Booking a Disney Cruise

[RweTHEREyet]

Just where do you start? Once you have figured out that you would like to go and choose an approximate date, where is the best place to check for the best rates? Do you start with Disney or somewhere else?

What are the major things to keep in mind?

DH has expressed some interest recently, and I am thinking maybe in a year we should go, but I know that the planning needs to start now, right? I have been on the 3-day, but DH has not been on the Disney Cruise at all.

Anyone have strong arguments as to why we might want to pay so much more to go on the DVC Cruise? I know this year is out of the question, but could consider next year.

[Stimpy]

I usually start by looking on disneycruise.com so I know what is available & at what rate. Then I check the rates through about 3-4 travel agent sites. Alot of times the TA sites will offer better on-board credit deals or have lower rates due to reserving a bunch of rooms early at the group rate that they resell. I've used a few different TA's for our cruises over the years. Each is very good, it just depends on the rates/rewards they give. If you'd like the name of a great TA, let me know! I love the one I'm working with for our upcoming cruise. :)

I do have to add that I am a control freak when it comes to our vacations and usually do everything myself. But for the DCL cruises, I prefer to work with the travel agents. We went through DCL once and it was fine. I just like the extras the TA usually throw in :upsidedow

Costco used to be very good for DCL rates but I heard that's not really the case too much anymore.

I can't really say if the member cruises are worth the extra money...they always have them when our kids are in school so we've always missed them. :crazy:

[mprewitt]

I strongly recommend you pickup a copy of "PassPorter's Field Guide to the Disney Cruise Line" (5th edition). I read this book cover to cover before I booked my DCL cruise.

As for pricing, there are peak times and value times, just like WDW. The biggest tip is to book your cruise as early as possible!

You can go to the DCL web site and plug in different months and see how the price varies.

I decided to pay for the cruise with cash instead of using DVC points.

[Muushka]

Our first cruise was a 7 day DCL cruise. For us it was a no brainer. My husband was apprehensive about cruising and he felt very comfy with Disney products, so off we went. We followed that one up with a 4 day over Christmas 2005. Loved that cruise. We now have DCL out of our systems. We have found that we enjoyed another cruise line just as much at a fraction of the cost.

Anyone have strong arguments as to why we might want to pay so much more to go on the DVC Cruise? I know this year is out of the question, but could consider next year.

So to answer if a DCL cruise is worth the extra cost? (esp if you have no children, which we don't) I would say no, it is not worth it. Am I glad we did the 2 cruises with DCL? Yup, very glad for the experience.

I notice that you are a neighbor. If you are like us and drive, DCL is very convenient being at Port Canaveral. And the year we did it over Christmas it was actually cheaper to pay cash for the cruise than to stay at WDW and use DVC points during the holiday (based on $10 a point). That was a unique cruise because it was a 4 day over the weekend (changed just for that cruise). We did a CAT 9 for that cruise though.

[RweTHEREyet]

Stimpy, I would love to know who your TA is, and I will certainly check them out.

Muushka, I amnot sure but I do think we have met. Did you go to the dinner at Maggiano's a few years ago at Streets of SouthPoint? I think I have to take my DH on the Disney cruise before we consider branching out. The draw is Castaway Cay. :kickingco Considering the 4-day will have two stops at Castaway, that is a huge draw for me. I would not ever use points for the cruise, but I would consider renting the points out to pay cash.

mprewitt, as a new user of the Passporter WDW edition, I think I will take your advice and go for the cruise edition. Thanks for the suggestion.


But I am still wondering about the DVC member cruise, is it worth the extra money?

[Muushka]

Yes, I think we did meet, but it was at Remmington Grill, right?

The 4 day cruise does not always do 2 stops at CC (well, unless it has changed).

No, we would not use points for DCL cruise either, for a host of reasons!

