What did you all book for Summer 2023? - thoughts on prices?

[Calantha]

1. An active Peru/Bolivia trip in early July followed by relaxing 10 nights on Fantasy in Southern Caribbeans.

2. An Arctic Circle cruise in late July followed by 11 nights on Dream in Northern Europe.

In a world where my opinion matters ( ), I chose 1. That is all.

 

[kathi]

That's the one I'm interested in. I'm hoping to just wait to book it until I get a placeholder on our June 18th cruise (would be nice if I could actually book onboard and then transfer it to my TA.). I'll keep an eye on the price until then.... hoping the later August date will have less demand. We'll see.

We are sailing June 18th on the Fantasy!! Is that your cruise as well? (Did we already have this conversation - I can't remember??)

So far there does not seem to be a big demand for this cruise.

 

[Geomom]

We are sailing June 18th on the Fantasy!! Is that your cruise as well? (Did we already have this conversation - I can't remember??)

Yes, we are! Probably did have this conversation before. Were you a Geology major too?... can't remember who I talked to about what. My brain is mush right now with 2 kids graduating this year (HS and college)

 

[Stacey25]

You mean here or on the facepad thing?
Surprisingly, there isn't one on facepad yet..I dread to see who the admin will be once someone does start one... it's usually either a control freak, power trip type that will kick you out if you don't post your exact stateroom and complete names (why do they ask for this? it's creepy as hell) or show yourself for a week and will say "no comments!!, no speculation!" every few posts...or the careless type who barely posts and the group has no activity... you should start one!

This is too funny and oh so true. Back in early 2020 when cruises were starting to cancel, if anyone in our group even mentioned that our June cruise may be cancelled as well the admin would remove our comment and report the comment to facepad as hate speech. LOL!!

 

[mikey0311]

We ended up booking the 10 night France, Norway and Iceland cruise. Being able to use the 50% discount off from the Wish inaugural sailing was awesome. Seeing that 15k number cut in half made me happy. Then I saw the prices for some excursions in Iceland and realized that we will probably be back to that 15k number very quickly lol.

 

[kathi]

Yes, we are! Probably did have this conversation before. Were you a Geology major too?... can't remember who I talked to about what. My brain is mush right now with 2 kids graduating this year (HS and college)

Yep - I'm a professional geologist working in environmental consulting. Are you on the Fantasy Western? I also have a HS grad coming up.

 

[MomOTwins]

We ended up booking the 10 night France, Norway and Iceland cruise. Being able to use the 50% discount off from the Wish inaugural sailing was awesome. Seeing that 15k number cut in half made me happy. Then I saw the prices for some excursions in Iceland and realized that we will probably be back to that 15k number very quickly lol.

So true for Europe and Alaska. Plus airfare. For our Alaska cruise this summer, airfare is almost half the cost of the trip!

 

[DCLMP]

We ended up booking the 10 night France, Norway and Iceland cruise. Being able to use the 50% discount off from the Wish inaugural sailing was awesome. Seeing that 15k number cut in half made me happy. Then I saw the prices for some excursions in Iceland and realized that we will probably be back to that 15k number very quickly lol.

I've done that cruise and it's a lot cheaper to book your excursions on your own. I would do some research.

 

[DisneYE]

This is too funny and oh so true. Back in early 2020 when cruises were starting to cancel, if anyone in our group even mentioned that our June cruise may be cancelled as well the admin would remove our comment and report the comment to facepad as hate speech. LOL!!

Right? I won't say too much bc I know one of the admins of a recent cruise posts here on occasion but its insane... I remember: "if you don't post your SR number, your full names and ages, I will assume you are not on this cruise and I will kick you out!!" - told in the sternest of tones.
Who the hell asks for SR numbers, full names, AND ages of each member? A creep that's who. **shudders**... Glad I saw myself out when we were back from the cruise.
*some* facepad admins see themselves as the GODS of that particular sailing and the ship itself... and if you don't post as often as they arbitrarily decide, you will be kicked out. Insane. Or sad. I dunno. Anyway...

 

[AquaDame]

You can say Facebook... (we just ask you not to push people TO Facebook, especially in the actual meet threads).

I rarely post and have yet to be kicked out of a group. I will count myself lucky!

 

[Geomom]

Yep - I'm a professional geologist working in environmental consulting. Are you on the Fantasy Western? I also have a HS grad coming up.

