Other Cruise Lines... not as cheap as I was expecting?

[cadien]

On the NCL Dawn and Star they have a number of family suites without balconies that sleep 5-6. They just have floor to ceiling windows. They were added after a major dry dock a few years ago. They are considered full suites with full suite perks. When the Star used to sail the Baltic, they were hard to get because of the fact they slept 5-6, full suite perks and were at a reasonable price point.

I stayed in one of those on the Star. They're great. Especially if the combination of small children and balcony scare you to death. They used to be the forward observation lounge, which wasn't replaced with an alternative, so there can be some guilt reading all the posts from people who miss that.

 

[KashasMom]

So those of us that stay in Cat T or above, are supposed to accept smaller staterooms, fewer bathrooms, and lesser service, all in order to compare pricing?

I don't think that's what anyone is saying. Everyone should be comparing apples to apples though...see keaster's example above. But...your comment is interesting. It sounds as if you have already decided that you won't have a stateroom or service that is not equal to Disney when plenty of ships have multiple bathrooms in a multiple bedroom stateroom with excellent service.

 

[KashasMom]

I stayed in one of those on the Star. They're great. Especially if the combination of small children and balcony scare you to death. They used to be the forward observation lounge, which wasn't replaced with an alternative, so there can be some guilt reading all the posts from people who miss that.

Ahhhh, finally I know what you're talking about. My aunts just did a cruise (amaaazing itinerary - 16 nights Dubai to Venice) in one of those suites. They LOVED it. I think one of those would be great for some itineraries/times of year. We were on the Fantasy in Feb one year and it was too cold to even use the balcony!

 

[aggiedog]

This is my post from another thread a couple months ago. It's easier to just cut and paste. We are doing a 7 day Med cruise in July with MSC, an Italian company. We will be in their "Yacht Club" which is the concierge area, with a separate dining area, pool, and lounge, a butler, free drinks (and free gelato!) We have school kids and are tied to peak times. Our ports are Genoa, Civitivecchia, Sicily, Sardina, Mallorca, Valencia, arriving and leaving out of Marseille, France.

How about 1/3 the cost? You can't quite compare apples to apples, as the dates and ports are a bit different. Also, the MSC concierge seems to have, IMHO, a bit more to offer. But, if you compare peak time 2018, 7 night med cruise (because comparing for 2017 would inflate the price of DCL I think) it breaks out like this for 1 adults, 2 kids per room which is how we travel with our 4 kids. The first two MSC prices are for this summer and is their "fantastica" experience which includes dining, free room service, beverage coupons, cooking and language classes for the kids along with the kids clubs, all shows, plus other stuff. The prices aren't exact since each sailing is a bit different in price. Most of their summer 2018 itinerary is not out yet, as far as I can tell, so I can't directly compare 2018 DCL to MSC.

Balcony DCL $7500, MSC $3000
Oceanview DCL $6000, MSC $2000
Concierge (not a suite) DCL $14,000, MSC Yacht Club $4,800

Yes, the DCL rooms are a bit larger, Yes, MSC has a casino. For that price difference, I can handle it. And since we really cruise for the ports, I am hoping we'll be happy to appreciate the difference to the two lines and enjoy our vacation.

For MSC, if you want to do interior rooms, or a slightly more basic package that is just dining, it's even cheaper, but I can't compare prices because they're basically all sold out.

I plan on doing a trip report when we get back. With the cost savings, we're spending a week in France prior. Can't wait, we leave in 3 weeks!

 

[samily]

Aggiedog, we did MSC to the Caribbean last month and enjoyed it - hope you have a great cruise! Make sure to status match if you have not done so already for some extra perks. Also, not sure if it is the same on their European ships, but the casino on our ship was non smoking which was great. Our cruise cost less than a 3 night on DCL and over 9000.00 less than a 7 night on DCL.

 

[FigmentSpark]

@samily - Were you on the new MSC Seaside or an older ship?

 

[samily]

@samily - Were you on the new MSC Seaside or an older ship?

We were on Divina which I think started sailing in 2012. I don't think Seaside has started sailing yet - I think it debuts in December. My kids keep asking me to book it lol.

 

[kaseyC]

We were on Divina which I think started sailing in 2012. I don't think Seaside has started sailing yet - I think it debuts in December. My kids keep asking me to book it lol.

It sets sail in December. We have two upcoming cruises on the Seaside. Spring Break in March of 2018 in the Yacht Club and a 2018 Christmas cruise where we lucked out and got 1 of the two YC Royal Suites. Since the Royal Suite doesn't accommodate 5, we booked a Yacht Club inside across the hall for 21yr and 16 yr daughters. Even with the Royal suite and YC inside on the Seaside Christmas cruise for about 15K, we are still 12K less than a Cat V, 28K less than Cat T and 54K less than a Cat R for our family of 5 on the Fantasy for the same week. I'm a DCL concierge cruiser and have been since 2000. For me at least and from my experience, there is nothing DCL offers with their concierge product that is worth that much more.

edited to add exact prices: 12/22/2018 Christmas Cruise - 5 passengers
MSC Seaside - 15,709.10
DCL Fantasy - V- 27,434.45 T- 43,954.45 R- 69,959.45

 

[hanscarlet]

This is my post from another thread a couple months ago. It's easier to just cut and paste. We are doing a 7 day Med cruise in July with MSC, an Italian company. We will be in their "Yacht Club" which is the concierge area, with a separate dining area, pool, and lounge, a butler, free drinks (and free gelato!) We have school kids and are tied to peak times. Our ports are Genoa, Civitivecchia, Sicily, Sardina, Mallorca, Valencia, arriving and leaving out of Marseille, France.



