How come DCL isn't selling out?

[mousefan73]

Friends of ours who have done several VV cruises keep trying to convince us to do a group cruise. While the adults only and the food quality aspects would be a good fit, we haven't been able to bring ourselves to pull the trigger because of the "party vibe" focus in the VV advertising.

Yes there is a "party" more clubby vibe but If your definition of party vibe is drunk and stupid people, we were surprised this is not the case. The vibe is more upscale adults who value great dining and prefer to sip a sparkling rose at the pool vs a rum and coke... me and fellow guest were discussing how we were surprised how behaved everybody was. and all agree it has to do with the fact VV doesnt do drink packages. you can pre-buy a bar tab to get a credit ( discount) so there is not the pressure to drink and drink to make up for the cost per day of a drink package..

Granted we were on a EU one week Greece/Croatia sailings.. could be that short miami 4 nights are a different vibe, who knows... Can only say I saw more drunk and obnobious people on DCL than my VV sailing.

 

[Kingkonig]

Disney World resorts do offer this - the "bounceback" offer you can book for up to seven days after checking out from a Disney resort. The rates on that can be very good, although dates and resorts are limited.

Right but don’t you actually have to book the vacation with dates selected and everything? My point was it’s harder to come back and within a week figure out when the next vacation will be.

 

[RangerPooh]

What ship is that?

I can;t recall the DCL ship, but RCL was Wonder of the Seas.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

Right but don’t you actually have to book the vacation with dates selected and everything? My point was it’s harder to come back and within a week figure out when the next vacation will be.

I see what you mean now! Right, when you use the WDW bounceback offer, you have to pick dates when you book.

 

[MonaMN]

I see what you mean now! Right, when you use the WDW bounceback offer, you have to pick dates when you book.

If they really wanted to, they could figure out a way to do some sort of promo code. But whether that would be better than the series of discounts that they run pretty much all the time is questionable.

 

[Ruben Anthony]

Just an observation...why aren't Disney cruises selling out anymore? There are still tons of availability on all of there summer sailings. I remember just a few years ago when DCL would sell out a year in advance. You used to have to call the day sailings opened to the public and be on hold for hours to get a cabin. Now they are cutting prices on sailings and trying to fill the ship with Florida residents and cast members. Is it due to the economy? Prices of the cruises? Other cruise lines seem to be selling out all the time.

I think travel is down overall but especially the travel that is more of a splurge. I’m in CO and we’ve traveled a bit this summer around here and to New Mexico and South Dakota and things seem a lot less busy here than the last few years.

They also have more ships which means more roPricing. We cursed with Disney

Just an observation...why aren't Disney cruises selling out anymore? There are still tons of availability on all of there summer sailings. I remember just a few years ago when DCL would sell out a year in advance. You used to have to call the day sailings opened to the public and be on hold for hours to get a cabin. Now they are cutting prices on sailings and trying to fill the ship with Florida residents and cast members. Is it due to the economy? Prices of the cruises? Other cruise lines seem to be selling out all the time.

For me it’s pricing. We cruised DCL twice last year. Taking the 10 day Hawaii this year. We travel a lot (me, wife and two kids) looking at Disney prices for 2025 made us decide to look at other cruise lines. We know it won’t be the same as DCL, but neither will the price. We gave up our Disney annual passes this year as the price to value isn’t there anymore. So 2025 looks like a couple of vacations in Europe, a RC cruise to Alaska and maybe a trip to Japan. We will keep a dcl placeholder in our pocket in case a realistic price show up.

 

[auntlynne]

For me it’s pricing. We cruised DCL twice last year. Taking the 10 day Hawaii this year. We travel a lot (me, wife and two kids) looking at Disney prices for 2025 made us decide to look at other cruise lines. We know it won’t be the same as DCL, but neither will the price. We gave up our Disney annual passes this year as the price to value isn’t there anymore. So 2025 looks like a couple of vacations in Europe, a RC cruise to Alaska and maybe a trip to Japan. We will keep a dcl placeholder in our pocket in case a realistic price show up.

Sounds like a great year for your family.

 

[Karin1984]

Friends of ours who have done several VV cruises keep trying to convince us to do a group cruise. While the adults only and the food quality aspects would be a good fit, we haven't been able to bring ourselves to pull the trigger because of the "party vibe" focus in the VV advertising.

Did you see there is a recent VV comparison thread? I posted on the first page 2 videos of cruise vloggers, who both said there is a party vibe, but it is not a standard party vibe you might expect.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/virgin-voyages-comparison.3948905/

 

[jimim]

I'm not a cruise customer (I don't need a casino, I can get those on land easily enough and I don't need a drink package) but I am a Disney customer and while the parks to DCL is sort of an apples to oranges comparison, it's where our vacation money goes.

What's really killing me is the airfare. Last year we paid about 3K for 6 people for February break, this year it was that amount for 4 people....I have to get to MCO whether it's a WDW or DCL trip, and DCL does come in ahead because I can cost contain better than the parks.

For me the DCL premium is still worth it, but ugh that airfare.

We don’t live by a major hub so air is crazy for us also.

 

[TXDCLfan]

We used to cruise DCL 1-2 times a year but now maybe once every 6-7 years due to price. We both have good paying jobs but refuse to pay DCL high prices . There are so many great options out there at way better prices on other cruise lines no I do not get Mickey Mouse but oh well.

 

[tidefan]

Did you see there is a recent VV comparison thread? I posted on the first page 2 videos of cruise vloggers, who both said there is a party vibe, but it is not a standard party vibe you might expect.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/virgin-voyages-comparison.3948905/

I think this one is better:

 

[imbelle]

Did you see there is a recent VV comparison thread? I posted on the first page 2 videos of cruise vloggers, who both said there is a party vibe, but it is not a standard party vibe you might expect.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/virgin-voyages-comparison.3948905/

Thanks, I saw the comparison thread but haven't had a chance to watch the videos yet. I've watched some by other bloggers previously and I agree that the party vibe is more "beautiful people" than a yeehaw drunkfest.

 

[Budzooka]

I think this one is better:

That was a good review. Thanks for posting.