Disney Wonder $13k to Alaska vs $6k on RC

[tlprice]

I have an Alaskan cruise booked on DCL for next May. There are only 2 of us, so that makes the price difference not the same as people with larger groups. I've looked at other cruise lines and don't find them to be much cheaper or not at all for the 2 of us. Also, they either don't have dates that work as well for us, or are one way. I DON'T want to do one way. I've been to Alaska on land and I hated it. I'm only doing the cruise because my daughter talked me into it. My daughter was interested in doing Princess when she saw their Animal Planet and Discovery Channel excursions. When I checked as close to as similar as what we are doing on DCL, it would actually be $200 more. On DCL I did have OBB and we are doing an inside stateroom. In order to get a similar SIZED stateroom on Princess we'd have to do an Ocean view (and it's still smaller) . I would also either have to share a bed with my daughter all week or sleep in a twin bed. Ugh! On DCL I get my own big bed and she happily gets her pull down berth. We have only done inside and ocean view staterooms and have loved them. I am not on a cruise to spend all of my time in my room. I might as well stay home then. I would prefer to be able to go on more cruises than to sit on a verandah on one cruise. Just my opinion.

I also agree about the shows on other cruises. They are just not what I want my daughter watching at this age. She has had a childhood "bubble" and I'm happy to keep it that way as long as possible. Thankfully, she goes to school with mostly kids that are in the same childhood "bubble" as her. It is fabulous and I'm so happy she's been able to have it (and she goes to public school). I'm sure it will all change next year when she enters middle school. I teach middle school and it is very sad to me what so many of their parents have exposed them to or allowed them to be exposed to at their young age. I do still have a few students that are truly still children though and I love that.

I am also terrified of being on a cruise ship with a casino. I absolutely cannot stand the smell of cigarette smoke and I just have this impression of never being able to avoid it. I don't gamble. I find it extremely boring and idiotic (I guess it's just my personality) which is one of the many reasons why I love DCL.

 

[darnheather]

@tlprice states very well why I will continue with DCL until my kids are over 18. That also means for us, not going to Alaska. I'm ok with that as airfare is fairly prohibitive from the east coast anyway.

 

[cruiser21]

Agreed. Especially since I almost never drink soda and watching a movie on a cruise, to me, is a colossal waste of time.



Play in the clubs. My family doesn’t really watch the shows anyway. I definitely don’t. Well I saw the Disney Hades one and the atrocious Golden Mickeys, and after that my family won’t let me watch them. The shows were just too stupid and I was sitting way too close to the front during GM to walk out.

Many other things to do rather than watch a show.



Same for many of us. Embarrassing to think about.



Hmm. A show literally about Hades being appropriate...





Please watch Grease again with an adult eye, perhaps with captions on so you can catch ALL the references.

Watching it with my son was eye-opening.

In a year or so it’s going to be interesting and somewhat heartbreaking to start watching all the John Hughes movies with him, as he seriously questions all of the behavior in those movies.

(Which, to be honest, I did, too, to some extent...16 Candles had some really weird stuff in it and even then I knew it)



Disney makes a LOT of movies. Some G, some not. “A Disney movie” generally means the G rated ones. A Pixar movie often has tiny jokes for the parents that go right over most kids’ heads. Then there are the other movies.

But they aren’t putting Grease-style storylines into a G movie.



Same same same.



But that doesn’t mean you know that “Rizzo’s got a bun in the oven” means she’s pregnant or that Kinicki “making an honest woman out of her” means he’ll marry her because she’s pregnant. There’s a LOT that slides past many kids (and adults).



Childhood bubbles are a madeup concept from the 50s. For a couple decades Leave it to Beaver and Donna Reed helped us pretend that there was a blissful little time where kids were kids blah blah. But in the ‘20s kids were working in meat packing factories...

Internet caused nothing.




No you’re not; it’s totally the moral of it.



Rizzo might have a heart of gold, but her actions are NOT that of a good person. She’s a jerk and making adult decisions while a teen (who looks 30 since that’s how old the actors all were lol). Danny is cool in his own group, but outside of that group he’s a jerk as well. Sitting around making fun of others doing things is not cool. We see it from his POV but if you watch it while realizing that his group of, what, 5 guys is at the outskirts of that school, you realize that they aren’t the ones who will be making good lives for themselves. And Sandy put on makeup and new clothes (and got a ridiculous perm) in order to fit in visually with people. That’s it.



When we go we generally just wander downtown seeing sights and eating yummy food (crepes and japadog are high on my son’s list) and have a lovely time.

