"Affording" DCL

[cgolf]

To the OPs question, I had to answer how we do it, because I have no way of knowing how the other people onboard payed for their cruises. The cop out answer is that anyone that cruises even once a year is wealthy, but that may not be true, they may live in a tiny house just to be able to afford to travel. The best way to answer it is to figure out how those that do cruise once or more a year do it, and others may be able to use some of those ideas to do the same. Doing what we do we will have made 12 cruises in 9 years, not a terrible number.

Not sure how many vacation days typical Americans get, but I get a little over four weeks after many years on the job which includes sick time. I did have only two though for quite a few years.

 

[deanimal]

Vacation time includes sick time? So if you get sick for two weeks that takes up two of your vacation weeks? What happens if you have something booked? If you're sick you don't get vacation? Or you get to use your sick days as vacation days if you don't need them? I've never considered combining those two things together. How interesting.

 

[bcwife76]

My dh gets 4 weeks of vacation a year plus 6 more days called 'optionals.' He does not get any sick days so he needs to take optionals if he's sick. Otherwise those can be used for days off/doctor appts/dentist appts/whatever you want. Any unused optionals are paid out. Unused vacation days are also paid out, but he always takes them all. However, we only go away for a max of 2 of those 4 weeks a year.

As for what the OP has asked, my answer is similar to many in that we save up I guess! Put money aside each month, etc. This is true of most vacations we take (except camping), not just DCL.

 

[cgolf]

Vacation time includes sick time? So if you get sick for two weeks that takes up two of your vacation weeks? What happens if you have something booked? If you're sick you don't get vacation? Or you get to use your sick days as vacation days if you don't need them? I've never considered combining those two things together. How interesting.

I have had a couple of jobs where you have paid time off that combines sick and vacation time. When they do this they usually start you off with a little more than average, but it really depends on the company. If you go over your days due to an illness, usually thay will let you take the vacation as unpaid. Also if you are sick for a longer time, at some point short term disability kicks in, but since I haven't used it not sure when it kicks in.

 

[Angie789]

I used to marvel at how people could afford DCL prices two or more times a year, too. But I started to notice that the majority of people who post about that travel schedule either don't have kids or are empty nesters. Obviously, it's a lot less expensive to travel with 1 or 2 than if you are paying for 3 or more people (plus, when a school schedule doesn't factor into your decisions, you are free to book at cheaper times).

I'm sure there are some DCL cruisers that have enough money to spend on multiple high dollar vacations without blinking an eye. But for the rest of us, it comes down to priorities. DH and I have good jobs with great salaries. But we also have things that are higher on our priority list than DCL. Our kids are in private school (not cheap!) and we save pretty aggressively for retirement. If we hadn't allocated our money for those two things, than we could easily afford multiple DCL cruises per year. But... since those two things matter more to us than the Mouse, we stick to our vacation budget.

 

[kool_kat]

I have cruised a lot, but this coming March is our first Disney cruise. I can't justify the cost - we are paying more for a 4 day Disney cruise than a 7 day Norwegian with unlimited drinks are costing. But it's a family trip for my husband's grandmother's 80th birthday and this is what she wanted. How am I affording it for me and my family? We are saving, saving, saving. We are giving up Christmas for each other and birthdays. I'm also purchasing Disney gift cards and have save over $1,000 doing that so that makes it a lot more affordable.

 

[Partyof4LA]

I know several couples who cruise or take expensive trips multiple times per year. We all have different ways of doing it. One family, the wife got a part time job just for vacation savings, one isn't aggressively saving for retirement yet, one has kids who are now out of the house, and one just really does have that much disposable income.
This is how we chose to do it: My kids get a week of vacation from school early in the year at a time most of the rest of the country does not. And they get at least two consecutive random days off in the fall. We take the more expensive, longer trips such as WDW, DCL, or an all inclusive resort on those weeks to minimize days missed while still getting offseason pricing. We do 1-2 cheaper trips during the summer that are in driving distance.
We have no debt aside from our mortgage. Besides paying private school tuition, we live pretty simple and aren't big spenders. I calculate what came in each month above our normal guaranteed salaries (bonuses, commission from sales, or extra shifts worked) and that amount goes straight to our vacation savings. We can usually use credit card points for our flights and we get discounted hotel rooms through DH's job.

