Anyone jumping ship for 2018? What, where and how much?

[linetbo]

We are currently very undecided, but here is a very undetailed price break down with 3 adults in an inside stateroom. The cost is per day for each person in the room.

DCL after discounts

Fantasy = 170$

Wonder = 130$

RCCL and NCL 80-110$

We eventually want to do the 6-Pack so we may just do this trip to get another OBB.

When, my quote for 3/29/2018 it's $300 per person per night for a 3 nights cruise on the Wonder one sea day and one day at Castaway Cay .

 

[linetbo]

For 2017, we booked a British Isles cruise with Princess instead of DCL. We have a large group and spent about $40,000 on the Princess booking. With DCL it would have been $80,000.

I want to do that one for 2018, I hope you do a trip report on he ship , I am afraid that I don't like another cruise.

 

[ldo]

our break is always the week prior to Easter. Got great rates 2X on DCL, but no more. Jumped hip last spring to RCCL Nav. Probably not going on DCL for spring break 2018.

 

[wide awake]

We're trying the Allure for spring break 2017, mainly for the autism program. Also, I want to have a little more flexibility w/ itineraries. Cunard's TA is looking pretty good too, that is a trip I've always wanted to take and DCL's TAs are never at a good time for me. We'll see. We tried HA one year, and I hated it. The ship was NOT shipshape, the shows were bad, so back we went to DCL. The ship's appearance is a big deal to me. I don't like casino style, I don't like shabby maintenance, I don't want to be on a ship that NEEDS to be in dry dock.

 

[Lisa Lisa]

This will be our second time jumping ship over spring break. For 2017, we're trying RCCL's Allure of the Seas. For 2018, we decided to book the Carnival Vista. Here's the breakdown:

Disney Magic
4/1/18 5-night Western Caribbean
2A1C in a Category 7A
$5,620

Carnival Vista
4/1/18 6-night Western Caribbean
2A1C in a Havana Cabana Suite
$4,685

So the Vista cruise is 1 night longer, we'll be in a suite with some cool perks... and the cost is about $1,000 less.

 

[sunryzez]

I'm not sure how much Easter itself comes into play. The 4 night Dream I booked is 3 weeks before Easter and it has gone up considerably. I jumped ship from Disney after our Alaska 2015 cruise and have been on 3 MSC cruises since. I love that line and the fact that the kids sail free. However, my family and I really do miss Disney so we booked it even though I can reasonably say the price is ridiculous. My 4 night Dream is only 700.00 less than what I spent on all 3 of my 7 night cruises with MSC combined. So if others are looking for other options they are out there.

 

[Thnlk]

We were booked on Celebrity for a WBPC but jumped over to Disney for about the same price

 

[Ofinn]

This will be our second time jumping ship over spring break. For 2017, we're trying RCCL's Allure of the Seas. For 2018, we decided to book the Carnival Vista. Here's the breakdown:

Disney Magic
4/1/18 5-night Western Caribbean
2A1C in a Category 7A
$5,620

Carnival Vista
4/1/18 6-night Western Caribbean
2A1C in a Havana Cabana Suite
$4,685

So the Vista cruise is 1 night longer, we'll be in a suite with some cool perks... and the cost is about $1,000 less.

Those suites are really, really cool looking. You were lucky to get one they sell out fast. I want to move my Vista cruise up from May to Feb or March, but the ship has very few rooms left. I'm used to booking GT or other last minute discounts on DCL so this is weird to me. If you have any questions about this ship feel free to ask we just spent 10 nights on her, and my family is all in agreement this is the best ship we have been on.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I booked the 4 day out of Galveston 1st week of January, but seriously considering the Carnival Vista out of Miami, 6 days, more ports, basically the same price. I am trying to figure out if the extras we would buy on the Carnival would add up to even it out, also considering airfare is more to Miami.

The only extras you'd have to pay for on the Vista that are not included on DCL is the soda package. That is priced at $6/adult/day and $4/kid/day. Everything else you pay for on both, bingo, pics, alcohol, premium restaurants etc.

 

[cgolf]

Sadly, we have decided to jump ship completely for a while and likely give up our OBB. After figuring out that a 4 and 5 night B2B on the wonder, one half being a re-positioning cruise during the off peak season would run us 5K total for 3 of us we decided to look at other options. We may combine a couple of days at Disney World and then hop on another line, but I don't think that I will be able to convince my wife to try the Carnival Vista.

Our thoughts are to not cancel the OBB yet, and see if we can find a last minute cruise that we can use it on. We are also hoping that when the new ships come out the prices on the Wonder and Magic will drop so that we can sail DCL in the future again.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Sadly, we have decided to jump ship completely for a while and likely give up our OBB. After figuring out that a 4 and 5 night B2B on the wonder, one half being a re-positioning cruise during the off peak season would run us 5K total for 3 of us we decided to look at other options. We may combine a couple of days at Disney World and then hop on another line, but I don't think that I will be able to convince my wife to try the Carnival Vista.

Our thoughts are to not cancel the OBB yet, and see if we can find a last minute cruise that we can use it on. We are also hoping that when the new ships come out the prices on the Wonder and Magic will drop so that we can sail DCL in the future again.