Their aquarium was nice when we went 11 years ago. Stanley Park is beautiful.



Radiance was our honeymoon and it was perfection for Alaska. It was a round trip from Vancouver and oh I wish they still had that on radiance...



I’ve seen that on dcl, too, as they prepare to bring the bags.



You probably didn’t *have to*.

On both Disney and royal we’ve passed by their staging area for luggage. When we see our bags in there we snag them if the rooms are open. But we don’t have to.



Had. On that sailing. Which is a bummer. But it’s not all sailings.



Not sure about the centrum but all ships have to have a staging area, and sometimes it’s seen.

But I’ve never heard of them using passenger elevators, and I’ve been around cruisecritic on the royal boards a long long (long) time.

I don't need to watch Grease in closed caption to get the meaning of it. I'm not an idiot, but thanks for implying that I am.

Maybe you didn't have a childhood bubble, but I sure did, and my kids do to some extent. Everyone has a different childhood.

What movies a person finds acceptable for their kids is going to vary a lot depending on persons world view, and values so to speak. There's a lot of things I don't want my kids exposed to or indoctrinated into, but a silly high school musical isn't really one of them.

I do agree with you on the Disney shows. Most of them are totally lame and so are most of their movies. Other then Bridge of Spies and Saving Mr Banks I can't remember a Disney movie I actually enjoyed.

 

[Shanti]

I have an Alaskan cruise booked on DCL for next May. There are only 2 of us, so that makes the price difference not the same as people with larger groups. I've looked at other cruise lines and don't find them to be much cheaper or not at all for the 2 of us. Also, they either don't have dates that work as well for us, or are one way. I DON'T want to do one way. I've been to Alaska on land and I hated it. I'm only doing the cruise because my daughter talked me into it. My daughter was interested in doing Princess when she saw their Animal Planet and Discovery Channel excursions. When I checked as close to as similar as what we are doing on DCL, it would actually be $200 more. On DCL I did have OBB and we are doing an inside stateroom. In order to get a similar SIZED stateroom on Princess we'd have to do an Ocean view (and it's still smaller)

We're sailing DCL to Alaska as a party of 2 in June, and considering Princess or HAL for the same dates and similar itinerary, for a similar-quality stateroom to what you get with even an inside on DCL, I also found the price difference to be minimal. Definitely not enough to make the switch away from a line that we know and love.

 

[Dug720]

I have an Alaskan cruise booked on DCL for next May. There are only 2 of us, so that makes the price difference not the same as people with larger groups. I've looked at other cruise lines and don't find them to be much cheaper or not at all for the 2 of us. Also, they either don't have dates that work as well for us, or are one way. I DON'T want to do one way. I've been to Alaska on land and I hated it. I'm only doing the cruise because my daughter talked me into it. My daughter was interested in doing Princess when she saw their Animal Planet and Discovery Channel excursions. When I checked as close to as similar as what we are doing on DCL, it would actually be $200 more. On DCL I did have OBB and we are doing an inside stateroom. In order to get a similar SIZED stateroom on Princess we'd have to do an Ocean view (and it's still smaller) . I would also either have to share a bed with my daughter all week or sleep in a twin bed. Ugh! On DCL I get my own big bed and she happily gets her pull down berth. We have only done inside and ocean view staterooms and have loved them. I am not on a cruise to spend all of my time in my room. I might as well stay home then. I would prefer to be able to go on more cruises than to sit on a verandah on one cruise. Just my opinion.

I also agree about the shows on other cruises. They are just not what I want my daughter watching at this age. She has had a childhood "bubble" and I'm happy to keep it that way as long as possible. Thankfully, she goes to school with mostly kids that are in the same childhood "bubble" as her. It is fabulous and I'm so happy she's been able to have it (and she goes to public school). I'm sure it will all change next year when she enters middle school. I teach middle school and it is very sad to me what so many of their parents have exposed them to or allowed them to be exposed to at their young age. I do still have a few students that are truly still children though and I love that.

I am also terrified of being on a cruise ship with a casino. I absolutely cannot stand the smell of cigarette smoke and I just have this impression of never being able to avoid it. I don't gamble. I find it extremely boring and idiotic (I guess it's just my personality) which is one of the many reasons why I love DCL.

We're sailing DCL as a party of 2 in June, and considering Princess or HAL for the same dates and similar itinerary, for a similar-quality stateroom to what you get with even an inside on DCL, I also found the price difference to be minimal. Definitely not enough to make the switch away from a line that we know and love.

