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

[mevelandry]

I feel like a selfish turd for even posting this but here it is anyway.
My parents are planning to take my family of 4 (DW, DD6, DD4,& Me) on an Alaska cruise for their 50th anniversary. They were planning on Princess cruises then switched to Disney which was exciting but then they switched back. I really want the girls to have a great trip and I'm worried that the Princess Cruise won't deliver. One detail that worries me is that the kids clubs break the ages at 7 which will split the girls up when we take the trip in 2 years and they're pretty close with the younger one in particular dealing with some attachment stuff. I also can't seem to sell myself on the kids' clubs on the Princess ships, they look like (and I'm sure are) afterthoughts. We can't just default to swimming instead of kids clubs either because Alaska in the early summer isn't exactly going to be hot.
Pricing out the options for similar rooms on the two lines shows that Disney is nearly double the price. Maybe if it were my money I'd doubt the value in it but I honestly think the Disney option actually looks 2x as good to me.
Any tips and tricks for convincing my parents that they should spring for the cruise that's 2x the cost because their greedy man-child thinks it's better. Or perhaps better yet (though sacrilege on this forum), any tips to help me get the f over the change and be happy we're getting treated to a cruise at all?

Well... There's no delicate way to say this but the end of your message makes me believe you are already half-way there... It's their anniversary, not yours. It's not your money. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Just be grateful...

My advice: Keep your eyes, your mind and your mind open and try something new. When you lower your expectation, there is more room for surprises.

p.s.: Also, nobody "needs" Disney.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

If your parents are paying then you have no right to try to “convince “ them to switch to DCL at more than twice the cost because you’re worried about your kids not liking.

Whose anniversary is it? Your parents
Who is paying for it? Your parents
Who chose the cruise line? Your parents
Who invited your family? Your parents
Who should choose cruise line? Your parents

You have no and are being ungrateful and selfish! Your kids will be 2 years older when cruise happens so you can prepare them to be separated and work on it!

 

[ChicosWife]

p.s.: Also, nobody "needs" Disney.

Well..... I don't know about that!

 

[lancermom]

Princess is first rate when it comes to Alaska. They do Alaska better than anyone. As far as switching lines - no. This is an incredibly generous thing for your parents to be doing. Your only role is to express nothing but gratitude for this incredible opportunity. You have no business dictating how they spend their money.

After you say thank you, you have 2 years to research and plan for this trip, and get your whole family excited. Your kids do not need a Disney element in every trip.

 

[Allison]

Accept the gift of a cruise from your parents and celebrate their golden anniversary. Next summer repay your generous parents with a Caribbean cruise on Disney.

We have the winner.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Well..... I don't know about that!

Exactly. Just got off the phone booking another cruise.

 

[ashley0139]

I'm trying to imagine my parents offering to pay for a lovely vacation for me and then being entitled enough to try to convince them to pay double because I would prefer something slightly different. Nope...I got nothing.

 

[Pens Fan]

Ummm. I don't even know how to respond to this in a civil way. I guess I will just say that this post (and anyone who responds positively to it) really needs to dig deep and evaluate your priorities.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Ummm. I don't even know how to respond to this in a civil way. I guess I will just say that this post (and anyone who responds positively to it) really needs to dig deep and evaluate your priorities.

And to be fair, almost every respondent has been "wat the wat a free cruise on the premier line for Alaska and you WAT?!"

 

[whatsthebuzz]

Ummm. I don't even know how to respond to this in a civil way. I guess I will just say that this post (and anyone who responds positively to it) really needs to dig deep and evaluate your priorities.

Exactly! We treat our grown children, children-in-law, and grandchildren, to wonderful family vacations as often as possible. We love sharing experiences with them. If I ever found out that one of my children was as selfish and ungrateful as OP I'd be absolutely heartbroken.

 

[Lisa F]

Exactly! We treat our grown children, children-in-law, and grandchildren, to wonderful family vacations as often as possible. We love sharing experiences with them. If I ever found out that one of my children was as selfish and ungrateful as OP I'd be absolutely heartbroken.

Will you adopt me? I promise not to complain about it

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

Definitely get excited about Princess' North to Alaska program, which sells a lot of people (including our family) on choosing Princess for Alaska: https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises/onboard-experience/

Several Princess ships have enclosed pools, which are great for pool time in Alaska. We've chosen Princess for Alaska, and I think that between the Camp Discovery kids clubs, the onboard Alaska program, our time ashore, and the enclosed pool, DD will keep very busy!

