$$eriously, DCL? Sad fans.

[chemistrynerd]

MANY other people must have canceled as well since all three of these cruises had *GT bookings available shortly after the penalty date. I keep looking' date=' thinking that if they fill the ship, the *GTs will drop from booking. Currently they are about 6 weeks out and still advertising *GTs at a rate THOUSANDS lower than opening day. That's got to irritate people who booked that day and didn't cancel. Not my idea of a way to build a client base.[/quote']

 

How do you search the *GT rates? Is this a TA thing, or are they open to the public?

[davidmbfonz]

The prices really do seem outrageous, but I wonder if it's simply because the newly-released dates encompass the most expensive sail dates (typically) anyway. For example, the late-September cruises on the Dream that were just released look much more in line with the pricing that we're used to (family of 5, 4-night on the Dream, $3800-$4000 typical cost).

 

THOSE September (hopefully true for October as well) prices we can live with, but $1500 per night is pretty steep - could stay in luxury in central Paris for those prices, including gourmet dining.

 

Are others hoping for reasonable October and November prices like I am? Pretty please!!

[moki'smommy]

How do you search the *GT rates? Is this a TA thing, or are they open to the public?

 

My TAs web site lists them. On the OLD DCL web site, they were sometimes posted under the "specials" tab. I haven't tried to find them on the new web site as I already have an easy source.

[carterd2002]

Wow! Some of these prices are insane! Just for comparison and I know it's 2016 and a different itinerary, but my husband, daughter and I are doing a 7 night Scandinavia in July on the Emerald Princess with balcony for $4,000!

Edited April 15, 2016 by carterd2002

[jptsr1]

We priced both the 11-night and 10-night Southern Caribbean cruises just released for June 2017. We've done the 4-night Bahama, the 7-night Alaska, and the 7-night Eastern and Western on DCL, so were looking for something new. Both came out just over $11k for me, my husband, and my daughter. That's before airfare, excursions, specialty dining, insurance, etc.

 

At those rates this will be my first and last Disney cruise. Again, it's been great but nowhere near 11k great.

[ilovewdw]

I actually booked the 7 night Med Cruise on the Magic...one category 10C for 4 of us which was $7804. Hubby decides he wants a longer cruise and has me research RCCL on one of their "newer" ships they have in Europe, Independence of the Seas. So....found a 14 night Med for $9200....in TWO Promenade View staterooms. I guess we are switching to RCCL...an extra 7 nights, in an extra room for $1400. :eek: And we have always wanted to try RCCL anyway, so...silver lining. :confused:

[cjmayes51]

As someone who is a year away from retirement & owns a large amount of Disney stock- I hope there are many DCL lovers who will fill these ships. But I sure can't afford this. DW and I booked a 14 day Caribbean Celebrity cruise in 2017- all drinks & tips included, in a large balcony, for $4600 total for both of us. We had a great time taking the grandkids on the Dream in 2012 for a 5 day, but for what that cost we could have taken them on a 15 day Princess RT to Hawaii. - I know the Disney atmosphere is much different & nicer- but WOW $$

 

Charlie:(

[chemistrynerd]

My TAs web site lists them. On the OLD DCL web site' date=' they were sometimes posted under the "specials" tab. I haven't tried to find them on the new web site as I already have an easy source.[/quote']

 

Thanks. I should have looked first. It's not hidden at all.

 

Special offers at the bottom of the home page

[NYGirl1002]

I recently had a Carnival cruise to the southern carib scheduled for Sept., 2016. I really was not crazy about it and then I bit the bullet and switched to the Magic being that we don't get to cruise Disney in NY whenever we want to. However I could not afford a balcony and for the first time since I started cruising I had to get an oceanview.

 

Plus I ended up paying $1000 more than my 10 day balcony on Carnival. I thought air fare and hotel would make it even but it wasn't even close.

 

I did this same cruise in 2012 and just loved it..and I don't have any children with me.

[knight2096]

We have sailed all four Disney ships and loved every cruise, but Disney has priced us out. There is no way we can or are willing to pay their new prices. The Disney cruise experience is great ,but it is not that much better then other cruise lines that I would pay those insane prices. Sorry but bye bye Disney cruise line.

