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Baltic Itinerary - Disney vs. NCL


jinteso
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I currently have an NCL Baltic cruise booked for next summer. After reading many reviews on the NCL forum, many mention that they prefer Disney. I hadn't even considered Disney for the Baltic.

 

I currently have a Haven Suite booked on NCL. The cruise is 9 days. Same exact ports. I am just curious, why would a smaller room with comparable amenities (i.e. concierge) be almost $6,200 more on Disney for a cruise that is 2 days shorter? What differences am I missing. I am open to switching but not at almost double the cost unless there is some huge difference that I am missing. TIA.

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I currently have an NCL Baltic cruise booked for next summer. After reading many reviews on the NCL forum, many mention that they prefer Disney. I hadn't even considered Disney for the Baltic.

 

I currently have a Haven Suite booked on NCL. The cruise is 9 days. Same exact ports. I am just curious, why would a smaller room with comparable amenities (i.e. concierge) be almost $6,200 more on Disney for a cruise that is 2 days shorter? What differences am I missing. I am open to switching but not at almost double the cost unless there is some huge difference that I am missing. TIA.

All you are missing is that it is DCL. It costs more because some people are willing to pay the extra. We encountered the same thing on our British Isles cruise a year ago--DCL was 4 times as expensive as Princess in the came cabin level; an inside on DCL was twice as much as a balcony cabin on Princess. It was a "no brainer," we canceled the DCL DCL does have better entertainment overall although there were some good "around the ship" entertainers on Princess. The DCL staff, overall, is more friendly than any other line we've been on.

 

I do like DCL, but unless I was taking young kids along, it isn't worth the extra costs to me. While all cruise lines have increased prices over the last few years, DCL's price increases are way beyond anything the other lines did. DCL used to be a little more than other lines; now it is a lot more. There are a few things you may pay for on NCL that are included on DCL, but no way do they even approach the cost difference. And you'll love the Haven!

 

I guess it is only fair to add that the cruises (B2B) we had booked on DCL were originally sold out on week one, and ultimately became *GT status (on sale). Guess we weren't the only people who looked at the prices and gasped...then canceled.

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We were booked on the Baltics cruise with Disney, then cancelled and went with Princess. Princess was $3000 cheaper and we even got upgraded on Princess to an aft suite. It was wonderful. Since this cruise is so port intensive I would stay with NCL unless you value the Disney entertainment and pixie dust. To us, DCL veterans, we were glad that we switched. In certain ports Princess had local entertainers come onboard so that was a treat. We even had a little girl on our Berlin private tour that brought along her Stitch doll, so we even had pics of us with Stitch in certain ports.

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I popped back on to make the similar point about port intensive cruises vs. ship intensive cruises. If I were doing a trans-Atlantic, I MIGHT pay the DCL price difference because that is all about the ship. Disney typically brings special entertainers on board, etc. But for a port intensive cruise like the Baltics....I'd keep the NCL...especially in the Haven. Like Shelly, we are DCL veterans who love the Magic and many of her crew. But $6000 for a shorter cruise just doesn't add up.

 

Another example of port intensive cruise--we did Alaska on Celebrity several years ago. Again, DCL's price was high enough that I wasn't going to pay it a second time for "the same" cruise. Alaska is all about the scenery and the ports. The biggest difference was that DCL has Mickey and Minnie in great looking costumes while Celebrity had pretty sad looking animals (costumed actors) --a bear, an eagle, etc. For that difference, I was glad to spend the difference on excursions!

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Thank you all for the comments and being very honest (not biased one way or the other). I will stick with the Haven. And yes, I do get all of the perks Derek, including the UBP, and SDP. The one thing that I hadn't mentioned, so that I would not bias someone was that we are in our 50s and this is a retirement cruise for us. Thank you all again!

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Disney is more expensive....but be aware that Disney prices are for a cabin for 2 persons including all taxes and fees not Per Person. We almost passed up a British Isles cruise thinking the $4800 price for a balcony was PP. NOPE, it was the price for the cabin including all fees for both of us. It was comparable to Princess cruise lines for the same cruise itinerary.

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Disney is more expensive....but be aware that Disney prices are for a cabin for 2 persons including all taxes and fees not Per Person. We almost passed up a British Isles cruise thinking the $4800 price for a balcony was PP. NOPE, it was the price for the cabin including all fees for both of us. It was comparable to Princess cruise lines for the same cruise itinerary.

Be careful! This depends on the site where you are looking. On the DCL site, the price given is based on the party size you enter at their site (so if you put in 2 adults, the price you get is for 2 adults including all taxes and fees...if you put in 2 adults and a 4 year old, that's the price you get). If you research prices on travel agent sites, SOME are all inclusive based on party size; others quote per person. The per person are especially true on sites that allow you to scan multiple cruises.

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The price that the DCL website is quoting me is $14.974.84 for a 304 sf cabin with 2 adults. OUCH!!!

And that 304 sq. ft. includes the balcony! The $14K+ is what has turned us off from DCL these days. Take the longer cruise on NCL and have lots of fun on excursions! You'll still come out way ahead and enjoy the two extra days.

 

As long as they can find people willing to pay those prices, they are serving their shareholders by charging the high fares.

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