Yes we're on the 6/18 Fantasy western. 1st time on Fantasy and out of Port Canaveral. Originally had Greek Isles booked, but couldn't take the uncertainty with testing abroad. (Would love to do next year's Norwegian fjords one...it would get us on the Dream...4 cruises, 4 ships! I just hope testing is gone by then...don't want to be stuck abroad.)

If you're doing any tastings in June, maybe I'll see you at one. I'm doing day 2 champagne, day 5 mixology, and day 6 chocolate. DH doesn't drink, so I'm doing them by myself. Glad to have booked them before the price increase...won't be booking that many again!

Congrats to your HS student! And so nice to hear that some geology majors actually got jobs in the field!

 

[o&smom]

You mean here or on the facepad thing?
Surprisingly, there isn't one on facepad yet..I dread to see who the admin will be once someone does start one... it's usually either a control freak, power trip type that will kick you out if you don't post your exact stateroom and complete names (why do they ask for this? it's creepy as hell) or show yourself for a week and will say "no comments!!, no speculation!" every few posts...or the careless type who barely posts and the group has no activity... you should start one!

No, here, on the original. I do not facepad.
I mess up something when I try to get one started here on the cruise meet thread. Have not been successful. You start it, and I will post stuff.

 

[swfmco]

Booked the July 2023 double dip on the Fantasy. I’ve grown immune to the pricing shocks. They know they have you.

 

[kathi]

Yes we're on the 6/18 Fantasy western. 1st time on Fantasy and out of Port Canaveral. Originally had Greek Isles booked, but couldn't take the uncertainty with testing abroad. (Would love to do next year's Norwegian fjords one...it would get us on the Dream...4 cruises, 4 ships! I just hope testing is gone by then...don't want to be stuck abroad.)

If you're doing any tastings in June, maybe I'll see you at one. I'm doing day 2 champagne, day 5 mixology, and day 6 chocolate. DH doesn't drink, so I'm doing them by myself. Glad to have booked them before the price increase...won't be booking that many again!

Congrats to your HS student! And so nice to hear that some geology majors actually got jobs in the field!

Day 5 Chocolate and Liquor and Day 6 Champagne. Definitely would love to meet at some point and say hello since we will see your family again next summer for Norway!

 

[princesscinderella]

I’ve booked the 10 Iceland, Norway, France on the dream sailing 7/22/23. I started a meets thread if anyone wants to join me on it. I don’t do Facebook.

 

[o&smom]

Someone on this thread said prices are cheaper on a per night basis. And it's true for us.
As I mentioned on the opening post, for us it was about 12% cheaper.
Not sure why - whether it's because the Dream being a bigger ship with more rooms, or if it's because its the first booking window.

It would probably be one of our last times with DCL as our DD will be going to university in Sept 2023.
We've only done DCL because because of her.
We enjoy cruising but hate the premium DCL charges, of course.
We won't ever cruise DCL if our DD doesn't go. I'd rather explore other cheaper lines with better itineraries and more adult oriented. I really want to cruise to South America and Asia. But with our DD going to university we don't want to be far away from her, so not sure when we'll cruise again after summer 2023.

We have only cruised with Disney. What are your feelings about other lines?

 

[ljhayes]

We're doing the Med summer 2023 and we were not willing to pay Disney's prices. We are jumping ship!

 

[o&smom]

We're doing the Med summer 2023 and we were not willing to pay Disney's prices. We are jumping ship!

Which line did you book with? Have you sailed with them before? We have only cruised with Disney. Trying to get ideas for other lines we may like in the future.

 

[tidefan]

Which line did you book with? Have you sailed with them before? We have only cruised with Disney. Trying to get ideas for other lines we may like in the future.

Just to jump in, I'll throw my .02 in as we've sailed many lines with the exception of Celebrity and NCL.

Here is how I'd rank them (my personal preference, btw), but none of them are bad at all!

Virgin Voyages (note they are 18+ only)
DCL
Princess
Carnival (Mardi Gras)
Carnival (Others)
RCCL
HAL

 

[ljhayes]

Which line did you book with? Have you sailed with them before? We have only cruised with Disney. Trying to get ideas for other lines we may like in the future.

We haven't picked a finalist yet, but we've got it narrowed down based on schedules and itineraries to either Celebrity or NCL. We have sailed NCL before for the Eastern Med (Greece, Turkey and Egypt) and it was fine. I don't know if I would sail them for the Caribbean or transatlantic or something where the focus is time on the ship, but for a port intensive cruise like the Med I have no problem sailing them again. I'd really like to try Celebrity (or Princess), but the NCL itineraries are my favorite. Hence the trouble deciding