why is disney so expensive

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

No way can you compare an all inclusive cruise line to Disney which is not. Disney is way overpriced. Comparing Disney with Carnival is not a comparison at all. Carnival is a great inexpensive cruise line with basically the largest staterooms. Adults and young cruisers have a ton of things to do. The food is not top but good. Now, compare Disney with Royal Caribbean and you will doing something. RCCL hands down. Great food, great activities for adults and younger cruisers, CASINO unlike Disney. Much more for both adults and the younger cruisers to do. Great shows and on and on. All at less than half the cost. My take on Disney. Wealthy families with children that love Disney are for them. Not me or anyone that I have talked about it with. 70 cruises for us, so I have a very good idea of what the cruise lines have to offer. Children and most young adults cruise during summer. If you want a bit quieter cruise. Do NOT cruise during spring break or when school is out. If you want to party. Spring break on carnival and Halloween on carnival. Every year we do halloween on a carnival ship. it is a blast. In our 70s and love it. Young adults and older cruisers I recommend either princess or celebrity. Celebrity being our best pick. Cruise on an amazing ship it is the RCCL harmony or any of her sister ships. Stay off of the Celebrity EDGE or any of the sister ships coming unless they do some major changes to them. especially the terrible food. The decor is blah for sure. Not a great cruise by no stretch.

[donaldsc]

Bottom line - because they can get it.  When people stop paying their outrageous prices, the prices will come down.  

 

DON

[Tapi]

On 11/2/2017 at 9:19 PM, Tapi said:

We will be taking our first Disney cruise in a few weeks. I'll let you know if the cruise will be worth its $7,000 price tag....

 

I'll see if the Disney cruise experience is any different....

I posted that message above when this thread was originally started. We went on that Disney Cruise for 7 nights and this is what I think.

 

Overall, we had a fantastic time, Disney truly excels in customer service. In 30+ years of cruising and 30+ cruises, I can say without a doubt that Disney’s customer service is unrivaled, at least in the mainstream market. 

 

BUT, we also felt that the overall product is grossly overpriced. Outside of customer service, we didn’t consider Disney to be considerably better than other cruise lines that we’ve sailed on. We think that you truly need to be a Disney fan to consider the price premium to be worth it. 

 

The “rotating dining room” concept that many rave about wasn’t truly that great for us, and the food wasn’t any better (actually somewhat worse) than on other mainstream cruise lines. We prefer to have dinner when and where we want to, not when the cruise line wants us to.

 

Stage entertainment was wonderful (the highlight was Aladdin), but we have also seen similar quality entertainment on Royal’s Oasis ships as well as on MSC’s Cirque Du Soleil productions, but at a fraction of the price.

 

Finallly, you just can’t justify the type of accommodations for the price paid. For comparison purposes, we sailed the Mediterranean in a 2 deck loft suite with a long list of perks on a brand new MSC ship for about half what we paid on Disney for a standard balcony in the Caribbean. My 6 and 9 year old kids had a considersbly better time on that cruise than on Disney. They enjoyed the kids club much more, as well as the other offerings throughout the ship.We’ve also learned that price doesn’t translate into a better kid experience. Our last cruise was a cheapie Carnival Cruise out of Mobile, AL and our kids still rave about how much fun they had and how it was “their best cruise ever”.

 

In in a nutshell, I consider Disney to be a great choice if you’re either a rabid Disney fan, or if customer service is that high up your list that you’d consider the disproportionate up charge to be worth it. Otherwise Disney is not worth the up charge.

 

With all of that said, Disney DOES deliver a great product, just artificially overpriced because it’s Disney. We have friends who refuse to take any vacation unless it’s on Disney, For people like them, Disney is worth every single extra penny. If you don’t fall in that category, then there may be more affordable option that deliver what you’re looking for. 

Edited April 20, 2019 by Tapi

[navybankerteacher]

If a line can regularly sell its cabins at the price they want, it is simply silly to say that they are “overpriced”.  The logical price (read: “correct price”) is the highest price which a satisfied customer base will pay.

 

If someone does not value the Disney experience, he/she should not pay for it. I do not like caviar, and will not want to buy it at any price, so should I  say that premium Beluga caviar, which sells for many dollars an ounce, would be overpriced at 20 cents a pound? Or, in context, I believe that NCL, while less expensive than Cunard (which I enjoy sailing), is so grossly overpriced that I do not consider sailing them.

[Tapi]

21 hours ago, twodaywonder said:

My take on Disney. Wealthy families with children that love Disney are for them. 

I’m not sure about that. While there are definitely families with the disposable income to afford Disney cruises frequently (we are good friends with a family that falls in that category), the truth is that a large percentage of families who sail on Disney are solid middle class, and who save for a long time, make cutbacks, as well as a myriad of other sacrifices in order to afford a Disney cruise. Why? because they are huge Disney fans.

