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 Necessarily.
During peak summer and winter holiday seasons, Disney's least
expensive inside staterooms can cost more than $1,000 a night for a
family of four. At other times though, even desirable cabins with
verandahs can be booked for less than half that amount.
The $6,000 fare our family recently paid for a seven-night Caribbean
cruise in late August did not feel like a steal. But the same
itinerary cost twice as much for a Dec. 19 sailing.
Actually, fares for the holiday cruise range from $9,700 for an
inside stateroom to $31,000 for a one-bedroom concierge suite.
To get a good deal on Disney Cruise Line, it helps to understand the
Walt Disney Co unit's unique position in the marketplace that keeps
prices high, said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of Cruise
Critic (http://cruisecritic.com/), a review and travel information
site.
While marketing heavily to families, Disney proffers a luxury
experience that includes high-end, adults-only restaurants, more
spacious cabins and décor that is upscale, even with all the hidden
mouse ears.
Disney is a much smaller player than market-dominating cruise
companies such as Carnival Corp or Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and
has added capacity slowly to avoid the fire sales other lines use to
move unsold cabins, Brown said.
"Disney is very conservative, very careful," Brown said.
That means the usual bargain-hunting strategy of booking at the last
minute often will not work. In fact, fares typically rise over time
as the ships fill, said Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix, CEO of vacation
resource site MousePlanet (http://mouseplanet.com) and a veteran of
20 Disney cruises.
Rather than discounting fares for poorly selling cruises, Disney
tends to offer "kids sail free" promotions or other add-ons, she
said.
Savvy buyers are already snapping up the least expensive and most
desirable cabins for next summer, Brown said. For high-season
travel, "you need to plan at least a year in advance," she said.
Instead, bargain hunters should consider traveling during the school
year, when most families cannot. They should also seek out longer
trips, especially cruises across the Atlantic or through the Panama
Canal which the company uses to reposition its ships. For example, a
14-night transatlantic cruise that sails May 15 from Port Canaveral,
Florida currently can be booked for as little as $1,890 per person,
or $270 a night for a couple.
Note that it is now industry standard to add gratuities directly to
the bill, and Disney charges $12 per person per day to cover room
stewards (called hosts and hostesses) and dining room servers. That
added up to $336 for our party of four.
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Vincent-Phoenix also suggested looking for cruises out of less
popular ports such as Galveston, Texas or Miami.
Several sites, including Cruise Critic and Mousesavers (http://mousesavers.com/),
highlight Disney Cruise fares.
Vincent-Phoenix recommended first-time cruisers use a travel agent
to help sift through the possibilities and wrestle with logistics.
She suggested looking for agencies with "Earmark" or "Authorized
Disney Vacation Planner" designations, who have special training and
understand the cruise line's historical pricing patterns.
Booking through a travel agent typically costs no more than booking
directly with Disney, and many agencies offer incentives such as
shipboard credits of a few hundred dollars to book through them.
Those credits come in handy, because cruise ships offer plenty of
ways to spend money on top of fares. While Disney ships do not have
casinos, they do have spas with costly treatments, and therapists
who push expensive products. Disney-sponsored excursions, souvenirs
and professional photography packages can inflate the bill, as can
the aforementioned adults-only restaurants, which charge additional
amounts ranging from $35 to $85 per person.
In some cases, the add-ons are worth it. We had amazing meals at the
restaurants on our ship, and the week-long pass to the spa felt like
a good investment at about $100 each.
On the other hand, we found most of the excursions overpriced. We
booked a good all-day snorkel trip at St. Martin via TripAdvisor.com
for much less than Disney charged. At Castaway Cay, Disney's private
island in the Bahamas, excursions are quite unnecessary. There is
plenty to do for free.
(This version of the story in paragraph 6, corrects Carolyn Spencer
Brown's title to editor in chief, not CEO)
(Editing by Beth Pinsker; Editing by David Gregorio)
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