in need of a good deal!!!

[minnie04]

I have been trying to get on this cruise forever. I just cant pay such a high rate for 5 of us. can someone PLEASE tell me how they get such good deals for this cruise !!!!! :mickey:

[Scar]

I have been trying to get on this cruise forever. I just cant pay such a high rate for 5 of us. can someone PLEASE tell me how they get such good deals for this cruise !!!!! :mickey:The best advice I have for paying a lower price is to go when school is in session during hurricane season.

Seriously.

[minnie04]

hmmm ok I will look into that. thanks

[susie & perla's mom]

right now disneycruise.com has this promotion:
Kids age 17 and under sail free when traveling with 2 full-fare Guests in the same verandah stateroom in categories 4A - 6A on most Mexican Riviera sailings from October 23 to December 18, 2011. Government Taxes and Fees not included.

[VWL Mom]

I know Costco has some specials so I would imagine the other wholesale clubs do too. If you belong to any of them, check their web-sites.

[minnie04]

thanks I will check out the Costco deals..

[DizneyRox]

You can save by going on some thing other than DCL. DCL charges a significant premium over other cruise lines than I'm not convinced is warranted. RCCL offer Dreamworks characters aboard many ships now. It was nice not having to fork over $30 pp for a character breakfast for once like at WDW.

[DisneyPrincess21]

I have been trying to get on this cruise forever. I just cant pay such a high rate for 5 of us. can someone PLEASE tell me how they get such good deals for this cruise !!!!! :mickey:

January is suppose to be one of the cheapest times to cruise with DCL. We were originally going to go at a different time, but when we looked into January it saved us $1,800! :woohoo:

[iloveokw]

If you live in Florida they often have Florida Residents discounts.

[Imalismom]

In the 7 years that I have been cruising with DCL - this is what I have found out:

DCL's price and every other Travel agency price is the same price, except for one time. That time is when the travel agency holds (buys?) a set of rooms (usually inside staterooms) - then you can perhaps get a cheaper deal, but you have to shop travel agencies (TA)s, and they usually are the larger online TAs (like Magical Journeys). They do not do this all the time, so if you find a TA that does this, get on their mailing list (usually email).

If you have military ties, DCL does do a military discount - again, keep with a good TA, and they will let you know, or you check with DCL yourself.

If you are a Florida Resident, DCL does do a Florida Resident discount - again, keep with a good TA, and they will let you know, or you check with DCL yourself. the code for this one is FLR, so you can put that in to see if the cruise you want to do has a Forida rate with it.

The two discounts above are usually not released now until after final payment has been done for the cruise itself, or very close to final payment time. It used to be that you could book the cruise, wait until the Military/Florida Discount was announced and change to it (I have done that myself twice), but I read that DCL is no longer doing that.

Take a three day cruise during the "off season", in the cheapest room you can get, and then rebook on board for another cruise (you can change the date of that cruise later if you want). You get a percentage off (usually 10%), you get an on board credit, and the deposit you have to put down is less. Pay the deposit with a Disney Credit card and you also get an "on board credit" (OBC). Book onboard and assign it THEN to a TA, and you can get several OBC's. These are called “dummy” bookings and the person onboard the ship who does these bookings will work with you to get you the cheapest deal onboard with the max OBC. I have never done this yet, but will be doing this on my next cruise. You can book one dummy cruise for each adult in the room if I have my information correct.

Look at different travel agencies. Ask them what their OBC is. If the room you are paying for is $1000 (just pulled that amount out of the air), from everywhere you look, if TA 1 gives you a $50 OBC , TA2 gives you a $100 OBC, then your cruise has just gotten a little cheaper if you use TA2.

Another way to get another OBC (yes, you can get more than one) is to pay your whole trip off with the Disney Visa Card. Even if you make monthly payments, put those payments each month on that card, and once you have paid it off you will get an additional OBC (I think it is $50). There is some upfront work you have to do, a code you need, but ask DCL or your TA before you make your deposit.

Book the first day the cruise comes out (yes, often 1.5 to 2 years in advance). It will be the cheapest on this day. Yes, it may turn out that you can’t take that cruise (as was my case with our Alaskan cruise this summer). You can always CHANGE the date, and not lose any money you paid towards the trip.

Book far enough in advance, and make payments. You can make the actual payments to DCL (or your TA if you used them) monthly, or you can put it aside in a saving account – but either way, you are not paying a large amount out at one time. We booked our Alaskan cruise in 2009, for 2011. I took how many months I had until final payment was due, and divided that into the amount I owed, so each month I put $250 away until it was paid for. Now, this was an expensive cruise – I had one of the most expensive rooms on the ship, so your amount could be way less each month.

