Disney Cruise vs Celebrity Cruise pricing

[tinkerone]

Not a matter of 'beliefs' here. I'm quoting you actual numbers. The 5% differential is a function of current volatility in FX rates. When the rates remain relatively stable, the differential will still be up to 3%. Take Celebrity's December 2023 sailings (which are a long way out) and you will see that long-term differential.

And, no, RCL updates their FX fares at least weekly. 'A few times a year' is an eternity. As an international business, you will be a sitting duck if you close your eyes to the FX rates for a few months.

Actual numbers. I have a cruise booked for Oct. 2022. Balcony cabin. My Canadian rate is $2642, locked in. The US rate today is $2176 for that same cabin. That gives me an exchange rate of 1.213. Does that help you understand that the exchange rate has nothing to do with over all fare? I booked in Canadian and my rate is locked in. I don't have to worry about it going to 1.24 (your visa rate) or 1.28 (the rate your listing Royal at). This right here is my point, the one you don't want to understand. Booking in Canadian dollars benefits me, I can't lose.
Also, not sure where your getting your information from but RCL does not change their rate every week. I explained earlier that I managed to get a 10% rate for OBC for months while the rate went as high as 1.27%. They told me they only change rate a few times every year. That was 5 years ago but it still happened. All the Canadians on this cruise, in my group, took advantage of it.

ETA- I have never booked an RCL cruise where the cost of that cruise has not gone down under some promotion or other and I have saved additional money. Never.

 

[imahistorygeek]

It definitely skews older. It wouldn't be my choice with kids.

I second this. We just sailed the Edge in October. The cruise director joked there were only 7 kids on board, but we only saw 4 total and two of them were under 2. There was one kid in the pool the entire cruise. We saw a lot of activities for the kids in the activities guide, but as for ship atmosphere and things around the ship for the kids to do, there's not really anything. We're in our early 40s and were some of the youngest on board.

 

[RAD]

What's fascinating is, those knocking Disney in this thread in preference to Celebrity are mostly yet to sail on Celebrity. Frankly, this is one of the reasons why we continue to be RCL shareholders today.

True, I haven't sailed on Celebrity yet, but I currently have three reservations booked in them. I guess you can say I'm knocking Disney just because for what I'm looking to get for my cruise dollar they've just become overpriced, and that's why I started this thread for folks that are also starting to think that way, there might be a better alternative. I'm I going on the word of our travel agent, yes. But I figure if one of the owners of Dreams, which built their business on being a Disney centric travel agency, it saying Celebrity is a good alternative then there must be something there.

 

[tinkerone]

True, I haven't sailed on Celebrity yet, but I currently have three reservations booked in them. I guess you can say I'm knocking Disney just because for what I'm looking to get for my cruise dollar they've just become overpriced, and that's why I started this thread for folks that are also starting to think that way, there might be a better alternative. I'm I going on the word of our travel agent, yes. But I figure if one of the owners of Dreams, which built their business on being a Disney centric travel agency, it saying Celebrity is a good alternative then there must be something there.

Personally I didn't see anyone 'knocking' DCL so I'm not sure what he/she is talking about. I saw several of us talking pros and cons, comparing cruise lines. That does not equate to 'knocking'.

Thank you for this thread and especially thanks for the video's you have included. I like to look at options and I think this might be a good one to expand our wings even further into the industry. We will still sail DCL, we have one booked for next December, but it's not going to be as often as it once was. To much else to choose from.

We to are Platinum but that doesn't mean we have to stay loyal to one line. Most of our cruises are B2B's, 7 days just aren't long enough, so it can get expensive, especially on DCL. For us, RCL has been a great deal. Maybe Celebrity will be to.

 

[RAD]

Thank you for this thread and especially thanks for the video's you have included.

Thanks. I'd suggest you just going to YouTube and do a search on Celebrity and what ships or staterooms you're interested in, there's tons of content out there.

 

[Intr3pid]

Actual numbers. I have a cruise booked for Oct. 2022. Balcony cabin. My Canadian rate is $2642, locked in. The US rate today is $2176 for that same cabin. That gives me an exchange rate of 1.213. Does that help you understand that the exchange rate has nothing to do with over all fare? I booked in Canadian and my rate is locked in. I don't have to worry about it going to 1.24 (your visa rate) or 1.28 (the rate your listing Royal at). This right here is my point, the one you don't want to understand. Booking in Canadian dollars benefits me, I can't lose.
Also, not sure where your getting your information from but RCL does not change their rate every week. I explained earlier that I managed to get a 10% rate for OBC for months while the rate went as high as 1.27%. They told me they only change rate a few times every year. That was 5 years ago but it still happened. All the Canadians on this cruise, in my group, took advantage of it.