 

[Karin1984]

In defense of the OP, for everyone calling him out to be ungrateful and selfish. The OP knows that and acknowledges that already in his first post. That's not the point here.

Even if someone is doing something nice to you and your family, that doesn't mean you cannot or are not allowed to feel 'I wish we could do it this way'. Feelings are what they are and should be acknowledged. Only then you can deal with it. I think it's brave for someone to put emotions which arent socially accepted out in the open. Because you normally do not talk about it. You can be grateful and still wish things were different. If someone offers you, doesn't mean you have to like every aspect of it.

How you deal with it, is a different story, and the OP is looking for a way to deal with it.
Reading his post, I didn't think he was seriously looking for advice on changing the mind of his parents, more looking for the good in Princess / Alaska cruises, or the downsides of Disney on this route.

It's not much different like getting an incredibly ugly Christmas sweater from your aunt with the message 'I've knitted this, just for you and it has taken me 250 hours!', you smile and nod, put on the sweater at Christmas, and then throw it at the back of the closet, throw it away and tell your aunt it shrunk in the laundry. Or only wear it inside the house when the heater stopped working.

 

[mevelandry]

In defense of the OP, for everyone calling him out to be ungrateful and selfish. The OP knows that and acknowledges that already in his first post. That's not the point here.

Even if someone is doing something nice to you and your family, that doesn't mean you cannot or are not allowed to feel 'I wish we could do it this way'. Feelings are what they are and should be acknowledged. Only then you can deal with it. I think it's brave for someone to put emotions which arent socially accepted out in the open. Because you normally do not talk about it. You can be grateful and still wish things were different. If someone offers you, doesn't mean you have to like every aspect of it.

How you deal with it, is a different story, and the OP is looking for a way to deal with it.
Reading his post, I didn't think he was seriously looking for advice on changing the mind of his parents, more looking for the good in Princess / Alaska cruises, or the downsides of Disney on this route.

It's not much different like getting an incredibly ugly Christmas sweater from your aunt with the message 'I've knitted this, just for you and it has taken me 250 hours!', you smile and nod, put on the sweater at Christmas, and then throw it at the back of the closet, throw it away and tell your aunt it shrunk in the laundry. Or only wear it inside the house when the heater stopped working.

Except it's not an ugly sweater... It's an incredible vacation experience that a lot of people cannot afford to begin with.

And... "I'm grateful BUT..." means that deep down inside, you're not really grateful.

 

[Karin1984]

Except it's not an ugly sweater... It's an incredible vacation experience that a lot of people cannot afford to begin with.

And... "I'm grateful BUT..." means that deep down inside, you're not really grateful.

And some people in the world can't afford a sweater. I've worked at a food bank, and sometimes it happened we had to hand out people the same food for several weeks in a row, because those were the donations we received. One part of you thinks 'these people should be grateful they get fed at all', but you could also understand if you have to eat the same food constantly, you ask for something different and are less grateful.

Fictional story, probably will not ever happen in real life, I know:
Let's say you and your neighbour both book a GTY Inside stateroom cruise and the day of assignment you get a beautiful Verandah room, and you are happy and grateful and all. But then you find out your neighbour, who paid the same rate, for whatever good luck, he got a Concierge room. You can still be grateful for the room you got, but also feel a bit sulky for not receiving a Concierge room.

To me there are several levels of grateful, and it's not a bad thing if you are not fully grateful with everything you get all the time. It's about how you deal with these emotions and look for the good things.

 

[Lisa F]

In defense of the OP, for everyone calling him out to be ungrateful and selfish. The OP knows that and acknowledges that already in his first post. That's not the point here.

Even if someone is doing something nice to you and your family, that doesn't mean you cannot or are not allowed to feel 'I wish we could do it this way'. Feelings are what they are and should be acknowledged. Only then you can deal with it. I think it's brave for someone to put emotions which arent socially accepted out in the open. Because you normally do not talk about it. You can be grateful and still wish things were different. If someone offers you, doesn't mean you have to like every aspect of it.

How you deal with it, is a different story, and the OP is looking for a way to deal with it.
Reading his post, I didn't think he was seriously looking for advice on changing the mind of his parents, more looking for the good in Princess / Alaska cruises, or the downsides of Disney on this route.

It's not much different like getting an incredibly ugly Christmas sweater from your aunt with the message 'I've knitted this, just for you and it has taken me 250 hours!', you smile and nod, put on the sweater at Christmas, and then throw it at the back of the closet, throw it away and tell your aunt it shrunk in the laundry. Or only wear it inside the house when the heater stopped working.

