

The lack of a casino seals it for us. Casino gambling is one of our favorite forms of entertainment on a cruise and without a casino, Disney won't work for us.

The parks? We love...we go every 3-4 years and happily fork over whatever we need to in order to stay on property and enjoy the magic.

There is no question that Disney is not a good value. In fact they are extremely overpriced. However the beauty of capitalism is that people will mortgage the house and max out the credit cards for the Disney experience. Thus their ships fill up with no problem and they rake in the money to offset the losses from the Albatross around their neck called ESPN. Disney has successfully been able to get the masses to drink the cool aid and just hand over their money. That is the reason I own Disney stock and love the brand. They do it better than anyone. Until the next recession....

But .... DCL has free soda. :D

But .... DCL has free soda. :D

LOL! Or perhaps they have the most expensive soda on the planet priced in the cruise...

I wish the prices were lower too. I've never sailed on DCL, but have been on cruises on Royal, Carnival, and Celebrity. I LOVE the parks--we went for nine days last November and I'm already itching to go again. I love to cruise, and would love to cruise with Disney, but some of the cruises I've priced out with them were more for one person than it costs my family of three on another line. [emoji17]

I will be on board someday....but my next cruise is booked on Carnival.

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It's always a tough call on if the value is there or not with DCL. We have to weight the higher cost vs. the overall greater vacation enjoyment for us on DCL. I am willing to pay a premium for what we consider a higher quality experience on DCL, but there is of course a tipping point where there price is not worth paying (especially as our kids get older). We tend to do DCL every other cruise and do other lines in between. I guess the fact that we keep going back to DCL says something about our preference.

It's always a tough call on if the value is there or not with DCL. We have to weight the higher cost vs. the overall greater vacation enjoyment for us on DCL. I am willing to pay a premium for what we consider a higher quality experience on DCL, but there is of course a tipping point where there price is not worth paying (especially as our kids get older). We tend to do DCL every other cruise and do other lines in between. I guess the fact that we keep going back to DCL says something about our preference.

Agreed. We did many Disney cruises because of our youngest. Now that she is older and burned out on Disney I suspect we will not do any more. Other than the Disney theme which is awesome for those who want that, the ships themselves have far less to offer than say the NCL Escape or RCCL Oasis. Our kids find far more to appeal to them on those ships than on Disney such as ropes course, multiple water slides, etc. Buy when your kids want to see the Disney characters there is not much choice.

One of the things I think about is that at ten years old, my son has already missed the 'sweet spot' for DCL. He doesn't care much about meeting characters anymore. Our last trip to Disney, we waited to meet Jack Skellington, but did not meet any other characters.

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OK, I know I started this but as you note, I still have a DCL cruise booked. This is just for my wife and I. I have been sold on the Disney vacation experience and find that to be worth it, but only on occasion.

Our cruise on the Freedom of the Seas to the Western Caribbean was pretty amazing. Then I sailed on the Fantasy and it was magical. I had the Fantasy booked and cancelled that cruise in favor of the Freedom after a mediocre experience on the Wonder in Alaska. I don't regret doing that but I am so glad I went back and eventually sailed on the Fantasy.

Here is the thing with me though. I've been on the Wonder twice. The second time was a deal that was just too good to pass up. This time it is because we've moved to Texas and wanted to try a sailing out of Galveston where we're not paying airfare to boot. I like to try different things so three times on the Wonder is an exception. Bonus that the Wonder is coming out of dry dock with several changes before we sail.

Disney has two new ships coming out. I sure hope that once they get the capacity they'll see demand drop enough to let the pricing catch up.

I would love to sail Disney more but I just can't justify it any longer. My wife is a teacher so we can only cruise on her schedule. For 2017, we have an 8 night and 6 night southern and western B2B on the carnival Vista in June and a 7 night western on Liberty of the Seas in October. For the 4 of us in 2 connecting inside cabins for 21 days is $13,200 including gratuity and insurance. I priced the 11 night southern on the Fantasy, (which was my favorite ship until I sailed Vista 2 months ago), and that came in at over $18,000 not including gratuity or insurance. I love me some Disney but wow, that's just crazy expensive.

With that in mind, I'll probably be on the 2 new ships their inaugural seasons, I really love new ships!

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I'm having difficulty justifying DCL prices and have for a while. I have found a few DCL cruises in the past that were reasonable (i.e. for some reason they were priced lower than other cruises around the same time - like the 5 night last fall) but lately, I'm just not finding anything that lets me pull the trigger - even with an OBB.

