Disney Treasure, DCL’s 6th ship, debuts in 2024

[Miss Bella]

Is there a high cancellation rate?

We booked our cruise 6+ months prior and there wasn’t a single mid ship family veranda available, we managed to snag a cancelled one a few months later but the friend we travelled with never did find one, she ended up in a veranda room near the back.

I‘m fairly new to cruising but I’m surprised to hear about such big discounts being offered giving there’s been very few (to no) rooms available to choose from on our 3 cruises. I’ve watched YouTube videos where people got pretty substantial discounts by doing guaranteed room types and letting the company pick the room but I’m trying to figure out if we’re overpaying by booking in advance and paying list price to get the room we want where we want it.

Cruise lines will discount a very small percentage of rooms to Cast members, travel agencies, and airline employees. When I booked our 11-night European cruise, There were four insides,3 oceanviews, and 4 verandahs I could choose from. It's not a huge amount. Our cruise did sell out. I believe the cheapest GT rate on our cruise was 5300 for two people in an inside room which is certainly not cheap and way above other cruise line prices.

 

[Miss Bella]

That price is crazy, we paid $8k for a midship family veranda (2 adults) for our Norway cruise a couple weeks ago, there’s no way I’d pay $11k, especially without the veranda.

Disney is crazy. We paid 3500 for our 12-night med cruise verandah room on Odyssey of the Seas with no discounts. Our 11-night Disney cruise with 50% off was 4500 for a verandah. If you add a couple of other people in your room the price difference is astronomical. Most cruise lines will almost let kids sail free, but not Disney.

Europe was packed last year and this year with Americans. To say people can't afford to fly to Europe is ridiculous. Maybe they just don't want to pay Disney's ridiculous prices, but in the end, DCL still finds a way to sell out their ships in Europe. You have to give them props for that.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Cruise lines will discount a very small percentage of rooms to Cast members, travel agencies, and airline employees. When I booked our 11-night European cruise, There were four insides,3 oceanviews, and 4 verandahs I could choose from. It's not a huge amount. Our cruise did sell out. I believe the cheapest GT rate on our cruise was 5300 for two people in an inside room which is certainly not cheap and way above other cruise line prices.

Thanks for the response, with all the talk of huge discounts I was starting to think I was a sucker for paying “sticker price”.

 

[mickEblu]

Cruise lines will discount a very small percentage of rooms to Cast members, travel agencies, and airline employees. When I booked our 11-night European cruise, There were four insides,3 oceanviews, and 4 verandahs I could choose from. It's not a huge amount. Our cruise did sell out. I believe the cheapest GT rate on our cruise was 5300 for two people in an inside room which is certainly not cheap and way above other cruise line prices.

So I’m guessing the 7 day cruise on the Dream I got this past April for $4300 for a family of 4 in a Midship Verandah room was a steal? Do those deals come up every Spring (the cruise was post Spring Break/late April) or did I just get lucky? I booked it in September 2022. It was a Disney + subscriber deal.

 

[donaldtoo]

We did a Christmas week on the Dream back in 2019. It wasn't cheap, for sure. But nowhere near $14K.

Our first cruise was back in Dec. of ‘17.
We originally priced out a DCL cruise. For 7 nights it was 16K+ for 6 adults in 2 aft staterooms with nice verandas.
We ended up going Carnival, for 7 nights, with aft staterooms and nice verandas, for about 1/4 the price.
We’ve been on 2 more Carnival cruises since, and have had a blast every time…!!!

We did our first DCL cruise last Dec. 5 nights (the 13th-18th, out of the Port of Galveston on the Magic) with our 2 young granddaughters (8 of us now), and it was also a blast…!!!
Oldest DD and DWifey found a crazy-good deal online, and we couldn’t pass it up. Port side adjoining veranda rooms, and it was all a little less than 8K.
Our oldest granddaughter still asks when we can go back on the “Mickey Boat”…!!!!!
When we can find another crazy-good deal…in the meantime, we have a WDW trip planned for early next month, and yet another Carnival cruise in Dec….!!!

 

[Miss Bella]

So I’m guessing the 7 day cruise on the Dream I got this past April for $4300 for a family of 4 in a Midship Verandah room was a steal? Do those deals come up every Spring (the cruise was post Spring Break/late April) or did I just get lucky? I booked it in September 2022. It was a Disney + subscriber deal.

