davidmbfonz

Wow!  This is just gorgeous!  Cannot WAIT!

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2021/04/disney-cruise-line-unveils-dazzling-new-design-concept-for-the-disney-wish

I hope they don’t end up banning FE - they’re part of the special magic of DCL culture!

Nice video review!  The ship looked just as we remembered it, 3 and then 5 years later. DCL knows how to take care of their ships!

Just as an FYI - the Rainforest Room is co-ed. Free shower and steam room in men’s locker room.  

On 8/23/2019 at 9:38 AM, AngelDisney said:

My August 2020 Northern Europe cruise after OBB and taxes is $415/person. We usually sail verandah but this time we are sailing the secret porthole room to save money. It’s $100/person higher a day than the Alaskan cruise we sailed in 2015 and we were in a verandah room. I am not sure if the new ships would help with the trend of increasing prices. However, I start to justify the extra costs for meeting the characters and watching the Disney shows like spending a portion of my trip at the Disney parks. Just hope Disney can be more price-friendly so more families can enjoy!

Is that $415 per person, per NIGHT?  wow!  I think of the Alaskan and European cruises as sort of a DCL "special pricing" cruise, but still!

The thrust of my main concern is that $350 p.p./p.n. for a Bahamas cruise is getting a bit indulgent.

7 hours ago, AdventureMommy said:

I didn't think about it that way until this thread, but I just calculated it and I'll be paying $250 per night, per person(2 adults, 3 kids, 2 inside staterooms) during the cheapest time (end of January) for a 4 night cruise. It's a lot but I don't think another cruise line would be an option for us at this time for lots of factors and I'm willing to pay the upcharge. In the future, we'll stick to land based Disney 🙂 but I'm sure we'll love our cruise, it's just a one and done for us.

So, basically $1,250 per day/night (is it a 4-day cruise or a 5-day cruise?)...  how much would a WDW vacation package cost per day?   Tickets for five at current prices would be:  $109 x 5 = $545.00.  That leaves $700 for food and lodging per day/night.  One of the things we discovered 5 years ago is that DCL was competitive or even cheaper than WDW.  But that may no longer be the case.

20 hours ago, tvo7 said:

ANy of the trips out of Galveston is outrageously  priced for Disney Wonder.  Is it cheaper to fly to Florida and go one of the other Disney ships there?

 

I sincerely doubt it - It used to be that the Galveston sailings were discounted - I guess not anymore?

Our first DCL cruise (admittedly, 4.5 years ago) was $150 per person per night, with two deluxe oceanview rooms.  $750 per night seems like an awful lot for any family vacation (imagine the hotel room you could have for half that price in Paris or NYC!) - and to see that even $200 pp/pn is now considered a thing of the past makes DCL hard to justify.  We have 22 days at sea on DCL and will cherish every memory...

One thing I'll add - before and/or after dinner most nights, they have professional photographers setup in the atrium - look for the ones with a white background:  they'll do a mini- photo session with you and your family all dressed up!  Well worth it!

1 hour ago, c-cruise said:

I don't think it's anything new. I have to go back to 2013 before I can find a DCL cruise I did for under $200pp a night. We are stuck with school break weeks though which are unfortunatley always more expensive.

 

We are doing a HAL Mexico cruise in a couple weeks that was so inexpensive compared to DCL that I got a separate cabin for the kids and still save thousands vs. doing the Wonder that same week.

We were on the Wonder with you last year!  Cool!

On 4/6/2019 at 4:11 PM, sunny2runner said:

Wowzers! The last 2 yrs DCL prices have continued to climb. After 13 DCL, cruises we have jumped ship to Princess and MSC where we can get 3 cruises for the price of one DCL cruise. With our kids getting older, they/we no longer need DCL entertainment. 

I’m with you Sunny. None of our 4 Disney cruises went over $200 pp/per night.  I think a lot of folks have discovered DCL and it’s driving the prices way up.  

Hi folks - as you can see from my signature, we’re not new to DCL.  However, I’ve been searching for cruises on their website and I can no longer find cruises for under $200 per person, per night!  Wow!  Didn’t think I’d ever be the person making “that” post, but this is getting ridiculous, no?  And the prices/rates looks more like $250 pp, pd.

Wonder if the prices will moderate when the new ships launch?  Hoping so!

Oh no!  Tell me this isn’t true!  Refillable pump bottles in the staterooms now for the H2O products, apparently. 

https://notesfromneverland.com/disney-cruise-line/disney-cruise-line-is-starting-to-use-pump-bottle-toiletries/

anyone else going to mourn this?

Thank you for the GREAT review - very entertaining.  I love your sense of humor.  Love some of the clothing choices as well - the "I love liquor" hat is hilarious and just perfect!  

We're going on our 1st Royal Caribbean cruise this November on the Allure.  I'm hoping your level of sarcasm turns out to be just that re: the Allure.  Thanks again!

