Affording DCL

[moki'smommy]

If you booked your hotel/park tickets thru DCL they have very limited choices and you may or may not get a hotel offer that can be applied to your reservation. Any resort offers that come out by WDW directly can not be applied to your DCL resort portion of your reservation.

IF you book your hotel/park tickets directly thru WDW reservation center you will have more choices and if some type of resort offer comes out it can be applied to your reservation.

 

Correct--if you book your DCL cruise and your WDW stay separately you have many more options and can take advantage of any special offers on each of the reservations. You can easily add the transfers (if desired) to tie the two together.

 

If you book WDW thru DCL--no special WDW offers. Rack rate prices (ouch).

[moki'smommy]

Addition to the above--you or your TA can EASILY put together a land/sea package by booking the two parts separately an adding transfers or other transportation from one to the other. It is not difficult at all.

 

Do not let DCL increase your costs and limit your choices!

[blondietink]

Right now we are just going to book our room reservation separately. Then hopefully they will come out with some kind of package with tickets and/or dining for our stay. Booking French Quarter, but if we have to move to a different resort, no problem. As long as I don't stay at the same resort as the Pop Warner guys, then I will be happy.

 

Does anybody know if you get any special perks by booking though a travel agent on resorts? We booked our cruise through a TA and got some OBC.

[moki'smommy]

 

Does anybody know if you get any special perks by booking though a travel agent on resorts? We booked our cruise through a TA and got some OBC.

 

It depends on the TA.

[LaserSB3Family]

My aunt always says it's not about what you can afford: it's about the priorities you set. That is likely true for any of us cruising, since of course any cruise is an unnecessary luxury.

 

Booking as far out as possible is good advice. Also, DCL pricing is more competitive in Europe than in the Caribbean or Alaska. This in part prompted me to switch my reservation from an Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy to a Northern Europe on the Magic. Of course it will cost more to fly to Europe than Florida for me, but I think the European cruise is a better value and more in line with competition.

 

Within a month of releasing the dates, prices for the stateroom we booked went up 700$. I called the day of release but it seemed like a lot of people put holds on staterooms that day but ended up not booking. In reality I would think you could book within a week or 2 of release with a popular cruise. At least that was my experience.

[CANTW82CRUISEAGAIN]

In summary, I have a plan below that should result in about $450-$500 of savings. It requires some planning, and probably one hour of reading Disney gift card numbers over the phone but $450 is real money so it is worth it to me.

 

I put a deposit on a 4 night January 2015 cruise on the Disney Dream by booking through Costco. This will result in a $190 gift card from Costco that I will receive about 1 month after returning for the cruise.

 

I also signed up for the Target RedCard debit card, where I receive a 5% savings on the Disney Entertainment card (good at DCL, WDW, DisneyLand...). I've already purchased 1 $50 gift card from Target and confirmed I can make payments to Disney (through Costco).

 

Finally, you can get an additional 5% off purchases at Target at one checkout if you fill 5 prescriptions at the Target Pharmacy. This can be combined withe the RedCard discount for 10% total savings. I plan to fill prescriptions over the next few months and then purchase 50- $50 gift cards, that will result in $250 of savings. I'll hit the debit card limit of $2500, otherwise I would purchase even more cards.

 

By the way, if you don't think you can get the 5% discount, you can try it yourself online. The price drops from $50 to $47.50. The only problem is you are limited to 3- $50 Disney cards at a time. I also just purchased a card at a store and can confirm it rings up with the discount. You must use the Target RedCard (debit or credit).

 

When I combine 2 days of WDW park visits for 4, $2600 for a 4 night Dream aft balcony, and money for on board expenses and tips, I should have about $3700 in gift cards!

 

Jeremy

 

 

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[KalamityJane]

You can't use the pharmacy discounts on Disney gift cards any more, they stopped it in March. :(

 

 

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[KalamityJane]

The RedCard discounts still work, however.

 

 

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[lawgator]

Any tips or suggestions on how to afford a DCL cruise? I really want to go but DH is having a hard time agreeing with me due to pricing. When we do go there will be 5 of us (me, DH, 12yo boy, 4yo girl, 2yo boy). A 3-4 day is as much as a 7 day on others. I know I am getting a better experience but how do I make it affordable???

 

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If you do use a Target Red Card to save 5% (we do) as a previous poster mentioned, you can then create a Disney Vacation Account (through Disney...google it) and load all your Disney gift cards (maximum value for them at Target is $50) into that account as you buy them. When you book your cruise and do final payment you just give Disney your Vacation Account number and they take the money out. There is a promotion for the Disney Vacation Account that for every $1,000 you spend you will get a $20. Disney gift card ( so another 2%). Just be sure and save those gift cards in case something happens and you have to cancel. Any refunds would go back onto the original cards. Also, the cruise we are going on next November was booked while onboard our cruise last Nov., so we'll get another 10% off plus $100. obc. But obviously you have to have your first cruise first to do this. :-) Gotta love any discounts considering how expensive it is to cruise Disney.

Edited May 2, 2014 by lawgator
previous poster already explained the Red Card

[PhotoGal07]

This post makes me really interested to see the difference between DCL and the other lines. This September will be our first cruise with DCL, and I'll be honest I'm a bit skeptical of the value for the money involved. It is a lot more expensive than other lines. This is a family vacation however, and my father was insistent that we go on a Disney cruise.

 

I'm happy to go along, and very excited (who could possibly not be excited about Disney??), but I'm interested to see if I find the extra value in the Disney brand.