ETA- I have never booked an RCL cruise where the cost of that cruise has not gone down under some promotion or other and I have saved additional money. Never.

Oh, your point is easy to understand. It's no different than saying that I bought USD at X rate, so I'm locked in to that rate and 'can't lose'. What you have to understand is that the rate you locked in contained a premium, and you paid to lock in. The CAD 2642 you locked in would have been around CAD 2590 without the premium. Which is OK because it gave you certainty. What your point misses is the part you skipped from my post.

Let's read it again carefully.

In these examples, for you to lock in an FX rate with RCL and benefit from it, the combination of cabin fare and FX rate would have to drop by more than the premium. If the FX rate drops but the cabin fare goes up or vice versa - or both go up - the strategy won't work. It can work, of course - but if it doesn't, you will have paid a premium.

The USD 2176 you are quoting for today is irrelevant on its own because it has to be compared first with the USD rate when you booked. Most likely, the USD cabin fare itself went up. You locked in an earlier, cheaper fare - that's all. On the other hand, the CAD has appreciated significantly against the USD over the last few months, so if the cabin fare hadn't increased, you could have called in and repriced to a new, cheaper CAD-denominated fare. But you can't now because a repricing today will use a new, higher fare even if the FX rate is lower!

If this was with Disney, someone with a Disney gift card would benefit from applying the gift card at a now-better FX rate to the same locked-in USD fare. In other cases, the cabin fare would drop and you would lock in again a cheaper cabin fare. But that may have nothing to do with FX since that can happen even without the FX rate changing at all.

So, what's my point? Quoted again from above with emphasis added:

Like I said, people will pay to lock in a rate and that's totally understandable. Whether that will save them money on FX every time is what's debatable.

 

[Intr3pid]

True, I haven't sailed on Celebrity yet, but I currently have three reservations booked in them. I guess you can say I'm knocking Disney just because for what I'm looking to get for my cruise dollar they've just become overpriced, and that's why I started this thread for folks that are also starting to think that way, there might be a better alternative. I'm I going on the word of our travel agent, yes. But I figure if one of the owners of Dreams, which built their business on being a Disney centric travel agency, it saying Celebrity is a good alternative then there must be something there.

Yes, pricing is one of the reasons for knocking Disney and that's easy to see in this thread. The Disney premium is present in just about every product they sell, including the parks. Would you replace a WDW vacation with that at a Six Flags property solely because Six Flags is cheaper? Maybe. What's more common though is to say that WDW is for families and, if we are traveling as adult couples, we would rather be at a beach resort somewhere. To my point in post #11, two different products aimed at two different demographics.

 

[tinkerone]

Oh, your point is easy to understand. It's no different than saying that I bought USD at X rate, so I'm locked in to that rate and 'can't lose'. What you have to understand is that the rate you locked in contained a premium, and you paid to lock in. The CAD 2642 you locked in would have been around CAD 2590 without the premium. Which is OK because it gave you certainty. What your point misses is the part you skipped from my post.

Let's read it again carefully.



The USD 2176 you are quoting for today is irrelevant on its own because it has to be compared first with the USD rate when you booked. Most likely, the USD cabin fare itself went up. You locked in an earlier, cheaper fare - that's all. On the other hand, the CAD has appreciated significantly against the USD over the last few months, so if the cabin fare hadn't increased, you could have called in and repriced to a new, cheaper CAD-denominated fare. But you can't now because a repricing today will use a new, higher fare even if the FX rate is lower!

If this was with Disney, someone with a Disney gift card would benefit from applying the gift card at a now-better FX rate to the same locked-in USD fare. In other cases, the cabin fare would drop and you would lock in again a cheaper cabin fare. But that may have nothing to do with FX since that can happen even without the FX rate changing at all.

So, what's my point? Quoted again from above with emphasis added:

Good Heavens! I'm not commenting anymore on this as you do not want to open your eyes. Let's just call you the expert and leave it at that.
One thing I learned years ago was when you share talking points and the other person doesn't want to listen, needs to make their point the only right point, give up. They just need to be right and will not see anyone else's point of view because then they might just be wrong.

Have a good day.

 

[RAD]

Yes, pricing is one of the reasons for knocking Disney and that's easy to see in this thread. The Disney premium is present in just about every product they sell, including the parks. Would you replace a WDW vacation with that at a Six Flags property solely because Six Flags is cheaper? Maybe. What's more common though is to say that WDW is for families and, if we are traveling as adult couples, we would rather be at a beach resort somewhere. To my point in post #11, two different products aimed at two different demographics.