I like DCL but I also like other cruise lines. Even when I add in the gambling money we spend on other lines (and yes, we are slot junkies when they are available), we're still paying a premium to sail on DCL.

that being said, I keep eyeing another Fantasy cruise next fall to use the OBB before it expires. :o

We've done the obligatory Disney land and sea trips with our family. The experiences always sound better on paper than they turn out to be. Excessive crowds put a damper on the experience in both venues.

We accept that we are paying top dollar for the Disney name, entertainment and access to the characters.

I'm sure we will do at least one more Disney cruise for our little ones but after that we probably won't sail it again.

On the cruise ship my two complaints were overcrowding and noise.

The Fantasy was ridiculously crowded, standard capacity is listed as 2600 but it usually sails with nearly 4000 passengers since so many cabins have three, four and five passengers. The dining room was shoulder to shoulder with tables and chairs right up against each other. We had to walk through the server station to get to our table.

The noise level in the dining rooms, main pool area and bingo room was ear splitting.

We've done the obligatory Disney land and sea trips with our family. The experiences always sound better on paper than they turn out to be. Excessive crowds put a damper on the experience in both venues.

We accept that we are paying top dollar for the Disney name, entertainment and access to the characters.

I'm sure we will do at least one more Disney cruise for our little ones but after that we probably won't sail it again.

 

On the cruise ship my two complaints were overcrowding and noise.

The Fantasy was ridiculously crowded, standard capacity is listed as 2600 but it usually sails with nearly 4000 passengers since so many cabins have three, four and five passengers. The dining room was shoulder to shoulder with tables and chairs right up against each other. We had to walk through the server station to get to our table.

The noise level in the dining rooms, main pool area and bingo room was ear splitting.

I suggest that's a little bit of an exaggeration. I'm no DCL apologist, but I've sailed all four ships enoughj to know that it is not nearly as nad as you make it sound. Perhpas a different cruise line is better for you, one that caters to a more sophisticated crowd, like Cunard or Holland America.

Capacity of the Classic Vessels is 2,600.....the capacity of the Dream class (Fantasy) is 4000.

We were on the Fantasy a few months ago and had no problems with the MDR's.........plenty of space.

AKK

I still love the DCL experience. The stateroom layout is definitely the best. We've sailed RCCL and DCL. We've had a great time on both, but I must say we were missing the privacy curtain in the RCCL stateroom. The split bathrooms in DCL are the best, also. We are sailing on our 4th DCL cruise right before Christmas. We are sailing with first time cruiser friends, so that will be fun. Their kids are younger than ours, so seeing them enjoy the DCL experience will be satisfying. Honestly, our kids really don't care about characters and costume dressing anymore, so RCCL is a much better value for our family, but I still get giddy when we are counting down to a DCL cruise!

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I suggest that's a little bit of an exaggeration. I'm no DCL apologist, but I've sailed all four ships enoughj to know that it is not nearly as nad as you make it sound. Perhpas a different cruise line is better for you, one that caters to a more sophisticated crowd, like Cunard or Holland America.

No exaggeration, believe me.

Disney does a lot of great things, the ship was gorgeous, pristine and exceptionally clean. The entertainment and character events were top notch. Castaway Cay was wonderful. Nice sized cabins.

The Fantasy had a poor passenger space ratio. Our May sailing had "just under 4000" on board, up from standard capacity of 2600. Some sailings may not be as full as ours.

The dining room was wall to wall tables, chairs. If we arrived after neighboring tables were seated we could not walk between the tables. The waiters passed food down from the head of the table as it was a very tight squeeze to get to the other end.

The noise level at the kid pool area was ear splitting and obnoxious. The kids were not the problem, it was the movie screen blaring at an obnoxious level. We've been on other cruise ships with poolside screens and never ever experienced a noise level like this.

The animators palace dining room was ear splitting noisy because our table was in a corner and we had the movie screens blaring from several angles. We were in that restaurant three times for dinner.

Many areas of the ship had constant piped in music and sound, most of it was too loud.

We will certainly do one more Disney cruise as we want our littlest ones to experience Disney.

No exaggeration, believe me.

Disney does a lot of great things, the ship was gorgeous, pristine and exceptionally clean. The entertainment and character events were top notch. Castaway Cay was wonderful. Nice sized cabins.

 

The Fantasy had a poor passenger space ratio. Our May sailing had "just under 4000" on board, up from standard capacity of 2600. Some sailings may not be as full as ours.

The dining room was wall to wall tables, chairs. If we arrived after neighboring tables were seated we could not walk between the tables. The waiters passed food down from the head of the table as it was a very tight squeeze to get to the other end.

The noise level at the kid pool area was ear splitting and obnoxious. The kids were not the problem, it was the movie screen blaring at an obnoxious level. We've been on other cruise ships with poolside screens and never ever experienced a noise level like this.

