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

[mevelandry]

Ok, so I love Canadians... but why should cruise lines give discounts to Canadians because of the exchange rate? It's not like I get a discount when the exchange rate is great for Canadians and I am effectively paying more in real terms. Just for the record, I don't thing Florida resident discounts are fair either.

It's very simple: Because of the exchange rate, we stayed in Canada all week instead of going to the USA like we usually do on vacation. The US get a lot money from Canadian tourists. If we stop going, you're going to feel it at some point. I think most cruise lines are aware of that fact.

 

[darnheather]

5500$ CDN is not a good price for a cruise (especially for the Bahamas). You can spend two weeks in Italy for that amount.

A single plane ticket would be $1500 at least. For my family of 3 that would $4500 for the airfare.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

It's very simple: Because of the exchange rate, we stayed in Canada all week instead of going to the USA like we usually do on vacation. The US get a lot money from Canadian tourists. If we stop going, you're going to feel it at some point. I think most cruise lines are aware of that fact.

I get that it is marketing, but it seems arbitrary to me. Like what if I live in Georgia and am actually closer to Canaveral than someone in Pensacola? Or what if I live in New York City? I'm just about as far from Florida as Eastern Canada, and the US dollar's value there is very low, probably worth a Canadian dollar. There are areas in the US where people make less money and those areas do not get discounts. It has just always been strange to me.

 

[Shanti]

I get that it is marketing, but it seems arbitrary to me. Like what if I live in Georgia and am actually closer to Canaveral than someone in Pensacola? Or what if I live in New York City? I'm just about as far from Florida as Eastern Canada, and the US dollar's value there is very low, probably worth a Canadian dollar. There are areas in the US where people make less money and those areas do not get discounts. It has just always been strange to me.

I agree & know that fair's got nuttin' to do with it. But I'm with you in salivating helplessly over those Florida resident rates. They already get a break on travel prices, living so nearby. And then they get the awesome discounts, too...

 

[cgolf]

This is an easy one for me. We used to compare prices from different lines and always found a DCL trip that was a decent value. Last year there was a big enough price difference for us to try RCCL, and I found that I liked it just as much or more than DCL.

What it would take to get us back on DCL is a lower price than another line. Not really being Disney fans, we don't miss that at all. To be honest I was bored on our last DCL B2B cruise, because we had previously done the activities and the only show we watched was Tangled. Especially now that our kid isn't sailing we were ready for a change and it turned out very well.

As for onboard expenses, it will vary for everyone, we did prepay for soda, and then had a difficult time spending our roughly 100$ obc, which was also an issue for us on our later DCL trips. So a good time can be had on other lines without getting nickeled and dimed for everything.

I know a lot of people can watch the shows over and over, we can't, perhaps we just did too many cruises in such a short span on DCL? Maybe having learned from that our next two trips are on a smaller RCCL ship and then off to the new Celebrity Edge.

 

[mevelandry]

A single plane ticket would be $1500 at least. For my family of 3 that would $4500 for the airfare.

I guess it depends where you live... Those are the prices I get for a round trip to and from Rome. Taxes are included.

 

[cruiser21]

Ok, so I love Canadians... but why should cruise lines give discounts to Canadians because of the exchange rate? It's not like I get a discount when the exchange rate is great for Canadians and I am effectively paying more in real terms. Just for the record, I don't thing Florida resident discounts are fair either.

Boo Hoo. Can't you just be happy for someone else. Corporations can offer discounts to whoever they want. Life's not always fair. If these cruises out of New York were selling they wouldn't be offering these discounts. You may see GT rates on these cruises which your more then free to book.

 

[cruiser21]

I have friends (with one toddler) who spent three weeks in Italy and it cost them around 7000$ CND, last year. They rented a home and a car over there. I don't know how they shopped their flight tickets, maybe they had points or found a very good deal. I have collegues who travel in Europe all the time and they usually get round trips between 700$ and 1200$ (The collegue I share an office with booked Italy roundtrip for 750$).

So yes, if you budget, you can get a trip to Italy for that amount.

