DCL most preferred by "child free" adults

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

DISNEY most preferred cruise line by "child free" adults.

courtesy YAHOO:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/cruise-line-most-child-free-180000117.html

 

 

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

14 hours ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

DISNEY most preferred cruise line by "child free" adults.

courtesy YAHOO:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/cruise-line-most-child-free-180000117.html

 

 

I believe it. We only taken one Disney cruise and it was awesome.   But it's just hard to justify the high price of a Disney cruise. 

I found that a Disney cruise is 3x more than other cruise lines during the off season and 4x more during the high (Christmas) season.    it's hard to take one Disney cruise when we can take 3 or 4 cruises for the same price. 

 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

It's not really that surprising to me. The adults only dining, beach, etc are really nice. And you can actually get a lounge chair in the adults area. Good luck with that on some of the other lines. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

This does surprise me.  The friends we have in our age bracket prefer other cruselines because of lower prices and the availability of casinos and more food options.  Mrs. TCD and I prefer DCL, but we don't know anyone else without kids at home who does.

TCD

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

5 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

I believe it. We only taken one Disney cruise and it was awesome.   But it's just hard to justify the high price of a Disney cruise. 

 

Totally agree X2.

[caveat lector 181]

We are essentially empty nesters and love DCL. We also loved it with kids.  The price,..... yep that's an entirely different discussion.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

4 hours ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

Totally agree X2.

 

3 hours ago, caveat lector said:

We are essentially empty nesters and love DCL. We also loved it with kids.  The price,..... yep that's an entirely different discussion.

I just don't get their pricing structure.  I realize disney is a premium product.  But IMHO the DCL prices are way to high. 

I have friends, who've never been to disneyworld, that say DIsneyworld is to expensive.  But i disagree. When you compare a Disney trip to a vacation at any other resort. The pricing is pretty close.  

Example. If we are going to WDW over Christmas. It would cost my family of three about

$2100 for hotel, (POFQ). 

$1200.00 for 3-6-day tickets. Non-park hopper (Entertainment)

 $1500.  Airfare  

$1,000 food/ eating out  

total $5800

 

if we go to Miami Beach this christmas...

$1850 for hotel, on the beach

$487.00 rental car (Nissan Altima)

(entertainment-this is what we did on our last trip to the beach)

$150.00 1-hour jet ski rental. 

$250.00 2-hour fishing trip. 

$150.00 dolphin cruise. 

$1500.00 airfare

$1,000.00 food/ eating out  

total $5,387.00

 

So for $400 more I get all of wdw. Disney springs, broadwalk, all of the resorts we visit.  

 

I could justify a DCL if it was a little bit more than other cruise lines.  But unfortunately it's not.  We would love to take another Disney cruise. But for our family DCL is way overpriced.  

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

2 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

 

I just don't get their pricing structure.  I realize disney is a premium product.  But IMHO the DCL prices are way to high. 

I have friends, who've never been to disneyworld, that say DIsneyworld is to expensive.  But i disagree. When you compare a Disney trip to a vacation at any other resort. The pricing is pretty close.  

Example. If we are going to WDW over Christmas. It would cost my family of three about

$2100 for hotel, (POFQ). 

$1200.00 for 3-6-day tickets. Non-park hopper (Entertainment)

 $1500.  Airfare  

$1,000 food/ eating out  

total $5800

 

if we go to Miami Beach this christmas...

$1850 for hotel, on the beach

$487.00 rental car (Nissan Altima)

(entertainment-this is what we did on our last trip to the beach)

$150.00 1-hour jet ski rental. 

$250.00 2-hour fishing trip. 

$150.00 dolphin cruise. 

$1500.00 airfare

$1,000.00 food/ eating out  

total $5,387.00

 

So for $400 more I get all of wdw. Disney springs, broadwalk, all of the resorts we visit.  

 

I could justify a DCL if it was a little bit more than other cruise lines.  But unfortunately it's not.  We would love to take another Disney cruise. But for our family DCL is way overpriced.  

