Disney Cruise Line just released summer 2020 itineraries this week. As usual, there is a lot of buzz in social media groups about the high price of DCL. I wrote about the drama that ensues after a new release back when early 2019 itineraries came out.
At the end of every Disney Cruise, DCL asks passengers to fill out a paper guest comment card. One of the questions is, “How would you rate your DCL vacation based on price paid for quality and value received?” I’ve always filled in the “excellent” bubble for this question because my family has cruised during the off-season when prices were lower. And even though the price was still higher than other cruise lines, I genuinely believed that we got a good value based on the high quality of the service and product.
But, now that I look at potential cruises during peak times with a high-schooler, I’m not sure I’ll be able to say that Disney Cruise and value belong in the same sentence.
Disney Cruise Line 2020 Sample Prices
My family doesn’t have our 2020 travel plans set in stone yet, but we are considering a trip to Disney World that summer. Three-fifths of my family really wants to check out the new Star Wars land, and I might attend a convention there in July 2020. So naturally, I thought I’d see if we could hook a 3- or 4-night Disney cruise onto our potential Disney World trip.
The cheapest Disney cruise we can go on near the convention date costs $5752 for a 3-night cruise for all five of us in a porthole window cabin. After we add in tips, that’s almost $2000 a night. Ouch!
Dreaming about a 7-night cruise in peak season is worse. A 7-night cruise to the Caribbean in July would cost us around $12,000 including tips. That doesn’t include the cost of excursions. And Alaska in July? Check out the price for five people below and try not to have a heart attack:
When we paid $5000-$7000 for our previous 7-night Caribbean cruises, I still thought we got a lot of value for what we received. But to pay twice at much during peak season for the same product? It’s hard for me to see that the same value would be there.
And now that my kids are getting older, those $12k-$18k price tags start to remind me the price of a used car or a year of college tuition. Unless we’re in a position to comfortably cover three kids for college, paying that much for a cruise just seems irresponsible.
Summer Price Comparison for DCL vs. Disney World
Before DCL prices were too outlandishly high, I used to read on message boards that the price of DCL is comparable to a vacation at Disney World in a deluxe resort with the dining plan. But is that still true with the high summer prices?
To compare a Disney World vacation, I looked at the same week for July 2019 since resort prices are not yet available for 2020. I picked the least expensive Disney deluxe resort, which happens to be Disney’s Beach Club. When I add the deluxe dining plan (three meals a day plus snack) and 7-day park tickets (without park hoppers or water park options), the grand total is about $9500. That’s $2500 less than a 7-night Disney cruise to the Caribbean (which will cost more once adding in excursions).
Value is Personal
For some people, even the higher summer prices on DCL still provide worthwhile value. If DCL is still your favorite vacation ever, and it’s the only place that is your true happy place, then it might be worth almost any cost. And, if school schedules allow, some families can find lower prices at the end of May and the end of August.
But for others, when the cost starts to creep up to the same cost as a year of college, the value just isn’t there anymore. That’s when they start to look for alternatives, whether it’s an all-inclusive resort, another cruise line or a Disney parks vacation.
As I’ve mentioned a few times, my family is giving Royal Caribbean a try. I’m crossing my fingers that we enjoy it a great deal, even if we don’t love it quite as much as Disney Cruise Line. But we won’t know for sure until we try it. And if we don’t, we may be the crazy ones booking a 3-night Disney cruise over the summer just to get our DCL fix.
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Wow, so shocked at these prices. We’ve taken 3 Carnival cruises and they are 1/4 of Disney price.
I have taken Disney Cruise – Florida/Bahamas on company trips and did not realize it cost that much. We traveled the week before Christmas. This was before I had kids and wished I had appreciated that trip more.
@lea The shorter cruises during off-season on DCL are not so shockingly expensive. I might do a 3-day cruise during the off-season with my younger two kids until I can no longer pull them out of school, but my oldest can’t go.
Wow. That’s just insane that people would pay that much to go to Disney. I like WDW and all, and I’ve been there a surprising number of times in my life (like 6). But $10k for a week. No way. I can go to a lot cooler places for a fraction of that.
@flyernick Many people do pay that much for a week at WDW! But, there are so many ways to reduce that price with cheaper on-site resorts and using points for off-site resorts. My WDW vacations have never come close to that number. But with a Disney cruise, it’s harder to get the price down significantly. Sure, you can book the cheapest inside room, but even those can be very expensive.
And here I am hesitating on pulling the trigger on a RCL Alaska cruise running into the $5k+ range. But you know my opinion on Disney Cruise Line.
As for the Disney World vacation price… goodness that’s high. But I also understand you’re pulling up the most expensive options for comparison sake. A person can do WAY better at Disney. Deluxe resorts are grossly overpriced, as are any of the dining plans. The dining plans are there to make Disney money, not save the consumer money no matter what they say.
Our last trip we stayed 8 nights during spring break, 6-day park ticket, staying at a moderate resort (which, even the value resorts like Pop Century or Art of Animation are pretty nice). We don’t bother with the dining plan because again… it’s not designed to save you money. Still we ate what we wanted, where we wanted (yes, including 3 character meals), whenever we wanted, and as much as we wanted. Grand total ended up being in the mid $5k range.
Alaska is beautiful, I would totally pull the trigger on that RCL cruise! For Disney World, we’ve never paid that much and gone all out with deluxe and dining plan. We’ve stayed in deluxe before, but on convention rates that were very low. The convention next year is at the Beach Club resort, so I’m hoping it will have a great rate. I’ve always wanted to stay there. We did have the dining plan once when we rented points at Saratoga Springs. It was convenient, but we ate WAY too much. Every meal came with a dessert!
And that’s the issue with the dining plan. If a person were to choose the most expensive restaurants and order the most expensive thing on the menu and the most expensive dessert at EVERY meal you could save a few bucks. But the reality sometimes I just want a burger, or a fancy salad with grilled chicken. Or I’m already stuffed and have no desire for dessert.
I’ll never forget our first trip a few years ago. I was by the pool at the hotel and overheard someone talking (loudly!) on their phone… “and then we had lunch with a bunch of Disney characters… it was over $250 for all of us, can you believe that! But guess what, we didn’t have to pay that much because we have the dining plan!” ROFL! (and this was during spring break, there were no “free dining” offers)