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A Disney cruise can cost two- or three-times more than resort family lines, like Royal Caribbean, Carnival, or Norwegian Cruise Lines, and often 40% more than other premium lines, like Celebrity, which Disney is more like. Is it worth it.....??
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my Disney Cruise had cost me nearly
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three times more than a similar cruise
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on a resort family line like Royal
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Caribbean Carnival Norwegian it was even
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costing me 40 more than a pretty
0:11
expensive line like celebrity which
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Disney is probably more like so as I
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said off on my recent Disney Magic
0:18
fjords cruise I was wondering what on
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Earth all that extra that I paid for was
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going to give me I'm Gary behridge and
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here's what I found out well first of
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all I wondered if most of that fare was
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basically going to be going on then
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delivering the Disney Experience
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well the minute I stepped on board I was
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absolutely plunged headlong into a
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Disney kingdom I was greeted by
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characters they were constantly Disney
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characters to pose with they popped up
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at the sail away party the end of the
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cruise party and many other events the
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shows and entertainment were of course
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all Disney
0:57
the theater production shows were big
1:00
Disney Productions we had a frozen deck
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show at one port Sail Out so on my
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cruise for example in the theater they
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had Tangled the story of Rapunzel Disney
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dreams a kind of compilation of the kind
1:11
of greatest hits of Disney films twice
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Charmed a reimagining of the Cinderella
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story and Once Upon a Song a concert
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with lesser known to me but not to most
1:21
of the guests Disney songs all the
1:23
movies shown in the Buena Vista Cinema
1:25
were all Disney properties so for
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example I actually got to see some
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really recent Marvel films that had not
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yet caught at my local Cinema because of
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course Marvel and Star Wars are now
1:36
within the whole Disney World trivia was
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almost always Disney link the decor in
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the design of the ship had Disney woven
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in all over even on the exterior goofy
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is hanging at the rear of the ship the
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funnel had big Mickey ears on and it
1:51
played When You Wish Upon a Star when we
1:53
were sailing out at Port inside many
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venues were Disney themed or named like
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the goofy pool when I was not avert
2:01
there would still be hidden Disney
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features woven in so for example Disney
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characters are around the atrium trim
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there's Hidden Mickey ears on the
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Elevator Shaft glass exterior and even
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in the roof of the adult only special
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agent Restaurant Palo there's some
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Hidden Mickey ears the three main dining
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room restaurants that are rotated around
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each night were heavily Disney themed I
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had Rapunzel's Royal table which is
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linked to the story of Tangled animators
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palette which features Disney animation