The animators palace dining room was ear splitting noisy because our table was in a corner and we had the movie screens blaring from several angles. We were in that restaurant three times for dinner.

Many areas of the ship had constant piped in music and sound, most of it was too loud.

 

We will certainly do one more Disney cruise as we want our littlest ones to experience Disney.

I don't know where you're getting that "standard" capacity is 2600 for the Fantasy. It's always been noted that for the Dream class ships the capacity was 4000 (1250 staterooms).

The Magic class ships capacity is 2400 (875 staterooms).

I don't know where you're getting that "standard" capacity is 2600 for the Fantasy. It's always been noted that for the Dream class ships the capacity was 4000 (1250 staterooms).

 

The Magic class ships capacity is 2400 (875 staterooms).

My written source is none other than Cruise critic, in the review section by ship name under the overview tab.

Per cruise critic 128,690 tons

2500 passengers, ( maximum capacity 4000 passengers)

When I was onboard the reception desk told me standard capacity is 2600, maximum capacity is 4000 and my sailing had "just under 4000 passengers".

I am not posting again on this thread. I have no axe to grind with Disney and I like a lot of their attributes. This thread is about Disney pricing. I stated I accept the pricing for the Disney name, entertainment and character presentation but the Fantasy was quite overcrowded and noisy the week we sailed.

I believe 2600 is the "double occupancy" number and 4000 is the "max occupancy number.

ex techie

I don't even know why I'm going to enter this fray, but I *really* don't understand these "Disney is too expensive" threads.

Okay, Disney costs more than "mainstream" cruise lines on most itineraries. They also offer more. (If you disagree that Disney offers more, then choose another line that offers a similar product for a lower price and be happy.)

On the other hand, they cost less than "luxury" lines. They don't reach that level of service--makes sense to me.

Also, complaining about the price of an item demonstrates a shocking lack of understanding of basic microeconomics. If you're not willing to pay for something, then don't pay for it, but don't complain that the item costs too much for you! Clearly there are enough people who *are* willing to pay the higher price, and Disney would be stupid not to charge the prices they do. Don't lament that the road is full of BMW's but that you used to have one and now they cost too much for you to afford. Don't whine that it seems like every woman is carrying a Louis Vuitton purse but the price has gone up out of your reach.

Finally, DCL of years past, where they offered discounts and rained lavish benefits on their frequent cruisers, is indeed a thing of the past. They have learned that they do not have to offer those kinds of incentives and, in fact, prefer a clientele that does not NEED such enticements. A new cruiser who pays top dollar is also probably more likely to spend on board, whether it's on souvenirs (that a frequent cruiser has already bought), wine (that a high-spender is more likely to fork out for), or any other expense.

I get that there are exceptions to any rule. But the fact that people repeatedly come on internet message boards like this to complain that Disney's cruise prices have gone up simply and absolutely baffles me.

I believe 2600 is the "double occupancy" number and 4000 is the "max occupancy number.

 

ex techie

That is correct. There are two different occupancy ratings, double (normal) occupancy and maximum capacity. By comparison, the Disney Magic has a maximum capacity of 2,700 passengers.

I don't even know why I'm going to enter this fray, but I *really* don't understand these "Disney is too expensive" threads.

 

Okay, Disney costs more than "mainstream" cruise lines on most itineraries. They also offer more. (If you disagree that Disney offers more, then choose another line that offers a similar product for a lower price and be happy.)

 

On the other hand, they cost less than "luxury" lines. They don't reach that level of service--makes sense to me.

 

Also, complaining about the price of an item demonstrates a shocking lack of understanding of basic microeconomics. If you're not willing to pay for something, then don't pay for it, but don't complain that the item costs too much for you! Clearly there are enough people who *are* willing to pay the higher price, and Disney would be stupid not to charge the prices they do. Don't lament that the road is full of BMW's but that you used to have one and now they cost too much for you to afford. Don't whine that it seems like every woman is carrying a Louis Vuitton purse but the price has gone up out of your reach.

 

Finally, DCL of years past, where they offered discounts and rained lavish benefits on their frequent cruisers, is indeed a thing of the past. They have learned that they do not have to offer those kinds of incentives and, in fact, prefer a clientele that does not NEED such enticements. A new cruiser who pays top dollar is also probably more likely to spend on board, whether it's on souvenirs (that a frequent cruiser has already bought), wine (that a high-spender is more likely to fork out for), or any other expense.

 

I get that there are exceptions to any rule. But the fact that people repeatedly come on internet message boards like this to complain that Disney's cruise prices have gone up simply and absolutely baffles me.

Hear hear! Amen!