Cruise vs. Parks

[Atomicmickey]

OK, as I've pointed out here, just got back from my first Cruise ever, on the Dream.

So I've been thinking--would I do it again?

The question is made a bit different than the standard "do you like cruising" question, because it is so expensive to go. It becomes more of an either/or with a WDW vacation. We were lucky enough to do both this time, it was a one-time family reunion epic event. But in the future, doing both would be prohibitively expensive. I am doubting that I would give up park days to do a cruise again. Though everything about the cruise was top notch and amazing, they don't have Haunted Mansion, monorails, World Showcase Lagoon, etc.

I feel like if I went to that area to cruise, it would be difficult to leave Orlando Airport and pass WDW by, being so close.

I notice that not many people (comparatively) in these forums post here in the cruise area, and so I'd suspect that a lot of people here have similar feelings.

What do you think? Does the "Disney feel" on the cruises replace what you get in the parks? Can it, will it ever? Disney is obviously almost considering their ships to be a "5th park gate" the way it is being promoted. Are you going to fold cruising into your regular park itinerary, or is it a one-time thing?

Just musing where my brain takes me in the wake of my past amazing cruise/park week . . . .

 

[DrummerAlly]

Wow. We feel the exact same way.

Every time I think of my next Disney vacation, I pull up the DCL website, look at prices and think "wow that would be nice, but...". For a three day cruise I could spend 5 days in WDW at a deluxe. In the end, we always pick just WDW because of the price and the chance that we DCL doesn't give us the same "disney" feeling. We've still never done it - maybe on our next trip... or not.

I'll be interested to see what people think.

 

[StageFrenzy]

I think the cruises are just as magical as the parks, if you get a veranda its almost nicer than the deluxe in some respects. Food is included in the cruise price vs 5 days at the world. I just remember walking around on deck after dinner and getting that magical park feeling.

 

[Bubb@]

I went on a 3-day cruise on the wonder back in October 2010. It was great. When I look at going again though, the price always holds me back. I am just not sure that it was great enough for the cost versus going to the World or even somewhere else.

 

[Tater48]

We went on our first Disney Cruise last September. This was after a week in the parks. This year we were torn on which to do, so we will take a week in May to the Parks and then in September, we will take 2 days in the parks and a 5 day Disney Cruise. I believe we got more of that "Magical" Disney feeling on our cruise than we did at the parks last year. We had a verandah stateroom, and there was just something about sitting out there early in the morning, with coffee in hand watching the sun come up. If it was totally up to me, this year we would be doing 2 cruises.:lookaroun

 

[Phonedave]

This summer will be our third Disney Cruise in 5 years

The plan right now is to cruise every other year. It works out for me. In the non-cruise years we go to WDW for 10 days or so

In the cruise years, we go to WDW for maybe 3 nights after the cruise.

Since I am a DVC owner, this works out well. I bank from the cruise year, and then use them in the non-cruise year.

We have done a 3-night and then 4-night veranda cruise. This year is a 5-night ocean view. 5 nights with a veranda is a bit pricey.

One thing this IS doing is messing up our Annual Passes. I used to just get them every year. Now, not so much. But then you don't get the renewal discount.

On top of this, my kids are now at the age where they want to start seeing other things - Germany, France, Grand Canyon, etc. We also go to Vermont for a week each summer. Of course their solution is "lets go to WDW for a week, then on a cruise, then we can come back and go to Germany, and then relax after that in Vermont" I must have unlimited funds and vacation time I don't know about.

I suspect that something is going to have to give. I really do like cruising. I am amazed at how much I am looking forward to this upcoming one, but then I like the parks too. And I do want my kids to see more of the world than what Disney presents. We may have to take a year or so off from the parks. I go down for races, or food and wine (or both) so my DVC points still come in handy - or I can always rent them if necessary.

I really need to hit the lottery and then retire. That is clearly the answer.

-dave

 

[tracyandalex]

Our perspective is a little different than most because we are Florida residents and my sister is a CM at MK so the money doesn't play as big of a part for us.
Last April we took our first cruise ever and absolutely loved it, we actually debated attempting to stow away on the ship! Our daughter (1.5 at cruise time) loved the nursery and the seeing the characters around the ship. since then we have been to the world 3 times and she absolutely loves the parks. As others have stated we plan on alternating cruises with park trips. We love them both and find them both magical!
We did however run into the perfect situation for our trip this spring - my last final is on wednesday, my sister is off on Thursday and Friday so she can get us into the parks, we have 1 day left on a Florida resident ticket from December, and the 4 night cruise leaves on Sunday!

 

[toolsnspools]

We will be taking our first cruise this Apr, so I can't speak for what you get from a cruise yet. I do know that a ship has a limited capacity, and since we are going close to Easter, I don't have to worry about how large the crowds will be. As the kids keep getting older, I can't keep pulling them out of school to go to WDW, so avoiding massive crowds is getting harder all the time. With DCL, I know it can only be packed to the capacity of the ship.

 

[StageFrenzy]

Dave the cruise ships go other places now so you can still alternate between cruise and parks right?

 

[Atomicmickey]

I asked my wife this question--she has never been as Disney Nutz as I am. If it weren't for this family reunion trip, she wouldn't have wanted to go back, for example. She'd rather go to Mexico or something like that.

To my surprise, she picked parks. Though the cruise was amazing, it's not the same feeling you get while 'in the world'.

So-maybe she's turning my way, after all, lol.

Here's a suggestion for Disney, instead of separating out the pricing for land/sea, make package deals where it's just the one price, then you don't think about how much money you're spending on the cruise, and you could just think of the ship as a 5th park or something . . .

