Is There A Trick?

[perditax]

My most recent experience with venturing out to another line was on the Celebrity Infinity. Same dates' date=' same ports. When I started looking, Disney Wonder was listing their cat 11 cabin at $1299 per person, double occupancy +$48 "port charges and government fees." Celebrity listed $799 for the lowest cabin on the ship. My first bit of sticker shock was when I went to book on line and found that Celebrity added almost $300 per person as "port charges and fees." So right off the bat, we were at $1350 compared to $1100. And then, I knew I would have to add the soda package for my daughter...so we are at $1150. When I called my TA, he said that this cruise was due to be reduced on Tuesday, and he got us down to $699 base fee, $1050 to get on the ship and keep daughter happy with soda.

 

SO, $1050 vs. $1350pp was a savings, but not nearly as big a savings as I'd first anticipated. And our cabin was significantly smaller than the smallest cabin on the Wonder. No, we don't normally go with the cheapest cabin on the ship, but I knew this was primarily an "outdoor" cruise and I wanted to save money so I could use it on excursions. Celebrity was good in many ways--better food than DCL was a big point. Also better Guest Services. But DCL had better entertainment and that undefinable "better atmosphere." I'd cruise Celebrity again--no question. But I wouldn't delude myself that it would be half the cost of Disney.

 

And I never have figured out why Celebrity had so much higher "fees" than DCL.

 

And yes, DCL has one or two "adult only" upcharge restaurants per ship. That's very different than a ship with 18 restaurants, but only 5 are included with the cruise fare (per RCCL's recent ads). And DCL's upcharge restaurants are not such that they appeal to or are open to kids. Example from another line--Johnny Rocket's carried an upcharge AND the upcharge did not include a milkshake or ice cream item. So you have now upcharged lunch for the kids + the parent(s) who must accompany them + the specialty item. That adds up fast. Obviously, a guest could refuse to take the kids there...but there is a difference between gearing upcharge items to adults vs. tempting the kids with them.[/quote']

 

 

This, particularly the upcharge stuff (everything from drinks packages to cheap food to cupcakes to high-end dining) is part of why I've started to question the "DCL costs twice as much" meme that you pick up as a new cruiser. Not to mention RCI and NCL's recent gratuity and booze price shenanigans. (And that's not taking into consideration cabin size. I 100% understand why cabin size doesn't matter to some people, but for now it does matter to me.)

 

Full disclaimers: I've mentioned it several times in the thread but I've never cruised before. That means I'm still in hyper-analysis mode. I'm not a Disney fanatic, nor do I have kids, but reading reviews (and even readers' polls here on CC), it does seem like DCL is going to give me the best chance of a positive experience as a new cruiser on a short itinerary. (One reason being that a lot of lines seem to use their older ships for short/newb cruises.)

 

But...if I do catch the cruising bug and my occasional vertigo doesn't translate to a serious seasickness problem, I hope to try lots of different lines eventually. It just likely won't be to save money.

Edited March 22, 2015 by perditax

[Friend100]

... it does seem like DCL is going to give me the best chance of a positive experience as a new cruiser on a short itinerary. (One reason being that a lot of lines seem to use their older ships for short/newb cruises.)

 

This .... I agree.

[moki'smommy]

Just keep in mind that you don't get either your best value or best experience on a short cruise. And please, if at all possible, do at least a 4 night. A 3 night is really only 2 1/2 days. That is just too short to scratch the surface of all the ship has to offer!

[mollyeilis]

Well, my first idea was to be a family of 3, but you have that already. :)

 

7 day on Disney has been too rich for my blood. Plus, we really like the Dream and don't feel like expanding our horizons on DCL ships. DS is annoyed by this as he would like the Marvel stuff in Oceaneer's Club/Lab. But until he gets a successful childhood modeling or acting career (neither of which he's interested in going for) he's not paying the bills.

 

 

Our first line in the sand is TOTAL price. If it's too much, it's too much. Doesn't matter even a little bit what possible experiences we might have, if we don't have 5K for a vacation, we don't have it.

 

Second line in the sand is time. DH gets 4 weeks of vacation every year and they insist on him taking it. He can be gone up to 10 working days before they start to question it.

 

We like more time on the sea vs less.

 

So then it becomes a matter of cost/day.

 

So far, in per night price low to high.....

