Shore Excursion is very expansive in Europe !!

basemba · #1 (**permalink**) December 5th, 2009, 07:09 AM

hi to all,
We planned with my wife and child 5 years to go in vacation with Disney Cruise in Europe in May 2010 but we were suprised with the high cost of the shore excursion for the ports... it is very very costly compare to other cruise liners same as Royal Caribbean... any body knows why ?

I took the prices from Disney website
Regards
Basem

lulu48 · #2 (**permalink**) December 5th, 2009, 10:12 AM

All ship's tours are expensive in Europe
Join a roll call for your cruise & see if anyone is willing to share a private tours in the ports you are going to.

basemba · #3 (**permalink**) December 5th, 2009, 10:29 AM

yes it is expensive but not like that
each 8 hrs tours will cost from 160 to 240 pp
when I calculate I found that I will pay for the cruise 3000 while I will pay for the tours 5000 !!!!!!!!!!!!
anybody can do a comaprsion and will see that Disney tours cost are in the sky ..

lulu48 · #4 (**permalink**) December 5th, 2009, 01:58 PM

If you do some research you could probably do your own tours in some ports or share the private tours with other passengers to keep the cost down

I had priced a tour from Liverno to the countryside in Tuscany it was about 600E for up to 8 people which is about 75E pp.

Good luck

Paul Motter · #5 (**permalink**) December 13th, 2009, 01:36 PM

I read an article about a special tour Disney is planning in St Petersburg, Russia, where they will offer a special "Cinderella's Ball" in the palace of Catherine the Great. It will be closed off to everyone except the Disney participants and will be held at night. I sounds amazing, but I would expect it to be vey expensive.

BY the way - I am happy to announce I will be taking my first Disney Cruise next March. I have been trying to get aboard their ships (as a reviewer for three years now.

I just want to mention that Disney Cruise Lines are generally more expensive that average cruises because they ofrfer something no one else can - the Disney experience.

But remember that you are paying a premium to be on a ship with Disney Characters. It seems to me that the best cruises in Europe are the ones where the ship is not the focus of the cruise, but that the destinations are... you are flying all the way to Europe to see Europe, but you can see the Disney ship in Florida.

I am just saying that logically, I understand the attraction of Disney, but my suggestion is to take a different cruise line in Europe but- take Disney out of Florida so you can spend more time on the ship and not worry about what you are missing in the ports of call.

That is - unless you just love Disney so much that you really want to do the special events they have planned like the one I mentioned above. But I do imagine they will be expensive.

Kathleen Templeton · #6 (**permalink**) December 15th, 2009, 03:52 PM

I agree that DCL is very expensive, especially for their European cruises.
I have read about Cinderellas ball and would love to attend that even though my girls are grown with princesses of their own.
But I am sure it will be spendy.

I am an avid DCL fan as you can tell by my signature. I will be curious to hear your opinion of them after your cruise.

DCL has priced me out for their European cruises but the price for their TA cruise out of Barcelona heading back to Florida was very inexpensive when we booked it last year. Anyone wanting 14 days on the Magic to experience Disney should consider the Western TA in September.

Many on the roll call threads I subscribe to have already been sharing information about private tours and looking for people to share the costs with them. So many solve the price crunch by using private tours.

Kathleen

Paul Motter · #7 (**permalink**) December 15th, 2009, 06:16 PM

A transatlantic is an excellent idea for a Disney fan, Kathleen. That way you are immersed in Disney for maybe 12-days. You would probably see just about everything there is to see on the ship.

Paul Motter · #8 (**permalink**) December 15th, 2009, 06:18 PM

By the way - there are also excellent private tour operators in Europe. It should not be too hard to find one. Red October in St Petersburg is one of them. But they can't give you Cinderella's ball

Kathleen Templeton · #9 (**permalink**) December 15th, 2009, 06:27 PM

We actually have 8 sea days in all, and they have new shows and entertainers and a couple of parties you dont get on the 3, 4 and 7 day cruises so it should be like a new experience for us. Even after 20 crusies. Plus they revamp their menus to go along with the ports your visiting. That should be intersting.

Kathleen

Paul Motter · #10 (**permalink**) December 21st, 2009, 03:34 PM

Kathleen - you have been on 20 DCL cruises????

Do they have a good repeater's program, loyalty rewards? Like does Tinkerbell tuck you in at night?

Honestly, I am looking forward to seeing the ships, I have heard they are nice for kids and adults as well.

I am an enertainment and technology buff. I love Epcot. I am not so enthrallled with the whole Disney character thing (but I am an adult after all) but I appreciate what they with entertainment a great deal. I am looking forward to seeing it.

Kathleen Templeton · #11 (**permalink**) December 21st, 2009, 09:36 PM

Paul,
yes they have different rewards according to how many times you have cruised with them. If you are a repeat cruiser you are either Silver, Gold or Platinum. I am Platinum.
We have a special check in line. Also we are given lanyards at check in and on them says Platinum.
They have a couple of exclusive tour you can do. We did a intensive behind the scens tour of the stage and productions they do on the ship. It was AWESOME and only 10 of us attending. That was so nice.
We also received a nice leather document holder, a box of truffles, a large red and black beach bag with assorted items inside. one of the cutest things were rice krispy sandal cookies. They looked just like beach sandals but tasted much better. lol!
We also had a members get together one afternoon with lots of tasty snacks and the Captain gave a talk and showed a film about the 2 new ships and Captain Mickey was there too. We were all given nice DCL designed wine goblet at the end. They we plastic but looked like glass.
We also had the choice of a huge fruit basket, shrimp cocktails, sparkling wine or a cheese platter delivered when we wanted. We got the fruit and it was large enough for 6 people not 2 of us.
There were a few other things I cant remember off hand. each level has different perks.

Dont worry about being over run with the characters. They do roam the pool decks but for the most part they appear in the atrium area at assigned times for photos and autographs, so you can avoid them if you choose to.

Kathleen