"Affording" DCL

[MunFam]

The prices I am seeing are just blowing my mind. We travel quite a few times a year, so overall, DCL is just too expensive for us at this point. I am curious...do you think people save and save to afford one magical DCL dream vacation or am I just poor compared to the average DCL passenger (haha, probably this one!), or are people going in to debt for a vacation?

We budget about $5,000-$7,000 a year for vacations. As a corporate travel agent, this gives us about 30 nights of "discounted vacations" a year. We could not afford one Alaska cruise on DCL with this budget. We are a small family of 3.

So, I am not asking how YOU do it, but how do you think most people "afford" DCL?

 

[lilroo442]

Everyone I know saves. All my friends plan a few years in advance and then go. But some are able to afford multiple cruises a year, I think it honestly just depends on the family.

Our last cruise was in 2014 and our next (Alaska) will be in 2017, so we are defiantly long term planners to make it affordable. We save and buy gift cards as we go.

 

[hubbard53]

We are a family of 3 as well and spend between $5-7k on our yearly disney vacation that consists of 2 days at the park, 3 nights at Disney Swan & Dolphin, and a 7 night cruise (non-concierge) . If you budget the same amount, I'd be curious to understand why you dont think you can afford it?

 

[mischief32]

I got a really good deal I feel on our cruise. I booked an April 2016 cruise in April of 2015. I will admit that the prices have gone up a lot since then for cruises in fall of 2016 and into 2017. With the prices now we would not be able to afford a Disney cruise. We are also a family of 3 doing a 4 night Bahamas. We have just paid a little each month and have our PIF next month. Once again something Disney has priced this middle class family out of. We have done Disney twice and took advantage of the years they had the buy 4 get 3 free back in 2009 and 2010. We could not afford to do the same again. I expect that if we like cruising that we will have to go with another cruise line to afford it.

 

[wcw57]

we have been planning/saving (at least MY part of this family has) for 2+ years and we have 20 months to go......we r not poor but we don't have the big $$$$ to throw around. Small, consistent savings ease the pain

 

[tweis]

We are a family of 3 as well and spend between $5-7k on our yearly disney vacation that consists of 2 days at the park, 3 nights at Disney Swan & Dolphin, and a 7 night cruise (non-concierge) . If you budget the same amount, I'd be curious to understand why you dont think you can afford it?

You must sail in the off season to be able to do all of that for 5-7K. Our 7 night cruise is more than 7K (non concierge) with no park days included at this point.

But to answer the OP, I think for some, it's a once in a lifetime trip. We certainly thought our first cruise was going to be a one time thing but we have since taken 2 more and another coming up in May. I think some families save every way possible, mine included. While I'm sure for some families, the cost of DCL is not an issue. If we could sail in the off season we could go a lot more because we also usually budget 5-7K for our vacations but we usually try to do a family vacation and an adults only vacation for that budget.

 

[dclpluto]

DCL doesn't keep this a secret on average a Caribean and Bahama cruises. 50 percent of the people are on their first DCL cruise. That means a lot of people are one and done. Of course everyone has their first cruise one time

 

[avgsuperheroine]

We save. We are debt-free except our house and refuse to go into debt for anything, so we save up ahead. We also cruise in the off season. Our DCL trips almost always average $200/pp/per day including travel days.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Frankly yes we know DCL is expensive, but we very much feel it's worth it becuase it's a Disney cruise which cannot be found anywhere else. A cruise with all the magic and pixie dust and top vessels, CMS
And entertainment etc.

Simply if you don't think it's worth it, it is.best to go to.other lines, but for us and thousands and.thousands of others is worth in.

AKK

 

[tinkerone]

we are luck enough to just be able to do it if and when we want. having said that, i think we may be past it all. we are booked on a rcl cruise and i'm thinking this may be the kick in the pants we need. its half the cost of a dcl cruise and if its just as good and we can do two for the price of one then i think we would be fools to not go that way.
we have only ever sailed dcl and have heard how much more 'nickel and dimming' there is on other lines but i'm not seeing it. two years ago i would not have even considered leaving but its just getting out of hand. again, we can afford it, we just don't want to pay it if there is something better out there.