 

[ladypiph]

For my small family of 3 we save and plan well in advance some trips all we have to do is save about $25 per week, granted we have done this for as long as 18 months but it just makes it easier on us. Like some have said we gather gift cards along the way from birthdays, Christmas and other celebrations(for our Disney vacations) we are also lucky enough to be FL residents so we take full advantage of those perks/benefits. We travel mostly during off season and our DS is still relatively young (4) so he is still in awe about small things, so we don't need very much spending money we just buy him a few small toys from the dollar tree or even bring a long some of his toys he hasn't seen in a while .

 

[jrabbit]

We are a family of 3 as well and spend between $5-7k on our yearly disney vacation that consists of 2 days at the park, 3 nights at Disney Swan & Dolphin, and a 7 night cruise (non-concierge) . If you budget the same amount, I'd be curious to understand why you dont think you can afford it?

The OP is a "special case" - ie travel agent that gets discounts on their personal travel: so they are spending $233 per night on vacation ($7,000 / 30 nights). family of 3 can't get hotel and park tickets to any Disney Property for that price. Well off site and non park hopper (maybe) but then you have to eat, etc on top of that.

So the real answer to the OP is that those of us that don't work in the travel industry, pay a lot more per night for our vacations. So we save and save and save.

 

[DnA2010]

Fact: We like to vacation- in the past 5 years we have done Hawaii twice, 3 cruises (RCL Oasis (inlaws paid) Freedom, and DCL Fantasy) Disneyland twice, WDW/Orlando once, Las Vegas 3ish times. DH and I both work full time- DH works in a stressful job and vacations really truly help him so much. I work long hours so find vacations keep me going.

How do we do it: both DH and I work decent jobs, we do have a big mortgage, but that's the only debt we have. I have a 2012 car that we bought in fall of 2012 and paid off in the spring of this year, OH's car is a 97 with 612,000kms on it (for real) we figure as long as it keeps trucking that's another trip we can do (say $400x12 months- $4800) We are putting money aside though, so we can just buy a good used vehicle for him when it dies. We don't eat out much, get a lot of our meat from inlaws who raise a few beef and pigs for the family, I hate shopping so don't spend much on clothes etc, buy stuff second hand off FB groups etc, we don't eat out much.

Travel specific- our DCL was a VGT for $3588 for the 3 of us. This rate was pretty good, so despite the exchange we went ahead with it. Being from Canada, we used up the last of our US money on this trip. I also watch car rental rates, book cheap hotels where I can, and almost all our flights have been on aeroplan (Hawaii, Orlando, 2x cruises) We also used Airmiles for the park hoppers for our DL trip. I also sell extra "stuff" on FB, and overall we just go without "extras" where we can so we can travel more.
I don't see us taking another DCL for a while though, as although we LOVED LOVED it, the US/Canadian dollar exchange is just killing me and I can't stomach the 30-40% add on to the prices. We may do another RCL cruise as you can book in CAD and the rates are much better, they also give a good exchange on OBC, or we may save travel to the US for a while, til the exchange rates are better.

We don't have a set budget for travel to say- when we have the funds and I find a good deal, we travel

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Apparently, they resign themselves to taking the bus everywhere. I just priced a 7-night Eastern for next July in Concierge with 2A2C, and for the same price, I can get a new 2016 Chevy Equinox

 

[kamik86]

Vacation time includes sick time? So if you get sick for two weeks that takes up two of your vacation weeks? What happens if you have something booked? If you're sick you don't get vacation? Or you get to use your sick days as vacation days if you don't need them? I've never considered combining those two things together. How interesting.

