luvavacation
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2006
It has been almost 8 years since the last time I went on a DCL vacation, and that was with just my youngest daughter before she finished college. I realize the DCL experience has changed since then, and maybe it isn't what it used to be, I don't know. Yet, I still feel a longing to be on the ship when I see the ad on TV.
Through the years of raising my family, we did go on other cruise lines, but DCL was always the one my family liked the most, and we became Platinum many years ago. I don't know if DCL was so special because of the experience on our first cruise 21 years ago, or it just always was a nicer experience than any other cruise.
Even when it was just my DH and I, even in a concierge cabin on RCCL, we still felt that longing when we pulled up next to the Dream in port.
Years later, my children are grown, one moved away with her family for work, careers and family kept the kids busy, and family vacations are no longer something to be assumed.
I have a grandchild now though, and my daughter has told me that the baby's first cruise will be on DCL, no other. And it got me thinking - what is this hold that DCL has over all of us?
We could have a fun time on Carnival, we have in fact, and it would cost much less. But yet no one wants to do that.
My husband and I could opt for a very luxurious experience on a Seabourn cruise (ok, he would pass out at the price, but does he need to know?). Yet even today we still wish we were on that Disney cruise as it pulls away from Port Canaveral while we are at the beach nearby.
So what is this magic that DCL has over us? Is it the memories of cruises long past that have us desiring to make more of those wonderful family memories? And why didn't we have that on NCL, or RCCL, or any other cruise we did together?
And I know for many, a DCL cruise is just an overpriced cruise, but for those that have felt that "magic", what do you feel made it "magic" for you? Or is my family the only one that drank that Kool-Aid and now we are always thirsty and need more of it?
Through the years of raising my family, we did go on other cruise lines, but DCL was always the one my family liked the most, and we became Platinum many years ago. I don't know if DCL was so special because of the experience on our first cruise 21 years ago, or it just always was a nicer experience than any other cruise.
Even when it was just my DH and I, even in a concierge cabin on RCCL, we still felt that longing when we pulled up next to the Dream in port.
Years later, my children are grown, one moved away with her family for work, careers and family kept the kids busy, and family vacations are no longer something to be assumed.
I have a grandchild now though, and my daughter has told me that the baby's first cruise will be on DCL, no other. And it got me thinking - what is this hold that DCL has over all of us?
We could have a fun time on Carnival, we have in fact, and it would cost much less. But yet no one wants to do that.
My husband and I could opt for a very luxurious experience on a Seabourn cruise (ok, he would pass out at the price, but does he need to know?). Yet even today we still wish we were on that Disney cruise as it pulls away from Port Canaveral while we are at the beach nearby.
So what is this magic that DCL has over us? Is it the memories of cruises long past that have us desiring to make more of those wonderful family memories? And why didn't we have that on NCL, or RCCL, or any other cruise we did together?
And I know for many, a DCL cruise is just an overpriced cruise, but for those that have felt that "magic", what do you feel made it "magic" for you? Or is my family the only one that drank that Kool-Aid and now we are always thirsty and need more of it?