Convince me I don't need Disney (of help me convince my parents that they do)

[we"reofftoneverland]

Wow. I would have loved for my parents to have been able to take my family on any vacation. With your perspective on this, I think you really need to re-evaluate your entire position and realize how (sorry to be harsh) spoiled you sound. Your kids will have a great time regardless. Kids are flexible and take their cues from parents. If you express anxiety about them being separated, they will feel it too. If you express disappointment in the vacation, your kids will feel it too. If you are enthusiastic and communicate to them how lucky they are to go to a wonderland called Alaska on an engineering marvel called a cruise ship, they too will be in awe of their surroundings and thrilled with their experience. When we started to cruise other lines, my kids didn’t skip a beat—- to my shock they preferred other lines. They clubs on Disney are gorgeous but they are a free for all, a zoo. On other lines, counselors are more involved, play more games, get to know the kids, instead of handing them iPads to amuse themselves. I was the one with the anxiety. Kids don’t need half the things most parents think they need. And generally they are better off without them. As for your parents, realize that many people your age pay for their parents to join them on vacation. You are lucky to be in the opposite situation. Don’t be so focused on yourself. Your parents will need their money as they age. How frivolous to spend double on a luxury vacation, so you can see Mickey Mouse when you can take your kids on vacation to Disney World yourself to do just that— a much better value. I hope you put yourself in your parents’ shoes and roll model for your kids that they are lucky as opposed to being hard done by.

 

[Chuck S]

To address the Kids Club issue...I have not been on a Princess branded cruise, but I have been on Carnival...Carnival owns Princess. The kids in my group loved the Carnival Kids Club. I would think Princess would be similar. Reading through this thread, I see many advantages to Princess for Alaska over Disney.

 

[mevelandry]

Well, technically food is a need. A good variety is more a luxury. Sure we would all like variety, but if you are starving you would eat the same thing every time just to survive

But otherwise I agree.

...To be in good health, you need a good variety of food, though (sources of proteins, fats, carbs, etc.) ... So I definitely see it as a "need".

 

[Dug720]

...To be in good health, you need a good variety of food, though (sources of proteins, fats, carbs, etc.) ... So I definitely see it as a "need".

OK, valid.

But if it's a choice of starving or eating SOMETHING, food wins over variety any day.

 

[mevelandry]

OK, valid.

But if it's a choice of starving or eating SOMETHING, food wins over variety any day.

Of course. But my point was that I find completely absurd to compare cruises to food banks.

 

[Dug720]

Of course. But my point was that I find completely absurd to compare cruises to food banks.

I never mentioned food banks. I simply said that while food is 100% a NEED, a wide variety is not 100% a NEED - more like 90-95%.

 

[mevelandry]

I never mentioned food banks. I simply said that while food is 100% a NEED, a wide variety is not 100% a NEED - more like 90-95%.

You didn't. Someone else did.

Look, like I said yesterday, I don't want to debate this anymore. I'm done.

 

[Karin1984]

You didn't. Someone else did.

Look, like I said yesterday, I don't want to debate this anymore. I'm done.

I did, and that was to make a point about being grateful, which was what the thread was turning into: Do you have to be grateful for everything you receive?
To me that includes necessities and luxury, no you don't have to be eternally grateful for everything. There are shades of grey. And if you expect eternal gratitude for everything you give, you are bound to be disappointed along the way. That's putting an unfair expectation on the receiver.

I think by now the OP has gotten a lot of input about the Princess line and what he and his children can look forward to, let's wish the entire family happy cruising

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Wow, for me again. I see ingratitude as the source of almost all unhappiness in the world. If people are not grateful, or have a sense of entitlement, they will never be happy. There is no one more unhappy than a child who gets everything he or she wants. There are a lot of unhappy kids in the dcl kids clubs. Lol. Not to say there are not a lot of unhappy kids everywhere, especially nowadays, but everyone needs to wake up. The op has children but in this case is also his parents’ child and he too is in some ways throwing a temper tantrum by trying to guilt his parents into the vacation he wants. His parents have made their choice. And it was obviously a hard one for them to make because they have gone back and forth on it. As an adult, he should respect their choice and, yes, be grateful for their generosity.

 

[EveDallas]

We went with Royal Caribbean for or our Alaska Cruise based off price. I wish we had paid the difference, I felt I was constantly being up sold for everything on the ship. Sitting down for coffee and without fail every morning the specialty restaurant staff would come around and ask if I wanted to book a table for that day. Sitting upstairs on the deck and spa staff would ask if I was interested in any treatments that day. Went to an enrichment lecture and was reminded of the great deals in port and on the ship. In the main dining 'would like somthing off our uncharge menu?' Every activity seemed geared towards getting you to spend more money. Made me realize that while Disney is expensive they make their money upfront and are not trying nickel and dime you to make up the difference on the ship.

But all you have to do is say NO. DCL doesn't give you that option.

 

[cdoc29]

But all you have to do is say NO. DCL doesn't give you that option.

As I said in a follow up post to the one you quoted, the level of service and really all things for us when comparing the two would be worth the price difference but each of us holds different ideas as to what is "worth the price"

 

[jiminyC_fan]

We've been to Alaska on HAL and are platinum on DCL. If we were to go back to Alaska it would, without hesitation, be on HAL. I'm sorry but if your parents are kind enough to include you and the kids on THEIR special celebration then I think you need to keep your thoughts to yourself.