One last thing – if you get a Disney Credit Card – put EVERYTHING you can on that card. I literally put something on the card, come home and make a payment to the card – even going to a fast food place where you would pay cash – use that Credit Card - - just get into the habit of nightly making a payment to Disney (if you can pay bills online with no fee this helps as this is what I use through USAA) if you use the card that day. Why? For every $100 you put on the card, you get $1.00 in Disney reward points. Now, that does not seem like a lot, but I have enough on my rewards card to make a sizeable down payment on the cruise I book next summer when I am on the dream.

Yes, DCL is more expensive then RCCL or Carnival. I have cruised with Carnival when I could not afford DCL. Only you can decide if the extra money (sometimes twice as much for the same itinerary) is worth it to you. To me it is, but then again, I don’t cruise as often as I want to because of the price issue.

Often DCL will announce “kids sail free” – again a good TA will alert you to this, or you can call DCL - sometimes this will allow you to cruise at a cheaper rate. But watch this offer – a kids sail free, does not mean a kids FLY free offer – so if you do a med cruise, the airfare may make the kids sail free too pricey. Right now the offer they have is:


Kids (17 and under) sail free when booked with two full-fare adult guests in the same verandah stateroom, Categories 4A-6A. Discount is available on select Mexican Riviera sail dates 10/30/11 - 12/18/11.

The code for this is KFO, so you can use that to see if this offer is available for the cruise you want to take.

Also, a repositioning cruise is often cheaper, but then again, you will have airfare to deal with from the other end home – so take that into account also.

Do you live in California?
Southern California residents (zip codes 90000 - 93599) can save 25% on stateroom categories 9A-9D for the Mexican Riviera sailings from 10/23/11 - 12/18/11. The code for this is SCR, so you can use that to see if this offer is available for the cruise you want to take.

It also seems that Mondays are when the new offers come out - so make it a habit to recheck everything each Monday if you are doing this all yourself.

One thing to mention though – as soon as you give your cruise to a travel agency, you lose all ability to go through DCL yourself. If that is important to you, you need to know that upfront. To me, it does not matter, and I love the OBC that I get from my TA. However, I wanted to throw that into this “novel” I just wrote – just in case you were not aware of this.

Hopefully this helps a little,

[minnie04]

Iamalismom, Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all the good ideas you have. I will try and use them. I do live in Florida and yes they have deals, but I never seem to get a deal that would justify $4,000 for 3 days. When I can do a carnival 7 day for about that much. I know you can’t compare the experience of Disney to Carnival, but man it does make you say hummm. Thank you again for your help. I will look into a travel agent as well..

[DizneyRox]

Fl resident, like the CM rate is really sweet if you can land it. The problem is, as mentioned, that you just never know. We were fortunate enough to get on the Magic for less than $800 per person in a balcony stateroom for a 7 night cruise.

But, we didn't know until about a month out or so if it was offered. We made alternate plans that were easily cancelled without penalty.

The biggest problem might be airfare, if you can't easily drive. Even within Florida, sometimes it's way easier to fly, IMHO. Anytime it's quicker to fly, I do.

[DisneyFr33k]

$4000 for 3 days? Wow! We went on our first Disney cruise - 7 day eastern carr. back in January of 2008. We paid just over $2000 for the 4 of us. Inside stateroom of course, which was fine as we were out and about on the ship. Since then, we've gone on 1 more 7 night (western) in 2009 for about the same price because we booked on the boat during the 7 night eastern. This saves big $$ too. Then, upon leaving the boat on the 7 night western, we were given a card to do a 3 night bahama cruise anytime in the fall for $99. Yes, $99 per person total for 3 nights! We did that for sure! Those rooms were first come, first serve, though.

We just got back from a 7 night Alaskan cruise for the kids sail free. Disney has gone up significantly on their prices. Even with the kids sail free, we paid just over $3000 for the week - without airfare, car rental etc.

Good luck finding a deal. We want to go on the Dream or Fantasy, but after seeing the prices, will not be able to afford it.

I hope Disney doesn't become unaffordable for most middle class families. We'd like to go back, but need to put the kids through college too.

[Imalismom]

$4000 for 3 days? Wow! <snip> .


A Category 11A for 4 on the 5-night sailing on Jul 19 on the dream today was $4660

As much as I love DCL, I would not book that room. Our concierge room for 5 days is only $5002 - yes, its next summer -- not this summer, and only for 2 people.... but still...