 

[Disneyfalcon]

After our first cruise I knew I loved it but I didn't know if I'd spend that kind of money again. I gotta say though, that cruise just sucked me back in! Over and over again!:lol:

Now after 6, I can't imagine giving them up. My kids either. They love the parks, but they would not ever want to give up cruising.

Our extended family is hooked too. It's perfect for large groups. We can snorkel, kayak, lay on the beach or whatever we want during the day and not feel like we are leaving anybody out. My inlaws aren't up for that but they have plenty to do that's more their speed and we spend all evening with them at dinner and the shows.

We have gotten better at waiting for specials. With kids sail free to Alaska, we're spending $3000 for our family of 4 for a week. When you look at what's included, it's very comparable to what we would spend for a week at the parks.

 

[Atomicmickey]

Only time will tell how our family would feel about it, I suppose.

Right now, we'd pick parks over cruise, and as for my wife and I, we'd pick flying to Mexico over cruise, mostly to more directly be immersed in the culture, and be able to enjoy the evenings on the beach and in the towns, etc.

Hard to say that, because the cruise, for what it was, was perfect! Wow.

But there's something about strolling down the street in Playa del Carmen at night, or being in the town square of a village, or hanging out on the beach in the evening, that was missing from a cruise.

So, it comes down to putting "cruise" in the same category as "tropical vacation", and for us, those are both different than "theme park" vacations.

Aside from our Disney vacations--we are generally most happy with 'do it yourself, immerse yourself" type vacations. Backpacks, camping, renting a car and exploring, that sort of thing--and we've done it at home and abroad. A cruise does not afford that sort of freedom.

But, just to be really confusing, I got all excited seeing the keel laying post for the Fantasy on the Disney blog.

Disney confusion is good confusion to have, I guess.:hammer:

 

[Phonedave]

Dave the cruise ships go other places now so you can still alternate between cruise and parks right?

Have my kids been talking to you ?

They were trying to get me to book the Capitals of Europe cruise. Money money money.

Seriously though, if there were Disney cruises that sailed out of New York or New Jersey (or even Baltimore) it would be different. But I have to add plane tickets on top of whatever the cruise costs.

Also, taking a cruise and stopping at a city for a day is not quite the same as actually going to that city and spending time there.

-dave

 

[DisneyJoe]

Here's a suggestion for Disney, instead of separating out the pricing for land/sea, make package deals where it's just the one price, then you don't think about how much money you're spending on the cruise, and you could just think of the ship as a 5th park or something . . .

They used to have standard packaged land and sea vacations - you either got 3 nights on land and 4 at sea, or 4 nights on land and 3 at sea - but that was it - it was very inflexible - and your stateroom category determined what resorts you would stay at. The land portion included a theme park ticket with park hopping and water parks and more, all transportation was included. The only thing that wasn't included on land was meals.

It wasn't very flexible so Disney has evolved their offerings to what they are today.

 

[mickeysshoes]

We are doing land and sea in 178 days....Booked then seperate. Only doing this year beause its our 20th Anniversary and DH agreed if we did the Dream he would agree to the Boardwalk Inn. (he would stay at the WL every year if I let him) We are doing 7 days on land then 4 days at sea...giving us a longer vacation then normal by 2 days. But i feel like other posters above..what i can get for the price of the crusie on land is more days of vacation time and i dont see us spending every year like we are for this mile stone. But once the kids are not apart of our vacation bill I plan to make a deal with him again. He takes me to WDW just the 2 of us (and yes i will agree to the WL) and then we will do the Alaska trip as long as we do it with Disney...weather it be DCL or ABD. Will have to see at the time which will be the better deal. (we did ABD in 2006 to Hawaii and had a great trip...that ws our 15th annverisay)

 

[erstwo]

This summer will be our third Disney Cruise in 5 years

The plan right now is to cruise every other year. It works out for me. In the non-cruise years we go to WDW for 10 days or so

In the cruise years, we go to WDW for maybe 3 nights after the cruise.

Since I am a DVC owner, this works out well. I bank from the cruise year, and then use them in the non-cruise year.

We have done a 3-night and then 4-night veranda cruise. This year is a 5-night ocean view. 5 nights with a veranda is a bit pricey.

One thing this IS doing is messing up our Annual Passes. I used to just get them every year. Now, not so much. But then you don't get the renewal discount.

On top of this, my kids are now at the age where they want to start seeing other things - Germany, France, Grand Canyon, etc. We also go to Vermont for a week each summer. Of course their solution is "lets go to WDW for a week, then on a cruise, then we can come back and go to Germany, and then relax after that in Vermont" I must have unlimited funds and vacation time I don't know about.

I suspect that something is going to have to give. I really do like cruising. I am amazed at how much I am looking forward to this upcoming one, but then I like the parks too. And I do want my kids to see more of the world than what Disney presents. We may have to take a year or so off from the parks. I go down for races, or food and wine (or both) so my DVC points still come in handy - or I can always rent them if necessary.

I really need to hit the lottery and then retire. That is clearly the answer.

-dave

This literally made me laugh out loud. Obviously, the lottery is the most sensible route.

The first part though, just made me smile. So sweet when daughters think their dads can make just about anything possible. And according to my husband, it's so hard to say no sometimes too! (even if you know it's the best thing for them.)

To the OP - Haven't gone on a cruise yet, so I guess I'll see after June, but I'm not much of an open water ocean lover. This cruise will be interesting for me to say the least. Honestly though, I just feel so blessed to be able to go to WDW or on a Disney cruise that I don't think I'll feel cheated when we don't go to the parks in June. We'll see though!

 

[ChuckElias]

DCL is addictive. It's not something my family can give up at this point.