Princess vs Disney Cruise line

[shepp]

I think they have found that there are enough people who will pay the high fares that they can charge them.

 

Same as with the much-higher-than-inflation annual price hikes to Disney parks.

[lbfluffy]

The biggest reason for the price premium is that DCL can charge it and still fill ships. They used to have much more reasonable fares' date=' and still made a profit. True that they have no casino and the amount of alcohol consumed on DCL is far less than on Princess, just by our casual observation, but that didn't stop them from making a profit when their fares were much more comparable to other mid-range lines. I think they have found that there are enough people who will pay the high fares that they can charge them. And as long as they continue to motivate those people to book cruises, they'll continue to charge outrageous fares.

 

In many cases, the fares only scratch the surface. For example, there is the "Royal Tea," which starts at a mere $279 for a child with one parent. Additional kids are $210, additional adults are $69. Granted, they go back to the room with a substantial collection of Disney stuff, but the food is apple juice and cookies...and quality time with people dressed up to look like movie characters. The Bippidy Boppidy Boutique starts at $65 and can go as high as $600 for 3 visits and 3 costumes. A 'fairy godmother in training" will turn your little one into a princess, a pirate, or a star wars character. And there is a separate teen spa on the larger ships, still operated by Steiner and charging the same sort of spa prices as you see on Princess. These things sell out on each cruise!

 

The suites on DCL are far nicer than on Princess. But 7 nights in a one bedroom suite can set you back $14K for a family of 4, $10K for two people. Increase that to a 2 bedroom suite and it is $29K. These are real prices OFF SEASON in October. Do it the week before Christmas, and that 2 bedroom suite goes for $37K, The cheapest interior cabin on the ship will cost you over 6K for 2 people. Off season, that is $3700. And there are very few ways to get OBC or other discounts.

 

Nuff said. We loved DCL. We'd like to cruise again. But it will be either a very special cruise or the prices will need to drop significantly.[/quote']

 

That is ridiculous.

We do buy Disneyland annual passes and that is costly.

 

Looks like I’ll only go on DCL if I win a trip, I need to try out for wheel of fortune, they give cruises away.

[AF-1]

wow Moki'smommy; that is high priced; so in addition to the higher prices for their state rooms and no casino onboard; they have all these extra fees for what you mentioned. That is amazing; and like you said; they sail with filled ships

[JupiterTwo]

That is ridiculous.

We do buy Disneyland annual passes and that is costly.

 

Looks like I’ll only go on DCL if I win a trip, I need to try out for wheel of fortune, they give cruises away.

 

Don't give up so quickly.

 

Disney is sailing the Wonder out of San Diego in 2019. There are some cruises in April and others in September-October. These aren't priced at the higher tiers one sees from Florida, maybe $3K-$5K for a family of four.

 

They are also sailing the Wonder out of Galveston in November-December at a similar price point. I'm on the November 23 2018 sailing.

 

Steve S

[tanyaewa]

We did a 5 day Coastal- Vancouver to LA for less than 2K$ for 4 ppl

 

lol- I just checked...it was almost 10 years ago!

[Dani24]

I know this is an old post, but in case the OP (or someone else searching on this topic) could still use the input... 

We sailed on the Disney Wonder two years ago with our daughter (who was almost 5). Previously we had done 4 Princess cruises (just DH and I). We love Disney in general, and visit Disneyland every year or two.

We had a nice time on Disney, but overall felt that Princess was a MUCH better value. For the price of our Disney cruise we could have sailed almost the exact same itinerary, with one extra day, for about 1/3rd of the price on Princess! 

Our observations:
 

