Disney Cruise Vacation

Kevin Klose

kevin@dreamsunlimitedtravel.com

The process of booking a Disney Cruise vacation can be overwhelming for a first time cruiser. Let’s see if we can simplify the process a bit.

The first thing that needs to be done is to decide where you would like to go and for how long. Disney Cruise Line normally offers 3,4 and 7 night sailings. They also offer occasional special sailings which are longer. (The 2010 Southern Caribbean sailings fall into that category.)

With the exception of the special itineraries, the Disney ships depart from Port Canaveral which is on Florida’s east coast; about an hour from Orlando.

The 3 and 4 night sailings go to the Bahamas and Disney’s private island Castaway Cay.  Disney also offers a combination vacation, pairing a 3 night stay at Walt Disney World and a 4 night Disney cruise, as well as a 4 night stay at Walt Disney World with a 3 night cruise. These are known as land / sea vacations.

The 7 night sailings alternate between an Eastern and Western Caribbean itinerary. These sailings offer different ports of call. The 7 night sailings also make a stop at Castaway Cay.

In 2009, Disney Cruise Line will be adding St. Croix (January 3, January 31, February 28, March 28, October 10, November 7 and December 5, 2009) and Tortola (April 25, May 23, June 20, July 18, August 15 and September 12, 2009) to the list of Caribbean destinations.. Additionally, they have scheduled one sail date (November 14, 2009) when they will sail to Castaway Cay twice.

2010 will offer even more choices. You will be able to choose from the following

• 14 night Trans-Atlantic sailings (April 10 and September 18, 2010)
• 12 night Northern European sailings (June 12 and June 14, 2010)
• 11 night Mediterranean sailings (April24, May 15, August 7, and August 28, 2010)
• 10 night Mediterranean sailings (May 5, May 26, August 18 and September 8,  2010),
• 8 night Dover to Barcelona sailing (July 30, 2010)
• 7 night Barcelona to Dover (June 5, 2010)
• 11 night Southern Caribbean sailing (December 18, 2010)
• 10 night Southern Caribbean sailing (December 29, 2010)
• 5 night Bahamas sailing with two stops at Castaway Cay (May 30, June 13, June 27, July 11, July 25, August 8, 2010)

After deciding where you want to cruise and for how long, the next step is to decide when to go. Disney Cruise Line sails year round, but there are times of the year that are busier than others. The major holidays, summer vacations and special sailings are all very popular and are usually the more expensive times to travel.

Weather patterns also are a factor in deciding when to go on vacation. The Caribbean hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 1st. As a cruise vacation can be a large expense, it is advisable that each traveler add travel insurance to his/her vacation. Disney Cruise Line offers this option, or you can add it yourself at www.insuremytrip.com which is often cheaper than booking it directly with DCL.

Another decision you'll have to make is what time to dine. There are two seatings "Main" and "Second" within which seating takes place in 15 minute intervals at the three Disney Cruise Line restaurants. If you choose "Main" you'll have the earlier dining time and see the nightly entertainment following your dinner. If you choose "Second", you'll first see that night's show first and have your dinner afterwards. Note that "Main" dining often fills up. In that case you can request to be waitlisted for it.

Next, think about how you're going to get to the Port. If you drive, you can park at the port for $12 a day. Disney Cruise Line does offer transfers from the Orlando airport and select Disney Resorts. If there are three or more in your party, you can save money and travel on your own schedule via a town car service.

Now that the decisions about where, when, how long and how you plan on getting to the ship have been made, there comes the task of booking the actual cruise.

The first step in this part of the process is deciding which stateroom category will best suit your traveling party. While everyone traveling would like to stay in the most spacious and luxurious stateroom possible, cost and the fact that there are very few of these multi-bedroom staterooms make this implausible for mast travelers. Stateroom descriptions and room occupancy limits

There are several classifications of staterooms on the Disney ships. They are :

• Inside Staterooms – interior rooms on the ship offering no views to the outside. (Categories 12, 11 and 10)
• Outside Staterooms – exterior rooms offering either one large window or two smaller windows (categories 9, 8)
• Verandah Staterooms – exterior rooms with a sliding glass door and a personal balcony (categories 6, 5 and 4) Category 7 has a Navigator's Verandah which is partially enclosed
• Suites – one and two bedroom suites with sliding glass doors and private balconies (categories 3, 2 and 1). These suites all include concierge service.

Reading the descriptions listed on the web page referenced above will help you decide which stateroom category will best suit you.

The final step in the process is getting the best price for your cruise.

Disney Cruise Line bases their pricing on several factors. Your party size, chosen travel dates and stateroom category are the key elements. The other variable that often gets overlooked is the percentage of the ship’s available space which is already sold. Disney cruise line bases their rates by what is known as tier pricing.

