I’ve done nothing but watch YouTube videos and trawl websites since these cruises were confirmed yesterday. One of the things I noticed was how crowded the ship gets. You (sometimes) have to share dining tables with other parties, for example, and they’re sitting right next to you.
But on these cruises, presumably, occupancy will be limited. And that might make the experience so much better than in normal times. (And, I’m guessing, more affordable, if only because they’re short.)
My current position is that if there is availability (will they get booked up in the first minute?) and it is reasonably affordable (no more than two grand all-in for three nights) I’m going to book it. This year there are no guarantees that any of my trips are going to go ahead, so I think you just have to go for what’s out there. I certainly have no regrets about going to DLP last August, something that’s not even possible now. I’ve booked DLP for December, but who knows — third / fourth waves, new variants — whether even that will happen.
And I kinda trust Disney to come up with something really well thought out.
This seems like a dream opportunity for DCL to entice a whole new clientele from the U.K. to cruising.
2K is too much IMO, even for three nights. This is a vastly reduced experience, no ports and questionable weather. I think they should be aiming for something around £300-400 per night per cabin. Try and capture the families who would head off to the Canaries for a week and get them hooked on Disney and cruising. And have exclusive onboard offers for WDW, DL or cruises for 2022.
You’ve essentially described very similar decision factors that a lot of folks deciding whether to go to WDW during a pandemic have considered (if they prioritize lower, spaced out crowds vs. reduced offerings; safety protocols being a plus vs. those who won’t return until they’re gone), so uh, you’re in good company? (though of course folks here have been labeled ‘enablers’ )
PS: putting your quotes together like that reminded me of Zagat’s reviews, for those who remember what those are.
Funny you say that. There is a restaurant that hosts Bingo. The kids had fun playing it.
There’s also a movie theatre, and a theatre for live shows. I can’t forget shuffleboard on the deck!
There were a lot of buffet style meals for breakfast and lunch so I am unsure how they would change that. Dinner is amazing!! You are assigned a time and different rooms for different days. I will post some pics when I am on my laptop.
Lots of character M&G if that’s your thing.
The drop slide that goes over the ocean was a hit for my oldest, 9 at the time, but scared the life out of me.
My formula for cruising is $100USD pp/pd. We travel with 8, and four to a room and pax 3 & 4 are at very reduced prices.
So an average of $400USD per stateroom per day.
If we allow DCLs higher fares for their product to cancel our their “gracious” single supplement of only 150% and keep it at $400 per day budget, I’d want to see a three night cruise for a single person $1200.
I agree w/ you and @sanstitre_has_left_the_building that Disney thinks things out. I wish I had taken crowd pics this past week at WDW; it was INSANELY crowded! I’m not sure how much that was thought out, but it’s w/in their crowd cap and I observed the BEST mask compliance (in the parks not at DS) since July.
Why is Disney doing these cruises at all? Is it to make money? Or is it a giant sales / marketing / promotion exercise? If the latter, maybe the pricing won’t be crazy.
I have been assuming that these cruises will be wildly popular. I base this on two grounds. First, I’m insanely excited about them, therefore everyone else will be. Second, everyone in Britain is desperate to do something and this is something and it’s more guaranteed to happen than even doing a day trip to France.
But maybe — shock! — I’m wrong. Maybe a lot of people will think a cruise in the rain to nowhere is ridiculous. Especially if it’s expensive.
For me, I would just treat the entire thing as an adventure. I’ve never been on a cruise ship before. I don’t care if I had to stay in the whole time. It would be interesting and exciting. I loved my trip to DLP last August, but I also loved taking the train to the airport, and flying on the plane, and so on. I’m stir crazy here and anything out of the norm is appealing at this point.
So I don’t care that the cruise goes nowhere. I’ve always wanted to try a cruise and this seems like a really easy way to do so.
Two grand was just a figure that jumped into my head. I agree that it’s too much. But everything about Disney is too much. I just wanted to know where my line was. At what point I would say, “This is ridiculous.”
Honestly I think they are doing these cruises to prove to the CDC that they can operate them safely in post Covid days.
We’re doing well in terms of vaccinations (maybe, let’s see if we can give second doses out). Self contained, as in only U.K. waters. And the ship is over this side of the ocean.
I hope you get to book it! I have terrible motion sickness so cruises are not for me. But I would bet a short Disney cruise would give you at least a few days of some of the Disney magic you’ve been missing!
The all-inclusives in Mexico are having buffets but it’s not self-serve… they have a staff member there to serve you. I’m guessing they would do that, and maybe also divide the big buffet in two (like have 2 identical smaller buffets), and you’re assigned a side.
If they’re limiting the overall capacity of the ship then that should help with having enough indoor spaces on bad weather days.
I mean, we don’t go to Disney from Houston for the weather!
I will say I was in the UK summer 2019 and wildly brought capris and a pair of sandals. I think I wore each once - to dinner on nights we didn’t leave the hotel.
Of course this makes sense.
But wouldn’t it be cool if you could be the first Liner to experience this novel touring? You might even end up on the blog!
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