Unfortunately, the casinos are the key. The cash inflow from the casinos covers ALL operating expenses. The passenger fares are pure profit. (This was told to us on a Carnival Cruise about 25 years ago)

Disney has no casinos, so...........

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

8 minutes ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

Unfortunately, the casinos are the key. The cash inflow from the casinos covers ALL operating expenses. The passenger fares are pure profit. (This was told to us on a Carnival Cruise about 25 years ago)

Disney has no casinos, so...........

Exactly...and nobody has DCL's service.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

2 hours ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

Unfortunately, the casinos are the key. The cash inflow from the casinos covers ALL operating expenses. The passenger fares are pure profit. (This was told to us on a Carnival Cruise about 25 years ago)

Disney has no casinos, so...........

I've heard this before and thought it was a little odd.  According to royal Caribbeans own financial reports About 72% of revenue comes from cruise fares. The rest from other sources, including onboard activities.  The industry average per passenger onboard spending isn't broken down by just casino revenue. But approx 50% (or 14% of total revenue) of the onboard spending is spent on booze and gambling.   So if we assume it's a 50/50 split only 7% of revenue comes from gambling.    So I don't think a 7% revenue loss from not having an onboard casino justifies a 3-4 times the industry average cost per cabin.   Remember 72% percent of revenue comes from cruise fares. 

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

2 hours ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

Exactly...and nobody has DCL's service.

Have you tried a Princess cruise?   The service is top notch.  If DCL's service is a 10.  Princess cruises service is a 9  

They cost a little bit more than a carnival,  Norwegian, or royal Caribbean cruise but still a lot more affordable than a DCL

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It's no mystery why DCL charges what it does.  They charge what the market will bear.  It's as simple as supply and demand. Up to now, their small fleet has allowed them to charge an ultra-premium price for an above average cruise experience.  They are very vigilant about protecting their high price point, and there are very few discounts ever offered to the general public.  This business model has worked for them up to this point.  It remains to be seen if it will be sustainable once they add the new ships to their fleet.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

9 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

Have you tried a Princess cruise?   The service is top notch.  If DCL's service is a 10.  Princess cruises service is a 9  

They cost a little bit more than a carnival,  Norwegian, or royal Caribbean cruise but still a lot more affordable than a DCL

I agree with Ray.

I have sailed Princess, RCCL and Carnival.  IMHO the service provided by DCL is not markedly better than the service provided by other major cruiselines.

And, BTW, DCL's service is not a 10.  Not even close.

TCD

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

40 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

It's no mystery why DCL charges what it does.  They charge what the market will bear.  It's as simple as supply and demand. Up to now, their small fleet has allowed them to charge an ultra-premium price for an above average cruise experience.  They are very vigilant about protecting their high price point, and there are very few discounts ever offered to the general public.  This business model has worked for them up to this point.  It remains to be seen if it will be sustainable once they add the new ships to their fleet.

TCD

Agree. I just hope when their new ships are complete the prices go down.   We would really like to do another DCL cruise. 

[tim5055 120]

If you are going to cruise, how about all inclusive:  https://www.rssc.com/experience/all-included/

 

I like the

FREE Unlimited Beverages Including Fine Wines and Premium Spirits

FREE Open Bars and Lounges PLUS In-Suite Mini-Bar Replenished Daily

[Seals 111]

Anyone click on the link?  The articles says this: "20 percent of adult passengers on Disney cruises are adults without kids along for the journey, and they often go on vacation during the school year, when there's less likely to be an influx of young'uns."   Trying to find the source of the study takes one to a BloombergPursuits article with stories of adults who love DCL cruises starting with this one:

Joanne and Gerald “John” Gerrity, the fifth-generation owners of a kielbasa shop in Nanticoke, Pa., booked their 100th Disney cruise in September. And no—they’re not sailing with young children. For that matter, they’re not sailing with children at all.

Their obsession started in 2000, when a customer told them about the cruise line. They had already taken the kids to Walt Disney World and thought it would be a fun family vacation—their kids were 13 and 14 at the time. But John wasn’t so sure. As Joanne recalls, “He took his pointer finger and shook it at me and went, ‘If I don’t have a good time, this is all your fault.’ ” Much to John’s surprise, they got hooked, sometimes taking their kids along for the ride, but sometimes not. 