I would hardly consider that a steal, but for Disney that's pretty darn good. The only people who think Disney is suffering by not selling cruises at full price are the people who don't look at other cruise lines' prices. The Dream got cheaper when the Wish showed up. I've noticed the Fantasy is actually a little less than it was in 2019. As new ships come on the line the older ships will be a better deal.

 

[mickEblu]

I would hardly consider that a steal, but for Disney that's pretty darn good. The only people who think Disney is suffering by not selling cruises at full price are the people who don't look at other cruise lines' prices. The Dream got cheaper when the Wish showed up. I've noticed the Fantasy is actually a little less than it was in 2019. As new ships come on the line the older ships will be a better deal.

That’s what I meant obviously - “a steal” for a Disney cruise. Right, I figured the Wish had something do with it. The great part about this scenario is the vast majority of Disney cruisers seem to have the Dream and Fantasy ahead of the Wish so it doesn’t feel like I sacrificed anything for the bargain. As of now it feels like I got a bargain for the flagship of the fleet.

 

[BrianLo]

Wish should have BatB and this should have Aladdin, honestly.

Wish should have Wish.

If this movie is popular as it probably will be, it puts a huge amount of pressure for them to refit that ship at some point. They are painted in a very, very weird corner by the naming convention.

 

[nickys]

I'm going to guess only one of the two of us has any actual visibility into what Disney Cruise Line bookings were like this summer, and it isn't you.

Disney Dream bookings were soft ALL summer and the reason is because international flights were prohibitively expense. I don't really care if you believe me or if you have a problem with the joking way I phrased it, but those are the facts.

Even if you do have access to DCL booking stats, you can’t know the reason why.

I don’t see why it would be the cost of international flights that are the cause and not the cost of the actual cruises. I’ve looked into European cruises twice recently with reasonably serious intentions. DCL cruises were almost double the cost for the same itinerary than any other cruise line.

Brits are cruising in ever increasing numbers. Just not willing to pay twice the price would be my guess if the DCL ones aren’t filling.

 

[King Panda 77]

Even if you do have access to DCL booking stats, you can’t know the reason why.

I don’t see why it would be the cost of international flights that are the cause and not the cost of the actual cruises. I’ve looked into European cruises twice recently with reasonably serious intentions. DCL cruises were almost double the cost for the same itinerary than any other cruise line.

Brits are cruising in ever increasing numbers. Just not willing to pay twice the price would be my guess if the DCL ones aren’t filling.

Nah. It's cause we are all snooty

 

[nickys]

Nah. It's cause we are all snooty

Silly me!

 

[ToTBellHop]

Wish should have Wish.

If this movie is popular as it probably will be, it puts a huge amount of pressure for them to refit that ship at some point. They are painted in a very, very weird corner by the naming convention.

It takes Disney like 7 years to create anything new so they can just replace TLM with Wish then if they want…

 

[DCLcruiser]

We went on our first Disney Cruise this past April on the Dream. Had I known what I know now I would have stayed on the ship for our St. Thomas stop. It was just a lesser version of what we experienced the day before in Tortola. I’m starting to think there’s no good reason to get off on many of the Caribbean stops. At least not just to end up at a crowded beach eating bar food. I’ve been to St Thomas, Tortola, St John, Turks and Caicos (the capital not Providenciales- found that out the hard way when our ship docked), Belize, The Bahamas and a few other islands. If I were on a cruise, I wouldn’t Feel the need to get off the ship to go to any of them again. There isn't anything culturally that stands out or is all that interesting. The food isn’t that great. It’s not worth the hassle.

Not to say there wasn’t some beautiful beaches. Trunk Bay on St. John was stunning. But I didn’t enjoy any of the stops as much as I enjoy Cancun for example. The only places I’d probably get off the ship for at this point would be Puerto Rico, Jamaica, (Cuba if that ever happens) and Cozumel and I imagine they may be one and done’s too. At least as a 6-8 hour cruise stop. I’ll be targeting cruises with multiple Castaway Cay/ Lighthouse Point stops in the future. Just makes so much more sense with young kids. Not many of those islands are worth the hassle.