I've seen tickets on Portugal air out of Newyork to BCN for as little as 250.00 one way. Norwegian air also offers rates this low to Copenhagen. A little shopping and you can find some decent rates to Europe. You can also find med cruises on NCL or Royal that are 1/4 the price of the Fantasy in the Summer. Anybody that wants to see Europe should know its possible to do it for less then the cost of a trip to WDW or a Disney Caribbean cruise. There's a thread on the resorts board called "what is your 2017 vacation going to cost". It will blow your mind what some people spend at WDW and they do it every year.

 

[mevelandry]

I've seen tickets on Portugal air out of Newyork to BCN for as little as 250.00 one way. Norwegian air also offers rates this low to Copenhagen. A little shopping and you can find some decent rates to Europe. You can also find med cruises on NCL or Royal that are 1/4 the price of the Fantasy in the Summer. Anybody that wants to see Europe should know its possible to do it for less then the cost of a trip to WDW or a Disney Caribbean cruise. There's a thread on the resorts board called "what is your 2017 vacation going to cost". It will blow your mind what some people spend at WDW and they do it every year.

Wow Airlines is also popular here. You can get a one way ticket to Iceland, London, Barcelona or Paris for sometimes as low as 150$ +tx (you pay extra for your carry-on, luggage, etc but it can be pretty cheap if you are willing to pack light).

I checked for Iceland once for DH and I and could have had a nice whole week there for less than 3000$ CND.

 

[darnheather]

I guess it depends where you live... Those are the prices I get for a round trip to and from Rome. Taxes are included. View attachment 248567

Of course it matters where you live. Still $900 per person and then hotel and food does not equal the same price as a cruise. At least not for my family.

 

[cruiser21]

Wow Airlines is also popular here. You can get a one way ticket to Iceland, London, Barcelona or Paris for sometimes as low as 150$ +tx (you pay extra for your carry-on, luggage, etc but it can be pretty cheap if you are willing to pack light).

I checked for Iceland once for DH and I and could have had a nice whole week there for less than 3000$ CND.

If you get the chance to go to Iceland you should go. It's an amazing place. I've had friends that have gone in Feb, and March when it's really cheap and they had an amazing time. Their winters are milder than the Northeast of the US. I think Europe is totally doable for a family. It takes some research and planning. I've booked 1000 sq ft luxury apartments on AirBnB that cost less per night then pop century. I know it's out of the comfort zone for some people. They are comfortable with WDW and the Caribbean. That's ok. It's just when I read posts where someone say's they can't afford it and they are spending 5-10k at Disney. I'm thinking WHAT?

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Boo Hoo. Can't you just be happy for someone else. Corporations can offer discounts to whoever they want. Life's not always fair. If these cruises out of New York were selling they wouldn't be offering these discounts. You may see GT rates on these cruises which your more then free to book.

Don't worry, I was waiting for someone to attack me. But it is something I have tried to make sense of. And I thought someone might have some insight that I do not. Thanks for your life is not fair insight. That's one I had not thought of. lol

 

[mevelandry]

Of course it matters where you live. Still $900 per person and then hotel and food does not equal the same price as a cruise. At least not for my family.

But in the case we were talking about, it's 2 adults + a toddler. With 900$ tickets, you still get 2800$ to spend (we said 5500$), and if you budget, it's doable. My point was that you can do Europe for that price because for the price it is a much much better itinerary than the Bahamas, which is a "starter" destination. Bahamas is one of the first destinations that a first time cruiser will pick because it's cheap, sunny and warm, with pretty beaches. But I don't think it's worth 5500$.

