Debt Dumpers 2024

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It’s pricey and honestly I booked our first Disney cruise in Oct 2005, for a Feb 2007 sailing on the Magic, genuinely thinking it would be a once in a lifetime event. Our kids, now 24 and almost 28, were only 6 and 9.
Once you’re onboard, you can book up to 2 future cabin “placeholders” as they call them, for $250 each which is later applied to the deposit once you book an actual sailing. It gives you a 10% discount off your future cruise. (Off the pretax amount). The 2nd cabin can be shared with friends/family but they must be on same future cruise as you.
Our TA gives us an onboard credit, usually $100, and Mickey-shaped flowers or bottle of wine as a TY for booking. She is in TX and we’re in NJ but it still works out just fine. Not that a TA is needed but the perks are nice. We’ve been using her since 2008 and she’s like an old friend.

I never, EVER leave the ship without securing my discount for a future cruise because I refuse to pay full price. Placeholders expire after 24 months and prior to that, they are 100% refundable.

The Haunted Mansion bar does look so cool!!

May I make a suggestion? Try a 5-night cruise on the Dream or Fantasy during an off-peak time, find out for yourself if DCL is worth it for you, and book a placeholder for a cruise on the Treasure. The newer ships are the priciest so the discount will help a lot.

I have yet to sail on the Wish because I’ve read so many times that the layout is terrible and designed by someone who’s never even been on a cruise. It’s a lot more expensive during holidays and summer, whenever schools are closed.

The Magic was our first and she still holds a very special place in our hearts, even all these years later. We just sailed on her last week and had a lovely time and will sail her agin in April. That said, if you’re accustomed to newer ships, you might find the Magic or Wonder to be small and old.
Then again, how old is Disneyland Park? It is still well loved because Disney is good with maintaining it. Same with DCL.
Older ships carry almost half the passengers which is a huge plus for us. Less competition for seats in the WD Theater and on the beach at Castaway Cay.

Sorry this is so long. Omg, I could talk about DCL all day and night. I created a monster when I first sent my niece and her family on one and now she is addicted too.

Are you in Cali? I think the Wonder sails from San Diego sometimes. Maybe not needing to fly would help with costs. It’s a big state so maybe not.

Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely have to keep them in mind for whenever I pull the trigger on DCL. I used a TA for this RC cruise, cruisecompete is great for those of you that are interested in cruising. They take down the details of what you're looking for and then you'll get different offers from different TAs and you can select the one that works for you. It's also completely free to use. We went with a guarantee suite (so I didn't choose my own room, RC will choose for me within the suite category), the TA was the same price as booking through RC, but we're getting $174 in OBC, a speciality dinner for 2, some kind of spa credit, and apparently they were running some kind of Thanksgiving special and they're paying for our gratuities. I didn't even know about the gratuities when I booked. I chose to prepay our gratuities like I usually do and then someone from the agency called me to let me know that they were having RC refund my gratuities because they were covering them. I don't always use a TA, usually I just book on my own, or I check costco (even though I've never actually used them to book a cruise yet).

I am in Cali and I know that there is a DCL ship that sails out of San diego, but not all year. It's usually around for the halloween and christmas season and those cruises are pricey. They may also sail in the summer? Not sure though. We've sailed on both older and newer ships and are totally OK with either. I may have to look into a "cheaper" DCL cruise and then do the future booking that you mentioned.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

DCL is a bucket list item for us too, but trying to do it for 5 of us was like $10k for 5 nights and I just can't pull the trigger on that one.
I'm also annoyed that I can't book 5 people on RC website to play around with prices.

It is very expensive for larger families. Does RC not have cabins that sleep 5? Maybe you’d need to book 2 rooms then. That jacks up the price because the first 2 guests in a room pay full adult price, regardless of age.

My niece has a family of 4 and her 7-nt cruise on the Fantasy 2 months ago was $5980. This was with the 10% onboard booking discount. The cabin was Category 8B which is an extra large family-size cabin with a porthole window that one can sit in and it has a fold down Murphy bed. It sleeps 5 but price I listed is for 4. (Her son is 17 and very tall so his feet hang off the bunk beds.) The Murphy bed is a twin size mattress.
I used cc points for their flights in one direction and also for their pre-cruise hotel stay at the Hyatt MCO.
Looking back at my budget, it was $8513 when including everything:
$168 trip ins (hurricane season)
$142 airport parking
$360 ground transfers to/from the port
$406 prepaid gratuities ($14.50 pp per day)
$800 cash toward excursions
$250 for another placeholder.

Yes, it isn’t cheap but it is all inclusive. They are experts at separating our money from us but truly you could not spend a dime during a cruise and still have a blast, just like WDW.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely have to keep them in mind for whenever I pull the trigger on DCL. I used a TA for this RC cruise, cruisecompete is great for those of you that are interested in cruising. They take down the details of what you're looking for and then you'll get different offers from different TAs and you can select the one that works for you. It's also completely free to use. We went with a guarantee suite (so I didn't choose my own room, RC will choose for me within the suite category), the TA was the same price as booking through RC, but we're getting $174 in OBC, a speciality dinner for 2, some kind of spa credit, and apparently they were running some kind of Thanksgiving special and they're paying for our gratuities. I didn't even know about the gratuities when I booked. I chose to prepay our gratuities like I usually do and then someone from the agency called me to let me know that they were having RC refund my gratuities because they were covering them. I don't always use a TA, usually I just book on my own, or I check costco (even though I've never actually used them to book a cruise yet).

I am in Cali and I know that there is a DCL ship that sails out of San diego, but not all year. It's usually around for the halloween and christmas season and those cruises are pricey. They may also sail in the summer? Not sure though. We've sailed on both older and newer ships and are totally OK with either. I may have to look into a "cheaper" DCL cruise and then do the future booking that you mentioned.

