But you seem to be assuming that other cruise lines can't or won't deal with your special needs issues. Out of Galveston, Carnival keeps their second newest ship (right now the Breeze and soon to be the Vista). Royal has one of their better ships (recently refurbished with tons of new stuff) in Galveston. Both of these lines can (and do) deal with special diets and special needs.
I didn't mean to imply that no other lines can accommodate special needs, although I understand how it was read that way. I tend to be overly wordy and was attempting to be brief, ha! Bottom line issue for us right now is comfort based upon personal experience - DH's, not mine. I'd be willing to bet this is the case for a lot of other folks as well. As pertains to my family, do I like that? Nope. I have priced out dozens of cruises and really, really wanted to hit that book it button many time. Such awesome looking ships, great cost savings. But when I have to talk him into it, it feels pretty rotten. Is it silly that he is stuck on Disney vacations and nervous to try other options (where cooking our own food isn't an option)? I can totally see that others would see it that way, and often I want to say "let's just give it a try!" But I'm not the one who will get sick and have their vacation ruined. Eventually I just have to drop it. He hasn't gotten sick on a single Disney vacation in 5+ years. His personal experience (limited as it may be, statistically pointless as it may be) makes him comfortable. Bum luck on my part too is that he lived abroad for a chunk of his life and traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia, so he's been-there/done-that as well, removing one aspect of incentive to broaden horizons. Add in that we have one child who is super into Disney still, and we're willing to pay more for Disney cruises - to specifically address the OP's question, definitely in the 4 figure range, actual amount to vary depending on length of cruise and itinerary. Although that is partially b/c we're a family of 4, not a couple. And this is for now, doubtless will change over time as the kids get older and DH gets comfortable with expanding his horizons.
fwiw, I've been on Carnival, Royal, HAL, and Princess too. I'm not a "
DCL-only" person. I just like cruises. My price point is going to vary in other ways, depending on who I'm sailing with. In talks with a couple of girlfriends about doing a cruise out of CA - we'd do whatever is cheapest, most likely. We'll be happy on any old ship, going anywhere. And yes, I've been on one of those old Carnival ships already. With my parents included - it would come down to a lot of factors. They are willing to pay more for a
Disney cruise right now b/c of age-specific activities for their grandchildren - Frozen deck party, etc - as well as my mom preferring the G/PG entertainment. Having already done Alaska on Princess, it is a bit more about the shipboard experiences for now, so we're doing DCL to Alaska next summer. In a few years, they'd go with Royal or Princess if it saved $1000 or more and had an interesting itinerary. Other lines would have to offer a deeper savings based upon their past experience and preferences. I don't know that I could pin down a dollar amount for most situations involving family. But definitely UNwilling to pay anything extra to sail DCL with my friends, sans any of my family members.