The lowest pricing for any category stateroom is tier zero. The less expensive cruises will start at tier zero while others will be introduced at a higher tier. As the ship’s staterooms fill, the tier will jump to the next level and the price will increase. This is the reason for the adage that says “the earlier you book, the better the pricing.” This is not just a salesmen’s line, but actual fact.

There are other ways to get a great price for your cruise. Many travel agencies offer what is known as “Group pricing”. This means that the agency has held stateroom categories for a certain date at the lowest tier price. In the event that the price (tier) has increased, the travel agency may still have rooms available for its clients at the lowest rate.

There is also a “group discount” associated with group space. This discount, coupled with the lower tier pricing, results in a rate that is below the lowest price offered to the public. Group pricing is not available for all sail dates, for example, peak travel times. The number of staterooms eligible for group status is determined by Disney Cruise Line. Check with your agent to see if a group rate is available for your chosen sail date.

Disney Cruise Line occasionally offers special pricing for certain individuals. Florida residents, military personnel, travel agents and cast members are sometimes offered discounted rates on certain sail dates. Disney also offers “Magical Rates” to the general public on some of it’s less busy sail dates. Please be aware that the most popular holiday/school vacation sail dates will carry the highest pricing and offer no discounts.

Some Travel Agencies run promotions offering an incentive to book through them. These usually take the form of a shipboard credit (SBC). This simply means that the agency will place a credit in your shipboard account. While onboard you can use this credit for spa treatments, merchandise, photos, etc.

In addition to all of the discount opportunities described above, Dreams Unlimited Travel offers a special discount to clients that are lifetime sponsors of the DIS. You can see that offer at this link: DIS Lifetime Sponsor

Wholesale clubs often run promotions on cruises offering a discount in the form of a gift card to be used in the store. The wholesale club takes a percentage of the price and gives the client a card to be used for merchandise and services within the store.  There is often a drawback in this as the wholesale clubs usually lock you into the price and will not give any credit should the cost of the cruise decrease due to a promotion.

Once you're onboard, you have the opportunity to get a great rate for your next cruise (and we know you’ll want to go back). The offers do vary, but the usual deal for rebooking a 7 night cruise is a 10% discount and $200 shipboard credit. For the 3/4 night cruises, you get a $100 shipboard credit. (There may be some cruises that are excluded, and some that offer an even better incentive.)

There's a trick to getting even more "bang for your buck" when booking onboard. You can see if a Travel Agency is offering a shipboard credit promotion for the same sail date. If they are, you can transfer your reservation to them and enjoy the additional savings. Note that while agency/DCL offers usually can be combined, this is not the case for all. For instance, if Disney Visa is offering a shipboard credit for booking your cruise with their credit card, it cannot be combined with the onboard booking offer.

Agencies that specialize in Disney, such as Dreams Unlimited Travel, monitors each reservation for the opportunity to offer their clients the best price possible. For example, if a "Magical Rate" or FL Resident discount is offered after you've booked, it will be checked to see if a lower rate is available.

Now that you have chosen your cruise, found the best possible price and are ready to book your reservation, you are probably wondering what happens next.

The first thing that will happen is that you will need to make a deposit. Once a price is offered for a cruise, you will have a short window of opportunity in which to make your decision and secure your reservation. The going rate is $250 per person for the 7 night cruises, $200 per person for the 3/4 night cruises. The special cruises (such as the Mediterranean voyages) require a higher deposit. Categories 1 - 3 deposit's are usually double the regular deposit and are non-refundable. Should you decide not to make your deposit, you simply do nothing and the price quote will expire.

You will also need to make a decision on whether you want to add airfare, if you need transfers from the airport to the port and if you want travel insurance. Each of these things will be an additional expense. (Note that you can add/remove these elements without penalty up until your balance being due.)

Once these decisions are made comes the truly hard part of the process, waiting for your departure date to arrive.

There are still a few more things to do however. Your final payment will need to be made. Final payments are usually due 90 days prior to departure for suites and 75 days prior to departure for non-suite staterooms.

Cruise lines can have very stiff penalties for canceling a cruise and they are often levied on a sliding scale depending on what point in the reservation process you find yourself. Below, you will find a link to Dreams Unlimited Travel’s web page containing Disney Cruise Lines Terms and Conditions, including the cancellation policy.

http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/cruise/cruiseterms.htm

The last piece in the process is getting your cruise documents. Disney Cruise Line delivers your cruise documents via UPS and they usually arrive 10 – 14 days prior to arrival. Once final payment is made (and you have passed the final payment date of 90 or 75 days), you can visit Disney Cruise Line’s website and complete an on-line check in process and view and register for on-board activities.

And then the countdown begins……