 

[Lisa F]

Gratitude is not an all or nothing thing and people seem to be assuming that the OP is completely black and white "not grateful." He can be grateful his parents are alive, that they are well off enough to take him and his family on vacation, that they have been together for 50 years and that he will get to go to Alaska and still be disappointed that he thought he was going on Disney where is comfort zone is, and now he isn't. So he is talking about it - and of course it's the internet, so people are jumping all over him - and he is doing research hoping to to feel better about the last piece.

Doesn't seem like a monster to me.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

It must seem to the OP like many of us are really piling on - me included. I've been thinking a lot about this post, and realizing that I've been worrying a lot about the OP and his parents. If the perceptions of many of us are accurate, this family may be in the middle of a very painful dynamic, with a cruise to be planned the least of it.

Maybe those of us who criticized him for being greedy are wrong - hopefully we've misunderstood the situation and he is not someone who manipulates his parents by "subtly" making them miserable if he isn't happy and doesn't get "his way". But if he does have some growing up to do, I'm really hoping he can do the work to do it. His parents, by loving him as the center of their world, may not have helped him learn that he's not entitled to endlessly take. It's hard to teach yourselves the lessons you didn't get as a child, but I am very sure that it's important to learn them. His parents undoubtedly know what he is doing, even if he thinks they can't see through him, and he's indicated that he's aware that he's not exactly happy with himself.

No one is the bad guy here. I wish this family the very best of luck, not only on their cruise but beyond.

 

[FigmentSpark]

It must seem to the OP like many of us are really piling on - me included. I've been thinking a lot about this post, and realizing that I've been worrying a lot about the OP and his parents. If the perceptions of many of us are accurate, this family may be in the middle of a very painful dynamic, with a cruise to be planned the least of it.

Maybe those of us who criticized him for being greedy are wrong - hopefully we've misunderstood the situation and he is not someone who manipulates his parents by "subtly" making them miserable if he isn't happy and doesn't get "his way". But if he does have some growing up to do, I'm really hoping he can do the work to do it. His parents, by loving him as the center of their world, may not have helped him learn that he's not entitled to endlessly take. It's hard to teach yourselves the lessons you didn't get as a child, but I am very sure that it's important to learn them. His parents undoubtedly know what he is doing, even if he thinks they can't see through him, and he's indicated that he's aware that he's not exactly happy with himself.

No one is the bad guy here. I wish this family the very best of luck, not only on their cruise but beyond.

Wow! You read a lot into a couple of paragraphs. Okay, for argument's sake, what if the parents are the manipulative ones? What if they dangled the Disney cruise in front of him to get him to say yes and give them access to the grandkids, but then snatched it away without even consulting him? Maybe he's in the midst of turmoil and trying to keep up with the dynamics as best he can while advocating for his kids and not wanting to go against his parents.

No? But you don't know, do you? Neither do you know he's the bad guy in some manipulative relationship with his family.

This is just a guy trying to find out if he and his family are going to like a Princess cruise in Alaska as much as he's imagined he'd like a DCL cruise. He doesn't know and comes here to find out. He's a little embarrassed and self-deprecating to lighten the mood and what happens? He's painted as an evil selfish jerk. That wasn't in the post.

I hope the OP comes back and joins us here, because for the most part, we are an amenible bunch. But after this thread, I doubt that will happen. And that says more about us than him.

 

[BrianF]

Again, thanks everyone for the discussion. At this point I'm pretty amused. I've been on other forums where I couldn't start a thread 5 pages long if I tried.
Even the folks whose posts feel judgmental are clearly looking out for my parents which I appreciate.
The meat of my question has certainly been answered and I've been surprised by that answer on a Disney centered forum, but to be fair most things The Dis don't pull punches when Disney isn't living up to the competition and in this case it sounds like for Alaska cruises in particular Princess may have them beat.
I'm basically only chiming in again to clear up a bit of semantics. When I said "get the f over it" my intention (and the common intention of those words in that particular order in my experience) is that the f is being used to belittle the crabby mood not grant importance to the "it". It could often be followed up by "you crybaby" or something along those lines. If I had intended that phrase to be about how big a task it was going to be to deal with an actual hardship it would have read more like "get over this f-ing change". At the risk of people thinking I'm comparing my privileged-son-of-generous-parents-first-world-problem to something of actual import, you wouldn't tell someone to "get the f over cancer", you'd say "get over that f-ing cancer". You might however say "get the f over your dropped ice cream". My "problem" is on par with dropped ice cream in a world where plenty of people don't even have their parents, others need food banks, and others don't even have those. My swearing was about my attitude toward the situation, not the gift of a cruise.

 

[elbarto007]

Wow. 2 pages of informative information. I will definitely check out the Princess site when I’m ready for my Alaska cruise. 3 pages of hate mail and debate. Time to go look at another thread.

 

[mevelandry]

Wow. 2 pages of informative information. I will definitely check out the Princess site when I’m ready for my Alaska cruise. 3 pages of hate mail and debate. Time to go look at another thread.

Agreed. That ship has sailed...

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

Wow! You read a lot into a couple of paragraphs. Okay, for argument's sake, what if the parents are the manipulative ones? What if they dangled the Disney cruise in front of him to get him to say yes and give them access to the grandkids, but then snatched it away without even consulting him? Maybe he's in the midst of turmoil and trying to keep up with the dynamics as best he can while advocating for his kids and not wanting to go against his parents.

No? But you don't know, do you? Neither do you know he's the bad guy in some manipulative relationship with his family.

You're right. Neither of us knows. I hope I am wrong, and if I am, I sincerely apologize to the OP.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Brian, Alaska is a wonderful destination and I know whatever cruise line you go with you will have an amazing time.