Grand Cayman is an incredible island. I would highly recommend you staying there for a week as it's own trip. It is also fun for an excursion, try snorkeling/catamaran cruise. Also, Falmouth, Jamaica is nice than you'd expect, try the horseback riding on the beach/jungle. If they offer an Appleton Estate tour, that would be awesome.

 

[Miss Bella]

Even if you do have access to DCL booking stats, you can’t know the reason why.

I don’t see why it would be the cost of international flights that are the cause and not the cost of the actual cruises. I’ve looked into European cruises twice recently with reasonably serious intentions. DCL cruises were almost double the cost for the same itinerary than any other cruise line.

Brits are cruising in ever increasing numbers. Just not willing to pay twice the price would be my guess if the DCL ones aren’t filling.

Royal, NCl, celebrity, princess just to name a few all have multiple ships in Europe. It has nothing to do with the cost of airfare it’s all about the cost of the cruise. You can find European cruises under 1k a person on some of the older ships if you shop for it.

 

[raymusiccity]

We did that our first cruise. No we just stay on board.

Agreed....Nassau is definitely a 'one and done' destination!

 

[mickEblu]

Grand Cayman is an incredible island. I would highly recommend you staying there for a week as it's own trip. It is also fun for an excursion, try snorkeling/catamaran cruise. Also, Falmouth, Jamaica is nice than you'd expect, try the horseback riding on the beach/jungle. If they offer an Appleton Estate tour, that would be awesome.

I stopped there on a cruise with my uncle/ cousins about 20 years ago but I’m sure we didn’t do right. My dad, uncles etc weren’t the research type of people but in their defense the internet wasn’t what it is today. We just ended up at some halfway decent beach for a couple hours on an overcast day. My biggest memory from Grand Cayman was my uncle who kept hitting his head each time he entered the van/ shuttle. By the third time frustrated and in disbelief he said “can you believe this $hit?” And my cousin and I looked at each other started bursting out laughing and said “yes, yes we can.”

 

[CJR]

Same! Does that come with a drink package and butler?

And yet the financials on DCL have not been what I thought they would be. 2022 proved to be one of the worst years in Disney Cruise line history with a loss of over 300 million. Not reduced profit but actual loss of 300 plus million.

I'm scratching my head on that.

We got so tired over Disney's prices, we took our money and will be doing an MSC Yacht Club room for about (probably less than) the price of an inside room on Disney. It's just crazy. I love Disney, but not that much.

 

[Disone]

We got so tired over Disney's prices, we took our money and will be doing an MSC Yacht Club room for about (probably less than) the price of an inside room on Disney. It's just crazy. I love Disney, but not that much.

I did enjoy yacht Club very much. However the weak link on yacht Club was the yacht Club exclusive restaurant. I prefer the meals and the main dining room. They were literally like.... " What?!?? You WANT to dine in the main dining room?". And I had to actually insist. So finally they called the butler over and he escorted me to the main dining room where the restaurant manager for the main dining room then escorted me the rest of the way to a table. By the window. With a great view. And he personally welcomed me and thanked me for coming to his restaurant.

And yes all this for less than the cost of a Disney cruise. I will do Disney again. But I definitely liked the yacht Club experience as well.

 

[Miss Bella]

We got so tired over Disney's prices, we took our money and will be doing an MSC Yacht Club room for about (probably less than) the price of an inside room on Disney. It's just crazy. I love Disney, but not that much.

I think a lot of people who only cruise DCL don't shop other lines. They have no idea why the DCL cruises aren't selling. I look at DCL pricing on certain cruises and LMAO. No amount of free soda is going to close the price gap. Knowing this it's easy to figure out which cruises will have the best discounts..just be patient.

Speaking of insane prices the Inaugural cruise on the Treasure fits the bill. Anyone that wants to book can have my Pearl place next week.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I think a lot of people who only cruise DCL don't shop other lines. They have no idea why the DCL cruises aren't selling. I look at DCL pricing on certain cruises and LMAO. No amount of free soda is going to close the price gap. Knowing this it's easy to figure out which cruises will have the best discounts..just be patient.

Speaking of insane prices the Inaugural cruise on the Treasure fits the bill. Anyone that wants to book can have my Pearl place next week.

The Treasure inaugural price is more because it’s Christmas week than anything else. My Wish 4-nighter last year on 12/26 was like $9k. Thank goodness we had a half-off discount because we originally had one of the (canceled) July 2022 Wish cruises booked.