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and lumiers which is linked to Beauty
2:36
and the Beast there was of course
2:39
there's the artwork all around the ship
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it's really clear to me that a lot of
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the premium that I was paid in my fare
2:46
was going into all of this it's of
2:48
course really well done and it takes
2:50
many crew or cast members as they call
2:52
them to deliver it but was that the only
2:54
place that this premium had gone I
2:56
wondered
2:59
another really obvious place the fair
3:01
premium showed up I thought is in the
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kids clubs now which of course for me I
3:05
was traveling without kids meant I was
3:07
getting no direct benefit although you
3:08
could argue there was an indirect
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benefit because it meant kids kept
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disappearing into them for long periods
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because they are so remarkable but
3:15
anyway Disney have four key clubs they
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have It's a Small World nursery the
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Oceania club for ages 3 to 11 Edge for
3:24
the 11 to 14 year olds and Vibe for
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teens 15 to 17. these are unlike
3:29
anything I have ever seen on other lines
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The Ocean Club for example it's a vast
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area it's splits into two areas one is
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for play and divided into things like
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Toy Story Andy's room Disney Fairies
3:41
Pixie Hollow Marvel
3:43
Superhero Center Disney Club junior the
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other which they describe more as the
3:49
Oceania lab is designed for activities
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like animation drawing and craft
3:54
activities Edge is focused on kind of
3:56
gaming Vibe is kind of a cooler more
3:59
more funky space to hang out for with
4:01
movies and game stations and so on so
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clearly a big slug of that Premiere I
4:08
was paying was going into those kids
4:09
clubs which as I said had no direct
4:11
benefit to me but were there then areas
4:14
that my fair premium was benefiting me
4:16
more directly
4:19
yes I think they probably were because
4:21
some of the premium does go into having
4:24
and spending money on having dedicated
4:26
and included adult only areas these
4:30
areas are probably more expansive than
4:33
any other cruise line that I've been on
4:35
you know dedicating areas to guests over
4:37
18. there was an adult only pool deck it
4:41
had the signals bar and the Cove Cafe
4:44
the gym and the spa were also adult only
4:47
they then had this area called after
4:49
dark which after 9 00 pm at night was
4:52
adult only three venues in there fathoms
4:55
a Cabaret style lounge with various
4:57
events like sun disco Bingo jungling
4:59
lessons a nightclub adult comedy show
5:02
and so on Keys a piano cocktail bar and
5:05
then a girl's a really popular Irish
5:07
themed pub with adult only trivia and an
5:11
Irish band performing there is no casino
5:13
on Disney Magic by the way they also had
5:15
Paulo which is an Italian specialty
5:18
dining adults only restaurant amazing
5:20
food amazing service on other ships they
5:23
have Remy more French orientated and
5:25
some of the new ships they actually have
5:26
both of those so while I felt some of my
5:29
fair premium was going there there were
5:30
some areas that actually made that fair
5:32
premium look much less attractive
5:36
for me one thing that diminished the
5:39
value and the premium is the ships can
5:41
get really busy more so I found then on
5:45
other premium ships of the same size
5:48
that they operate in now cruise ship
5:50
capacity is advertised normally as an
5:52
industry standard based on what is kind
5:54
of called fixed lower bursts which
5:57
pretty much means double occupancy of
5:59
cabins because regular beds in cabins
6:02
the normal beds are usually double or
6:04
twin per cabin now Disney appears to
6:07
have many many more cabins that can
6:09
accommodate entire families of course
6:11
than any other line so for example my
6:14
family Deluxe around a cabin wire from a
6:17
declared capacity level would really be
6:19
counted as holding two people because
6:21
that was the amount of fixed bed space
6:23
it could actually take three more two on
6:26
the sofa bed and another sleeping in a
6:28
bunk bed that you could pull out from
6:29
the ceiling so discovered and realize
6:32
that at Peak vacation times Disney ships
6:34
can be selling between 150 25 and 160
6:38
capacity because there's just so many
6:40
more people per cabin so am I selling we
6:42
had roughly about 100 people above the
6:44
double occupancy level of about 1750 and
6:48
it did feel really crowded finally into
6:50
the dinners in the atrium between the
6:52
shows and the dining when there were
6:54
many character appearances and at events
6:56
like the sail away and Frozen deck
6:57
parties it just felt really really busy
7:00
but it could have been sailing with