No I wouldn't replace WDW with Six Flags since while both are theme parks since Six Flags is nowhere close to WDW when it comes to service and the experience (at least that was the case when I last tried one of their parks 25 years ago).

But I'm comparing two cruise lines that appear to provide a premium service experience, with one of them catering to the Disney fan. I said in the start if you don't need that "Disney" experience of hidden Mickey's, charecters appearing in hallways for photos or shows with your meals you might want to check Celebrity. We're in our late 60's and have done our Disney time, we own DVC (which we're going to sell next year after one more trip with the grandkids) going to WDW MANY times over the years. But if we're going to spend the money for an upscale experience by going concierge level it looks like Celebrity provides a better product. While we haven't doing DCL concierge due to their pricing, from what I've seen you get the lounge, a private outdoor space (which on the Dream Fantasy doesn't even have an ocean view) and earlier access to excursion or cabana booking. On Celebrity you get The Retreat which demo the videos I've seen has a much nicer experience with a bar and food service plus ocean views. Plus you get access to a concierge only dining room, and if you book upper level suites you get other benefits which you don't with DCL.

So yes it is two different products, one geared towards the people that want Disney and it's IP, the other geared towards people that want to experience a cruise with similar or higher levels of service at a more affordable price.

 

[Intr3pid]

No I wouldn't replace WDW with Six Flags since while both are theme parks since Six Flags is nowhere close to WDW when it comes to service and the experience (at least that was the case when I last tried one of their parks 25 years ago).

But I'm comparing two cruise lines that appear to provide a premium service experience, with one of them catering to the Disney fan. I said in the start if you don't need that "Disney" experience of hidden Mickey's, charecters appearing in hallways for photos or shows with your meals you might want to check Celebrity. We're in our late 60's and have done our Disney time, we own DVC (which we're going to sell next year after one more trip with the grandkids) going to WDW MANY times over the years. But if we're going to spend the money for an upscale experience by going concierge level it looks like Celebrity provides a better product. While we haven't doing DCL concierge due to their pricing, from what I've seen you get the lounge, a private outdoor space (which on the Dream Fantasy doesn't even have an ocean view) and earlier access to excursion or cabana booking. On Celebrity you get The Retreat which demo the videos I've seen has a much nicer experience with a bar and food service plus ocean views. Plus you get access to a concierge only dining room, and if you book upper level suites you get other benefits which you don't with DCL.

So yes it is two different products, one geared towards the people that want Disney and it's IP, the other geared towards people that want to experience a cruise with similar or higher levels of service at a more affordable price.

If you are looking for an upscale concierge experience minus the intangibles but more 'bang for your buck', I'd also recommend checking out MSC's Yacht Club. Like the Retreat, it's a ship-within-a-ship product but one that's even more upscale when sailing on MSC's newer ships. The bonus is, you get to visit their private island in the Bahamas on sailings out of Florida.

 

[RAD]

If you are looking for an upscale concierge experience minus the intangibles but more 'bang for your buck', I'd also recommend checking out MSC's Yacht Club. Like the Retreat, it's a ship-within-a-ship product but one that's even more upscale when sailing on MSC's newer ships. The bonus is, you get to visit their private island in the Bahamas on sailings out of Florida.

Thanks, not really interested in the private island stop. Plus two of the three we have booked doing go to the Caribbean.

And you have to remember, when I was looking at the costs I was comparing a DCL 4A, which isn't concierge to a Celebrity Sky Suite which is concierge and was less money which you looked at what was included.

 

[KashasMom]

What's fascinating is, those knocking Disney in this thread in preference to Celebrity are mostly yet to sail on Celebrity. Frankly, this is one of the reasons why we continue to be RCL shareholders today.

For my - dare say - objective comparison of the two, read post #11. There is no need to cherry pick a comment and paint an entire opinion with it.

What's funny about THAT comment is that most people who blindly "defend" DCL have never sailed on another line. Although it was a while ago, I sailed multiple times on Celebrity - awesome suites with butlers, etc. Even that long ago, I think the service we received was better than Disney concierge. Since I've done both, I guess it's okay for me to express that opinion. I have no doubt what they offer now is an even better product. You seem to be taking everything said about DCL very personally, even reading it as "knocking" Disney.

As far as your comment in #11, I would disagree that Disney is a premium product. It's a very good product and I always recommend people cruise with them once if they can afford it, but there are things that could be better.

