Subjective question I know: Is Disney worth the price difference msg

[KBS1607]

I am pricing the Baltic for next summer. We are curious about Disney but our daughter will be 22 and no other kids. Is it overrun with kids (DH's worry)? Will there be young adults for my daughter to meet? I know their quality is supposed to be high but so is the price.

 

Any help will be appreciated. We've sailed the big lines: Royal, Princess, HAL and Carnival.

[JanineM]

We haven't sailed Disney but have many friends who have. . That said, for the price differential I would be looking at more upscale lines like Regent, Crystal or Seabourn. There will be loads of kids on Disney and there isn't a casino (something I enjoy).

[michmike]

I didn't see that the experience was worth the additional cost. We have sailed on both Celebrity and HAL. Other than the added cost restaurant (Palo - very nice) I didn't see any particular advantage to Disney over the other two. While the divided bathroom might be nice if there was a family sharing a cabin, for the two of us it was no big deal and I prefer everything in one larger bathroom. The moving to a different dining room every nite was ok but I prefer to stay in one place.

 

I absolutely dreaded going on Disney due to concerns about the number of kids, but our best friends' son was getting married on board so we had no choice. Turned out the kids are kept so busy in programs that there were not nearly the issue I thought they would be. Additionally, there ARE a number of adults only locations on the ship that allow you to get away.

 

We paid more for 4 nites in a balcony on Disney than we pay for 7 nites in a balcony on HAL, so if you have the money to spend I think I would opt instead for a suite on HAL or Celebrity, perhaps leaning toward Celebrity if you are concerned about other people your daughter's age.

 

Disney would be fine w/ small children or w/ grand kids, but I just didn't see that it offered anything above and beyond other lines for us (late 50s early 60s) that would justify the price difference. BTW, we were on the Wonder.

 

Your mileage may vary.

[chipmaster]

I am pricing the Baltic for next summer. We are curious about Disney but our daughter will be 22 and no other kids. Is it overrun with kids (DH's worry)? Will there be young adults for my daughter to meet? I know their quality is supposed to be high but so is the price.

 

Any help will be appreciated. We've sailed the big lines: Royal, Princess, HAL and Carnival.

 

Europe is all about the ports and you'll find little time to enjoy many of the amenities of a premium line. If you want the higher end I'd skip the "Mouse Premium" unless you have kids or just love the mouse. You are better off using the $ for first class port private tours, a better upscale line where you'll get the $$$ value in premium service/food versus just the mouse, but that is just my 2 cents :D.

 

If the ports were what I was already planning, I'd probably still consider disney but I still have kids that enjoy some of the Mouse's offerings and would stay on the boat for some of the ports.

[Earthworm Jim]

I don't know much about Disney cruises, but I do wonder why you'd be thinking about cruising with them when you don't have any small children. But some adults just love the whole Disney thing too, and maybe you are one of them.

[Cruzman]

While I haven't sailed Disney, I cannot imagine what they could possibly offer that would justify the added cost. Photo ops with Disney characters seem to be the primary drawing card.

[4merlurker]

IF you want to be completely immersed in "Disney Magic" then do a disney cruise. FYI - no casinos on Disney.

 

Personally, I'd opt for the other lines - I don't think I could handle a week+ of characters, strollers, and tons and tons of little kids. (Disclaimer: I DO LOVE KIDS) For the money Disney charges I know I would have a better cruise experience on a different line. ~Connie

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Having sailed with Disney, I cannot justify the much higher fares unless you have a bunch of kids in your group.

 

Even then, the "Extra Magic" you are paying much more for boils down to a few appearances by the costumed characters and Disney decorations around the ship. Worth the cost difference? No.

 

All in all it was a good crusing experience, but with loads and loads of small kids, which, of course, we expected.

 

Take the advice in the other posters here, and for the same price, you could select one of the upscale lines for a better (and kid-free) experience with better food and service.

 

My personal choice would be to save the money on the "premium" experience and put it toward a second cruise!

 

HAVE FUN!

 

:)

[GrannyJ]

What I remember best (or worst) about my Disney Cruise is the incredible din in the dining room. Yow! It was such a blessing to go to the adult restaurant one night.

 

As far as the kids, other than the dining room I didn't really have a problem. They all seemed to be busy having great adventures and didn't have the time to annoy the old fogies.

 

Yes, there were adult venues in the evening, but they were dead in the water! Hardly anyone there. I think the vast majority of people on board were with small children and everyone was worn out after dinner.

 

It was a between-Christmas-and-New Year's cruise and I think at least half the kids on board had colds. I came down with a doozy after the cruise and missed a week of work.

[wwinfl91]

We are two adults doing our first Disney cruise on Sept 12th. Hopefully we will have a great cruise and will enjoy it. We got a great IMHO price on an outside cabin by using a Florida resident rate of $699 a person.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[sail7seas]

We would not pay those prices to sail Disney. We sail suites on HAL and find it much better value for our money. If you don't care to sail HAL, think about Regent or Crystal.

[cruiserbryce]

Disney will be very busy with kids in the time that school is out. Its a great cruise line and we enjoyed our trip but with the prices available on the other lines we probably will wait a while to sail DCL again

[Bette And Bill]

We have sailed Disney along with RCL and Celebrity, when planning a family cruise a few years ago, we have 8 grand children between us, we opted for Royal over Disney. We looked at the price and the ages of the kids (18 months to 17 years). We found everyone had more to do on RCL than on Disney. We do like the mouse experience and have been annual passholders at Disney World. Any line will have kids when school is out, with rare exceptions the kids on all the lines have been kept pretty busy. Please note that we do not sail during the summer or over holidays.