 

Oct 2014 Vision of the Seas 5 night panoramic oceanview (324.498/night)

 

Mar 2016 Freedom of the Seas 7 night panoramic oceanview (465.568/night)

 

Jan 2014 Freedom of the Seas 7 night aft balcony (466.507/night)

 

Jan 2015 Disney Dream 4 night one-porthole (482.07/night)

 

Sep 2015 Radiance of the Seas 7 night E1 balcony (542.997/night)

 

Oct 2013 Disney Dream 4 night inside (575.415/night)

 

Oct 2014 Disney Dream 4 night concierge V (689.665/night)

 

Feb 2013 Disney Dream 3 night concierge V (720.22/night)

 

 

 

Might note the 2x-the-cost between lowest and highest. It's hardly a "meme".

 

YES the highest two were concierge category Vs, but I will tell you now that we enjoyed our panoramic oceanview cabin on Vision just as much as the V cabins we've been in. We look forward to our panoramic on Radiance SO much, as it's a super-cool one. (we tend to book interesting cabin types)

 

And again, we love being on the sea, so the days of being "out there" have a strong value for us.

 

 

Oh! We don't drink soda, so that's something we're supplementing for soda drinkers on DCL. We DO drink espresso drinks, so that's a cost we have on either ship. Even when we have concierge on Dream, we're still paying more and part of what we get is "free" aka included espresso machine in the lounge. I drink the occasional boozey drink, for which I pay OOP on Royal and normal rooms on Disney, and pay extra for the "included" drinks in the concierge lounge.

 

The two things we get on Royal that we don't even have the option to get on Disney are: Ben&Jerry's ice cream, which has ingredients DS can have vs the soft serve or junky ice cream served in the main dining rooms, and fresh-squeezed OJ. Both have an extra cost, but again, we don't even have the option for them on Disney.

Edited March 23, 2015 by mollyeilis

[perditax]

7 day on Disney has been too rich for my blood. Plus, we really like the Dream and don't feel like expanding our horizons on DCL ships.

 

This feels like a huge 'gotcha' built into your math since the Dream doesn't do 7-night cruises.

 

Might note the 2x-the-cost between lowest and highest. It's hardly a "meme".

 

YES the highest two were concierge category Vs, but I will tell you now that we enjoyed our panoramic oceanview cabin on Vision just as much as the V cabins we've been in.

 

I mean, I hope you understand it's hard to take the '2x the cost' thing seriously if you're going to compare what I guess is no balcony (panoramic ocean view sounds like no balcony, let me know if I'm wrong), to balcony at the concierge level.

[perditax]

Just keep in mind that you don't get either your best value or best experience on a short cruise. And please' date=' if at all possible, do at least a 4 night. A 3 night is really only 2 1/2 days. That is just too short to scratch the surface of all the ship has to offer![/quote']

 

We're doing four nights on the Dream in Sept. :) (I have a tendency towards motion sickness and I want to test the waters, so to speak. And yes, I will be armed with all of the remedies ever invented.)

[moki'smommy]

We're doing four nights on the Dream in Sept. :) (I have a tendency towards motion sickness and I want to test the waters, so to speak. And yes, I will be armed with all of the remedies ever invented.)

 

I took everything under the sun along on my first cruise...started scope patch a day early, etc. No problems (and I get motion sick in cars, small boats, etc and don't even consider roller coasters). Second cruise, did nothing. No problems. Good luck!

[Mbrthelegend]

Sea sickness for our DS despite the fact he was wearing the patch. Guest services provided a pill and great advice of ginger ale and green apples. It helped him tremendously.

[lovely_serenity]

Wait for sales LOL

[jwalk03]

Wait for sales LOL

 

GOOD LUCK! Sales are few and far between on Disney Cruise Line. They don't seem to have much troubling selling there small inventory without offering deep discounts.

 

The biggest difference to me between Disney and say Carnival is that Carnival always sails "full", so they continue to cut the price until they sell out the ship, but Disney appears perfectly content not selling every cabin on every cruise.

[moki'smommy]

DCL typically sails nearly full. If the ship has not filled the way they wish it would despite whatever general public specials might have been available, they will offer CM, CM family, and travel agent specials. DCL does recognize that an empty cabin is a loss while a cabin sold for what it costs DCL to feed someone on the ship may result in a profit from purchases such as spa, excursions, t-shirts, etc. And a little profit is better than none.