 

[SDJEL]

We are Gold on Disney and have a cruise booked for April with another family. We have done two Royal Caribbean cruises and won’t do another. We have enjoyed Norwegian cruise line. We sailed on Edge this summer and had a great time.

The cabin on Edge was large and comfortable and the service was excellent. The ship was immaculately clean and the activities were good. The price was much cheaper than Disney and we got a basic drink package and tips were included. The basic wifi was nice to have.

The production shows were cheesy and we didn’t really enjoy them, but the comedians and other entertainers were excellent. The food was OK. We didn’t do the specialty restaurants and, if we did, we may have enjoyed the food more. Each specialty dining meal was about $50, and, with a family of 5, that adds up.

My 13 year old daughter made friends and enjoyed the teen room. We didn’t see her all week. There is no 1820 society which we missed. My teenage sons hung out with us or just did their own thing. The crowd was definitely older than on Disney, but we prefer the quieter crowd.

We are sailing on the Apex this spring. The family we were going to cruise with on Disney in April cancelled their April cruise and will be joining us in February on the Apex instead. Similar cabin, more perks, and much less money. Also, new shows, new ports and new menus.

We have always lived Disney, but I just don’t think the value is there for us for much longer.

 

[Intr3pid]

What's funny about THAT comment is that most people who blindly "defend" DCL have never sailed on another line. Although it was a while ago, I sailed multiple times on Celebrity - awesome suites with butlers, etc. Even that long ago, I think the service we received was better than Disney concierge. Since I've done both, I guess it's okay for me to express that opinion. I have no doubt what they offer now is an even better product. You seem to be taking everything said about DCL very personally, even reading it as "knocking" Disney.

As far as your comment in #11, I would disagree that Disney is a premium product. It's a very good product and I always recommend people cruise with them once if they can afford it, but there are things that could be better.

I suggest you read your own post and tell us who is taking things personally. UPPERCASE, "Quotes", "You, "I".

Once we remove all that, the only comments remaining are (A) Disney isn't a premium product because things could be better and (B) Celebrity must be better after all these years of not sailing with them.

Absolutely enlightening.

 

[yargrnhoj]

Just got off the Apex two weeks ago and the service was some of the best we ever had. Will be on the Fantasy on Thursday so I can provide a comparison after that. This will be our 9th DCL cruise and we’ve done three on CelebriTy.

 

[RAD]

If you are looking for an upscale concierge experience minus the intangibles but more 'bang for your buck', I'd also recommend checking out MSC's Yacht Club. Like the Retreat, it's a ship-within-a-ship product but one that's even more upscale when sailing on MSC's newer ships. The bonus is, you get to visit their private island in the Bahamas on sailings out of Florida.

I've been watching a thread about Celebrity suite class over at Cruise Critic, https://boards.cruisecritic.com/top...e-class/page/3/?tab=comments#comment-62129874 and a post from today said:

Long and short of it, while I haven’t sailed in a Millenium or Solstice Suite (although have sailed a regular Solstice cabin), I can say the Retreat on the Edge was the best service on any ship I’ve been on (including the Haven on NCL, and the Yacht Club on MSC).

 

[Intr3pid]

I've been watching a thread about Celebrity suite class over at Cruise Critic, https://boards.cruisecritic.com/top...e-class/page/3/?tab=comments#comment-62129874 and a post from today said:

Yes, everyone has their own opinions on where the service is better - the intangibles, like I noted - but the Yacht Club is sometimes half the cost of the Retreat and built more upscale including their pool deck. And that's because most of the MSC ships with Yacht Club are newer than Celebrity's.

Edge and Apex are wonderful ships. Unfortunately, their itineraries have been boring - particularly in the Caribbeans. With Beyond coming in 2022, there will be a change of guard. Edge is headed to Australia/NZ in 2023, and we are already booked on it!

 

[RAD]

And we’re booked on the Apex for a 12 night British Isle cruise in 2023.

 

[ebockelman]

One sailing in Retreat class on the Edge this summer was enough for us to fall in love with Celebrity. We booked Alaska and Galapagos sailings while onboard we were so impressed.

We've been all in on DCL, but we'll probably scale back a bit on Disney and ramp up on Celebrity.

 

[imahistorygeek]

One sailing in Retreat class on the Edge this summer was enough for us to fall in love with Celebrity. We booked Alaska and Galapagos sailings while onboard we were so impressed.

We've been all in on DCL, but we'll probably scale back a bit on Disney and ramp up on Celebrity.

We've also been all in on DCL, but we were very impressed with Celebrity and will start booking more Celebrity over Disney.