We also have a placeholder than we are thinking of letting go because there are no cruises to apply it to.. well there are but the prices are WAY higher than anything we paid before.
We will probably go last minute again but I was told cannot apply the placeholder towards IGT/OGT/VGT rates.
Has anyone heard different?
The only reason I haven't cancelled the OBB yet is hoping Hawaii 2018 may come out next Spring. There "might" be demand since it's been a long time since they were offered.

 

[cgolf]

We also have a placeholder than we are thinking of letting go because there are no cruises to apply it to.. well there are but the prices are WAY higher than anything we paid before.
We will probably go last minute again but I was told cannot apply the placeholder towards IGT/OGT/VGT rates.
Has anyone heard different?
The only reason I haven't cancelled the OBB yet is hoping Hawaii 2018 may come out next Spring. There "might" be demand since it's been a long time since they were offered.

We would love to see another Hawaii trip Why I think their second set did not sell as well, because it wasn't a round trip. You had to fly to or from Hawaii which if my memory serves me is not cheap. The original trips were round trips with a stop in Mexico and we had 11 glorious sea days If they did that trip again I think it would sell.

 

[mcd2745]

Hasn't been booked yet, but we will probably be doing Carnival Vista in Feb 2018.

 

[Lisa Lisa]

Those suites are really, really cool looking. You were lucky to get one they sell out fast. I want to move my Vista cruise up from May to Feb or March, but the ship has very few rooms left. I'm used to booking GT or other last minute discounts on DCL so this is weird to me. If you have any questions about this ship feel free to ask we just spent 10 nights on her, and my family is all in agreement this is the best ship we have been on.

I read your review and was happy to learn that you had a great experience! We're excited about the Havana area. I probably will have questions, so I may take you up on your offer!

 

[mktt]

We haven't jumped ship but we expect the cruise we just booked to be our last with DCL for a while.

We booked Fantasy Western 7 day Jan 20 2018 5C 2A2K and it's $5553 (no insurance no air no transfers included).

I just went on the RCL website and the Oasis Western 7 day Jan 21 2018 Superior Oceanview with Balcony on deck 9 is $3513.

So identical dates, almost identical itineraries, similar state room class, and as close of a comparison as possible ship-wise and the Disney surcharge is over $2000.

 

[deanimal]

We jumped ship last spring break to the NCL Breakaway and got a week in a one bedroom suite in the Haven for about $7500, or the same as an inside the same week on the Fantasy for 2 adults two children. We sailed from NYC which was closer for us and loved every minute of it.

I then went on the 4 day repo in August with just myself and the kids. I made an OBB on that cruise but I will likely let it go. For about $5000 we're doing a two bedroom two bathroom suite on the MSC Seaside with the Aurea experience (unlimited drinks package, priority embarkation, anytime dining plus use of the steam rooms and sauna and free one hour massage). We've sailed MSC once before and while we know it will be quite different from DCL we're looking forward to all the perks that we can get for such a reasonable price. The ships are gorgeous, the service is polite and efficient (although not as "over the top" friendly as Disney) and the itinerary is what we want. For the price we can put up with mediocre shows and no characters. My kids found the MSC kids club boring and didn't spend much time there but they said the same thing about the Wonder in August too! So if they are just going to want to be hanging out with us, we might as well hang out together in a big, beautiful suite!

 

[timrousbeastie]

Not really jumping ship: we have an upcoming DCL cruise in 4 weeks and I expect to book another for 2018.

Our next cruise will be on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas. The family wanted to try something new, but the price also surprised me:

Allure of the Seas, 7 day Eastern, October 15 2017, 2 bedroom "Aquatheater suite" (823 sq ft + 772 sq feet balcony), 8 guests, concierge lounge, free drinks, $300 onboard credit: $14,593 + insurance.

Disney Fantasy, 7 day Western, October 14 2017, 1 Cat V stateroom (306 sq ft), 5 guests, and 1 Cat T suite (662 sq ft), 3 guests, concierge lounge: $22,334 + insurance.

We're privileged to be able to choose between the two, but it is hard to justify DCL when most of the family, especially the kids, are more excited about the first option.

My own guess is that the prices for the Dream class ships will take a temporary dip when booking for the first new ship starts ~3 years from now. With so many exciting new ships being launched by other lines, it just seems like a good window to try something different.

PS: The week of October 15 next year is school vacation in Scandinavia.

 

[disneyholic family]

i guess we jumped a while ago, but now we just consider ourselves loyal to both royal and disney....
we enjoy both cruise lines...

for those of you booked on the allure, i'm sure you're going to love it...we had a fabulous time on the allure a few years back!!

 

[MouseOfCards]

We haven't jumped ship but we expect the cruise we just booked to be our last with DCL for a while.

We booked Fantasy Western 7 day Jan 20 2018 5C 2A2K and it's $5553 (no insurance no air no transfers included).

I just went on the RCL website and the Oasis Western 7 day Jan 21 2018 Superior Oceanview with Balcony on deck 9 is $3513.

So identical dates, almost identical itineraries, similar state room class, and as close of a comparison as possible ship-wise and the Disney surcharge is over $2000.

Wow. Excellent comparison. Thanks!

 

[twinstars]

Just booked RCL March 2018 Oasis of the Seas. A few hundred dollars cheaper and a 7 nt vs a 5nt with Disney. Now the research begins....