[NurseDave]

Same here, crazy prices made us try NCL, which we really weren't thrilled with. I priced an Alaska cruise for 5 in 2017. 15k with Disney for a basic veranda room that sleeps 5. We are now booked on a beautiful family panoramic room with RCI for $7-8k that sleeps 6. A wall of floor to ceiling windows looking out from the top of the ship. Really looking forward to it. Loved the Disney cruises, but just wouldn't cruise any more at those prices.

[Paigefour]

Disney does seem to be seriously expensive. This is our first time cruising, but our two year old twins LOVE Minnie, and our older two girls LOVE the princesses, so it had to be Disney. Our two cabins, just plain verandah ones, will cost us $15,000, for the 6 of us to take our 7 day cruise to Caribbean. Thankfully, we don't have airfare. I will certainly look for lower prices/deals on Disney cruises, but I am thinking of going Princess cruise to Alaska in 2 years time.

[moki'smommy]

If you are a Florida resident, there are good deals on FL resident cruises. If you are flexible about travel dates, you can look for *GT bookings. Both of these are typically available 2-3 months before the cruise date. But even with these deals, the prices are well above other lines.

 

We did a 7 night "try out" cruise on Princess in preparation for our longer cruise in the future. True, you won't have characters, but there is NOTHING wrong with a Princess cruise. Not as much fun and whimsy for little people and rather beige rather than colorful. And the prices run 25%-50% that of a DCL cruise. For that, I can wear a colorful dress if I need color.

 

We did Celebrity in Alaska. They even put "characters" on board--a bear, an eagle, etc. They were rather sad looking compared to Disney characters. BUT the food, the scenery, and the service were super. I didn't have little ones, but shared a hot tub with a family with young kids who loved the kid programs. They were not the long hours of DCL, but who leaves kids the whole time? And when we would come back from excursions, we were greeted with hot wash cloths and hot chocolate!

[ArthurUSCG]

There must be some Disney DW/DL or a specific DCL formula they are using to predict opening day pricing and cruising booking rate vs. cancellation before PIF rate.

I would expect other family lines are eagerly using the thread on the DIS of opening day prices as a great open source resource for their own pricing formula too.

That along with the Priced Out threads.

 

If this is working for them, then full power to them as they really are beholden to their shareholders for higher profits.

Time will tell if they can maintain this prices and ridiculous increases, along with when those that cancel after the 3 day hold on their cruise.

 

And only DCL with have that information unfortunately.

I hope they get stung badly, and realize their product is not all that great anymore, more "industry standard", and they have over estimated their profit potential.

 

ex techie

Unfortunately, DCL just like WDW will pursue clients over seas that want to pay the high cost. WDW use to have slow fonts during September to early November but they managed to bring in the Brazilian groups.

I suspect the same thing will happen to the cheaper fall sailings.

 

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[iceman93]

The posts here read JUST like the ones a year ago when itinerary pricing was released, and the year before that...

 

I will say that I'm probably not going to be cruising Disney anymore either, because I personally don't see the value in paying the price. But I'm not sad or otherwise upset about it, I'll just choose to spend my vacation dollars elsewhere. Disney is obviously sailing full ships even at these prices, so they won't miss my (or your) business.

 

In fact, they're probably happy to have new cruisers who don't demand Castaway Club perks, and who are eager to dine (for the first time) at Remy and Palo, and who don't mind buying a bunch of DCL souvenirs while on board (which the typical platinum cruiser probably won't).

 

Say what you will about Disney service, food, etc. that may or may not be at luxury or even upscale cruise line levels. They DO offer some unique elements that no other cruise line can ever match. And just because the pixie dust doesn't attract you anymore (at least at current pricing), that doesn't mean there isn't a line of others ready to hand over their cash.

 

On the two Disney cruises I've taken, I sailed in royal suites. For me, that's the only way I would sail. I wanted to see what the R cabin pricing was for longer Caribbean sailings, but I couldn't because they were already sold out by the time reservations were open to non-gold/platinums. I saw the prices for the 1-bedroom suites, though, so I can guess what the royals cost. I wouldn't pay it, but obviously someone would (and did). Oh, well. I hope they have wonderful cruises! There's no need to get jealous or snarky about it.

[moki'smommy]

The fact that any particular cabin is not available a day or two after reservations open does not mean it is sold. It is entirely possible that a travel agent has it on a 3 day hold for a client. The client can gulp at the price and release the hold rather than booking.

