Those choosing other cruise lines- what's your $ point?

DnA2010

Rope Drop!
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
So with all the debate regarding DCL being x amount more expensive, and others not finding it that bad, DH and I were just discussing what the price difference would have to be for us to sail DCL again- for my DH it is 1000, for me it's 500-1000 as I figure 500-1000 can go a long way towards excursions, or towards some time at WDW, that sort of thing...so- what's your $ point?
 
I don't have a specific dollar amount, I will book a particular cruise if I like the price for the itinerary and the cruise line it is offered in. Really I can't find other cruises that are comperable to Disney for that much less money anyway.
 
I don't really have a dollar amount either however when I can sail two weeks for the price of one on DCL then it looks pretty good to me. We could afford it either way but it always seems so much nicer when I still have money in my pocket and I get pretty much the same product. I have found other cruises that are comparable to DCL but we are all different. Not everyone will feel the same and the cost will not matter.
If I was pushed to give you a $ amount then I guess I would say $1000, being Canadian that makes it $1400 for us.
 
Add me to the no dollar amount but itinerary (and possibly ship) group.

Example 1: In April I'm doing a California Coastal cruise on Princess because the itinerary appeals to me and the only time Disney does anything similar school is in and I cannot tell my principal I'm taking a week off to cruise. Ergo I'm on Princess for not a whole lot less than a DCL Caribbean cruise that week.

Example 2: Next July I'm doing a Greek Isles cruise on RCCL - just Greece, roundtrip from Rome. An itinerary I cannot get on Disney who, when they do Greece it includes non-Greece places I don't want. Ergo I'm going on RCCL. This one IS less than a Disney Mediterranean cruise (and moreso since a friend is going with me), but it's more about the itinerary.

Example 3: Feb 2019 I'm going on the Celebrity Edge, which is just a basic Western and close to the price of DCL (maybe slightly cheaper as I'm in one of their solo balcony cabins), BUT it's a new ship I'm interested in trying (again, SOLO BALCONY CABINS) AND there is the added benefit of no loss of a sea day to Star Wars craziness.

Itineraries being equal or similar and time of year offered being right, at this point DCL is my line of choice, but there are others I will consider. (And there are some I will not based on what I have seen in traveler youtube videos and from talking with friends.)
 


For us it's more the itinerary and/or ship. We are winding down our Disney cruises this year because they don't offer what we as a family want/need anymore. There are so many cool ships and great itineraries for us not to branch out! I've seen a lot of Caribbean cruises where the price difference is $2,000+ and I think that's a lot. When it gets to double the difference, that would be a no brainer for me. I certainly would never spend the kind of money DCL gets for a port-intensive cruise to Europe or Alaska. Our Scandinavia/Russia cruise on RCI was $10,000+ LESS than a similar cruise on Disney. That's a HUGE difference.
 
For me, it's hard to to put a fixed dollar amount on what that difference would be. $1000 on a 10 or 11 night cruise probably wouldn't sway me. $1000 on a 3 night cruise? Oh yeah, that's a factor. Even factoring in the length of the cruise, I can't say I have a fixed amount in my head that would cause me to switch.

I agree with the others that the itinerary is the primary deciding factor for us. With only four ships Disney simply cannot offer the variety of itineraries at all times that other lines do. We are sailing NCL to Alaska next month because they offered a one way trip from Vancouver to Seward that includes Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier. That's not possible on the Wonder. I was so, very tempted to switch our upcoming 10 day Canadian/Quebec City NCL cruise out of NYC to one of the DCL 7 nighters that also go to Quebec, but in the end the round trip out of NYC and the stop at PEI we'd have to give up on DCL was the deciding factor. We are sticking with NCL.

Though these decisions were itinerary driven, we have discovered something quite fun. By looking to spend what we normally would on a DCL cruise in a balcony cabin (or even less if you factor in all of the beverage/dining/internet/etc. packages NCL includes in their price) , we can sail in a suite on NCL. So I guess that's it for me, from a price standpoint. If I can sail in a suite on another line for the price of a balcony on DCL, I am going to strongly consider it.
 