My job currently has PTO (paid time off) which is both our vacation and sick time. We get 144 hours per year though when you first start, more as you stay longer. Since most don't go away from 3 full weeks a year that leaves some sick time.

Also most don't get sick for two weeks in a year. Those with kids may take 10 days between their own and their kids sick days but I know for myself I have only taken a few sick days. Combine that with being able to work from home (so I have to be pretty sick to take a full sick day. I'll generally do a bit of work between naps) and being able to flex time over a two week period (so I can stay late on other days to make up some of the time) its really rare for me to take a full day of sick time. We also get every other friday off so doctor and dentist appointments when I can are scheduled then. When I can't they are generally flexed.

However it has happened that someone has managed to use ALL their vacation time and not have any left when they need some. I remember one case where someone used all her vacation time left for a trip and a large storm delayed her flight home. So she missed another day. In those cases PTO can go negative and be made up.

Unused PTO rolls over for the next year. I took two full week vacations, and a few hours here and there next week and currently have 160 hours of PTO.


However MA just added a law that everyone must have paid sick time. Which can't be denied by an employer if the time is for certain reasons. Due to the fact that PTO can be denied (although it rarely happens) they have adjusted it for next year so that we have this thing called myTime which can't be denied by our bosses but will not roll over. IN practice I imagine most will use all their my time first due to it not rolling and then save PTO for later.

 

[RKKUNK]

We usually just book a Disney cruise if we find a really good rate. Our first was in 2012 a 7 night on the Fantasy VGT which was $3700 for the 3 of us. Then in 2013 we got an Alaska 7 night cruise VGT 22 days before the cruise for $3900 (we truly lucked out on that one!) and a 4 night on the Dream last November(2014) in a Concierge Family Veranda Stateroom for $2700 for a Double Dip cruise!(I booked that one 2 years in advance) Since then we have not found anything even close to that for my family of 3. We do live on the West Coast and have to travel to get to where the cruises leave from. We think the days of cruising with Disney are probably gone for us. We simply cannot afford the prices they are charging now. I guess it was good to go out with a bang in the Concierge cabin!

We do have a grand suite booked on the Allure of the Seas in May which we booked 2 years ago for a little over $4000. We just make payments!

 

[AquaDame]

Hmm.... one thing that just occurred to me while reading this thread was perhaps one factor is the fact that many cruisers are Americans who get far fewer vacations days on average than anyone else in the world. Two weeks per year is pretty typical in the states, right? (Maybe this is just a stereotype; feel free to correct me.) If I only travelled one or two weeks per year I'd probably be prepared to pay a premium to get as much as I could out of that week. I'd probably also be less inclined to try something new which may be why some people just keep doing DCL year after year; if you try something else and you don't like it that's it for the year.

If you have 4-6 weeks for vacations per year, as is typical in many other parts of the world, then you'll want to stretch your vacation dollars out a bit more and may be willing to try something different to save a bit of money. If you don't like your spring trip you can do something different in summer, etc. Just a thought.

Of course, there are still those who cruise with Disney multiple times per year and this theory doesn't say anything about that!

Two weeks to start is the norm in the industries that get ANY vacation time. Lots of jobs don't even give you that - it is unpaid or nothing at all (though there are movements to get this addressed that are gaining traction). As you stay at the same company you tend to get more. Even then it is important to note that TONS of us Americans don't use that time - some of us not a single day in a year. Its pretty sad really... but there I go with my own opinion on the matter again. When you get so little yes, you do tend to want to make certain it is a good one, but there are a lot of families I know that only ever go camping too. Either go for broke or go for truly relaxing..? Something like that. There are a lot of people in the gray zones too though..! I do think that idea is part of it.

Vacation time includes sick time? So if you get sick for two weeks that takes up two of your vacation weeks? What happens if you have something booked? If you're sick you don't get vacation? Or you get to use your sick days as vacation days if you don't need them? I've never considered combining those two things together. How interesting.

