Booking a cruise and then regretting it because it's so expensive

[Pens Fan]

When choosing Disney vs any other line in Alaska, I think it just depends on what you are looking for. We've been on two Alaskan cruises. One cruise was on Disney, the other NCL. Both were terrific and were the absolute correct choice for us at the specific times we took them. For the first one, we were specifically wanting to go on a Disney cruise (anywhere) and just happened to pick Alaska. It was wonderful. We got the Disney touches we were looking for and got to experience a bit of Alaska as well.

The next one was when our son was 19, so past all the Disney youth programs and we were primarily interested in exploring Alaska. Our decision was made solely on itinerary and price. As others have mentioned, the one way cruises from Vancouver to either Seward or Whittier are a fantastic choice if you have the time to add on a land based portion to your trip. That's exactly what we did and it was an amazing vacation. I also second the posters above that encourage finding a cruise that goes to Glacier Bay. It's a special place, and was a highlight of our cruise. Our cruise went to both GB and Hubbard Glacier which pretty much sealed the deal for us in choosing our itinerary.

It basically boils down to how important the "Disney-ness" factor is to you. Other cruise lines can give you a great cruise, but not the Disney touch. They also will probably offer a superior itinerary, as (IMHO) Disney's is not the best for really exploring Alaska. But that may not matter to you (it didn't to us our first time). It's all about what you are looking for.

 

[ludari]

I had that feeling as well when I booked the maiden voyage on the Disney Fantasy. What made it worse was because that was a special cruise any changes made at all you had to pay a fee (which I had to pay when the person I invited backed out). Anyway, I went on the cruise and it turned out to be one of the best cruises I had ever experienced. I'm interested in doing another maiden voyage with DCL but worried what those prices are going to be.

Anyway, in your situation I think I would select another cruise line and use the money you saved on excursions or just put it away for a Disney cruise some other time.

 

[jessicaerv]

We did Alaska on the Wonder in 2018 and it was great, if we had it to do over, I’d definitely do NCL Bliss or a Celebrity ship instead.

We did NCL Bliss this past June; balcony stateroom, midship, 1 adult and 1 child for less than half the price of the corresponding DCL sailing/stateroom. We had a great time! Service was great, food was pretty good, the stateroom was gorgeous, and my 9 year old had a blast with the Lasertag.

But..... a couple months ago my child asked when we were going on DCL again (we've been twice). Apparently she misses the Fish Extenders!!!!!! There are just some things you can only get on DCL.

 

[DCL_Wonder]

So a while back I booked a 7 days cruise to Alaska on the Wonder for next June. At the time it was $7200 for my family of 4. Looking at the prices now that actually seems cheap compared to where the prices are at now. However now I am having some second thoughts. I do love Alaska, and love Disney Cruises, I just feel like the prices are really inflated. I'm debating if we should just switch to a different cruise line or take some alternative trip. Going to WDW ends up being cheaper for us because we utilize a lot of points and miles for the flights and hotels. My friends also invited us to Hawaii, which we could do instead and it would probably also be cheaper. That being said I would rather take a cruise, and the plane ride to Alaska would be shorter.

But anyway, anyone else ever feel this way? That they love Disney Cruises but find the prices hard to justify?

No, I've never felt this way. Life is too short to agonize over whether your vacation is a bit too expensive. It's just money, you'll make more.

 

[bumbershoot]

But anyway, anyone else ever feel this way? That they love Disney Cruises but find the prices hard to justify?

Yep.

Do another line. For itinerary ive heard that princess is actually the best for Alaska.

My Alaska cruise was with Royal and I wound do it again.

 

[MouseOfCards]

We did Celebrity to Alaska previously. We all loved it. No regrets whatsoever. If you started with another cruise line, especially to beautiful Alaska, you'd probably have a great time.

Earlier this year, we took the Wonder to Alaska, this time with little ones. It was a fantastic experience. The live shows were much better. So nice not having a casino onboard. Watched a good number of first run and new and classic Disney/Marvel/Star Wars movies at sea. And love the rotational dining. Will have lots of great memories from all the pictures and videos that we took with all the Disney characters!