 

[Divslp]

I've wondered this too. I just assume that most other families are financially better off than ours and could easily afford the rising prices. I can't imagine anyone putting cruise fare as debt.. That would not be a good financial move.
We have one cruise booked next year and sadly I think it will be our last Disney cruise given the rising prices. Cruising is my favorite type of vacation but the other lines are not able to accommodate our dietary needs like Disney.. So it looks like cruising in general will not be an option for us after 2017.

 

[Ofinn]

We are a family of four that cruises 3 times a year
We cruise in the offseason in oceanview rooms. We just got off the Wonder out of Galveston we paid around 3200 for an OGT rate. We cruised in Feb 7 nights on the Magic for about the same price with an OGT rate. We are on the Wonder again in Feb for 2600 and then were doing the 11 night tranatlantic for around 4k. We book cruises that are discounted last minute or are reasonably priced like a TA. I doubt we'll sail DCL to Alaska or Europe unless some great discount falls in our lap. Other lines to those places are much cheaper. You can find decent prices on Dcl in the offseason if you want the Dcl experience. If your cruising for the destination like Alaska then there are other options that would fit in your budget. If it took me years and years to save up for one cruise then I would definitely be looking at other vacation options.

As a corporate TA you may be eligble for some non public discounts. I would call DCL and ask about that.

 

[nala87]

My mom is in the travel industry and uses Perxmail to get great last minute deals. She has managed to get to great deals this year on DCL. If you work in the travel industry defiantly check them out.

 

[Frozen2014]

We hadn't travelled much as a family until we went to Disney World last October 2014. Our kids were 9 and 5. It was such a great family vacation that I really wanted to do this more regularly. But in reality, the trip was about $7k so not realistic to do yearly. So we decided our next big trip was 1.5 years later (i.e. Spring 2016). We decided on a cruise and was looking at either Disney or Royal. And I have to say...that both are amazing cruises but we ended up with Royal. The price difference was too much... Also, we are Canadian and with Royal we can book in CAD. If we went with Disney the difference would be even more with the ever dropping dollar. Even with Royal, the total cost is around $7k (and that's booking 16 months in advance). Now for us...we have to pay to air fare which is about $1500 - $2600 depending on the time of year.
So to answer your question....our plan is to have a big vacation such as Disney World, cruise, every few years. Also...our kids are getting older so we'll probably have to travel at holiday or summer times, which also ups the cost. We probably could afford it yearly if we wanted, but I find it hard to justify. I wish it was a little more affordable, and I wonder too how some go on this type of vacations more often (maybe they drive?)

 

[MunFam]

If you budget the same amount, I'd be curious to understand why you dont think you can afford it?

Because you spend the "budget" on one trip. We try to stretch our vacation budget out to take a weekend vacation every other month and then a week long vacation or so a year. We were able to do the WBPC cruise on a good deal last May and still take 7 other vacations that year (on that budget). If I spend my entire budget on one vacation, I would be sad. My partner gets almost 2 months of use it or lose it paid vacation per year.

This next year we are going on a month long road trip all over the US and Canada and a trip to Hawaii for my mom's Bday plus a few weekend get away trips like a ski/snow mobile trip, a trip to Death Valley, etc. We are spending about $6,000.

 

[msb578]

Our first cruise is a month from now. It's off-season, Bahamas, 4 nights. We are going into it with the expectation that it'll be our first and last. Our three kids love WDW, where we have found ways to keep the budget down (resort-heavy trips with only one park day, for example). This cruise is more than we generally like to spend on a vacation, but we really want to try it once.

I don't blame Disney at all for charging as much as they do. I find myself reminding people that Disney isn't a non-profit organization. They need to charge what the market will support.

 

[Savikins]

I only ever cruise if there is a good GT or FLR rate out there, which is really only ever in the off-season. I save money because I live in a really small place, I don't have any kids, and I don't do much fun stuff other than WDW trips and cruises. I might not be able to afford to cruise very often or at all if DCL keeps raising their prices. WDW resorts have also become ridiculously expensive in the past few years. I remember when you could often find passholder rates for places like WL for $140 or less a night.

