Alaska Cruise Prices

[FattyGwynn]

Has anyone heard anything about the prices for the 2011 7 days to Alaska? The only information that the "if I told you, I would have to kill you" person at Disney Cruise Lines would tell me over the phone was that the deposit cost will be $600 per person. I'm extremely interested in booking one of the trips, but it is so hard without know how much it is actually going to cost. Any insight you may have would be terrific. Thanks.

[waltd]

Hi FattyGwynn

I think we are all waiting for the prices to be posted. It should be on Monday. One article I read said that the insides started at $999. So there you have it September 22, 2009. :)

 

Joe

[MagicMike]

As an FYI, higher level Castaway Club members could book this week. Not sure which date this is, but a category 10 for 4 was around $5000

Category 6, Aug. 2 is $8914.52, Aug 9 is $7514.52

[waltd]

A little bit too high for my pocket book. :(

[FattyGwynn]

While I truly love taking my family on Disney Cruises, with all the deals being offered by other cruise lines for the same trip to Alaska, it seems really hard to justify the cost of going with Disney. I had estimated that the cost would be double what I could take my family for on another cruise line, but it looks like the prices are closer to 4 and maybe even 5 times as much and I'm just not sure how Disney can justify that price differential.

 

I was also told that Disney will be using their usual practice of having prices go UP after the initial pricing is revealed. They are, obviously, hoping that everyone will want to get the best deal possible by booking immediately on Monday before prices start to "inch upwards". I'm almost tempted to wait it out, hope that they overpriced and overestimated the demand and end up having some tremendous deals later. It should be very interesting.

[kath00]

Wow! Those prices are insane. Here is my plan as a West Coaster with 2 little kids.

 

Sail Alaska on another line (Princess, NCL, etc) that is kid friendly and WAAAY less $$. OR, just go for the Crystal itiniary out of SF and save the flight $ -- heck DCL is approaching Crystal prices right now.

 

Then get the kids on the Disney ship to Mexico just for the experience of having sailed on Disney for much less. Heck, we can even wait for last minute specials for MX since we live in So Cal. I am sure at least once in their youth my kids will "need" to enjoy the DCL but no way am I going to fork out that much to go to Alaska with them. Plus the airfare is way more flying into Vancouver than Seattle. Wish they had made Seattle their home port. And no GLacier Bay???

 

 

I am a huge Disney fan but this is just not what I wanted from them...

 

Katherine

[Smoke14]

A little bit too high for my pocket book. :(

 

 

Your's and mine both. My wife loves Disney, and I love my wife, but my wallet absolutely hates Disney.

[akeogh]

I was quoted $10,300 for a Category 4 veranda on Deck 8, with 2 adults, 3 children (ages 10,7,5), including insurance, but excluding transportation. It was $6600 for 2 joining inside cabins on the 2nd deck. Both price quotes were for the August 9th trip. Hope this helps! (Now I have to start saving....)

[Judyumcer@aol.com]

i WAS quoted $8261 for 8/9/11 for 5 adults, 2 children. Adjoining cabins w/balcony. That does NOT include air, insurance or transfers. Also the $600 deposit per person seems way out of line. I have it on a 3 day hold; but will probably let it go. By the time we are done with air, tours and souviners it will be at least $15,000.We will also have to pay for our own trip insurance. I know there are many ships flooding the Alaskan market and pricing is much lower. We wanted Disney because of the kids. But is it worth it for only 7 days?

[akeogh]

I compared Disney to Princess (the current leader in Alaska) by price, stateroom, food and activities. My comparison was to the August 9th R/T cruise for a family of 5 (2 adults, and 3 children between ages 5-10).

 

And....after way too many hours reading blogs, boards and reviews, plus talking to Princess on the phone, IMHO, Disney wins for families with more than 4 people. Now, if your family has 4 people, I'm not quite as convinced, and you would have to research a little further.

 

IMHO, I do think the Golden Princess R/T out of Seattle has a better itinerary because they cruise Glacier Bay (Disney is stuck with Tracy's Arm as a cruising point, although I heard they had petitioned for Glacier Bay and didn't get it). Glacier Bay is spectacular and for many on other lines, the highlight of their Alaskan cruise, and Tracy's Arm is not quite as spectacular, so I've heard.

 

And Princess is about 20% less expensive for families with 4 of fewer.

 

But, and this is our sticking point, Princess cannot accomodate 5 people in one stateroom unless you move up to a mini-suite (that can hold 8) and that runs $13,000 for a family of 5. What about adjoining rooms, you might ask?

 

The Golden Princess has NO adjoining rooms at all. you can get two rooms side by side. You can get two adjoining balcony rooms and have the partition removed dividing the balconies, but they do not have rooms where there is an interior, interconnecting door.

 

The Sapphire Princess, another ship, has adjoining cabins with an interior interconnecting door, but only at the balcony level. Pricing it out, that would cost $7800 for family of 5 in 2 balcony cabins. If you wanted two interior cabins, these would not be connecting.

 

With Disney, we have placed a deposit on two interior connected rooms (Deck 2, level 9B) for $6600 for those 2 adjoining inside rooms combined. So, with Disney, we have found the cheapest way for a family of 5 to tour Alaska if the rooms have to connect.

 

If we had to have a balcony, then the connecting Sapphire Princess balconies would be the cheapest at $7800, because the balcony for the 5 of us on the Disney Wonder is $10,300.

 

As for comparing food and programming, I have discovered that most people on the blogs feel that Disney's food is better and their children's programming is better. If it were just my husband and me, I would pick based on itinerary (and that would be a one-way southbound cruise on Princess going through Glacier Bay), but with children, we can't stick them on a blue-haired cruise where the "kids club" is actually just movies and video games, or worse yet, on some cruises with too many children, they move the 8-12 year olds to a conference room with just a few games and a TV hookup. That disappointment would not be worth Glacier Bay!

 

So, anyway, with all this research, I am happy and satisfied that Disney will be the best choice, the least expensive choice, and the best food & programming choice, for our family in Alaska. I'm bummed about not being able to afford the balcony (our last 3 Disney cruises, we have been Category 4 with a balcony), but I think the new vista room that they are building on top of the Wonder will be just fine for viewing.

 

I am also pretty happy with the August 9th date. As it turns out, August 9th is the first week the rates drop with Disney by about 20%. That would bring us back home by August 16 and still give us about a week before school starts.