What is included with the cost of a Disney Cruise Line vacation?

Are you trying to figure out if a Disney cruise is worth the premium price tag? In this episode of Talk Travel to Me, host Kristy Ouellette from Mickey Guru Travel Company answers a major question: What is included with the cost of a Disney Cruise Line vacation?

Kristy sets the stage by explaining where Disney sits in the market—it’s a premium experience way above a standard budget line (cue the infamous 2013 "poop cruise" story!), pricing closer to Royal Caribbean’s new Icon-class ships. She breaks down how Disney cuts out the typical cruise industry "nickel-and-diming" game by bundling almost everything you need into your upfront fare. 

Kristy also shares details on a current Disney promotion offering up to 25% off select sailings and teases next week's episode about Walt Disney World VIP tour experiences. 

Connect with us:

• Find everything on our website at mickeyguru.com/podcast. 
• Drop us a text right through to the show if you have a travel stumper! 

🔗 Explore More on Beacon
📸 Follow us on Instagram: @TalkTravelToMePod
🎙️ Hosted by Kristy Ouellette
✨ Powered by Mickey Guru Travel Company

Transcript

Intro (00:00):
Ready for your fast pass to the perfect vacation? This is Talk Travel to Me. Join host Kristy Ouellette and the Mickey Guru team for one big travel question every episode. Solo insights or expert roundtables all with a sprinkle of magic and the ultimate insider edge. Fasten your seatbelt, it's time to talk travel.

Kristy (00:25):
Hey Traveler, welcome back to Talk Travel to Me. This week I'm answering the question: what is included with the cost of a Disney Cruise Line vacation? And I'm dedicating this episode to one of my favorite clients—and yes, I do have favorites and I'm not sorry, Paul. I ran into Paul locally recently at a Mexican restaurant—Paul and his wife Linda—and he mentioned that he listens to the podcast. I was flabbergasted, but hey Paul, I'm still thinking about a Disneyland Southern California cruise out of San Diego for you guys for your big birthday. All right, let's just talk about it, okay?

Kristy (01:07):
So we're going to start by saying right out of the gate that Disney Cruise Line is absolutely a premium experience. It is not at all in the same space as a cruise on, say, Carnival. I mean, actually, there's a documentary about that infamous poop cruise on the Carnival Triumph. That happened in February 2013 and they had 4,000 passengers stranded in the Gulf of Mexico, overflowing toilets, no air conditioning. It's not going to be the same price as that, right? We know that. Oh, and by the way, Carnival just did renovations and then renamed the ship the Carnival Sunrise. Anyway, so Disney is a premium experience, but it's also not the most expensive cruise line out on the Seven Seas. Not by a long shot. In fact, it tends to price similarly to the new Icon-class ships on Royal Caribbean.

Kristy (02:06):
So let's talk about what's included for that price, because this is one of the spaces where I feel like Disney Cruise Line exceeds expectations as compared to the other cruise lines that are out there. So let's talk about the fact that you have your stateroom. So you have your accommodations as part of this, right? You don't need to worry about changing hotels even though you're going to go to four or five, potentially more, different countries. You've got your stateroom. Taxes, port fees, all of that—that's included in your cruise fare. And then you also have all of your breakfast, all of your lunch, and all of your dinners happening on the cruise ship. So you can go in the morning for breakfast, you can go to one of the sit-down restaurants, or you can go to the buffet. You can even have room service, because on Disney Cruise Line, room service is included. And then you can also go to the pool deck for lunch and early dinner. They do tend to close because they want you to go to the rotational dining experience, which is another space where Disney just excels. On each night of your cruise, your family, your table rotates to the next restaurant and you keep your waitstaff.

Kristy (03:28):
And I'm going to be perfectly frank with you, I would say 75% of the time that is a fabulous thing because their servers are fantastic. I have run into issues recently with the service being a little less quality, and I'm just giving it to you straight. I am not here to blow smoke and mirrors. When something is fabulous, I'm telling you it's fabulous. And when it's not quite living up to that hype, I'm going to be honest with you about that too. But let's for sure say that the experience I had on Disney Cruise Line is better than I've had on just about every other—so especially Princess, which has been my most recent cruise. So your meals are all included when you eat in the main dining room. Also, soft drinks served at meals and at each ship's beverage station, which is out on the pool deck, those are included. You don't have to have a drink package. Disney doesn't have a drink package, actually, but you can have soda as much as you want. And also, I will say there's usually Powerade in those machines, and lemonade, and also fresh filtered water. So all of that is included.