Sometimes... not always. Basically we don't have many set rules about time off here so companies have by and large done what they thought was right for them and offered benefits accordingly. For jobs where competition is fierce and you could fill the spot with anyone you'd be lucky to get any paid time off at all (and in some special cases like in retail on black Friday not even UNpaid time off!) In my experience here in Oregon I typically was allowed to take about 2 weeks off unpaid when I was working at Jamba Juice and Starbucks then got two weeks vacation and 5 sick days a year at my first 'real' job. It was the same in the jobs that followed until I hit upon where I am now. When I was hired I got two weeks vacation and sick time was unlimited - if you were sick they wanted you to STAY HOME (which is why I am still here... this company tries hard to keep us happy). Then when I had been here long enough to bump up to three weeks a year (in my third calendar year) they changed it so everyone started with three and after three years you got four weeks which is what I get now.

Conversely my husband who works at a much larger unionized company still only gets about two weeks after five years. He also gets sick time at a % of hours every pay period and it caps at some number of hours but I don't remember what to be honest. When his father passed away this year the way they handled that was even more nuts.... they don't DO bereavement apparently. He was required to take all his sick time, use up his vacation time and then take unpaid time if he still needed to be out. That was a new one to both of us but goes to show how you just don't know in the USA...

Fact: We like to vacation- in the past 5 years we have done Hawaii twice, 3 cruises (RCL Oasis (inlaws paid) Freedom, and DCL Fantasy) Disneyland twice, WDW/Orlando once, Las Vegas 3ish times. DH and I both work full time- DH works in a stressful job and vacations really truly help him so much. I work long hours so find vacations keep me going.

How do we do it: both DH and I work decent jobs, we do have a big mortgage, but that's the only debt we have. I have a 2012 car that we bought in fall of 2012 and paid off in the spring of this year, OH's car is a 97 with 612,000kms on it (for real) we figure as long as it keeps trucking that's another trip we can do (say $400x12 months- $4800) We are putting money aside though, so we can just buy a good used vehicle for him when it dies. We don't eat out much, get a lot of our meat from inlaws who raise a few beef and pigs for the family, I hate shopping so don't spend much on clothes etc, buy stuff second hand off FB groups etc, we don't eat out much.

Travel specific- our DCL was a VGT for $3588 for the 3 of us. This rate was pretty good, so despite the exchange we went ahead with it. Being from Canada, we used up the last of our US money on this trip. I also watch car rental rates, book cheap hotels where I can, and almost all our flights have been on aeroplan (Hawaii, Orlando, 2x cruises) We also used Airmiles for the park hoppers for our DL trip. I also sell extra "stuff" on FB, and overall we just go without "extras" where we can so we can travel more.
I don't see us taking another DCL for a while though, as although we LOVED LOVED it, the US/Canadian dollar exchange is just killing me and I can't stomach the 30-40% add on to the prices. We may do another RCL cruise as you can book in CAD and the rates are much better, they also give a good exchange on OBC, or we may save travel to the US for a while, til the exchange rates are better.

We don't have a set budget for travel to say- when we have the funds and I find a good deal, we travel

I hear you...! I also drive a '97 car with 225,000 miles on it. The oldies are goodies... I feel like I could drive my Impreza forever most days but I'm planning on getting a Tesla Model III when they are finally out as long as the reviews on them are positive. Now I just need to find some in laws to treat me to a vacation sometime...

Apparently, they resign themselves to taking the bus everywhere. I just priced a 7-night Eastern for next July in Concierge with 2A2C, and for the same price, I can get a new 2016 Chevy Equinox

It's true... I drive an older car and choose to train in to work to save the extra $70 plus gas a month it'd cost to drive in and park downtown..! To be fair though that is in CONCIERGE... The idea of owning an SUV scares me a little. So much more gas $ and so much harder to whip around into parking spots around here.

