I agree and this is one of the things that pushed us to try other cruise lines.
DCL has a price structure that favors sectors of the population in order to keep prices high on the rest of the population. They offer incredibly steep discounts to travel agents and people in the travel community (airline industry, etc), steep discounts to cast members, decent discounts to people in the military, and decent discounts to certain arbitrary geographical regions (Canadians over NYorkers out of NY makes no sense). So many people are discounted on DCL that people who pay regular pricing are in the minority on the ships. If you talk to people on Disney cruises, you quickly figure this out. The people who do pay regular pricing are subsidizing the discounts. I got tired of subsidizing Florida residents and travel agents (even though I love Florida residents and travel agents!). I do not mind subsidizing people in the military-- but that's it. For the CM subsidy, I am on the fence. Other cruise lines do similar discounts for groups, but they also open up discounts to the general public. CCL and others really are trying to fill their ships and are more open with last minute discounts. Plus, the difference between what a
travel agent pays on Carnival or Royal and a regular customer pays is not as stark.
I know I will get people responding that Disney can charge what they want.... I know. But I have also figured out that unlike the parks, with cruising, there are other options out there. And I have found them to be of similar quality or even (gasp) better. There is a Seinfeld episode where he returns a jacket for spite. Sometimes I feel like that with DCL's price structure. lol.