I agree that feelings are feelings and the OP is not clueless about the implications of his feelings either. I enjoyed the first post. I think part of it is that they were booked on Disney for a time and then changed back, so he got excited about Disney and now it's different.

Also I think most of his concerns are related to what kind of a vacation his kids will have. It's not like he's on here stomping his feet that he can't have Palo brunch. He's got a younger daughter with anxiety that makes it hard to separate her from the older daughter. As a parent of a kid with special needs I can tell you that when you're dealing with that kind of stuff, the unknown is a bit anxiety inducing (in adults).

I understand that it's the internet, so people feel free and even entitled to express their opinion about everything that they read... but it's not useful whatsoever to take the time out of your day to tell this guy he's just being a big old jerk. If he really IS just being a jerk and does not have real concerns it might be helpful to address, do you think he will cease being a jerk because he got a talking to by some stranger on the internet?

Useful sentiments that people have expressed on this thread include:
it will be 2 years from now, your daughter very well will have grown out of it
Princess actually does a good job with their kid clubs and my kids enjoyed it
Princess actually has a superior Alaska experience to Disney's

If I were this guy I'd be feeling a lot better about the princess option. Traveling with kids is hard and I'm sure the grandparents want everyone to have a good time - hence booking Disney for a short time - but it sounds like they did their own research and came to the same conclusions as people are posting here. Rather than actually being ungrateful and expressing his feelings to his parents and questioning them and hurting their feelings, he decided to come here and ask while simultaneously acknowledging that he knows his feelings are kind of crappy. I'm glad at least some people chimed in to let him know it will still be a great vacation! Maybe even better than Disney for Alaska.

 

[mevelandry]

And some people in the world can't afford a sweater. I've worked at a food bank, and sometimes it happened we had to hand out people the same food for several weeks in a row, because those were the donations we received. One part of you thinks 'these people should be grateful they get fed at all', but you could also understand if you have to eat the same food constantly, you ask for something different and are less grateful.

Fictional story, probably will not ever happen in real life, I know:
Let's say you and your neighbour both book a GTY Inside stateroom cruise and the day of assignment you get a beautiful Verandah room, and you are happy and grateful and all. But then you find out your neighbour, who paid the same rate, for whatever good luck, he got a Concierge room. You can still be grateful for the room you got, but also feel a bit sulky for not receiving a Concierge room.

To me there are several levels of grateful, and it's not a bad thing if you are not fully grateful with everything you get all the time. It's about how you deal with these emotions and look for the good things.

... I'm confused. What does cruising has to do with food banks? It's like comparing apples and... dragon fruits. LOL

Your example would only fit if the parents were cruising on DCL while forcing OP to sail on Princess.

Plus, it's a cruise we're talking about. If you can't be 100% grateful and happy about getting a free cruise, I'm not sure what can make you happy to be honest.

 

[jo-jo]

Your parents are celebrating their 50th anniversay. Value them, not the cruise.

 

[cruisehopeful]

You don't need Disney, especially for Alaska. I'd rather sail Alaska on Princess and that's after doing 2 Alaska cruises on Disney. To me, the only benefit to taking DCL to Alaska is that you know what to expect in the kid's club and it sounds like you don't for Princess.

I actually found kids bored on DCL in Alaska. Since they are able to check themselves in and out of the clubs, they were running around unsupervised on the ship. I had a really hard time finding a public restroom without kids messing around in them on one of the cruises and on another, a couple kids decided to lay on the stairs and wouldn't move, causing me to have to take a big step over them while they laughed. I couldn't fault them as their parents obviously weren't interested in parenting while on a cruise, but it left a really bad taste in my mouth about kids being an DCL Alaska cruises and being able to check themselves in and out of the clubs.

Beyond that, Princess offer a lot more itineraries in Alaska that are more interesting and they have a lot of very delicious food at all times. No reason to have to rush back from an excursion or to time your breakfast and lunch around what time the place you want to eat will be open. Their ships are not as fancy or clean as DCL, and the entertainment is not as good, but you may be on a ship with an indoor pool and more family activities that aren't as overfilled at DCL.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I’m not sure that OP is being entirely ungrateful. He is being greedy, which he acknowledges with aplomb, frankly. In the ugly sweater example it would be like giving the sweater back and saying “this is not my style, please knit me a better one.” Not “this is the worst and I reject it outright.” No doubt most of the posts lean toward convincing him he doesn’t need DCL; but up to him to decide where to take it from here.