 

In my humble opinion, Disney is a middle class cruise line which charges luxury cruise line prices. 

[leaveitallbehind]

Also as previously posted on this thread I will reiterate that a significant portion of the premium fare charged by DCL relative to the other mainstream lines is due to the lack of casinos on board.  Casinos are a strong revenue generator that in part offsets the cruise fare with these lines keeping them more competitive than DCL. 

[donaldsc]

11 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Also as previously posted on this thread I will reiterate that a significant portion of the premium fare charged by DCL relative to the other mainstream lines is due to the lack of casinos on board.  Casinos are a strong revenue generator that in part offsets the cruise fare with these lines keeping them more competitive than DCL. 

 

It would be interesting to know how much the casinos actually contribute to the profit margins by cruise line.  I know that Azamara is removing the casinos because they do not fit their cruising model.  Of course we will never ever get that information.

 

DON

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

I guess if you love it and can afford it, go for it. I must disagree on the crew. There are many other ships with awesome crew members. I have 70 cruises on a lot of different lines and many have far exceed our expectations.

 

I personally cannot justify this.

        4 nights, July 2019

   Disney’s,  Disney Dream

 

Cheapest inside cabin  $2,056.00

Cheapest ocean view   $2,180.00

Cheapest Balcony          $2.276.00

 

Lowest cost $514.00 pp per day

Can anyone justify this ?

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Forgot to mention. That is the base price. Does not include the tax and port charges.

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, twodaywonder said:

I guess if you love it and can afford it, go for it. I must disagree on the crew. There are many other ships with awesome crew members. I have 70 cruises on a lot of different lines and many have far exceed our expectations.

 

I personally cannot justify this.

        4 nights, July 2019

   Disney’s,  Disney Dream

 

Cheapest inside cabin  $2,056.00

Cheapest ocean view   $2,180.00

Cheapest Balcony          $2.276.00

 

Lowest cost $514.00 pp per day

Can anyone justify this ?

Obviously very many people can justify this.

 

Their ships sail full.

 

As long as a provider of any goods or services can sell all of their product, it is ridiculous to say they are over-priced.  However, if they sold the same product at a price lower than what they could get, that would be a case of under-pricing.

 

I would not pay Disney-level prices for a Disney cruise; but I will pay comparable prices for a Cunard cruise.

 

I will not pay NCL prices for an NCL cruise, because I do not think the experience is worth the price.  But as long as NCL can sell all, or virtually all, of their cabins it would be wrong to say they are over-priced.

 

Value is in the eye of the consumer, not simply a function of price.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

So expensive? Because people will pay it. Period.

[ldubs]

I think I would pay extra to hang out with Donald Duck.  But maybe not that much more.  😀

[Dani24]

We’ve done 4 cruises on Princess and one on Disney. And while Disney was a great cruise in many ways, there were many other ways in which we felt Princess was MUCH better or at least equal.

I had noted, when we booked it, that Princess had the same itinerary (with one extra day) for less than half the price. We decided to splurge anyway, since it was a bucket list item, and we wanted to take our daughter (who was almost 5 at the time). We don’t regret going at all. But, in the future we’d rather take the same vacation dollars and do a cruise on Princess AND take a trip to Disneyland the same year (we love Disneyland, and go once every year or two). 

 

I think it charges more because it has a somewhat unique product (due to being Disney), and it caters very strongly to families with young kids. And people will pay for it. If they didn’t, DCL would lower its prices. But, at the end of the day, it’s all about branding. You and your kids can have fun experiences on another cruise line too, for cheaper. But it’s not “Disney”, and for some people that matters a lot. It’s like people who will pay top dollar for a purse with some designer logo on it, but would never consider buying a purse that looked pretty much identical except without the logo. Brands are status symbols, and some people feel certain brands give them a certain experience or feeling, and they’re willing to pay for those luxuries. Disney is no exception.

[urbanhawk]

On 4/21/2019 at 8:03 PM, donaldsc said:

 

It would be interesting to know how much the casinos actually contribute to the profit margins by cruise line.  I know that Azamara is removing the casinos because they do not fit their cruising model.  Of course we will never ever get that information.

 

DON

That would be interesting to know. I think with all the slot macnies, table games, amount of alcohol served, and I imagine with all the cigarettes they sell (not sure on this, as I don't smoke, but there are a lot of fellow cruisers, who do), it would help with their profit margins. 

[navybankerteacher]

4 hours ago, urbanhawk said:

That would be interesting to know. I think with all the slot macnies, table games, amount of alcohol served, and I imagine with all the cigarettes they sell (not sure on this, as I don't smoke, but there are a lot of fellow cruisers, who do), it would help with their profit margins. 