[RweTHEREyet]

I did go to the first one at Remington Grill, where we did a lot of pin trading and also the later one at Maggiano's. The one at Remington seems like it was years and years and years ago. :hahahaha:

I think it was recently announced that the 4-day for 2008 will be making 2 stops at Castaway Cay, and there was one listing of available cruises that I checked and it showed 2 stops at Castaway for every one that I looked at.

[ripleysmom]

There is a website called www.cruisecompete.com You list what cruise you want and the dates and they have several TAs get back to you with quotes. You might find that that will save you a bit more money.

[RweTHEREyet]

There is a website called www.cruisecompete.com You list what cruise you want and the dates and they have several TAs get back to you with quotes. You might find that that will save you a bit more money.


Thanks for the link, I will check that out.

[Stimpy]

I think it was recently announced that the 4-day for 2008 will be making 2 stops at Castaway Cay, and there was one listing of available cruises that I checked and it showed 2 stops at Castaway for every one that I looked at.

Really? I'll have to check that out! I didn't know the 4 days were all going to do Castaway Cay twice. I know they sometimes have double-dips but I didn't know they were doing all of them. That might persaude me to do a 4 day again. We got pretty spoiled by the 7 days.

I can't really say whether the member cruises are worth it or not. I see people rave about them and then there are the people that were really disappointed. for the money/points they paid. They seemed to have some interesting extras on board but not really enough that I would be "wow"-ed.

I'll PM you with the TA I'm using now later today. She's really nice and I think they are offering an onboard credit bonus right now for booking with them.

[ErinC]

RWE- I have never used them, but I like allseastravel.com for cruise priceing. It gives me an idea of what weeks may be less than others. Since you are kid free, I would consider looking at Sept. We did the 7 day in Sept. 2005. It is a little nerve racking with the possibilities of a storm, but we got lucky and made all our ports. I looked at the 4 day with 2 stops at CC. But for our family of 5, it was cheaper to do the seven day in Sept.

[mamagg]

Does anyone know if you can rent points from a DVC member to use to purchase a Disney cruise? Thanks! goodfamily@ec.rr.com

[ghost1000]

There are a few things to consider before booking your cruise.

(1) What type of room do you want?
(2) Do you use Disney's trip insurance, or do you want to purchase your own?
(3) Do you need transportation to and from Port Canaveral?

For our cruise we decided to purchase our own trip insurance. The reason you may want trip insurance is in case someone gets ill during the cruise and needs to be taken to the hospital. If there's a pre-existing medical condition involved, you need to get trip insurance within 14 days of making your deposit. Disney uses Access America, and I found if I purchase a policy from them on my own it's better coverage for less money.

I have a travel agent that I'm using for our Disney Cruise. PM me if you want her name and contact information.

And yes, I also bought the PassPorter for Disney Cruise Line to help out with our preparations.

[Stimpy]

Does anyone know if you can rent points from a DVC member to use to purchase a Disney cruise? Thanks! goodfamily@ec.rr.com

You would be better off paying for the cruise diectly through DCL than using DVC points. Using points usually "costs" more than raets you can get by paying cash. I imagine it is possible to do though.

[doombuggy]

Yikes, this is the fourth time I have logged in during the past 20 minutes, I better post quick before I get logged out again!

What about space available? Or am I speaking out of turn and that isn't available to everyone? I asked Rikersmom to go on a 3 night DCL cruise this October (for my "big" birthday) and we were thinking of booking space available. I haven't cruised is several years, but used to go alot, as step-mom worked for Cunard.

[RweTHEREyet]

Doombuggy, you need to check the rates available to Cast Members. I know they don't offer the same deals to CM's they used to, but I know they are a lot less than rack rate.

As a CM, my one and only Disney Cruise cost me $250, which included all gratuities. I should have cruised more when I had that deal. :headbrick

[1DisneyMom]

DCL has been testing a program similar...more like exactly like Magical Express which takes you either from Orlando airport or WDW to the cruise port...so you might want to look into that...don't know if they've made a decision yet to keep the program going or to let it go.

And when you buy someone elses points you can use them wherever you want...you have to be careful about use year still, though.