I am so glad I found this post! We got off our first
Disney cruise (on the Dream) earlier this month, and just booked a Carnival cruise for next Spring Break. My husband and I cruised a few times before we had kids and really enjoyed it, and we were really hoping our kids would be good cruisers so we could get back to one of our favorite ways to vacation (other than Disney, of course!).
We had a really nice time on the Dream, we found the ship to be lovely and the service to be outstanding, but the price tag was really hard to swallow. I'm glad we did it, and had the experience, but I think it might be a one and done for us. We had no complaints at all about the Disney Cruise, but I'm still not sure it is worth the premium. I went on really expecting to be wowed, and to get that magical Disney feeling, but with the exception of our dinner at Animators Palate, I really didn't get the Disney vibes. To give you an example, we bought into DVC because the premium of DVC was worth the satisfaction that we got out of our vacations. Our vacations were so much better, in an intangible Disney Magic way, that it was worth it to spend the money for DVC over renting rooms at Bonnet Creek. Both are nice and equivalent products (Bonnet Creek rooms might even be a little nicer), but our vacation satisfaction is so much higher at the Beach Club or at Bay Lake, in a way that is purely emotional and not really quantifiable. That emotional pull is what I was expecting from a Disney cruise, and what would make the extra money worth it, in my eyes. I really didn't experience that emotional pull, which was a little disappointing, but at the same time completely freeing because I can book cruises with an eye to price without that nagging "maybe we should have gone on a Disney cruise" feeling.
I found an amazing Deal on the Carnival Liberty for my kids Spring Break. Its a 4 day cruise, in a porthole room for $1624, the Disney Dream, for the same dates, a porthole room and basically same itinerary (Nassau and Castaway vs. Princess Cay) was $5,439. I can take almost 3.5 Carnival Cruises for the price of one Disney cruise. How many sodas would I have to drink to make up the difference? I know that there will be differences, but with that price differential, I'll be willing to put up with an awful lot and still have an amazing cruise. We cruised Carnival before, and had a great time. Its been 10 years, but I didn't have any problems with the service, and I'm not the sort of person who needs to build a rapport with the staff in order to have a good time. I'm really looking forward to this cruise and I'll be happy to come back and post a report when we get back (278 more days, but who is counting!).