Prices are based on demand so a week or 2 later could be half the price, or double.
Our regular balcony cabin last week was around $3200 with OBB discount for 6 nts on the Magic.
Nowadays we just look for the cheapest prices. I know I’ll be content on any Disney ship.

In March 2023 we tried Celebrity and in Nassau we pulled up next to the Dream.
I could hear the Dream’s “When You Wish Upon a Star” chimes playing when they’re about to announce something on the PA system. Those chimes are my text tone. I so badly wanted to jump ship.




Other cruise lines are ok but just missing a certain vibe I feel on a Disney ship.
My every birthday and Christmas gift from dh is $ for cruising. I don’t need a lot of material things.
I think someone on the DCL section of the Dis once said something like: Other cruise lines have many ships that offer some entertainment. Disney is first an entertainment company, that has some ships.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

DCL is a bucket list item for us too, but trying to do it for 5 of us was like $10k for 5 nights and I just can't pull the trigger on that one.
I'm also annoyed that I can't book 5 people on RC website to play around with prices.

On further thought, comparing to my niece's family trip, it would be $10k when adding another child. Flights, souvenirs, photos, excursions. It all adds up.
It's really hard to work FT with young children too, even with only having 2; I can't imagine doing it with 3. Being able to stay home with them is worth more than ANY vacation. I could never do it because in dh's line of work, he'd get laid off every couple years so my job was the secure one with good insurance.

 

[disney-inspired]

Happy December everyone!

Not sure if I mentioned this earlier but I sold my second DVC contract, it passed ROFR and I've already sent over my notarized forms. Should hopefully close soon before the next payment is due on the loan. I sold at a price high enough to clear the loan and a little extra. No gains though since I have to pay the dues for the 2025 points I used this year.

I have 3 other credit card with small balances, looking to get those knocked out this month to end the year with no CC debt.

 

[disney-inspired]

Also forgot to mention, went to the ER back in October so now have a fresh medical bill of $2231.08 - and that's after insurance.
I took the 0% financing offer from the hospital so will have a year to pay it off.

I wonder if that paired with my copays and meds cost is enough for me to itemize my taxes next year.

Pro tip - don't get an autoimmune disease, it sucks and will wreak havoc on your wallet.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Also forgot to mention, went to the ER back in October so now have a fresh medical bill of $2231.08 - and that's after insurance.
I took the 0% financing offer from the hospital so will have a year to pay it off.

I wonder if that paired with my copays and meds cost is enough for me to itemize my taxes next year.

Pro tip - don't get an autoimmune disease, it sucks and will wreak havoc on your wallet.

Jeez, and I thought our $250 ER copay was awful.
Sorry to hear you’re going through this.

 

[pblack]

End of November (and probably final) update:

2024 Financial Goals:

• Add at least $2000 to my main emergency savings on top of my auto contributions - Nothing new added $300/$2000
• Get our home equity loan down to $20k (currently at ~$26.5k) - This always gets paid mid-month for me. Current balance is ~$24,400. Should be under $24k when I make my mid-December payment.
• Increase my contributions to my other savings goals by at least $25/each pay period - This has now been completed.
• Look into a living will/trust (We have friends that keep telling us to do this and with everything going on in my life at the moment, I feel like I should actually look into this more.) - This has now been completed

2024 Personal Goals:

• Exercise at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes - I wish I could say I took my October motivation into November, but that would be a lie.
• Travel as much as possible - We did not end up going to Ft. Bragg. Currently have nothing planned between now and December 31st. Changed our 4-day Puerto Vallarta trip to a 7-day Royal Caribbean cruise in January.
• Replace the patio cover in our backyard - No progress.
• Finally do something with our side yard - not sure exactly what at the moment - No progress.

As everyone can see....really didn't make much more progress lol. I don't expect that to change between now and the end of the month either. If anything I think my savings will take a little bit of a hit - still waiting to hear what my parents "true up" bill for their electricity will be. Hoping my brother might chip in some of the cost for it, but we'll see.

Need to start working on my new year goals. I know I will be carrying over a few from this year for sure (equity loan, pretty much all the personal goals). One big change for us in the new year will be the $500 hit my paycheck will take since we added my DH onto my health plan. Did this for a couple reasons (even though the price is outrageous) - my insurance is better than his and we don't know how much longer he'll be at the job he's at. He's hated his job for awhile now, ever since corporate bought them out, and he really needs to find something new. I'm hopeful though that between the 3.5% longevity I now receive on my paychecks (thanks to being with my company for 10 years), plus the money we're not paying his employer, plus being taxed less it won't be too bad of a hit.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday (if you celebrate)! Otherwise happy December 2nd everyone!

 

[disney-inspired]

Happy December everyone!

Not sure if I mentioned this earlier but I sold my second DVC contract, it passed ROFR and I've already sent over my notarized forms. Should hopefully close soon before the next payment is due on the loan. I sold at a price high enough to clear the loan and a little extra. No gains though since I have to pay the dues for the 2025 points I used this year.

I have 3 other credit card with small balances, looking to get those knocked out this month to end the year with no CC debt.

Also forgot to mention, went to the ER back in October so now have a fresh medical bill of $2231.08 - and that's after insurance.
I took the 0% financing offer from the hospital so will have a year to pay it off.

I wonder if that paired with my copays and meds cost is enough for me to itemize my taxes next year.

Pro tip - don't get an autoimmune disease, it sucks and will wreak havoc on your wallet.

I do have to say God always works things out for me. The amount I was paying for that DVC loan is the same if not more than the monthly amount I'll have to pay on the ER bill monthly - no additional burden on my monthly budget!