Disney Wonder $13k to Alaska vs $6k on RC

[Anisum]

Honestly Deck 2 is my favorite as well. I love the porthole rooms because I'm usually too busy spending time around the ship when out of port or in the port (especially in Alaska!!!) to care as much about a verandah. That being said, it's up to you what it's worth. If you've sailed Disney before I would make a pro-con list. For me I don't like the size of Ovation so that would play a big part for me. I generally enjoy myself more on Disney but I usually travel with friends so I don't have the whole price of the room to consider. I would say if your daughter would enjoy Disney more, perhaps consider doing Alaska with RC and using the money you saved towards a more reasonable Disney Cruise in the future.

 

[kickash]

This post had me thinking about some of the stuff DCL boasts about being included, and thus justifies their cost. Things such as kids clubs, characters, (which other lines have) and Broadway-style shows. Don't other cruise lines also have Broadway-style shows?

When we (adults only group) cruised on Royal last year, the Broadway style show was "Grease" and it was incredible-sets, singing, costumes! HOWEVER, it was for maturer audiences and even said so in the daily navigator. I wouldn't have felt comfortable taking my children to the show as it deals with more mature topics then I am looking to discuss with them on a family vacation lol (sex, potential pregnancy, smoking, cursing, etc). The whole time we were on that ship I kept thinking, what would my kids do instead of going to the show (which only played 1 night). It was just a different atmosphere than our Disney cruises.

 

[mevelandry]

When we (adults only group) cruised on Royal last year, the Broadway style show was "Grease" and it was incredible-sets, singing, costumes! HOWEVER, it was for maturer audiences and even said so in the daily navigator. I wouldn't have felt comfortable taking my children to the show as it deals with more mature topics then I am looking to discuss with them on a family vacation lol (sex, potential pregnancy, smoking, cursing, etc). The whole time we were on that ship I kept thinking, what would my kids do instead of going to the show (which only played 1 night). It was just a different atmosphere than our Disney cruises.

Grease was my favorite movie when I was 9... Oops.

 

[kickash]

Grease was my favorite movie when I was 9... Oops.

HA! I know, right? And I am not a prude by any means, but I just didn't think it was appropriate for my own kids. Everyone is different . I guess that I just like that fact that I won't have wonder about the shows on a Disney cruise. I know they will be appropriate for the whole family.

 

[kaseyC]

I didn’t think my kids would like Carnival as much as Disney, but we were all pleasantly surprised at how much we loved our Carnival cruises.

It's very liberating when you find your kids love cruising, period not just Disney cruising. Our girls first non-DCL cruise was in 2010 on the NCL Epic. It was the inaugural TA crossing bringing the fresh out of the shipyard ship from Southampton to NYC. I only booked it because it was the rare June WBTA. 7 straight sea days and no ports. That's when I found out my girls were cruisers not just Disney cruisers. They just love being on cruise ships. So now most of our cruises are booked based on itinerary and not so much cruise line. The only time we don't really care about itinerary is for Spring Break, where our goal is to just sail somewhere warm. We do try to stick to newer ships because we love to see all of advances and attractions added to the ships.

 

[kaseyC]

They are offering GT rates on Alaska this June. I think a lot of people book and then cancel. I would never in a million years pay 13k for a 7 day cruise. I've cruised to Alaska on DCL and paid 3k inside room in September 2017. Alaska is nice and dcl is good, but I could win the lottery tomorrow and I still wouldn't pay 13k to do that cruise in a regular verandah.

Certain itineraries must not be selling well because we are seeing GT rates for Canadian cruises even before final payment date which is rare. We are also seeing European resident rates for select itineraries. I've been sailing DCL since 2000 and have never seen those offered.

 

[cruiser21]

Certain itineraries must not be selling well because we are seeing GT rates for Canadian cruises even before final payment date which is rare. We are also seeing European resident rates for select itineraries. I've been sailing DCL since 2000 and have never seen those offered.

Yeah I just booked an GT rate on a cruise. I've been following the GT rate thread. I see some in Nov and Dec already. I was surprised to see Alaska those are rare.

 

[cruiser21]

Grease was my favorite movie when I was 9... Oops.

My husband loves that movie. I can't think of anything in that movie that wouldn't make it G rated. Disney movies aren't exactly G rated anymore. Ironman in bed with two women...I guess that's kid appropriate LOL.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Hi anricat,

I've priced out an Oceanview room as well on Disney (no verandah) and the only decks that are available are Decks 1 and 2. We don't want to be on the bottom on Deck 1 or 2, so that's why I priced out a Verandah so we could get on a higher deck! I don't know if the ship is sold out on the other decks or if 1 and 2 are the only options when booking an Oceanview room?

Deck 2 oceanviews are actually great. We stayed there on the Magic for our first cruise back in 2009. Since then we have done 3 deck 7 verandah sailings on the fantasy.

I booked 2 connecting oceanviews on deck 2 wonder next May for Alaska. We are a family of 6 and I just wasn’t willing to pay the $3k increase to have the connecting navigator verandahs.

I priced out rccl and NCL...both new ships, both on verandah rooms, both peak season. Could get all that for same as my May oceanviews sailing on dcl. Stuck with dcl for various reasons and am quite excited about it.

 

[anricat]

Why?