Nice review!  It reminds me of our first cruise, and writing my first review.   I hope you get a chance to finish your comparisons and final thoughts - you folks are experienced cruisers and it would be valuable to know how you think DCL compares.  

That makes me happy to hear - thank YOU!

I just stumbled upon your review and I can honestly say it brought tears to my eyes. Happy tears! I loved reading every detail.

To what do you attribute the high costs of a DCL cruise?

I've posted my thoughts in a couple different posts over the years and on my trip reports too. I believe the difference is that DCL isn't really competing with other cruise lines - they are competing with the prices in their own resorts - namely, WDW which is only 45 minutes to an hour away from Port Canaveral. They have to keep prices similar on a per diem basis or the cruise line would be SWAMPED with customers (you could argue this is already what is going on, thereby inflating the fares). If you price out a 5-person, moderate hotel with meals and tickets, you'll easily get an on-par price comparison with DCL's rates. We stopped going to the parks about 5 years ago when we realized we could get the Disney experience on a cruise ship and be treated like royalty!

Does that make sense?

Here's another way to look at it that I think supports the above analysis - DCL's prices are easily 2-3 times the price of a Carnival cruise and sometimes as much as twice RCCL. This has been true for years - they clearly aren't competing with these cruise lines - if they were, the prices would come down.

It's all about expectations - people see the high price tag (relative to other cruise lines) and raise their expectations to levels that can't really be met - this is because people don't understand the reasoning/factors behind DCL being more expensive.

We've found, with remarkable consistency now, that if we have moderate expectations, we're likely to be not only happy with our cruise experience, but all the little "magical touches" that exceeded our expectations stand out all the more.

Don't ask what the magic touches were/are - they'll be different for everyone and you won't know them until they happen. And they're often little things, but they're the type of things that make me go, "Wow!" Sometimes, they're things that are just epic and iconic and things you didn't even know to hope for. But don't get offtrack here, the extra price isn't about the magic touches. I was just noting how the magic is easier to see when you're not expecting it!

And so, back to OP - when folks complain about DCL, it's nearly always the case that their expectations were just too high and it often comes off as true disappointment - but it's disappointment that could have been avoided with the proper mindset. That's likely why the DCL loyalists on this forum are sometimes less than charitable to people who complain.

or like the lady we saw (and heard) in a small shop in a small village in Montenegro last summer screeching at the poor woman behind the counter "why don't you take dollars...?"

Yeah, but to complete the analogy - THEN that lady goes home and writes an article/travel review of Montenegro and complains about the horrible customer service and how inauthentic the whole trip was - they didn't even take dollars!!

Very excited for you!

I think the $1,500 bill included items like the BBB princess hair and makeup makeover -- you know, that he scheduled for the day they were going to go snorkeling. That'd be a hard expense to forget. I don't think there's any bar bill that'd take the edge of that for me.

Yeah, no kidding. I think this is an example that shows one of the flaws of professional travel writers - if this was his OWN money he was spending, I'm sure he would have been much more thoughtful. As it was, I can imagine that he tacked on a sampling of the high-end and/or typical things that he thought people do on these cruises so he could "kick the tires" - without much thought on sequencing, pacing, etc. Again, not his money, so no harm no foul, right?

We even planned out the Stingray Adventure timing to coincide with a reasonable time to digest lunch - that's a sensible thing to do. But it's an example of thinking through the experience ahead of time.

I get that this is someone’s (dream) job and that means you get assignments that you might not like from time to time (that’s why it’s a job). But why go in with a snarky, negative attitude, and with no planning. Would you go to Paris without any prior knowledge or preparation, and with a bad attitude? What would you expect as an outcome in that situation?

Give it the ‘ol college try. Or move over and let someone else do the job.

Would you go to Mardi Gras and complain about the commercialism and cheap Made-in-China trinkets that are thrown from the floats? No, you’d claim that’s an authentic cultural experience. Well, so is experiencing the very best of an iconic American idea/brand.

Go with the flow, dude. That’s any experienced traveler’s motto.

OK, so total NOOBIE to SXM question - when you DO get in that taxi and ask them to take you to Orient Beach, what kind of a border crossing/checkpoint is involved? Do we need to bring our passports or other ID off the ship? Thanks!

Thank you!

The taxi was about 16.00 for both of us, and we just asked the taxi driver to come back for us at prearranged time. He was very prompt.

Thank you for this information! Do you recall approx. how much the taxi was? Also, how did you arrange back?

My husband and I were just to Orient beach on Jan. 12th. As was said above the sand and the water are the same as always. It is still a beautiful beach. Club Orient and one other bar have chairs, umbrellas and refreshments available.

We asked at the taxi stand about going to Orient and were told there was minimal amenities, but there was no problem taking us there, and arranging for a pickup later.

They need tourists to visit there to help get them back on their feet. We had a beautiful day there and would go again in a heartbeat.