Disney Cruise Line announces sailings from New Orleans

I have no idea how DCL stays in business. They are the most overpriced cruise provider on the planet, yet the drones keep lining up. At least there are ways to save on a WDW vacation (like staying off site, purchasing multi-day tickets, bringing food into the parks, maximizing time in the parks, etc...), but with DCL, they're pretty much a take it or leave it outfit with few promotions and fares that are often double or triple the cost of other cruise lines with identical itineraries. It's not like other cruise lines don't also have programming for children and have more family friendly itineraries.

I guess good for Disney that they're able to gouge guests to such extremes, and have found a highly profitable niche where guests are lining up to have their pockets emptied. However, don't ever expect me to praise DCL.

I used to cruise DCL regulary for 3 or 4 years. You could book your next cruise onboard with a 10% discount. In addition, you would get $300 per room on board credit.

This would come out to around $5500 total or so for two connecting oceanview cabins on floor 2 of the Fantasy (our preferred location on that ship) during Jersey Week in November. I would also transfer the reservation to a travel agent and get another $300 in onboard credit. This would net the cruise down to $4600 or so. Still expensive. But doable.

Compare this to the cruise we are taking this year during Thanksgiving onboard the Anthem of the Seas. We paid $4000 total for two connecting balcony cabins. However, we got $1200 of OBC plus free gratuities and a free speciality dinner. I figured this totaled $1800, so the net cost is $2200.

I didnt even realize the difference before writing it, so I guess this mostly proves Russell's point.

I hear you loud and clear but have you actually been on a Disney Cruise before?

Yes, but not recently, because they are so cost prohibitive. Doing just a quick search, DCL is charging $3,500 for an inside stateroom on a 7-night Caribbean Cruise with just 3 ports of call (one being Disney's private island) in October 2018. You can do a similar itinerary on Norwegian with 5 ports of call for @$1,000 during the same time frame. You could do an extra 7-day trip to Orlando for the $1,500 difference between those two prices.

Just do a search of cruises on Orbitz or another booking engine, and you can see for yourself how overpriced DCL is compared to other cruise lines, even the more luxurious lines like Azamara, Celebrity, and Princess. More power to Disney for brainwashing people into thinking that DCL is the only cruise line if you have kids, but the reality is that virtually every line has great programs for younger cruisers, and ALWAYS cost a fraction of what it does to book on DCL. Search any port of call, destination, or cruise length, and DCL is always the most expensive option, yet they rarely offer the best itineraries, and if level of service is important to you, they don't come close to the service level of the luxury lines.

We have cruised multiple times on Disney, Celebrity and Princess. Interestingly, our son (now 12) places the Disney kid program at the bottom of his rankings. His major complaint? Disney has pretty spaces but it's generally chaos inside. Disney has comparitively few programmed activities -more containment program than anything. While thee are parts of Disney I enjoy, the cost difference just can't be justified anymore.

The other problem is that while the Fantasy and the Dream are nice ships, the Magic and the Wonder are not. They are old ships that don't compare very favorably to many ships built this century.

Meanwhile the itineraries on the Fantasy and Dream are very limited.

DCL must be doing very well because they are adding THREE new ships!

I’ve just recently completed my 11th cruise with DCL, , so I ‘be definitely been drinking the Mouse’s Kool-Aid. But I recognize that DCL is more expensive and plan accordingly; I book as far in advance as possible and stay away from new itineraries where I know DCL will be charging a premium for bragging rights. It’s still expensive compared to, say, Carnival, but from what I’ve seen on Carnival, you get what you pay for.

BTW, cruising on DCL isn’t all about the kids’ programs. My wife and I have taken several DCL cruises where there were no kids in our sailing party; we enjoy the varied adult programming they offer and customer service the service guests used to get at the theme parks, until Disney began to focus on packing in the parks year-round and finding new ways to nickel and dime park and resort guests - especially the ones with deeper pockets.