Cruising is a great alternative to a Disney Parks vacation: it’s basically a nice relaxing vacation in a floating Disney resort hotel that takes you to a wonderful set of destinations.  Disney offers cruises to many locations including the Caribbean, Alaska, and Europe.

Let’s take a look at how the costs of a cruise break down:

Initial Cruise Cost

The base price of the cruise will encompass a good portion of your cruise costs.  This will vary depending on several factors.  The room type will usually be the base driver of the fare.  Inside staterooms generally have no view (or window) and tend to be the least expensive.  Ocean View staterooms will have some kind of window, such as a porthole window, but are more expensive than inside staterooms.  Veranda rooms will have outside access via a small balcony or veranda.

Concierge rooms are equivalent to the club level rooms at some Disney resort hotels.  Concierge rooms can be Ocean View or Veranda rooms, but will come with additional amenities, including concierge service, additional snacks, and preferred times for excursion bookings.  These will generally be the most expensive types of rooms.  The cost for the rooms is based upon demand.  There are times when inside staterooms will fill up and the remaining rooms will be more expensive than ocean view staterooms.

The number of people going on the cruise will alter the price as well.  Most rooms are priced based upon two adults being in the room.  Adding children to the room will increase the cost; the per-child increase is about 50% of the cost of an adult.  Having one adult in a room with children will cause one of the children to be priced at an adult price.  Some room configurations only hold a limited number of people, so requiring a 5 person room will force the party into a Veranda room on some of the ships.

Another factor Disney uses in cruise pricing is the time of year.  Any sailings that take place during a school holiday will be priced much higher that a cruise that takes place during the regular school year.  Christmas sailings (as well as New Years), can cost 2-4 times what the same cruise will cost during the school year.  Spring Break and summer cruises are also more expensive than their school year counterparts.

The last discriminator in price is the itinerary of the cruise.  Any unique or rarely traveled itinerary will cause Disney to raise the price.  There are very few Hawaiian or British itineraries, so they usually go for premium prices when they are available.

As I’ve mentioned previously, Disney cruise prices rise from opening day as the boat fills up.  Booking a cruise late, especially without a discount, will be more expensive that booking early.  The way to get the cheapest cruise is to book one right when the itineraries are released, with an inside stateroom, for two adults, for a standard itinerary, for a cruise taking place during the school year when there are no school holidays.  Booking this on board will result in an additional savings as well.

Getting to the ship

Disney cruises generally leave from Port Canaveral, Miami, Vancouver, and various places in Europe.  There are special sailings from other places as well (Hawaii, Galveston, San Diego, New York, England, etc).  Regardless of your departure port, you will have to come up with a plan to get there, whether that includes driving, flying, or taking a train.

For cruises leaving from Port Canaveral and Miami, travel costs can be very similar to the costs associated with getting to Disney World.  The sailings out of Port Canaveral are reachable via the Orlando airport.  If you are flying into Orlando, you can arrange a Disney transfer to and from the ship.  You can also arrange transportation from any resort at Walt Disney World.  If you book your cruise through Disney, they can set up a transfer from other airports to the other departure ports, but the other ports are smaller scale operations compared to the Disney logistics in Orlando/Port Canaveral.  The transfers do cost money, but are generally cheaper than renting a car and paying for parking at the Cruise terminal.

The cost to travel to your departure port can be one of the more significant costs of the cruise.  From this standpoint, taking a cruise out of a driveable location can result in a significant savings.  Obviously that isn’t possible with some cruises, such as those departing from Europe.  Some of the advice we’ve previously provided, such as tips for finding inexpensive transportation to Disney World, comes into play here.  Look at alternate airports near the departure port or consider driving to a cheaper airport for your departure and return flights.

On board costs

Yes, your cruise costs include lodging and food.  However, the costs don’t end there: once you are on board the ship, there are additional opportunities to spend money.

Excursions

Each stop of the ship brings the opportunity to participate in shore excursions — different kinds of adventures at the various ports.  Excursion types depend on the specific port, but can range from historical tours to hiking trips, from zip lining to whale watching, from helicopter rides to swimming with dolphins.  Aside from the Castaway Cay 5K, shore excursions almost always come with additional costs.  In fact, if you do enough of them you can easily double the cost of your cruise.

If you don’t find an excursion that you’re interested in (or if you just want to save money), you can disembark the ship when it’s in port and walk around on your own.  We have visited several ports without a specific shore excursion planned.  You can also book your own excursion without Disney’s help.  Just be warned, if you don’t book an excursion through Disney, you are responsible for being back on board in time or the ship will leave you.  If you take a Disney-sponsored excursion, the ship will wait for you (or arrange to get you on board) if you run into schedule or travel issues while in port.

Gratuities

There are crew members on board the ship to take care of all your needs.  Disney adds an automatic gratuity to your bill to help compensate these crew members.  The following amounts will be added to your room charges for the cruise:  $4 per person per day for your stateroom host (they clean your room twice a day), and $8 per day per person for your dining team (which includes $4 per person per day for your server, $3 per person per day for your assistant server, and $1 per person per day for the head server).  These people all work very hard to make sure your cruise is a great experience.

Beverages

Alcoholic drinks and certain specialty drinks (mainly smoothies) come with an additional charge.  Soda is included when received in the main dining rooms and the soda dispensers found on deck.  Some room service beverages will also cost extra.  Milk and juice are also included when ordered in the main dining rooms (milk is available on deck as well and through room service).

Shopping

There are many shopping opportunities on board your Disney cruise ship.  In additional to the cruise line gift shops, there are various places selling snacks (usually outside the movie theater or the main theater).  You can get spa treatments, play in the arcade, and order pictures.  A stop at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, brings another round of unique shopping as well.

Dining

Costs for most dining — including access to the main dining rooms, buffets, on deck service locations, and room service — is included in the cost of the cruise.  Although there is no extra cost for room service, tips for the room service delivery person are an additional cost.

Another cost is the up charge for the adult dining.  Palo costs $35 per adult for brunch and dinner.  Remy brunch is $55 per adult and Remy dinner is $85 per adult.  These are signature dining experiences that many consider worth the cost of the additional cost.

Summary

Even though we’ve listed many possible ways to spend money on a Disney cruise, the cost can be close to what a Walt Disney World vacation would cost.  You are generally going to pay about $100-$200 a day per day, per person on a Disney cruise (not including transportation to the ship).  For a family of 4, for 5 days, that’s between $2,000-$4,000.  That includes your hotel, food, entertainment, and transportation to a few different ports.  You can control the costs by picking the type of room, itinerary, excursions, and additional charges you incur while on board.

If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!

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