Should I go on this cruise that you can't go on?

Walt Disney World
341

Came on just this morning to see the prices! Doesn’t seem outrageous but definitely not inexpensive. 4 nights next spring from Miami is around $2,000 for inside and between $2,500 and $3,000 for a Verandah.

3 Night Sailing From Newcastle
2 Adults
Inside Standard Stateroom Category 11B
Total cost including Tax and Port Fees £945.76
No transfers, insurance or onboard booking credit

2 Night Sailing From Newcastle
2 Adults
Inside Standard Stateroom Category 11B
Total cost including Tax and Port Fees £636.38
No transfers, insurance or onboard booking credit

4 Night Sailing From Southampton
2 Adults
Inside Standard Stateroom Category 11B
Total cost including Tax and Port Fees £1836.26
No transfers, insurance or onboard booking credit

4 Night Sailing From Southampton
2 Adults
Deluxe Oceanview with Navigators Verandah 7A
Total cost including Tax and Port Fees £2726.83
No transfers, insurance or onboard booking credit

4 Likes
342

I tried to look up the converter to compare the prices. Do you multiple the pounds by 1.39?

344

You’re right, I was thinking Euros in my mind that is 1.2. Yes, you can just multiply pounds by 1.4.

345

And I didn’t get too deep into the pricing. I was just looking for a ballpark. I know that my cruise is one of the more “expensive” ports anyway so hard to compare. There are lots of spreadsheets out there. I think some of the ports are more than others and the ones that do fall during the holidays are more as well.

346

Because of the ludicrous way in which cruises operate, the pricing is still not clear. Platinum members have been able to book today, but only by calling. So they don’t get to peruse whole arrays of options. The ones who book then post the price they paid on online forums. By the time ordinary scum such as myself get to book, the prices may well have changed. And I can only get a sense of the prices because I would need to find someone booking exactly what I want. But if they throw an extra body in the room, the price is different to what I’d pay.

All that being said, my impression is that the prices are silly. They’re very seasonal: August is high, September is less high. But these are restricted cruises to nowhere during British “summer”. I had gone cold on them anyway, but now I’m icy.

So what I have done is rebooked my DLP emergency back-up trip. I’ve actually done rather well because I’ve found a date combination that is cheaper than the one I cancelled, which I hope means the parks will be quieter. The Disney side of things is fully refundable at very short notice — in fact, I can cancel it as I board the plane to Orlando, at which point I’ll feel reasonably confident that my Orlando trip is actually going ahead. The flights to Paris, which I’m booking separately, are not refundable, but they are changeable and they’re not hugely expensive. It won’t hurt to have some UK-Paris flight vouchers in my back pocket.

Actually, here’s the pricing:

3 nights at DLP’s version of YC, plus four days of park tickets: $1,300
Return flight UK-Paris: $175
Total cost $2,000-$2,500 (to include hotel airport, food, merch, etc.)

That’s similar to the cost of a three night cruise. I know which I think is the better value.

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347

I have to agree that DLP rates are fabulous. When did you rebook to? My family keeps flip flopping over which we think more likely to happen, DLP or DCL! Leaning DLP for us as well.

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348

First week in September. My WDW trip is third week in August. DLP was about $200 more for that period and the parks would be much busier.

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349

Oh bummer, we will just miss you as we’ll be in DLP the very last week in August.

350

Well hopefully you would miss me anyway because I won’t be there!

4 Likes
351

There has been a development.

But first, some interesting information.

Imagine you’d never been to WDW before. You knew it was great, you really wanted to go — in fact you’d booked a trip — but you didn’t know any of the detail. A friend tells you that you can — and, indeed, should — make restaurant reservations in advance. The window opens at 60 days and you’d better get online fast, because the good stuff goes early. Oh, and other people can book at 63 days — but not you.

So you frantically research all the different restaurants and draw up a schedule of which you want to do, and when.

Booking a Disney cruise isn’t like that.

Because when you book a Disney cruise, you also need to research all the tables in all the restaurants — you get that this is an analogy, right? — because some are better than others and you get to pick your table when you book. Oh, and the price of the meals changes. Not every day, of course. Every minute, pretty much. You faff for twenty minutes and then go back to that perfect reservation and, well, it’s $100 more now. Or not there at all.

That’s what booking a Disney cruise is like.

How do I know?

Well, because I just booked one.

Hold on. Calm down. One rather good thing they do is they let you make a reservation and then think about it for three days before you commit. So I have until the 3rd before my deposit is due. I’ve booked the first week in September — three nights, verandah room, sailing from Newcastle, which is close to where I live. The reason is that this booking will be an emergency back-up for if my August WDW trip doesn’t go ahead. You see, I can cancel without any penalty as late as 4th August. My WDW trip is two weeks after that. So surely by then I’ll know if WDW is on or not.

So there’s really no risk here. (Yeah, yeah, I’ll be tempted to do both. But the cruise is £1,750 = $2,400. If I don’t go to WDW in August, I can afford that by reallocating WDW expenditure. If I do go to WDW in August, well, it would be pretty naughty to do the cruise.)

I feel pretty happy with my room. There were two reviews of it online that I could find — both a decade old — but both said the kind of thing you’re looking for: i.e. it’s quiet and reasonably close to stuff you want to be close to. And it’s a proper verandah.

I still think it’s very expensive. But I’m clearly in a minority. Rooms were booking up at a ferocious rate. Sure, some (many?) of those will be people placing holds like I am, but even so, you could literally see in real time rooms disappearing from the inventory.

Oh, and a September cruise may mean less COVID restriction horror? And I’ll definitely be full vaccinated well before then.

I’ve even checked historical weather data. The last few years around my dates the weather has been pretty nice. You know, for England.

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352

Congratulations! It sounds like a perfect plan. It sounds like you sound put down that down payment!

353

One of my FB liner friends from Newcastle has also booked.

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354

That sounds like a solid plan. Accounting for all the possible contingencies. So are you keeping your DLP as a second backup? Would you do the cruise and DLP both instead of WDW?

355

Good point. I don’t think I will. I’m pretty solid on the December visit to DLP.

4 Likes
356

That’s beyond the budget. And the dates overlap. DLP is more complicated to do — I have to book flights and stay overnight at the airport hotel — and more complicated to cancel because the flights (which I haven’t booked yet) are not cancellable. The Newcastle cruise is easy. I can drive there in an hour and a half. And back. Simple.

2 Likes
357

So — which of these do you think is the most likely?

  • My WDW trip in August goes ahead and that’s my summer vacation done.
  • My WDW trip in August goes ahead but I can’t resist doing the cruise as well.
  • My WDW trip in August doesn’t happen and I just do the cruise.

0 voters

358

:partying_face::partying_face: Very exciting!!

I love your new profile photo.

4 Likes
359

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360

That’s an excellent shot. Is it a photo pass pic?

361

Yup. It’s my favourite one. Taken at Epcot character spot in December 2018.

1 Like