I definitely think that those of us who cruise solo or as couples find the rates a lot closer when looking at other lines. The bigger differences seem to come in the extra people (and especially if you insist you have to have 2 rooms for 4 people) that big families have.

 

[cruiser21]

We're sailing DCL to Alaska as a party of 2 in June, and considering Princess or HAL for the same dates and similar itinerary, for a similar-quality stateroom to what you get with even an inside on DCL, I also found the price difference to be minimal. Definitely not enough to make the switch away from a line that we know and love.

You're lucky your'e a party of two. It's certainly not minimal for a party of four. Disney knows most stateroom are going to have at least 3 or 4 people in them so they don't cut families any slack.

 

[cadien]

I've been to Alaska on land and I hated it. I'm only doing the cruise because my daughter talked me into it.

Okay, I have to ask about this just because it's so unusual.

And I truly won't disagree with you.

 

[DnA2010]

We're sailing DCL to Alaska as a party of 2 in June, and considering Princess or HAL for the same dates and similar itinerary, for a similar-quality stateroom to what you get with even an inside on DCL, I also found the price difference to be minimal. Definitely not enough to make the switch away from a line that we know and love.

So I just did a quick search- insides for June:
June 4- $5125 US
June 11-$4145 US
June 18-$5546 US
June 25- $5277 US

Princess: 2 people, middle ship inside
June 3- $2256 US
June 10- $3207 US (ocean view- interior sold out)
June 17- $3500 US (ocean view- interior sold out)
June 24- $2411 US

HAL:2 people, includes Glacier Bay
June 2: $2495 (ocean view- interior sold out)
June 9: $3374(ocean view- interior sold out)
June 16:$2811
June 23:$2811

Price differences don't seem minimal to me?

 

[Shanti]

So I just did a quick search- insides for June:
June 4- $5125 US
June 11-$4145 US
June 18-$5546 US
June 25- $5277 US

Princess: 2 people, middle ship inside
June 3- $2256 US
June 10- $3207 US (ocean view- interior sold out)
June 17- $3500 US (ocean view- interior sold out)
June 24- $2411 US

HAL:2 people, includes Glacier Bay
June 2: $2495 (ocean view- interior sold out)
June 9: $3374(ocean view- interior sold out)
June 16:$2811
June 23:$2811

Price differences don't seem minimal to me?

Read my post more carefully, please. I said I compared similar quality staterooms, and the insides on Princess and HAL are not comparable in size or comfort to the insides on DCL.

 

[DnA2010]

Read my post more carefully, please. I said I compared similar quality staterooms, and the insides on Princess and HAL are not comparable in size or comfort to the insides on DCL.

Here I would disagree- we cruised last summer on HAL with an infant (which meant having a playpen etc) and we thought the inside had a lot of room and had so much storage, was very soundproof etc. Also, if you look, sometimes the ocean view is still half the price of the inside-

Just checked balconies for June on HAL and they come out around 4K

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

(numbers inserted by me)

1. It already is. Molly Ringwald wrote about it after watching The Breakfast Club with her daughter.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/p...lly-ringwald-metoo-john-hughes-pretty-in-pink

2. Technically they do...you just have to devote 2 whole weeks to it (and see the same ports twice).

3. Well, yes. Even Disney you can see the staging area as the doors are "propped" open. And sometimes in those cross-deck hall passages. I don't blame the cabin attendants for moving them from one area to another so that they are not going all the way back and forth. Moving them to various areas can allow them to group the luggage so they are not to-ing and fro-ing and backtracking.

Agreed. Especially since I almost never drink soda and watching a movie on a cruise, to me, is a colossal waste of time.



Play in the clubs. My family doesn’t really watch the shows anyway. I definitely don’t. Well I saw the Disney Hades one and the atrocious Golden Mickeys, and after that my family won’t let me watch them. The shows were just too stupid and I was sitting way too close to the front during GM to walk out.

Many other things to do rather than watch a show.



Same for many of us. Embarrassing to think about.



Hmm. A show literally about Hades being appropriate...





Please watch Grease again with an adult eye, perhaps with captions on so you can catch ALL the references.

Watching it with my son was eye-opening.

In a year or so it’s going to be interesting and somewhat heartbreaking to start watching all the John Hughes movies with him, as he seriously questions all of the behavior in those movies.

(Which, to be honest, I did, too, to some extent...16 Candles had some really weird stuff in it and even then I knew it)



Disney makes a LOT of movies. Some G, some not. “A Disney movie” generally means the G rated ones. A Pixar movie often has tiny jokes for the parents that go right over most kids’ heads. Then there are the other movies.