 

This is a most peculiar thought, but do you think DCL is trying to tork off their long term existing guests? It is well known that they make more money from first or second time cruisers than from those of us who have been on the ships many times (how many shirts do we need?) In fact, their highest per diem spending comes from people with fewer than 5 cruises on 3 and 4 night cruises. Just a crazy idea....

 

Seems they are still able to get most dates relatively full, so better to target those who will spend the most on board????

[ArthurUSCG]

The same thing is happening at WDW. So it is no surprise. Bring them in for a once in a lifetime trip and the pocket book opens up and the extras get added on.

 

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[bluesub]

I would say it all comes down to the person whom is paying. For us the prices are comparable if I go dollar for dollar. I have done one Disney cruise and obviously loved it so much we are booked in for 2 more and for us having to come rom Australia the cruise is only a small part of the costs. It is nearly 10,000 Aussie dollars for a family of 4 to get there and back.

I know that you can get equivalent itinerary for less on others but when ya kids step onto the ship it's worth the extra for the look on their faces. I can only compare to one other cruise that we just completed and the "extras" on P&O are rediculous. Every activity onboard is extra and I mean very costly for example just soft drinks were an extra $200 for 7 days for us all Ben the kids club which was free was only a small room with a tv and some gaming consoles but activities they done there were at a cost ( tshirt colouring etc etc). So. For us anyway I think it is ok for money

 

 

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Edited April 17, 2016 by bluesub

[alaska_planner]

Well, No DCL for us in 2017. We were in love with the two Southern Caribbean sailings in June - we have been waiting for just those itineraries during a school break. Priced them this morning, and for 2 adults and one child in a 7A obstructed balcony, it came to over $11k. That's a small used car for our daughter or a big chunk of a semester in college! I know we shouldn't look at it that way, but really. When a similar sailing our of San Juan on RCCL is less than half that for a concierge suite......We didn't even pay that to sail Alaska a couple of years ago, and that was a bucket list trip. We try to hit new ports each time, so doing the same Bahamas or Caribbean ports again are not what we're looking for.

 

This is killing my husband. He is a tried and true DCL fan and really would rather sail with them than anyone else. We have a comfortable income - not wealthy but upper-middle-class-ish, and that is way too rich for our blood. Disney is truly turning into the luxury line that others have been saying they are. We are really sad about this.

 

 

we've pretty much switched over to RCCL...

we were hardcore DCL people, but we are very happy with RCCL....

i did an item by item comparison between the two somewhere (don't remember if on cruise critic or the disboards), and for the most part they are very similar in terms of service levels...

 

as to how we ended up switching:

 

5 years ago, DD went on her honeymoon to alaska....she wanted to do a one way cruise so that automatically ruled out DCL.

So after researching the various itineraries and cruise lines, she decided to go with Royal (on the radiance of the seas).

She and her husband LOVED it....

and since she'd been on DCL many times, she was able to compare them and said that royal was on par with DCL.

 

So the following year, DH, DD, DSIL and i went on the Allure of the Seas (a ship i'd been lusting for after reading a cruise review by another DCL regular)...

we LOVED LOVED LOVED the allure and thought the service on royal was every bit as good as on DCL...

plus there are things that we prefer on royal - specifically all the really fun silly adult games and activities that aren't available on DCL..

 

so this past summer, we took my 88 year old mom on her bucket list trip to alaska and again chose Royal - the radiance of the seas southbound cruise from seward to vancouver....

again, royal was OUTSTANDING!!! including guest services who went out of their way to help my legally blind mom....i was stunned and amazed at how helpful they were from the port terminal and throughout the sailing...

and in this, royal far excelled DCL...

i had taken my mom on a dcl cruise a year earlier, and we were in concierge, so there was no excuse for how little they did to try to help my mom....in fact DCL did nothing at all to help her....it was shocking..

so when Royal went above and beyond during our alaska cruise, it was so impressive when i had the disney cruise as a comparison.

 

anyway....i suggest you give royal caribbean a try.

we did and we are now "loyal to royal"... :)

 

.

Edited April 17, 2016 by alaska_planner

[Rob0519]

We've only sailed Disney once and absolutely loved it. We were hoping to sail again when the new itineraries were just released, but needing 2 cabins for five adults we are totally priced out as well as so many others here. With transportation from the Midwest, lodging, excursions, etc. it's way out of range. Very disappointed, but if we choose to cruise it's time to look at RCCL, Celebrity or NCL.