Is it more expensive than other options? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Agree with others that if you can afford it, you should at least try it. You might regret settling for something less than what you really wanted.

We know another family that has cruised many times on many different cruise lines. We asked them which line they liked best. The parents said that they were all okay. But to the parents surprise, their teenage kids all said Disney was their favorite.

Best wishes in making your decision. Hope you have a great trip either way!

 

[Jessicabr]

If you like cruising so much but you find the prices for Disney a little on the steep side, just try another cruise line. Princess or NCL? Maybe you should look into the more luxury cruise lines and see how much that will cost? They mostly have all-inclusive these days so that is always nice, no need to worry about extra expenses.

 

[UmmGooD]

i was thinking of changing it to nov/Dec if it’s a bigger difference but am thinking by then it will most likely be another price increase anyway and may not work out that much better

flights about 150 more in May.

As I say it’s $4400 for two adults and a baby. Me and my wife keep talking about it, we defo want to do a Caribbean cruise but I don’t want to be paying stupid Amounts more compared to other cruise lines

would any one say The price I am paying is like double to other line eg royal because if it is that would annoy me. We do like Disney and don’t mind paying a bit more and I think it would be more fun with a baby but at the some time I don’t want to feel ripped of

If you can cruise DCL for $4400 for a week I say it is worth it. I have cruised both DCL and Royal and DCL is way better for us. If it is double the cost for a similar ship then probably not worth it but for 25% more I would pay the difference.

 

[DisneyPups]

Yep, we felt this way on the non-Castaway Cay itineraries. We booked the DCL Magic from NYC to Canada (hubs really wanted to take that trip, and he was turning 40). For the four of us, it was $7600 in October. We ended up canceling and booking the Magic out of Miami for 5 nights. This was two years ago. Last summer, we booked 9-nt NE/Canada on Royal. While we really didn't like the ship (it was old, beds were terrible, entertainment was meh), for $3500, we LOVED being able to go to more ports and it was definitely worth it to us. Our kids had their bored moments, but they also loved the ports. They can't wait to go back on the "Mickey boat" (which we're doing in Jan), but they also got sucked into the advertisements on board for CoCo Cay, so we also have an Oct. RCCL booked for 2020. Hubs and I did Alaska DCL the inaugural year. We had a blast, but this was 2011, and prices are more, and if we went back, we'd want the 1 way to explore the heart of Alaska. DCL just doesn't offer that.

 

[otten]

I'd add that if your not saving a decent amount (not just a few percentage s for the 401k match) for retirement then you probably can't afford it either.

I think balance is important between retirement saving and vacations. Yes saving for retirement is important but I also don’t think it’s a good idea to save your living for retirement. I know too many people who worked like crazy all their lives, never taking a vacation, saving everything for retirement and then died a year after they retired.

 

[Garyjames220]

I think balance is important between retirement saving and vacations. Yes saving for retirement is important but I also don’t think it’s a good idea to save your living for retirement. I know too many people who worked like crazy all their lives, never taking a vacation, saving everything for retirement and then died a year after they retired.

I agree with all the awful things you can get these days, your lucky time get to retirement. Don’t save every penny for something that may not even happen. Live for there here and now and enjoy life while you can. You never know what’s around the corner

 

[LNMom]

So a while back I booked a 7 days cruise to Alaska on the Wonder for next June. At the time it was $7200 for my family of 4. Looking at the prices now that actually seems cheap compared to where the prices are at now. However now I am having some second thoughts. I do love Alaska, and love Disney Cruises, I just feel like the prices are really inflated. I'm debating if we should just switch to a different cruise line or take some alternative trip. Going to WDW ends up being cheaper for us because we utilize a lot of points and miles for the flights and hotels. My friends also invited us to Hawaii, which we could do instead and it would probably also be cheaper. That being said I would rather take a cruise, and the plane ride to Alaska would be shorter.