 

[FLVacationGirl]

I'm finding the prices for DCL and WDW to be crazy as well. I'm thinking my next family cruise after this upcoming one with DCL in Jan will be a 7 night with RCCL or NCL.

I'm in awe of how people can book frequent 7 - 14+ night DCL cruises like it's nothing and add on WDW and deluxe resorts pre and post cruise. We are at a point now where my husband and I are both in the top 10% for earnings and we definitely wouldn't have that kind of extra money lying around. I don't run into many families who have cruised DCL. All-inclusive family trips to Mexico, Jamaica, Hawaii, Cuba, Dominican, etc are more the norm and I know a ton of families who have never gone on any big family trips. Most have only gone to WDW once but a few have gotten hooked and have gone a few times. I know only one other family who has done 2 DCL trips and they are a double-dentist family. I'm only doing my 2nd so soon because it was a HUGE gift from family.

For the families who are doing big trips each year, it's definitely 2 income families around here. But our vacation dollars are competing with high competitive kids sports fees and the cost of having 2 jobs. ie: extra vehicle (more in Canada), extra insurance (way more in Canada), extra parking spots at work, etc.

Yesterday, WDW sent me a long survey asking why I didn't book a WDW trip that I had put into my cart. At the end of the survey, I was asked to give my household income in USD, not CDN. Seeing it drop $50k in the conversion definitely sunk in the fact for me that our money isn't going far on US trips and especially DCL or WDW trips.

 

[AquaDame]

Yesterday, WDW sent me a long survey asking why I didn't book a WDW trip that I had put into my cart. At the end of the survey, I was asked to give my household income in USD, not CDN. Seeing it drop $50k in the conversion definitely sunk in the fact for me that our money isn't going far on US trips and especially DCL or WDW trips.

As an aside, have you priced out Disneyland yet? There are tons of decent hotels across the street that are not Disney owned (and thus much cheaper) so it might be easier on the budget while everyone waits for the CDN to go back up!

 

[Tarabra]

We have been on 10 with number 11 coming up. We are by no means rich, but always seem to manage to get a pretty good deal. We just booked for the 7 day Southern Caribbean on the Wonder. 5 ports. For the 4 of us with an Oceanview, it will cost $2985!!! Could NOT pass it up. That was with the DVC member cash deal. If we would've booked a GTY inside room, it would've been $3085. Yes, it is January, but it will be far enough South that the weather will be great. We also save up any rebate checks, dividend checks, Christmas money, birthday money, etc. I also will sell stuff on ebay and use my paypal account money from what I've sold. We usually do the inside rooms, go off season and don't do excursions. But yes, I priced out a summer cruise once and was STUNNED.

 

[FLVacationGirl]

As an aside, have you priced out Disneyland yet? There are tons of decent hotels across the street that are not Disney owned (and thus much cheaper) so it might be easier on the budget while everyone waits for the CDN to go back up!

We should do that. My mom and step-dad are in Florida though so we love to spend half our vacation visiting them and then half at WDW, Universal, cruise etc.

 

[hubbard53]

As an aside, have you priced out Disneyland yet? There are tons of decent hotels across the street that are not Disney owned (and thus much cheaper) so it might be easier on the budget while everyone waits for the CDN to go back up!

We like the Hilton across from Disneyland. It's walk able and usually free with our Hilton Honors points. However, we did stay at California Grand and loved the convenience of its own park entrance.

 

[AquaDame]

We should do that. My mom and step-dad are in Florida though so we love to spend half our vacation visiting them and then half at WDW, Universal, cruise etc.

The draw of family is strong..! That does kind of change things...

We like the Hilton across from Disneyland. It's walk able and usually free with our Hilton Honors points. However, we did stay at California Grand and loved the convenience of its own park entrance.

With their dollar so low that might be hard to swing for them though. We rented points and are staying at GCV for the first time over NYE - so excited to see if we love it too!