Of course, if you believe all the CC posters who claim to regularly come out ahead in the casinos, there cannot be any significant contribution to profit margins.

 

 

Edited May 21, 2019 by navybankerteacher

[DisneyDorkhead]

A few other things to keep in mind. Disney, at the moment, only has four ships in its fleet compared to other cruise lines which have 10+ ships in their fleets. However Disney will be adding three new ships in the next few years. Disney cruises also consistently sail full (or almost full) on each cruise. How many other cruise lines can say that? 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

I do not know how many sail full, but what I do know is many do sail full. Most of the time when you check on the companies site if they are just about full the cruise will not come up at all to book on. You would need to go to a travel agent to find if there are any room available. I doubt that every room was booked. Many times several are available but not indicated. However, if Disney is booked solid in those old beaten down ships. Good for them. They will probably keep raising the price just like other lines till they see a decline in booking and then offer OBC or other perks to fill them up. Just because anything is more expensive does not mean it is better than a lower priced item doing the same thing.

Or drop the price as a special. Just like the cost of a gallon of gas. Starts at $3.00 then goes to $4.00 then when it drops to $3.50 we are all happy. Go figure.

[chengkp75]

On 5/22/2019 at 12:19 AM, DisneyDorkhead said:

A few other things to keep in mind. Disney, at the moment, only has four ships in its fleet compared to other cruise lines which have 10+ ships in their fleets. However Disney will be adding three new ships in the next few years. Disney cruises also consistently sail full (or almost full) on each cruise. How many other cruise lines can say that? 

CLIA reports show that year over year, the industry average, especially for cruises out of the US, is 105-108% capacity, so virtually every ship sails nearly full.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

6 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

CLIA reports show that year over year, the industry average, especially for cruises out of the US, is 105-108% capacity, so virtually every ship sails nearly full.

There ya go. Good reason for the prices to continue to climb. 

[DisneyDorkhead]

I didn't realize that so many of the cruise lines sailed that full. Thanks for the info to this cruising newbie. I have a few more questions. While I know Disney will sometimes (sparingly in my mind) have their Florida and military discounts and I've never seen them have promotions or sales, how common is it for the other cruise lines to offer their promotions/deals (ex Princess Cruises current 2 for 1 for Alaska? Pretty much all the time and those deals have a regular schedule they come out? Or it is just a few cruise lines that offer the deals/promotions? And just being curious, how many people would actually cruise WITHOUT the deals and promotions? I would willing do so and was planning on doing so for my upcoming cruise with my parents. But I will admit I did willingly take advantage of a promotion. 

[Dani24]

3 hours ago, DisneyDorkhead said:

I didn't realize that so many of the cruise lines sailed that full. Thanks for the info to this cruising newbie. I have a few more questions. While I know Disney will sometimes (sparingly in my mind) have their Florida and military discounts and I've never seen them have promotions or sales, how common is it for the other cruise lines to offer their promotions/deals (ex Princess Cruises current 2 for 1 for Alaska? Pretty much all the time and those deals have a regular schedule they come out? Or it is just a few cruise lines that offer the deals/promotions? And just being curious, how many people would actually cruise WITHOUT the deals and promotions? I would willing do so and was planning on doing so for my upcoming cruise with my parents. But I will admit I did willingly take advantage of a promotion. 

 

I can’t speak for lines other than Princess. But Princess regularly has promotions, and there are certain ones that come around periodically. Like “Sip and Sail” or “Three for Free”. Many people wait for a certain promotion before booking. Though others certainly book whenever they wish, regardless of promotion — especially if you are particular about your stateroom, since the longer you wait the less choice you’ll have. Also, if you subtract the net cost of the sailings with the promotions to the sailing without the promotions the price isn’t always that different. You might get $300 OBC... but chances are the base cruise fare went up a bit to “pay” for that. They’re marketing tools more than bargains.

[MCC retired]

All of the Mass Market Cruise lines compete with them selves for onboard experiences .

Keeps rates affordable.

DCL offers the onboard Disney experience that others can not . Keeps rates up .

If itinerary is important , go with the others that 

meet your preferences and save big $$$.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Guess Disney agrees what P.T. Barnum said. So the price will keep going up as long as it sails full.

[ule]

On 11/2/2017 at 4:19 PM, Flatbush Flyer said:

 

 

 

Just took granddaughter to Disneyland (the real one in SoCal). Passed on staying at the Grand Californian (Disney) Hotel at $600+/night (standard room at their top lodging). Hilton and Marriott a short walk away? Only approx $250/night.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I'm very upset that I apparently have been going to the fake Disney in Florida.......

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

32 minutes ago, ule said:

I'm very upset that I apparently have been going to the fake Disney in Florida.......

Wow, news to me. it is a fake one. Wonder if Disney employees know that?