 

[tinkerone]

We hadn't travelled much as a family until we went to Disney World last October 2014. Our kids were 9 and 5. It was such a great family vacation that I really wanted to do this more regularly. But in reality, the trip was about $7k so not realistic to do yearly. So we decided our next big trip was 1.5 years later (i.e. Spring 2016). We decided on a cruise and was looking at either Disney or Royal. And I have to say...that both are amazing cruises but we ended up with Royal. The price difference was too much... Also, we are Canadian and with Royal we can book in CAD. If we went with Disney the difference would be even more with the ever dropping dollar. Even with Royal, the total cost is around $7k (and that's booking 16 months in advance). Now for us...we have to pay to air fare which is about $1500 - $2600 depending on the time of year.
So to answer your question....our plan is to have a big vacation such as Disney World, cruise, every few years. Also...our kids are getting older so we'll probably have to travel at holiday or summer times, which also ups the cost. We probably could afford it yearly if we wanted, but I find it hard to justify. I wish it was a little more affordable, and I wonder too how some go on this type of vacations more often (maybe they drive?)

something I did not know until after I had booked with rcl, you can purchase obc's at a rate of 10%. when our purchase rate at the bank is close enough to 40% that you want to cring, this is a bonus. I have purchased enough to pay for drink packages and excursions plus money for any store purchases we may want to make. its a great deal.
just one more thing that makes it more affordable for Canadians.

 

[deanimal]

The first Disney cruise we did was in January 2012 and cost $2400 for six days on the Wonder. The second was in Feb 2013 and cost $2000 for four nights on the Dream with on board booking discount. The third in 2014 was $2000 for five nights on the Wonder at the lowest early December rates. All these are for 2 adults 2 children in the cheapest oceanview category.

Right now we can only travel during school breaks and the cheapest I can find for a week for our family is over $5000. We could afford it, but it's just not worth it to us. When you factor in airfare from the Pacific Northwest and the dropping Canadian dollar, we can get more value for our dollar elsewhere. I wonder how many people who think Disney is the only option their family will like just don't realize how much their money would get them if they went elsewhere.

For example, it would have cost us at least $7000 US for a one week cruise plus airfare this Christmas; at least $10 000 when you factor in tips, transfers, etc. Instead we're going to Europe for two weeks, paying $5000 Cdn for airfare, $3000 for hotels and budgeting $200 per day for other expenses or $12 000 Cdn. That comes to about $9000 US, or $1000 less than a week on a Disney cruise. In summer we'll be going to Ireland for three weeks and renting a real castle with some relatives for about the current price of a one week Alaskan cruise in a verandah cabin.

Don't get me wrong, I love Disney. And we technically can afford it. We're not rich, but when I went back to work as a part time nurse when my kids started school we decided we'd keep our frugal one income budget and put all of my income into indulging our love of travel. I work really hard for every one of our travel dollars and Disney just isn't worth it to us most of the time. We may do one more if the timing works out to go in the off season, but the cost is hard to justify. For our next cruise we're trying out the Haven on NCL, which cost less than a regular oceanview cabin on Disney for the same week. That will likely decide it for us once and for all.

 

[tvguy]

DCL doesn't keep this a secret on average a Caribean and Bahama cruises. 50 percent of the people are on their first DCL cruise. That means a lot of people are one and done. Of course everyone has their first cruise one time

I guess this is a "is the glass half full, or half empty" perspective, but that means 50 percent are repeat cruisers, and as I understand it, Disney has the highest rate or repeat cruisers in the industry. At Disney prices, which are among the highest in the industry.

In the dozen plus years I have been on this board I have been amazed at what lengths people will go to do a Disney cruise. People who say they have less money in the bank than the cruise cost in case of an unexpected expense. People who have been on dozens on Disney cruises.

The bottom line is, Disney had 2 ships, and filled them at their prices. They have 4 now, and seem to be able to fill them at their prices.
Our Disney cruise was great, but at $9,000 with air fare for 4 on a 7 day on the Magic for an Ocean View stateroom, it was our most expensive cruise by double. That may be why the 3 cruises since have been on other lines.