From the time I was just a little girl watching The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday evenings, I have always loved Disney. But it wasn't until I went on my first Disney Cruise that I really began to appreciate just how amazing the Walt Disney Company really is. I know, it's just a business, in it to make lots of money for its shareholders. And lots of people will say it went away from Walt's original vision many, many years ago. But this one quote by Walt Disney sums up everything I love about a Disney vacation:
"Disneyland really began when my two daughters were very young. Saturday was always Daddy’s Day, and I would take them to the merry-go-round, and sit on a bench eating peanuts, while they rode. And sitting there alone, I felt there should be something built, some kind of family park where parents and children could have fun together.”And the Disney Cruise Line has followed this same vision. It knows families. It anticipates what families need and want and it caters to the entire family. Kids clubs? They are spectacular! Adult only areas? Also amazing. Worried about how your children might behave in the dinning room? They won't be the only kids there, and the wait staff know how to keep them happy. And I think my favorite part was not worrying about what content might be included in the evening entertainment: all family friendly but still entertaining.
I knew we made the right choice within 30 minutes after we boarded our first Disney cruise. Spencer has always been a very anxious child and getting on the ship freaked him out. We had gone straight to the lunch buffet and he was getting himself very worked up about everything from his food allergy to the safety of the ship. James happened upon a uniformed crew member and asked him if he would stop by our table. He came over and introduced himself to Spencer, got right down at his level and talked to him about the ship and its crew. Then he got on the phone and double checked that Spencer's allergy was noted on our reservation and he called our head waiter and told him to take extra special care of Spencer and his family. He also told Spencer to be sure to come up and say hello to him when ever he saw him on board. Turns out this uniformed crew member was the officer in charge of food services for the entire ship. That an officer, who must have had a million things to do right at that moment, would take the time to talk to an anxious child reaffirmed everything I love about Disney to me. (And he did say hello to Spencer whenever he saw him on board and even called him by name.) And that was just one magical moment of a very magical week on board the Disney Wonder. And one year ago this week, we were aboard the Fantasy for an equally magical voyage.
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| Castaway Cay |
If you want to book a Disney Cruise, it might help to know how Disney allocates its ships. Historically, the Wonder spends the summer in Alaska, fall in California and Texas and winter and spring in Florida and Puerto Rico. The Magic does European itineraries in the summer and generally sticks to Florida the rest of the year with a few special itineraries out of places like New York or Puerto Rico. The larger ships sail out of Port Canaveral with the Dream handing short 3-4 day Bahamian itineraries and the Fantasy doing 7 day Caribbean itineraries.
It's easy to get sticker shock when you see the price of a Disney Cruise. There is some value hidden in those numbers if you consider everything it includes: a well appointed (although small) state room; all the food you would ever care to eat, pretty much available whenever you want it (including pizza and ice cream for the young or young at heart); all the soda pop you can drink (most cruise lines charge you for this); first run movies, including premiers if you happen to be on board when a film from any of the Disney brands is released; family-friendly Broadway-style musicals; deck parties with fireworks on some sailings; extensive youth activity program for those 3-18; a water roller coaster on most of the ships; amazing personal service from your stateroom steward and wait staff; nonstop games and other family entertainment; etc. etc.
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| All the food you'd ever care to eat, including ice cream! |
So now, let's get down to the nitty gritty of saving a buck or two on your cruise. I do have a few suggestions to consider:
Cruise Off Season
I mentioned this in my post about the basics, but it is even more true for a cruise than it is for the theme parks. Because Disney caters to families, it knows it can charge more anytime that school is out of session. Expect to pay double for the same cruise itinerary on the same ship in July as in January. For what it is worth, I recommend taking a cruise with your children when you can still easily pull them out of school to do it. One of the reasons we don't have another cruise booked is because we have a junior high student on traditional schedule who doesn't do well making up work.
Book Early
Disney prices only go up, with one exception that I'll get to in a minute. Opening day prices are almost always going to be the very cheapest rates you are going to pay for a Disney Cruise. As staterooms are booked in a category, prices start to creep up. Yes, this means you need to plan 14-19 months in advance. The next batch of cruises that will be released will be Summer 2017. If history is any indication, that will happen sometime in the second half of March with the rest of the year coming in mid-May and the first part of 2018 released in early-October. You can follow Disney Cruise Lines on Facebook to see these when they are announced or sites like the Disboards or DisneyCruiseLineBlog often will have the information a day or two ahead of the release date too.