Because I absolutely adored sitting on our warm couch and watching the world go by out the window. It was quiet and peaceful and I was protected from the elements. I loved sitting at the desk and writing my trip report and easily just seeing the coastline float by without my hair blowing all in my face. I just love the large portholes and I like being in a climate controlled environment. If I want to sit outside, there are so many other places to do so: deck 4, 9 and 10 had plenty of outdoor areas and especially deck 10 for the panorama aspect. But in my room, I like being warm and also seeing everything outside. When we had a verandah on one of our Caribbean cruises, it felt harder to actually see what was outside when I wanted to sit inside because I had to see past the actual verandah - it felt further away to see everything unless I was actually out there.

And sure, I know, I could put on hat, mittens, extra coats, blanket, whatever, but I'm just a big baby when it comes to cold and it was cold and drizzly our entire trip.

 

[Dug720]

Why?

I have done Alaska in a Verandah cabin and an Inside cabin (neither on DCL), and I would be hard-pressed to spend the money on a verandah again simply because I felt like I missed a lot of ship-stuff because I felt like I needed to “get my money’s worth” from that verandah.

I am beginning to consider AK again - on another line because it is a charter with a group I have wanted to travel with, but their cruises are usually during the school year and on surveys about why I have shown interest and not booked I have repeatedly said “Because the itineraries do not work with a teacher’s schedule” and apparently a lot of others have too because part of the description of the cruise is “Ok teachers, you’ve asked for a summer cruise...” so I kind of feel obligated - and am looking at OV for the best of both worlds.

 

[anricat]

I felt like I needed to “get my money’s worth” from that verandah

This! By the time you really break it down and think about it, it often just really puts it into perspective. For example, lets say that the verandah is an extra $2,000 more than an oceanview (in Alaska, it often is or more, I think it was actually $3k more for our cruise, but let's just go with $2k for this illustration). Okay, so $2k divided by 7 days, that's $286/day. How many hours are you spending there? Maybe 4 or 5? Probably not that much, because on excursion days you're not even ON the ship, but again, let's go with it. At four hours, that's $71.50/hour. I don't even pay that much for a massage, let alone to sit outside, especially when there are plenty of other perfectly fine places to sit outdoors on a cruise ship.

 

[DnA2010]

We did Alaska last year on HAL- we had really crappy bad weather- it was hard to be outside- raining a lot of the time, and windy. I can't imagine being out on a veranda at all. I was so thankful that our HAL ship had a covered pool area- we spent SO much time out there. We had 3 inside rooms- 2 had 3 ppl in them, 1 had 2- cost for all 3 rooms, 8 people was around 9K US.

 

[DnA2010]

Not sure if this will work, but here is a comparison/review I wrote about our Alaskan cruise last year on HAL- I guess I should finish it!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/third-times-a-holland-america-alaska-review-compare.3629086/

 

[aggiedog]

Grease was my favorite movie when I was 9... Oops.

As an aside from the actual discussion, I had Grease memorized in 3rd grade. LOVED IT. That said, I had no clue Rizzo was possibly pregnant until years later. It just went completely over my head, and it wasn't until I re-watched it as an adult that I caught all the "adult themed" references. At 9, I loved the singing and dancing.

 

[mevelandry]

As an aside from the actual discussion, I had Grease memorized in 3rd grade. LOVED IT. That said, I had no clue Rizzo was possibly pregnant until years later. It just went completely over my head, and it wasn't until I re-watched it as an adult that I caught all the "adult themed" references. At 9, I loved the singing and dancing.

At that age, I already knew how babies were made and about contraception. My older sister was kind of a wild teenager and I had been introduced to horror movies by my younger neighbour. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of stuff I did not know. So much for that "childhood bubble"... LOL

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

As an aside from the actual discussion, I had Grease memorized in 3rd grade. LOVED IT. That said, I had no clue Rizzo was possibly pregnant until years later. It just went completely over my head, and it wasn't until I re-watched it as an adult that I caught all the "adult themed" references. At 9, I loved the singing and dancing.

LOL and the whole song "Greased Lightning." Had no idea what it meant.

I had a whole response typed up about why we're going with DCL for Alaska, but then I actually went to the RCL website and priced out our same stateroom category, and it is hard to justify that difference in price, it really is double the cost, plus the RCL 7 day cruise goes to Hubbard Glacier. We can afford it and we've already reserved it but this will probably be our first and only Disney cruise.

 

[mevelandry]

LOL and the whole song "Greased Lightning." Had no idea what it meant.

I had a whole response typed up about why we're going with DCL for Alaska, but then I actually went to the RCL website and priced out our same stateroom category, and it is hard to justify that difference in price, it really is double the cost, plus the RCL 7 day cruise goes to Hubbard Glacier. We can afford it and we've already reserved it but this will probably be our first and only Disney cruise.

But... If you sail to Alaska with RCL instead, with the price difference, you could afford a shorter Disney cruise before or later. (Which means TWO cruises!!!)

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

But... If you sail to Alaska with RCL instead, with the price difference, you could afford a shorter Disney cruise before or later. (Which means TWO cruises!!!)

This might blasphemy on this board...but we're not really cruise people. We just thought it would be a great way to see Alaska for the first time. But yeah, we could totally afford a one-week WDW vacation with the difference between RCL and DCL, flights included. This trip is replacing our usual WDW trip that we take every 1.5 to 2 years.

 

[annacali]

This post had me thinking about some of the stuff DCL boasts about being included, and thus justifies their cost. Things such as kids clubs, characters, (which other lines have) and Broadway-style shows. Don't other cruise lines also have Broadway-style shows?

We did Alaska on Royal in 2016. Overall it was fine but the kids did not enjoy the ship as much as Disney. The shows were definitely NOT the same---really not fully kid appropriate. One was a "Chicago" style dancing/musical where I wanted to cover my kids' eyes (and they were 10 and 12). Very much NOT Disney.