7:03
2713 guests so 960 more than I had it
7:08
would absolutely have felt really really
7:09
cramped other premium lines with similar
7:12
side ships like celebrity for example I
7:14
just come back from they are much less
7:16
capable of selling at such intensity
7:18
because they generally have fewer
7:20
multiple occupancy cabins and by
7:22
definition attract many fewer Travelers
7:25
and families who do so that is something
7:26
to consider when assessing value I felt
7:28
it did diminish the value
7:32
but is Disney Great Value though because
7:34
of the food as many many fans have
7:37
suggested to me is why it's worth that
7:39
big premium Now comparing doesn't need
7:40
to other lines in the premium category
7:42
that they compete with closely I thought
7:45
the menus were often larger but I did
7:47
think the food on Disney was good but it
7:50
wasn't as good as some recent cruises
7:51
I've been on say like celebrity and
7:53
virgin which are also kind of Premium
7:55
priced ships it did definitely match
7:57
Cunard and Holland America being on
7:59
recently and definitely was better than
8:00
princess and piano cruises that I've
8:02
been on recently so I thought it was
8:04
kind of middle range so I'm not sure
8:06
wasn't convinced that the value the
8:08
premium I was paying in the fair was
8:11
really going into the food as much as I
8:13
thought it would do of course the main
8:15
dining rooms have more theming they have
8:17
the shows around the meals so of course
8:19
that does I guess swamp up some of the
8:21
premium and the value
8:25
another thing that I had wondered
8:27
because a lot of people talk about it is
8:29
did that larger Fair premium translate
8:31
into better service well I felt that
8:34
service was good and it was very
8:36
friendly but it was not in my opinion
8:39
that different to other premium lines it
8:42
became clear that they reward the crew
8:44
on their guest rating surveys because
8:47
they kept lobbying me to do the survey
8:49
and give them good scores plus they have
8:51
this very unique gratuity system which I
8:54
felt encourages behavior from the crew
8:56
to encourage you and kind of almost
8:57
Lobby you to give you extra tips I was
9:00
given a printout towards the end of the
9:02
cruise which told me how much Auto
9:04
gratuities have been charged to my
9:05
account then it split out by each of the
9:07
key people like the cabins to the server
9:09
what share they would get and now I was
9:12
supposed to tear the slips with that
9:14
amount off put them in the envelopes
9:16
they supplied and hand it to each person
9:18
now I felt like I was being manipulated
9:20
almost required to give extra gratuities
9:23
rather than on other Cruise Lines where
9:26
I'm left to tip my cab Institute tip my
9:28
regular service above the auto gratuity
9:30
really based on service and without any
9:33
kind of explicit pressure I felt this
9:36
really uncomfortable and despite the
9:38
high Fair premium I thought it didn't
9:40
necessarily show up in better service
9:41
but I felt the gratuity system was
9:44
saying to you we expect you to tip above
9:47
that already premium fare more by the
9:49
way that they did it
9:52
talking of add-ons to that already
9:54
premium fare what are the other add-ons
9:57
the actual explicit add-ons like now I
10:00
found some great inclusions so it is
10:02
juices coffee tea hot chocolate they
10:04
were all included and within the fair
10:07
the shows the films too of course were
10:10
included as I've already mentioned now
10:11
one great thing from a value aspect is
10:14
although they take the official
10:15
character photos
10:17
which there are many I can use my own
10:19
camera I could ask the cast members to
10:21
take pictures of me with the characters
10:22
they're not forcing me or you to buy the
10:26
photos so that's that's really good
10:28
there were many add-ons though I had a
10:30
pretty big onboard Bill coming off
10:32
Disney they don't have a drinks package
10:34
so if you're drinking I found the cost
10:36
kind of ramp up Wi-Fi is really costly
10:38
it cost me 210 dollars for the premium
10:40
service for the week it was a pretty
10:42
good service though excursions though
10:44
did seem to be much more expensive than
10:47
on other lines but it did sound like
10:50
they've got added requirement events
10:52
which maybe push up the cost so for
10:54
example I went on a fantastic helicopter
10:56
Excursion in no fjordite and the pilots
11:00
had told some people on the next round
11:01
of helicopters that Disney had a higher
11:04
requirement on the hours that the pilots
11:06
had to have flown before they could be
11:08
used on a Disney Excursion so things
11:10
like that may push up the costs of
11:11
Excursion if you are a Disney fan or
11:14
want a Disney Experience then the value
11:16
is probably worth it for all those
11:18
things that I mentioned about because
11:19
this is where I feel most of the money
11:21
goes on other areas like food service
11:23
and the add-ons I think they match
11:25
pretty much similar Cruise Lines if you
11:28
want to do a Disney cruise watch this
11:29
video with 13 things that I wish I'd
11:32
known and done before and on the cruise
11:34
to make the most of it starting with the
11:36
biggest thing that I would tell everyone
11:38
they must do before they go or they will
11:41
miss out when they're on board big time
11:43
see you over there
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