Disney Newbie Balcony Question

[cruiseonthebrain]

Please forgive what is probably a question with an obvious answer- but why does it seem significantly less expensive to upgrade from an interior or ocean view to a verandah cabin on Disney than on other cruise lines?

[jwalk03]

On the newer ships the Insides have Magic Portholes that are very popular with some people because they are unique. So that may be one reason.

 

Secondly I think some with small children prefer the Insides and Oceanviews because they worry about having small children on a balcony. IMO this is a pretty irrational fear, but its there for some.)

 

Lastly, it really all comes down to supply and demand. On some sailings balconies will be way more than an inside because they are selling better, so it really just depends.

[cruiseonthebrain]

On the newer ships the Insides have Magic Portholes that are very popular with some people because they are unique. So that may be one reason.

 

Secondly I think some with small children prefer the Insides and Oceanviews because they worry about having small children on a balcony. IMO this is a pretty irrational fear, but its there for some.)

 

Lastly, it really all comes down to supply and demand. On some sailings balconies will be way more than an inside because they are selling better, so it really just depends.

 

Thank you so much- this all make a lot of sense to me. I don't know how I missed the kiddo factor. Too much Benadryl this morning :-)

[moki'smommy]

It also depends greatly on the ship and the cruise dates. Sometimes a balcony may be about 33% higher than an inside while on other dates it may be 100% higher or even a little more. The Dream and Fantasy seem to have the lower increments, while the Magic and Wonder are more (Alaska, $4200 for 2 in an inside, $9100 for the cheapest balcony for 2, same dates).

 

This probably reflects the Alaska and European cruises that the classics are doing as well as the virtual portholes in the newer ships.

[Peg_S]

Great question Cruiseonthebrain! I had wondered about that myself!

[jrm9999]

I think it's just their pricing model. All the cabins are more than the other mainstream lines but I feel like their insides cabins are substantially higher and then the upgrades from there not as steep.

 

 

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[moki'smommy]

I really think it depends on the dates and the cruise line.

 

I can do a 1 week Caribbean cruise on Princess for under $1000 per person (first 2), a balcony increases it to $1200 per person. 7 nights on the Magic, same week is $1600 pp with a balcony increasing to $2300 pp. On the other hand, I would tell you that the typical situation on Princess is that a balcony is about double an inside cabin.

 

No matter what I take as a "typical" situation on either line, with very little looking I can find some markedly different cruise prices.

[cruiseonthebrain]

I think it's just their pricing model. All the cabins are more than the other mainstream lines but I feel like their insides cabins are substantially higher and then the upgrades from there not as steep.

 

 

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This is what I thought too.

[chemistrynerd]

I'm late to this discussion, but the distribution of cabin types varies a lot from the Magic and Wonder to the Dream and Fantasy.

 

The Magic and Wonder have roughly...

256 inside

259 outside view

362 verandah

 

The Fantasy and Dream have roughly...

150 inside

190 outside view

901 verandah

 

My family just re-scheduled a B2B on the Dream and upgraded from outside to verandah for less than $500 (with adjoining cabins). My guess is that the relatively limited number of verandah cabins on the Magic/Wonder would cause them to carry more of a premium. The Dream/Fantasy are made with a much higher proportion of verandah cabins.

[moki'smommy]

I was surprised at these numbers because at launch of the Magic, DCL made a big deal about their huge number of balcony cabins and relatively few inside cabins. However, when I researched it, I found the number to be 384 balcony cabins, rather close to the figures quoted above.

 

Yes, that might also be a contributing factor.

[chemistrynerd]

I pulled the numbers from the DisneyCruiseLineBlog.

 

My kids love the magic portholes as well as the large outside portholes on deck 2 of the Dream. However, we don't tend to book right when the itineraries are announced, and getting an adjoining cabins (which we like) has frequently caused us to upgrade. I used to wonder what the deal was (or if our TA was really helping us) until I looked at the numbers. The fact is the Dream (and Fantasy) just don't have many non-verandah cabins. Fortunately the price difference isn't much.