Kristy (04:39):
Snacks—they have soft-serve ice cream. Everything that you get out on their island, so whether you're at Castaway Cay or you're at Lookout Cay, all of the food that's there is also included. When I tell you you could go on that ship and not pay for a single solitary thing, I'm not exaggerating, right? My first cruise—you've probably heard me talk about this before—my first cruise back in 2014, we literally got on the ship and got off with only spending extra money on the jacket windbreaker that my husband had to have. So it is entirely possible to do that. Also included are Disney character meet-and-greets. They have them all over the ship. Some of them are scheduled so you know where to go and when to be there, and other ones are just pop-ups that you just get to enjoy. All of the Broadway-style productions at the Walt Disney Theatre. They also have on every ship there's at least one movie theater; on some of them, there are two, and they're showing Disney classics in addition to first-run movies. So they will have premieres on the ship. Toy Story 5 is coming out today, actually, as I sit here and record this, and on the ship they would have gotten it last night. So no extra charge for the movies. And you know, if you're going with a family to the movies right now, it's like 75 to 100 bucks. So that's something, for sure. Never mind the cost of Broadway theater productions, that sort of thing.

Kristy (06:17):
But then also all of the activities on the ship, like the trivia games, the family game shows, the kids' clubs. So while it is true that your kiddos that are zero to under three, their program is paid, right? That's not included. But the rest of them, from three right on up to 17 years old, is completely free—all of their programming. So that is a huge win as well. But if you're like me and you like the trivia games and the drawing classes and the scavenger hunts, like there's so much to do. That's all included. So you're not whipping out your credit card or your Key to the World card, as it is, and kind of doing that nickel-and-diming game, which I have to stress. If you are familiar with sailing on Carnival, Princess, Norwegian, Royal—even though I love Royal—you always have your card out to pay for something else, pay for something else, pay for something else. That's just—the nickel-and-diming in the cruise industry is crazy. And that's one of the things that Disney set out to change in that environment. So that's what's included. And truly, I can tell you if I gave you the challenge to go on there and don't spend a single dime and still have a fabulous time, you would. There's no question. I still do.

Kristy (07:46):
But in my more experienced cruising era, I've definitely become a little more bougie. And you're not surprised by that—I know you're not. So let's talk just real briefly then about the cost side, the things that do cost extra. I did mention the babysitting services and the ship's nurseries. (Sorry, a motorcycle just drove by, I'm sorry about that.) That's going to cost extra. If you want to have onboard photography, you can buy a photo package and get all of your photos, or you can purchase like a special formal portrait sitting for your family, and those are going to be extra costs. Certainly, if you want to have spa treatments—and if you're like me at all, you do—don't sleep on those. But definitely ask me which ones are worth the money and which ones aren't, because I have tried a lot of them. And I have also ranked them in the order of what I should just save money and have it done on land, and what I should really splurge on when it comes to a Disney Cruise Line spa experience.

Kristy (08:59):
If you need to call from the ship—first of all, you don't. But if you did try to make phone calls ship-to-shore, that's going to cost you money. Internet packages are going to cost you money. And that is honestly where I say don't ever pick up your room phone and do a ship-to-shore. Don't do that—it's crazy. But you would need an internet package; use Wi-Fi calling and do it that way. Let's see. Alcoholic beverages for sure are going to cost extra, although I mentioned that they don't have a drink package. But if you are a wine drinker, maybe you like a glass of wine with dinner, they have wine packages. And they also have a deal with beer. I don't drink beer, but I know that they have a thing where you can buy the beer mug and refill it throughout the cruise, and you can actually bring it back on future cruises. Another one of my favorite things to spend money on on a cruise ship is the Cove Cafe, which is the coffee shop. Drip coffee and tea are included in the cost of your cruise fare, but if you're fancy and you want a latte or maybe an affogato, you go to the coffee shop or one of the coffee bars on the ships and that does cost extra. But they also have little punch cards; you can earn yourself free ones. And I know among myself and our other agents, that's like a thing—you bring it ship after ship. I may get four coffees on this one, and so my next one is going to be free. All of that—it's a great little thing. And when you book your cruise with us, we make sure that you know exactly how to get the benefit out of that, for sure.