Now they often leave their kids in charge of the kielbasa shop and book back-to-back sailings, staying on a Disney ship for 20 days or more. “We don’t even care where we go with them anymore. We just open the brochure, book, and go,” said John, 54. “We’d do more if we could get the time off.”

I need to look into kielbasa sales!

It also has this comment "According to the industry website CruiseCritic.com—which is like TripAdvisor for seafarers—Disney Cruise Line gets higher average ratings from passengers without children than from those with them. (The company is immensely popular with both demographics.)"  

As one of the comments said:  "This smells like an ad trying to sucker people in."

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

1 hour ago, tim5055 said:

If you are going to cruise, how about all inclusive:  https://www.rssc.com/experience/all-included/

 

I like the

FREE Unlimited Beverages Including Fine Wines and Premium Spirits

FREE Open Bars and Lounges PLUS In-Suite Mini-Bar Replenished Daily

 We did a fortnight all inclusive cruise on Norwegian from Miami to Cuba, to their private island and back in July. It was really nice not having to worry about paying for drinks. To my surprise  I drink about the same amount of booze as I normally do on a cruise.I drink about the same amount of booze as I normally do on a cruise.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

31 minutes ago, Seals said:

I need to look into kielbasa sales!

LOL.

Good one.

I didn't see that link to the Bloomberg article.  Good catch.

That must be one heck of a kielbasa shop.

TCD

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

3 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

LOL.

Good one.

I didn't see that link to the Bloomberg article.  Good catch.

That must be one heck of a kielbasa shop.

TCD

We have some family dynasty level kielbasa places here in New England. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

29 minutes ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

We have some family dynasty level kielbasa places here in New England. 

Really?

I don't think I've ever seen a kielbasa shop.

In fact, I can't think of the last time I ate kielbasa.  I have nothing against it, but it's not a thing in my part of Florida (or any other part of Florida as far as I know).

TCD

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

12 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Really?

I don't think I've ever seen a kielbasa shop.

In fact, I can't think of the last time I ate kielbasa.  I have nothing against it, but it's not a thing in my part of Florida (or any other part of Florida as far as I know).

TCD

There is a very high quantity of Polish and German people up here. Many of them are partial to a particular shop. That shop may sell other things as well but people make reference to where they get their kielbasa from all the time. 

[slices 16]

Publix sells it, at least they do in Bradenton but that may be due to a large number of transplants from the north. My father in law is  of Polish decent. He's originally from Fall river before retiring down here, and has mentioned a number of kielbasa shops in the area.

 

 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

8 minutes ago, slices said:

Publix sells it, at least they do in Bradenton but that may be due to a large number of transplants from the north. My father in law is  of Polish decent. He's originally from Fall river before retiring down here, and has mentioned a number of kielbasa shops in the area.

I know that the grocery stores around here sell kielbasa, and it's usually available at the Poland booth at the Food and Wine Festival in Epcot, but I don't know of any kielbasa shops in Florida- especially not any where the owners are raking in enough cash to take back to back Disney Cruises.

TCD

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

59 minutes ago, Katman1356...Jason said:

We have some family dynasty level kielbasa places here in New England. 

Oh we do indeed!!  I got very excited when I found this stuff (made in Holyoke MA) in my local market...

I've got some in the freezer right now and my sister-in-law mail orders the stuff.

I grew up in an extremely Polish neighborhood in Worcester.  That's where my Mom (of French-Italian decent) learned to make some killer golabki, and we all developed our love of pierogi.

Wait, what were we talking about??  LOL

[Travisma 1,317]

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Really?

I don't think I've ever seen a kielbasa shop.

In fact, I can't think of the last time I ate kielbasa.  I have nothing against it, but it's not a thing in my part of Florida (or any other part of Florida as far as I know).

TCD

We have it quite a bit.  Great grilled, smoked or in other dishes.

But it's hard to find fresh in the Tampa area.