I plan on doing a trip report when we get back. With the cost savings, we're spending a week in France prior. Can't wait, we leave in 3 weeks!

Wow that sounds fab, please post a TR, would love to hear more, have fun!

 

[cruiser21]

Is that really 70k for a Royal suite? Who books this Johnny Depp? He loves to throw away his money.

 

[lizzyb]

I found with other lines I can't have a room for all 5 people in a regular balcony, therefore I have to get 2 rooms. I know that it gives us extra space but I am not very comfortable with that. Cost wise the other lines are cheaper but not substantially.

 

[mevelandry]

I don't want to spend the weekend in a closet!

You know you are allowed to get out of the room, right?

 

[KashasMom]

Is that really 70k for a Royal suite? Who books this Johnny Depp? He loves to throw away his money.

If I had 70k to spend on a vacation it sure as heck wouldn't be for a week-long cruise on Disney!!

 

[kaseyC]

Is that really 70k for a Royal suite? Who books this Johnny Depp? He loves to throw away his money.

Yes. That's the price for the Royal suite for a family of 5 on the 12/22/2018 Fantasy Christmas cruise. Passengers 1 and 2 are 11k pp. As of right now both Royals are available but I'm sure someone will book them.

 

[kaseyC]

If I had 70k to spend on a vacation it sure as heck wouldn't be for a week-long cruise on Disney!!

We have about 4 more years until our youngest graduates from High School. Once she is in college my husband and I want to take a World cruise. We've started researching them. Depending on the cruise line, total days, ports of call and cabin category 70K could cover both of us for a world voyage. So let's see World cruise or a week in the Caribbean on Disney?

 

[KashasMom]

We have about 4 more years until our youngest graduates from High School. Once she is in college my husband and I want to take a World cruise. We've started researching them. Depending on the cruise line, total days, ports of call and cabin category 70K could cover both of us for a world voyage. So let's see World cruise or a week in the Caribbean on Disney?

Good for you!! Hmmm, easy choice! I'm sure it will be fantastic!

 

[aggiedog]

Oh yes, dh and I are looking at one of those around the world cruises too! I'm thinking I can drop youngest ds off at college and tell him we'll be back in 6 mos. LOL I keep getting Oceania brochures, which we sailed on to French Polynesia.

70K for a one week cruise? That's crazy talk. The only people that can do that are celebrities and other people with insane amounts of disposable income.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Quality of food and service we found to be about the same. The only real difference was in evening entertainment, where DCL won hands down.

We sailed Escape back to back in May 2016. For the Record is probably my all-time favorite production show I've ever seen on a cruise.

 

[cruiser21]

Yes. That's the price for the Royal suite for a family of 5 on the 12/22/2018 Fantasy Christmas cruise. Passengers 1 and 2 are 11k pp. As of right now both Royals are available but I'm sure someone will book them.

I know there's a lot of people in the world that make that in a week or in a day. It's not shocking that someone would pay that much for a vacation. It's just shocking that anyone would spend that much on Disney Caribbean cruise.

 

[Plaid Princess]

What cruise line are you comparing with DCL and what destination?

I've priced everything Bahamas/Caribbean for the weekend we're looking for.

Are you only booking for two people? That might be part of the issue. A lot of other lines give steeper discounts for 3rd & 4th passenger and/or kids, unlike DCL, so families of 3 or more often see a bigger price differential between DCL & other lines than do parties of 2.

No, we're looking for 3 people, which is part of the problem. The rooms on the other ships are sooooo small... to get to the same size as a standard Disney room the prices really aren't that different.

Another thing to consider is cabin type. Some of the people on these boards who moan about being "priced out" of DCL are people who used to cruise DCL concierge. So they compare DCL concierge with concierge-type levels from other lines, and are blown away by the price difference, because DCL's concierge has skyrocketed in price over the past few years, many times faster than the non-concierge cabin categories.
So if you were looking at a regular cabin on both lines, that will show less of a price difference than comparing concierge between both lines.

That does make more sense. We're pretty consistent cat 9 cruisers. I've never felt the need to pay for Concierge, and we've only booked a Veranda once and felt even that was a waste as we didn't use it.

You know you are allowed to get out of the room, right?

Ha ha, is that what all that other stuff onboard is for?

If I had 70k to spend on a vacation it sure as heck wouldn't be for a week-long cruise on Disney!!

Yeah, I'd maybe drop that for a much longer around the world cruise... that's like 25 vacations the way I do it.