Kristy (10:41):
Let's see. I mean, if you want to play video games, because the ships all do have a small arcade, you can do that. And then on the ships, they also have a—I'm going to use the phrase 'pay-to-play' option for elevated desserts. So there's like ice cream out on deck, the soft-serve in a bunch of different flavors, but if you wanted like gelato or hard ice cream or sundaes, or they have fancy cupcakes and cookies, that sort of thing, they do have a spot where you can go and get that, and that does cost money. Tip for parents of littles: just don't walk that direction, or say like, 'We're going to do this once and it's $10 and you can have a cupcake.' But honestly, you can get a sundae at dinner for dessert. You could get three sundaes at dinner for your dessert and it costs nothing. So we did that with our daughter; we were just like, 'Nope, we're going to get the free food.' And she was fine with that because she still was getting an ice cream sundae after dinner every night, right? So there's ways around that. But yeah, that does cost extra.

Kristy (11:50):
Other than the spa, my number one favorite splurge now is adult-only dining. So on the ships we have a couple of different options—there's only two per ship because they don't take up a lot of floor space—and these are an extra charge. Typically, it's about $55 a person; you can go higher than that if you really want to go all out. But it is a perk for those of us that have earned Platinum status that we, and anybody in our stateroom, get free adult signature dining, so I always make a point to do that. I will say if you are a foodie, definitely. My favorite honestly is Palo or Palo Steakhouse, depending on the ship. I've never actually done Remy or Enchanté because they're both really fancy food, but everybody I have talked to that likes that sort of thing absolutely loves it. So if you're into that, really, when you think about what it costs to have a fancy meal on land, $55 a person is not a huge cost. It's a special thing. So you do it once when the kids are at the kids' club—or if you're like 40% of the other cruisers, you don't even have kids with you, so you don't have to worry about that, you just make a reservation and go. Highly recommend Palo Brunch; that is, in my opinion, far superior to the dinner offerings, but that's just me.

Kristy (13:27):
All right, so that is really what we're looking at. Oh, one more thing, sorry—the other one last thing I want to mention is Port Adventures. So that's what Disney calls Shore Excursions. So we're doing a cruise to Alaska in September, and of course, we're stopping at multiple ports and we're going to get off and explore Alaska. The Port Excursions, the Port Adventures/Shore Excursions are not included. So a lot of my clients will book right through Disney, but also some of them will choose to go with trusted third-party vendors to save a little bit of money. And in certain ports, I'm all for that. One of those things that we talk about very specifically for your individual cruise and your individual needs. I also wanted to mention before I sign off for this week is that Disney Cruise Line is running some really incredible promotions right now, including up to 25 percent off select sailings. So if you've been itching to do a Disney cruise and you're like, 'I think it's time to give it a try,' we definitely want to help you with that. If you've done a Disney cruise and now you're ready to go back, even better—let's get that done for you, okay? All right, that is one more question unpacked. If you've got a travel stumper you want us to tackle, send us a text right through to the show. You can also find everything on our website at mickeyguru.com or here in the show notes. You can also come say hi on Instagram and TikTok. We love hearing from you! And next week, I'll be answering: what is a VIP tour experience at Walt Disney World really like, and is it worth the cost? Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss it. And hey, if today's episode got you thinking about a cruise on Disney or even a refurbished poop cruise, reach out. Let a pro handle the heavy lifting. See you next week, traveler.

Outro (15:27):
Thanks for listening to Talk Travel to Me. We hope this episode cracked open inspiration for the treasures that await you at your next dream destination. If you love the show, please review, subscribe, and share it with a friend. At Mickey Guru Travel Company, we're your trusted guides for theme parks, cruises, resorts, and more. Visit our website at mickeyguru.com to learn more and book your vacation today.