• Food was MUCH better on Princess. Most of the food on Disney was underwhelming. Some of it didn’t taste good at all. On Princess we’ve never had a problem with making special requests (e.g. asking for a bowl of berries in the MDR at breakfast, or asking for one of the apps from the MDR while eating in the speciality restaurant, because we really wanted to try it). But on Disney they were very anti-special request. And sometimes they were surprisingly rude about it. I definitely got the feeling on Disney that you were expected to enjoy what you are given, whether you want to or not. Also on Princess, if I wanted to swap out a side dish on a meal it’s rarely been a problem. On Disney, even though our waiter was very nice, he seemed unable to do that. It really brought down our dining experience.
• Also regarding food, it felt much more limited on Disney. The room service menu on Disney was pathetic compared to Princess. Stuff seemed to have shorter hours than on Princess. And we were really sad to see that the only afternoon tea was the Royal Court tea — at a very, very steep price. We ended up doing it for our daughter, and while the experience was nice for her, the food served at the tea was also really underwhelming — especially considering what we paid. 
• The shows on Disney were great. But we’ve also liked the productions on Princess too. There was only one show on Disney that we felt was better than Princess. The rest were all about equal.
• The service on Disney was also much more lacking than on Princess. On our Princess cruises we have always felt like we’ve been given the royal treatment (even when in a lowly obstructed oceanview). Staff on Princess has always tried their best to please us — and when they couldn’t even that encounter was pleasant. On Disney, the service didn’t feel special. In fact, like I said above, most of the time I felt like they expected us to just conform to what THEY wanted and like it. We found very few reasons to leave staff compliment cards on Disney, whereas we always find plenty of reasons to give them out on Princess. 
• We also felt like adult entertainment was more lacking on Disney. We found plenty of ways of entertaining ourselves anyway, but we were disappointed in the lack of options that were provided vs. Princess. Plenty for families to do — though a lot of that required either extra fees or long waits (e.g. character interactions). Even the Bingo on Disney wasn’t as fun as on Princess. It felt more dry on Disney. On Princess the staff has always made it more silly and interactive. Really I spent the whole cruise feeling a sense of letdown because even when we did a comparable activity it just wasn’t as good as our past experiences.
• There are two areas where I felt Disney was better than Princess (although everything else was either equal or better on Princess).
  • The first is the staterooms. They were very nicely decorated, and we loved the double bathrooms (even in our oceanview room). Can I tell you how awesome it was that my husband could stink up the one bathroom while I was getting ready in the other?! Our daughter slept on the sofa bed, and it was very comfortable for her. We loved that that option was available even in a lower level cabin. We just booked our first Princess cruise with our daughter, and started looking at mini-suites just to get the sofa bed, because we weren’t feeling great about the upper berth.
  • Second is the kid’s club. Though, we haven’t experienced Princess’s yet, and I have been reading some people saying their kids preferred Princess’s to Disney’s. The Disney kids club was lots of fun for our daughter. I have noticed that Princess closes their clubs for an hour at lunch and dinner times (which is fine, since we’ll want to eat with her anyway). But I think Disney was always open. I also really liked that Disney had an option for the late seating where you could feed your kids a quick meal, and then club staff would come collect them so the parents could enjoy the rest of their meal in peace. Princess might have an easier time filling the late traditional seating if they did that!

 

 

All in all, we might sail one more time on Disney — but in the Carribean where we could experience their island. Maybe. I don’t know that I’d be disappointed if we didn’t either, because I feel like we’d be paying a steep premium just for that. I’d kind of rather spend the money on a Disneyland trip plus a Princess cruise. 

Then again, it has been several years since our last Princess cruise, so it’s possible the service, food, show quality, etc. has changed for the worse on Princess since then, and maybe 6 months from now I’ll feel differently. Though, at 30-50% of the price, I imagine I can deal with even a decline in Princess compared to what we got on Disney for way more money.

Edited January 19, 2019 by Dani24
Spelling/formatting

[AF-1]

Dani24,  great feedback.  Thanks for sharing.  

[ceilidh1]

We cruised to Alaska on Disney Wonder about 4 years ago. Having done Alaska MANY times on Princess, we were not going for Alaska this time - we were going to experience DCL. The trip was significantly more expensive than our cruises on Princess, but it's Disney so no surprise there. My kids, at the time, were 3 and 7 and had already racked about about 10 cruises prior to this (all on Princess). While we enjoyed it overrall, it was definitely not worth the high price tag for us|!

 

My kids HATED the kids club on Disney - it was literally just a free for all with all age ranges in the same spaces. My 3 year old walked in for the first time and was literally knocked off his feet by an older boy (around 10) who was running through and collided with him. From that point, he refused to go back. My 7 year old wasn't keen, either, so the kids spent most of the week hanging out with us. This would have been fine had there been lots of kid activities on the ship - but, truthfully, there just weren't. Other than photos with the characters, there wasn't a whole lot to do that didn't cost a bunch more money. Maybe on a warm weather cruise this would be different - the pools and outside decks were open but it was COLD! It was funny seeing the lifeguards (I did like this aspect - lifeguards for the pools) wearing snow suits!

 

The shows were outstanding - this was definitely something that I felt Disney had the edge on. I love the Princess shows for the most part, but Disney was spectacular!

 

The food was ok. I was surprised at the lack of 24/7 type buffet - kids like to eat at unpredictable times and for a line that caters to lots of kids it was weird that this wasn't taken into consideration. Our servers were outstanding and quickly got to know our likes/dislikes - can't say enough about them! The rest of the staff were just ok. Nothing that stood out or went above and beyond, but nothing awful either. Usually on Princess I can find at least one or two staff with a "wow factor"!

 

The rooms were a million times better than Princess. At that time, I had only ever cruise balcony or higher on Princess but had to go with an interior for Disney due to the price. Even the interior was superior to most rooms I had stayed in on Princess!

 

Some of the little things were done better on DCL - the photo gallery, for example, had face recognition so all of your pictures were in a folder with your name/room. No searching on the walls! Any activities that were expected to have lines (which was most) had staff out well ahead of time marking the start of the line and keeping things orderly - no cutting or cheating! That hasn't been my experience with Princess where it can often be survival of the fittest if there is limited space! The included soft drinks were nice - though I suppose we actually did pay for this in the cost of the cruise - lol!

 

I don't think I would pay a huge price tag to cruise Disney again - I would love to try out a warm weather cruise, but only if the price was comparable to other lines. Even with the Canadian resident discount it is much higher to sail with Disney!