My cap for DCL is $200 per person per night - anything more than that, I get uncomfortable and I know I can do better on other lines. I tried to stretch it to cover our planned November Fantasy cruise (which would have been about $220 per person per night) but just got too uncomfortable and cancelled it in favour of a Princess cruise which is coming out to about $186 per person, per night CDN funds (so about $140 per person per night US due to the difference in the US and CDN dollars).
 


I also look for $200pp per night. But I am tempted and have booked up to $300 per night for dates that fit into the school schedule
 
We have a firm total travel budget of $5,000 for each year. Sometimes blowing almost the entire year on a Disney cruise is worth it (our upcoming Marvel Day at Sea) and often it's not. Especially when our plane fare to any port is at least $500 per person. There has to be a unique element to be worth it, not just a standard Disney cruise. An itinerary or custom excursion or theme. But we do look at the overall experience rather than a per day cost. A special day is priceless.

Edit: We also max out at 10 days vacation per year, and that makes a difference in how much to spend per day. Some people reason how they could take three Carnival cruises for the price of one Disney, but not everyone has that much vacation time regardless. So we're maximizing our time as much as our money.
 
For me, it's not a dollar amount that would sway me, but a percentage of the total. If the difference, percent-wise is low, I won't bother looking at another line. If the percentage is significant, then it's time to see if there's availability and something for all of us to do. That said, I'm just starting out on the cruising adventures, so I'm not necessarily the target of a thread like this.

@Dug720 - I saw that RCCL Greece itinerary. I would have loved to do that one. I think you'll have an awesome time on it and I hope you report back on it, even though it's not a DCL trip.
 
My cap for DCL is $200 per person per night - anything more than that, I get uncomfortable and I know I can do better on other lines. I tried to stretch it to cover our planned November Fantasy cruise (which would have been about $220 per person per night) but just got too uncomfortable and cancelled it in favour of a Princess cruise which is coming out to about $186 per person, per night CDN funds (so about $140 per person per night US due to the difference in the US and CDN dollars).

This is how I judge the costs -- by breaking it down to a per night charge. Considering that it's our hotel but includes food, I judge it by how high I would go for a 5 star hotel. My cap is $400-500/night for the two of us. Disney hasn't come anywhere near that for years for the itineraries we want. Their recent release of Bermuda prices was $1,800 more for a 5-night than I paid on a 7-night on NCL! No brainer to book with NCL when I could use that extra $1,800 for another cruise! I love Disney -- done 10 of them, but I can no longer justify the costs when I have found just as many benefits, better deals, just as good food and service and nice rooms on other lines!
 
For us, as newbie cruisers it's coming down to itinerary and what's available on the ship. My kids are both older, and the appeal of the characters just isn't there anymore. I'm the one driving us to go on Disney vs another line for our first time out as I want to experience the Disney ship. My biggest concern is that my kids are going to be bored on the Dream this next summer.

When I started looking further afield I started looking first by ship amenities (surf simulator, rock wall, ice skating rink) then by itinerary. Yes, the price is cheaper, but it's not the first reason why I'm looking beyond DCL. I would not be surprised if we were one and done with DCL, but not with cruising.
 
I don't really have a specific dollar amount. Some DCL cruises are just absurd. If I was looking at doing a Baltic cruise next year DCL is around 11k more than NCL. That's crazy. I'm cruising on DCL to Alaska in Sept. It was 3k for the two of us. I didn't even look at other lines because my son likes DCL and it was in my budget. It really depends.
 
I don't really have a specific dollar amount. Some DCL cruises are just absurd. If I was looking at doing a Baltic cruise next year DCL is around 11k more than NCL. That's crazy. I'm cruising on DCL to Alaska in Sept. It was 3k for the two of us. I didn't even look at other lines because my son likes DCL and it was in my budget. It really depends.

You gotta go with what you're happy with! That's not a bad price for Disney in Alaska! Enjoy.
 