But they aren’t putting Grease-style storylines into a G movie.



Same same same.



But that doesn’t mean you know that “Rizzo’s got a bun in the oven” means she’s pregnant or that Kinicki “making an honest woman out of her” means he’ll marry her because she’s pregnant. There’s a LOT that slides past many kids (and adults).



Childhood bubbles are a madeup concept from the 50s. For a couple decades Leave it to Beaver and Donna Reed helped us pretend that there was a blissful little time where kids were kids blah blah. But in the ‘20s kids were working in meat packing factories...

Internet caused nothing.




No you’re not; it’s totally the moral of it.



Rizzo might have a heart of gold, but her actions are NOT that of a good person. She’s a jerk and making adult decisions while a teen (who looks 30 since that’s how old the actors all were lol). Danny is cool in his own group, but outside of that group he’s a jerk as well. Sitting around making fun of others doing things is not cool. We see it from his POV but if you watch it while realizing that his group of, what, 5 guys is at the outskirts of that school, you realize that they aren’t the ones who will be making good lives for themselves. And Sandy put on makeup and new clothes (and got a ridiculous perm) in order to fit in visually with people. That’s it.



When we go we generally just wander downtown seeing sights and eating yummy food (crepes and japadog are high on my son’s list) and have a lovely time.

Their aquarium was nice when we went 11 years ago. Stanley Park is beautiful.



Radiance was our honeymoon and it was perfection for Alaska. It was a round trip from Vancouver and oh I wish they still had that on radiance...



I’ve seen that on dcl, too, as they prepare to bring the bags.



You probably didn’t *have to*.

On both Disney and royal we’ve passed by their staging area for luggage. When we see our bags in there we snag them if the rooms are open. But we don’t have to.



Had. On that sailing. Which is a bummer. But it’s not all sailings.



Not sure about the centrum but all ships have to have a staging area, and sometimes it’s seen.

But I’ve never heard of them using passenger elevators, and I’ve been around cruisecritic on the royal boards a long long (long) time.

www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2018/04/11/molly-ringwald-puts-john-hughes-breakfast-club-trial-metoo-violations/amp/

 

[tlprice]

Okay, I have to ask about this just because it's so unusual.

And I truly won't disagree with you.

I know it's weird, but Alaska was too rugged and manly for me. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, so it's not like I grew up in some super sophisticated place. I just really did not enjoy Alaska. Maybe it's because I'm from the Pacific Northwest and it wasn't as exotic to me. I don't know. I'm hoping I enjoy a cruise to a different part of Alaska more. If nothing else, I can at least enjoy the ship.

 

[Intr3pid]

So I just did a quick search- insides for June:
June 4- $5125 US
June 11-$4145 US
June 18-$5546 US
June 25- $5277 US

Princess: 2 people, middle ship inside
June 3- $2256 US
June 10- $3207 US (ocean view- interior sold out)
June 17- $3500 US (ocean view- interior sold out)
June 24- $2411 US

HAL:2 people, includes Glacier Bay
June 2: $2495 (ocean view- interior sold out)
June 9: $3374(ocean view- interior sold out)
June 16:$2811
June 23:$2811

Price differences don't seem minimal to me?

While, generally speaking, DCL will be more expensive, some adjustments are in order.

June 2018 prices are currently within the cancellation cutoffs, so prices can vary wildly. DCL's pretty much only goes up - while others such as HAL may offer discounts as is the case with what you have posted.

Looking at June 2019, however, we see ~$3,000 on HAL vs ~$4,500 on DCL. The HAL price is for a small inside stateroom, which is ~140-150 sq ft - and you can upgrade for a higher price. DCL's is for the 184 sq-ft cabin. So, you are paying ~$20 per sq ft on HAL vs ~$25 per sq ft on DCL. That's a 25% premium.

You will then have to ask yourself if DCL is worth that 25% premium. I see from your signature that you have been to DL many times, so how would you justify the Disney ticket premium over, say, a Six Flags or a non-Disney property?

For one perspective, for our family, DCL is worth a plenty higher premium than 25% (unless comparing with a luxury cruise line) - but that's just us. If your kids are now no longer kids and you cruise by yourself, you may not even want a premium. All pretty much boils down to whether you prefer what DCL offers for the price it charges. For some it does; for many others, it doesn't!

 

[cruiser21]

Read my post more carefully, please. I said I compared similar quality staterooms, and the insides on Princess and HAL are not comparable in size or comfort to the insides on DCL.

