Originally Posted By RoadTrip I was amazed at just how affordable a Disney Cruise can be. Ann and I took a three-day cruise on the Disney Wonder to the Bahamas and Castaway Cay. We used DVC points to pay for our cruise, but out of curiosity I checked the Disney Cruise Lines website to see what it would have cost. We had one of the higher-level staterooms, a 'Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah'; the cost for the two us would have been $1,543 if booked now, but just under $1,100 if booked a year in advance. When you consider that includes food, lodging and entertainment I think it is a great deal... considerably less expense per day than a WDW vacation!
Originally Posted By Disney Joy ^^Totally agree...that is the cruise I just went on- same room. I have paid for a many Disney vacations, and crusing is really a deal. I will be crusing for a while. I went to the DVC presentation and they gave a $300 onboard credit to one person from the drawing of all that attended. That would have been sweet. I did win a Keepsake box for answering a question. It was well worth the 30-45 minute presentation. 24 hour roomservice - sweet. I could go on and on. Joy
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt Afordable? How come when I looked into it a family of 4 for a week cruise was $10,000! OUCH! this also included airfare from BOS to FLA which is around $1000 - $1200. I can spend a week @ WL for half that. Did I look in the wrong place? I sent away for the Disney Cruise Line DVD.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Price is heavily dependent on time of year. September cruises to the Caribbean are inexpensive because it is hurricane season. If we had paid for our cruise with cash rather than points it would have been under $200 per person per day. There is no way you can do WDW for that amount of money if you include the cost of theme park tickets, lodging and meals that are equivalent to the best WDW table service restaurants. As for other cruise lines, you get what you pay for. We docked next to ships from both Carnival and Royal Caribbean... our Disney ship looked MUCH better. Disney was power-washing and repainting the Wonder at every stop... maybe having a great looking ship isn't important to everyone, but it is to me. When I see Disney paying attention to details like that it gives me confidence that they are also doing the necessary safety-related maintenance. If you look at Disney Cruise Line internet rankings they are almost always above the lower priced competitors. For instance... scores from <a href="http://www.cruisedirectonline.com/cruiseshipratings.htm" target="_blank">http://www.cruisedirectonline....ings.htm</a> have the following rankings: Disney 90.0 Regent 85.6 Celebrity 85.4 Viking 83.6 Royal Caribbean 83.4 Holland America 75.9 Princess 74.2 Cunard 73.3 Carnival 71.8 Of course there are Cruise Lines out there that scored higher than Disney, but they are 'boutique lines' with significantly smaller ships and higher costs. Oceania 100.0 Star Clippers 100.0 Windjammer 100.0 Sea Dream 95.0 Silversea 95.0 Windstar 95.0 But Disney Cruise Line almost always scores at the top of the 'mass market' lines. Can you get a cheaper cruise on Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Princess or Carnival? Of course you can. Can you go to a Six Flags park for less than a Disney park? Sure! You get what you pay for.
Originally Posted By Disney Joy ^^ Hubby and I also went end of Sept. Plan to do so again. I don't count airfare because it cost the same to fly to WDW or Cruise boat for me. The cruise we did get a higher balcony with ver deck 8 so it was a bit higher than a regular room (which is probably just as good for some, who are hardly in their room) The few floors I visited all looked amazing. We paid for 2 with the bal room about $1800 total cruise food entertainment etc (Can't beat that) Ground transportation for 2 was $138.00. It was worth every penny. I did notice everytime we stopped Disney was painting or doing something to the boat. Pretty COOl. When we left Carnival was next to us. Yep no comparison to me. That's my opinion. As the captain announced " they may be bigger but they don't have no mouse" agree. I only want to travel with the mouse. Joy
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt <<As the captain announced " they may be bigger but they don't have no mouse" agree. I only want to travel with the mouse.>> AMEN!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Disney Joy, You mentioned in your trip report a "day at sea" so I assume you had the 4-day cruise to the Bahamas rather than the 3-day that we took. That comes to $225 per person per day, and as you mention if you book even earlier the price would be even better. It is hard to beat that value. We also had the Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah but ours was on Deck 7 so it was slightly cheaper. We are going on the 4-day cruise next September for our first anniversary... three days was just not enough!!
Originally Posted By hopemax I'm sure Spirit will agree, 14-day trans-Atlantic cruises are awesome. You think 14 days will be too much. But it's really not. Although, I disagree that Disney cruises are affordable. That TA cruise, actually was because bookings were so soft. I think the price for cat-12, general public prices dropped to $800. And then most of those people ended up in cat 10 rooms, or better. But if it wasn't for traveling with a CM, I wouldn't pay the prices offered most of the time. Yes, off-season deals are available, but they are available for other cruise lines too. Disney is nice, but not so much nicer than Royal Caribbean to justify the price difference.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan We took a 5-day Royal Caribbean cruise back in 2005. It was an incredible value, really tough to beat. I think the deck still has claw marks from where they had to drag me off the ship when our time was up. I really wasn't ready to go. ; )
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I think much of the price difference between Disney and other cruise lines (other than Disney's generally higher quality in my opinion) is that unlike most lines, the Disney Cruise ships do not have casinos. I like it that way. If I want to gamble I will go to Vegas... I don't need (or want) a casino on my cruise ship.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 It's not the casinos, even though that's a widely held belief. Disney's prices are artificially high because they only have two ships (both on the small side by today's standards, although I think they're perfect sized) and they offer a unique product in the market. Remember when WDW used to get rack rate for its resorts almost year round? ... That was before they built 25,000-plus and growing units. Suddenly, you can always find a discounted room. When Disney has four ships, I'd expect to see even more discounting and they've done plenty the past two years due to the economy.
Originally Posted By tashajilek Check out vacations.go.com prices are listed much cheaper. Trick is to never book directly with Disney.
Originally Posted By Disney Joy Road Trip Yes I had the 4 day... I want more. I really want to take the Europe tour. Deck 7 would have been fine. Deck 8 you hear the chairs moving from the rest upstairs on Deck 9. I will probably stay on Deck 7 next Sept. It did not bother me the noise, but why pay more. I know now they are the same. Other cruises may be cheaper but I am a Disney addict and would not want to go on another cruise for half price.... but its good the option is available for those that would. Next cruise I need more than one day at sea. That was the best part. I want to travel all 4 boats. I got a plan now.... and it's very exciting. )
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt <<Check out vacations.go.com prices are listed much cheaper. Trick is to never book directly with Disney.>> thanks tasha!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<I want to travel all 4 boats. I got a plan now.... and it's very exciting>> I'm looking forward to the water-coaster on the Dream next September. I hope they let semi-senior citizens like me on it!! LOL
Originally Posted By tashajilek "I'm looking forward to the water-coaster on the Dream next September. I hope they let semi-senior citizens like me on it!! LOL" The water coaster is the reason i want to take the cruise LOL. Im sure you would be allowed on!!!!
Originally Posted By Disney Joy ^^Now that I am NOT doing. What if it cracks over the water. You probably should know how to swim 1st anyway. Not sure I could even watch others do that one. lol