For me, it's not a dollar amount that would sway me, but a percentage of the total. If the difference, percent-wise is low, I won't bother looking at another line. If the percentage is significant, then it's time to see if there's availability and something for all of us to do. That said, I'm just starting out on the cruising adventures, so I'm not necessarily the target of a thread like this.

@Dug720 - I saw that RCCL Greece itinerary. I would have loved to do that one. I think you'll have an awesome time on it and I hope you report back on it, even though it's not a DCL trip.

Definitely!!
 
It depends on so many things. I am willing to pay more for a shorter DCL cruise because other cruise lines tend to use older, smaller ships.

For a 7 day Caribbean cruise I am feeling priced out. I was looking for next February. The Fantasy is going for $4K for 2 adults. The Oasis on RCL is $2200 for the same time period. Even knowing I will pay for upcharges on RCL by my own choice I would save over $1K. That is a lot of money for a very similar experience.
 
For us, as newbie cruisers it's coming down to itinerary and what's available on the ship. My kids are both older, and the appeal of the characters just isn't there anymore. I'm the one driving us to go on Disney vs another line for our first time out as I want to experience the Disney ship. My biggest concern is that my kids are going to be bored on the Dream this next summer.

When I started looking further afield I started looking first by ship amenities (surf simulator, rock wall, ice skating rink) then by itinerary. Yes, the price is cheaper, but it's not the first reason why I'm looking beyond DCL. I would not be surprised if we were one and done with DCL, but not with cruising.

How old are your kids? my DD was 11 when we tried DCL- she loved it but equally did love all the stuff on RCL (rock wall, skating etc) but mainly missed pools on the Fantasy. Due to price, it looks like we will be one and done with DCL (I will start investigating them again in a few years when my 9 month old is bigger) as my DD said she'd love to try other ships when we cruise again (she's seen some of the ships with waterslides, ropes courses etc and thinks they look pretty cool)
 
I don't really have a dollar amount either however when I can sail two weeks for the price of one on DCL then it looks pretty good to me. We could afford it either way but it always seems so much nicer when I still have money in my pocket and I get pretty much the same product. I have found other cruises that are comparable to DCL but we are all different. Not everyone will feel the same and the cost will not matter.
If I was pushed to give you a $ amount then I guess I would say $1000, being Canadian that makes it $1400 for us.

We are Canadian too- the exchange is just killer when it comes to Disney...when we did the Fantasy in 2015 I snagged a VGT in May for the 3 of us (DD was 10) for $3588 US, but I haven't seen anything like that in the last few years
 
How old are your kids? my DD was 11 when we tried DCL- she loved it but equally did love all the stuff on RCL (rock wall, skating etc) but mainly missed pools on the Fantasy. Due to price, it looks like we will be one and done with DCL (I will start investigating them again in a few years when my 9 month old is bigger) as my DD said she'd love to try other ships when we cruise again (she's seen some of the ships with waterslides, ropes courses etc and thinks they look pretty cool)

I am holding out hope that we can afford one of the new ships during inauguration year -- I'd love to see at least one of them. Having managed to sail on all four of their current ships, I don't see us being able to afford to sail on the next two ships to complete the group unless prices drop significantly
 
For us, it comes down to budget, percentage vs other lines and value. I have to admit we haven't tried any other lines yet but are starting to consider it because we want to do some more expensive itineraries such as Alaska and Europe. We always had the BEST vacations with DCL so we are hesitant to try other lines but in my mind I think I would be willing to spend about 30% more (than other lines) for DCL because we see value in the quality and service that Disney offers. The Alaska and Europe itineraries are sooo expensive and port intensive that I certainly would not pay double to do them with DCL - don't see the value in that.

Also, in line with budget and value is that I would not spend $8000 to cruise DCL in the carribean in the summer for 1 week. But we just booked a Western Carribean for Oct. 2018 for 3 of us for $4000 in an extended verandah. We thought that was a good price and good value for what Disney delivers and didn't even bother comparing it with other lines.
 

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