 

[cruiser21]

Don't worry, I was waiting for someone to attack me. But it is something I have tried to make sense of. And I thought someone might have some insight that I do not. Thanks for your life is not fair insight. That's one I had not thought of. lol

I woudn't consider that an attack lol. Just pointing out the obvious. Disney doesn't discount cruises out of the goodness of their heart. They could care less about Canadians or Floridians. They offer the discounts because they have left over rooms they can't sell. New York is close to Canada that's probably why the feel like they can get some Canadians to book them. Several of these cruises have not gone up in price since opening day which means they are not selling that well. The four and five day cruises already have GT rates. If they offered discounts to everyone then no one would book ahead they would just wait for the discounts.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I woudn't consider that an attack lol. Just pointing out the obvious. Disney doesn't discount cruises out of the goodness of their heart. They could care less about Canadians or Floridians. They offer the discounts because they have left over rooms they can't sell. New York is close to Canada that's probably why the feel like they can get some Canadians to book them. Several of these cruises have not gone up in price since opening day which means they are not selling that well. The four and five day cruises already have GT rates. If they offered discounts to everyone then no one would book ahead they would just wait for the discounts.

Of course it was an attack. I have noticed in threads that is your style. You get very aggressive with people and then in the next reaponse you sound more reasonable. It is a pattern.

But attack aside, and back to your last post. So why are they overpricing their cruises to begin with? If talking about DCL, why don't they lower the price a bit when they see it isn't selling instead of offering discounts to select groups? It is something I have not been able to figure out with DCL.

 

[cruiser21]

Of course it was an attack. I have noticed in threads that is your style. You get very aggressive with people and then in the next reaponse you sound more reasonable. It is a pattern.

But attack aside, and back to your last post. So why are they overpricing their cruises to begin with? If talking about DCL, why don't they lower the price a bit when they see it isn't selling instead of offering discounts to select groups? It is something I have not been able to figure out with DCL.

I'll ignore your insults and respectfully disagree with you. Tone is what.the reader percieves it to be. To answer your question I think it's because they generally don't have that many rooms left overr to sell. They used to offer a lot of GT rates, which anyone can book but cruises are selling better this year. You may still see GT rates on these cruises so watch for them if your Interested. Honestly DCL has not offered a lot of Florida or military rates this year either.. Happy 4th.

 

[FigmentSpark]

So why are they overpricing their cruises to begin with? If talking about DCL, why don't they lower the price a bit when they see it isn't selling instead of offering discounts to select groups? It is something I have not been able to figure out with DCL.

I think if DCL started having 'sales' on any of their sailings, there would quickly become an expectation that they might have them on other sailings. By offering select groups a deal or offering GT* rates, they get around the expectation of waiting for a sale and possibly even having to discount those that have already booked their cruises. It's a marketing strategy.

 

[cruiser21]

I think if DCL started having 'sales' on any of their sailings, there would quickly become an expectation that they might have them on other sailings. By offering select groups a deal or offering GT* rates, they get around the expectation of waiting for a sale and possibly even having to discount those that have already booked their cruises. It's a marketing strategy.

3 of their New York cruises have GT rates before the PIF. You don't see that happen very often. I still think they are overpriced though.
I also think DCL wants to keep their prices high. They have enough people willing to pay. It's like the airlines never discounting business or first class. They would rather have those seats go empty or give them to employees then reduce the price. Once you start offering sales then there's no turning back.
I would love to see 30 % off sales like Royal has, but they obviously don't need to this. I think a lot of these sails are gimmicks anyway. I've been looking at a cruise on Royal for over a year. They've had hundreds of different type sales over the year, but the price of this cruise has stayed the same through all of them.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I would love to see 30 % off sales like Royal has, but they obviously don't need to this. I think a lot of these sails are gimmicks anyway. I've been looking at a cruise on Royal for over a year. They've had hundreds of different type sales over the year, but the price of this cruise has stayed the same through all of them.

I found this, too. I've been pricing a RCCL sailing and the same rooms, but different sales all seem to come up with the same price. I think they offer 30% off, but raise the first rate. Again, another marketing strategy.

I also think that too many people and websites are so focused on watching DCL prices that having sales that weren't really sales (like RCCL) would backfire on them.

 

[Dug720]

I found this, too. I've been pricing a RCCL sailing and the same rooms, but different sales all seem to come up with the same price. I think they offer 30% off, but raise the first rate. Again, another marketing strategy.

I also think that too many people and websites are so focused on watching DCL prices that having sales that weren't really sales (like RCCL) would backfire on them.

Yep. RCCL is notorious for raising the rates just enough that the "sale" isn't that big of a sale at all - if any.