Should you wait for a Kids Sail Free or other special to book? No. Disney has not offered a Kids Sail Free promotion since early 2013 and that was limited to a few sailings out of Galveston. Again, the staterooms are selling just fine without that kind of promotion so why should they offer it? The only general, non-restricted specials I've seen in the past couple of years are for lower deposits. So you are paying the same over all, you just have to put less down at the beginning.
However, if by some small chance the price of your sailing does decrease before the paid-in-full date, you can rebook at the lower rate. Once your paid-in-full date happens, you will probably lose more in penalties than you'd save by booking any special last minute deals.
Last Minute Bookings
And now for the exception. For the past few years, the only discounted rates Disney has offered to the general public have come AFTER the paid-in-full date for that cruise has past. Generally, they offer a special rate to military personal and Florida residents first and if there are still unsold state rooms, then to the general public. So I would not book a flight to Florida months in advance hoping to catch one of these last minute rates on Disney because they may or may not come up. I have also heard that frequently, you aren't saving much over those that booked on opening day, even with these rate, although that will vary depending on the time of year. These rates are for general room categories (inside, ocean view, balcony) so you can't pick you stateroom or even the deck it will be on. And you may not even have a stateroom assigned to you until right before you board. You also run the risk of missing out on booking the more popular amenities like special dining opportunities or excursions since you are trying to book these after everyone else has had the chance.
Travel Agency Perks
Unlike other cruise lines, Disney strictly controls the cost of their staterooms. It also doesn't sell blocks of staterooms at a discount like some other cruise lines do. This means that you pay the same price if you book the cruise directly through Disney or through a travel agency. However, different travel agencies offer different perks, mostly consisting of shipboard credits. Some offer more than others. Instead of a shipboard credit, Costco Travel offers a rebate in the form of a Costco Cash Card based on the price of your cruise. It's between 7-8% of the cost of your cruise. I am not aware of any other travel agency's shipboard credit that comes even close to that. To me, it's the best deal going. After our last cruise, we used the cash card towards a new TV that we'd been planing to buy for a long time.
Fill Your State Room
Stateroom prices are based on two adults in the same stateroom. If you cruise alone, you will pay the price of two adults (minus taxes and port fees on the second fare). If you are the only adult in your stateroom traveling with children, one of the children will pay the full adult price. Additional people traveling in the same stateroom are always charged less and if they are children ages 3-12, you are charged even a little less. Most staterooms are designed for four people with a queen-sized bed, a couch that converts to a narrow single bed, and a bunk-type bed that pulls down from the ceiling. There are a few rooms on each ship that only sleep three and a few other rooms that accommodate a fifth person in another fold down bed.
Onboard Booking
Once you are on your cruise, you should seriously consider booking another cruise before getting off the ship. Disney offers a 10% discount on cruise fares (with a few holiday and special sailings blocked out), a discount on your deposit and an shipboard credit of $100-200 depending on the length of the cruise. Not sure when you want to cruise again? Disney offers a "place holder" option for a $250 deposit. This can be applied to any future cruise within 24 months of booking. You can name your travel agency when you book to get whatever perks it offers as well. And there is no penalty to cancel if you decide not to go on another cruise. Simply cancel for a full refund.
Don't forget the Gift Card Trick
See, this is why I made that part one of this series about buying discounted Disney Gift Cards. It really is the key to saving the most money. You can pay for your entire cruise fare with discounted cards if you don't mind reading off all those numbers to your travel agent or cruise line representative. You can also use the discounted gift cards to cover any extras in your shipboard account. We generally put a set amount on our account when we first board the ship and then settle the account on the last day. Just be sure to hang on to those gift cards. If there is anything left over in your account, they are credited back to the original card.
Do Your Research
There are several sites around the web that can help you pick the right Disney Cruise for you and your family. Of course, the Disboards has a Disney Cruise Line information page and a discussion forum full of questions and answers. However, I would start with these:
For general information, visit Disney Cruise Line Blog (not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line) for a plethora of details about each ship and itinerary. I love that the site has menus and Personal Navigators (the ship's daily schedules of activities) from previous cruises so you can see what food and activities might be available on your cruise.
For information on pricing, visit Cruise Fish. On the left side of the screen, you will see a list of Disney ships. If you click on each ship, you will see the different itineraries that ship cruises. Click on an itinerary and you'll see dates that ship is sailing it. If you click on each of those, you'll see how much the price each category has increased since the first room was sold and how many of the stateroom categories are sold out (the percentages listed).
Our Disney cruises were by far my two favorite vacations we've ever taken. I would highly recommend it to other families. If you have questions, post them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them in a future blog post.
Disclosure: I am not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or any of the other mentioned companies or websites in any way (other than memberships available to the public). I receive nothing from these posts but the satisfaction of helping others enjoy the magic as much as I do.
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