But anyway, anyone else ever feel this way? That they love Disney Cruises but find the prices hard to justify?

I am doing research on Alaska cruises right now. The price seems like a great one for a family of 4 (I am looking at mini-suites, suites, and luxury cruise lines and the cost is tremendous--we need the space since we are a large family). We love Disney cruises, but I am not even considering it for Alaska because there are other cruise lines with more experience in Alaska. I am looking into doing a cruise tour so that we can do a cruise and a land tour in one trip. (In addition, I want to sail all the ships at least once, so our Wonder sail will be out of New Orleans for Mardi Gras).
A good friend of mine loves their Celebrity Alaska cruise so much that they are doing it again this summer.

I would not want to go to WDW in the summer because of the heat (and I grew up in Miami and live in the South now).
Present all the options to the kids and take a family vote!

 

[FigmentSpark]

I think balance is important between retirement saving and vacations. Yes saving for retirement is important but I also don’t think it’s a good idea to save your living for retirement. I know too many people who worked like crazy all their lives, never taking a vacation, saving everything for retirement and then died a year after they retired.

I love that... "don't save your living for retirement". My sister lost her DH last year just before he turned 60, when he was going to retire. So I agree with that sentiment, for sure.

 

[otten]

I love that... "don't save your living for retirement". My sister lost her DH last year just before he turned 60, when he was going to retire. So I agree with that sentiment, for sure.

I've lost a few colleagues within a year of their retirement and it's very sad. And even my parents who are now both retired have health issues that prevent them from doing the travelling they used to say they'd do. It's affected how I prioritize travel for sure.

 

[xQuizx]

My wife and I just did Alaska on Princess, a round trip out of Seattle without the kids. Table mates at dinner asked us why we didn't take Disney since we had told them we normally cruise Disney with the kids. I said one reason was the price of the Princess cruise was less then half the price for Disney. Second we were cruising without our kids, and if we were on a Disney cruise we'd just think we should have brought our kids with us. Third with the money we were saving on Princess we could do all the excursions we wanted. We went dog sledding, helicopter tour and glacier hike, sea plane tour and crab buffet, close up boat tour of the glaciers.

Me being a numbers person I broke down the cost of our cruise and it came out like this: Cruise (Inside Stateroom) $2,500, Folio (Drinks, Shopping, Pictures, Etc) $1,900, Excursions $6,240.

We sailed on the Star Princess which showed it's age, but we still had a great time. The service was definitely less then Disney, but overall still fine. The shows were meh and lacked enough seating. Embarkation and debarkation were great. For debarkation you wait in certain areas of the ship at your specific time, and then you walk off. It took us less 10 minutes from when we were leaving our area in the ship to grabbing a shuttle back to the airport.

After our next Disney Merrytime cruise in December, I plan on exploring other cruise lines with the family.

Cheers!

 

[Kpitts17]

I would love to go on an Alaskan cruise, but sadly they are very expensive through Disney. And I've heard there's no reason you shouldn't get a verandah since it's all about the views.

 

[FireflyTrance]

Thanks everyone for your input. Part of the appeal of DCL is the nursery, since we have a 1 year old. However I doubt we will leave him in the nursery more than once or twice, so maybe it doesn't matter. My older daughter likes kids clubs, but would probably like them on any cruise line. I'll have to see if other cruise lines are significantly cheaper. If the they are only a little cheaper I'll probably stick with Disney.

 

[msmama]

I would love to do Alaska, but I can't get myself to pay Alaska prices. I'm paying about the same price for our upcoming EBPC cruise (14 nights) as I would for Alaska (7 nights). And excursions are a fraction of the price.

As for another line, I don't like cruising, I like DISNEY cruising. I've been on other lines and the cruises have just been "meh" at best for me. I want the characters, the Disney shows, the little Disney touches. And I agree the Disney itineraries aren't the best so for me, it's do I want a cruise line that I know I won't love or a subpar itinerary?

That said, obviously others love other cruise lines, so I could just be crazy.