Except you could get a balcony for the same price as in inside. Inside rooms on DCL are larger all give you that.
Why don't you say just say you don't mind paying a lot more for DCL and leave it at that. Trying to convince people that DCL doesn't cost more is a waste of time.

 

[cruiser21]

I know it's weird, but Alaska was too rugged and manly for me. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, so it's not like I grew up in some super sophisticated place. I just really did not enjoy Alaska. Maybe it's because I'm from the Pacific Northwest and it wasn't as exotic to me. I don't know. I'm hoping I enjoy a cruise to a different part of Alaska more. If nothing else, I can at least enjoy the ship.

I was a bit underwhelmed by Alaska after going to Iceland. The excursions were fun, but after Iceland and Norway the scenery didn't compare. I've lived in the Sierras of Northern California, and I've spent Summers in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming so that could also be a factor. I will say it was a nice change from where I'm currently living in the desert.

 

[DnA2010]

While, generally speaking, DCL will be more expensive, some adjustments are in order.

June 2018 prices are currently within the cancellation cutoffs, so prices can vary wildly. DCL's pretty much only goes up - while others such as HAL may offer discounts as is the case with what you have posted.

Looking at June 2019, however, we see ~$3,000 on HAL vs ~$4,500 on DCL. The HAL price is for a small inside stateroom, which is ~140-150 sq ft - and you can upgrade for a higher price. DCL's is for the 184 sq-ft cabin. So, you are paying ~$20 per sq ft on HAL vs ~$25 per sq ft on DCL. That's a 25% premium.

You will then have to ask yourself if DCL is worth that 25% premium. I see from your signature that you have been to DL many times, so how would you justify the Disney ticket premium over, say, a Six Flags or a non-Disney property?

For one perspective, for our family, DCL is worth a plenty higher premium than 25% (unless comparing with a luxury cruise line) - but that's just us. If your kids are now no longer kids and you cruise by yourself, you may not even want a premium. All pretty much boils down to whether you prefer what DCL offers for the price it charges. For some it does; for many others, it doesn't!

June 2019: 1 adult, 1 child

HAL:
First couple of weeks: Inside: $2833 Oceanview: $3422 Balcony: $4800
Second couple of weeks: Inside: $3040 Oceanview: $3640 Balcony: $4800

DCL:

First couple of weeks: Inside $4400. Oceanview: $5300 Balcony: $7700
Second couple of weeks: Inside $4700 Oceanview: $5700-6300 Balcony: $8600-$8800-

I don't have time to do the % but to me these aren't minor differences.

 

[lesroi]

We're sailing RCCL in Alaska in a star class suite for $13k. Same price would have gotten us a verandah room in DCL. It's a pretty big difference in price and we couldn't justify going with DCL for Alaska.

 

[KashasMom]

This! By the time you really break it down and think about it, it often just really puts it into perspective. For example, lets say that the verandah is an extra $2,000 more than an oceanview (in Alaska, it often is or more, I think it was actually $3k more for our cruise, but let's just go with $2k for this illustration). Okay, so $2k divided by 7 days, that's $286/day. How many hours are you spending there? Maybe 4 or 5? Probably not that much, because on excursion days you're not even ON the ship, but again, let's go with it. At four hours, that's $71.50/hour. I don't even pay that much for a massage, let alone to sit outside, especially when there are plenty of other perfectly fine places to sit outdoors on a cruise ship.

We're on the Bliss this year and booked VERY early so the difference between an oceanview and a balcony was minimal - probably a couple of hundred dollars total. I've had a balcony on my last two Alaskan cruises. I've never felt like I've HAD to get my money's worth but I so loved sitting outside in the early morning having my coffee and scanning the water for whales. I don't have a lot of peace and quiet in my life but that quiet time was worth every dollar. However, if the difference was thousands, then I agree...no way! I am perfectly fine with an inside on other itineraries.

 

[KashasMom]

Yeah we never see that stuff in todays movies. My point is it's mild compared to what we see on TV, internet and movies today. I wish they still made movies with no bad language and no violence.

Off-topic but totally agree! Some mornings I trip over myself trying to turn the volume down on the NEWS so my daughter doesn't hear it!

 

[KashasMom]

Here are some images from that... We had to grab our bags ourselves and take them to the room...

Weird, we've sailed her twice and had no issues. Actually had our best cruise EVER on her (Russia/Baltic). Our other cruise was an Alaskan repositioning cruise from San Francisco - a long time ago but still one of our best cruises.