Sorry - I'm back from work now so have a bit more time to answer!
We did give the cruise some serious consideration but unfortunately Lee (my other half) really doesn't fancy the idea of a cruise. He thinks it will be all organised tours where we'd be herded into things we don't really want to do.
You and I know that's not the case but there seems no telling him!
Despite that, he did agree to a cruise after a WDW break however the booking process ended up too messy.
There were issues over booking the flights and accomodation separately. Then we had to decide how to rent the car (fly drive or separate booking) and what to do with the rental car (hand it in and get the bus to the port or leave the car in the car park and pay for extra days car rental while we're at sea). There were various other scrappy points that I don't remember now but ultimately, I think it was partly the cost that changed our mind and partly the fact that I didn't want us paying a fortune for a vacation I knew Lee didn't really want to go on. That and the fact that travellers not booking a complete package in the UK do not get the same kind of industry protection as travellers on a complete package deal.
The lack of suitable stay and cruise packages was really annoying although I guess we could have overcome that if we'd really have wanted to. It would however have taken a number of emails and international calls and to me, it seems ridiculous that we can't book the cruise as part of a package from the UK.
I'd much rather book flights, car rental, hotel,
tickets, cruise and cruise transfers all in one package as I really don't like leaving things to the last minute (like booking cruise transfers from the resort while we're there). I only end up worrying that something will go wrong! I much prefer to have everything sorted from the UK and can then look forward to our trip knowing that nothing is left to chance. Unfortunately however, it seems that unless you're in the USA, it's not that easy.
The decision to only allow a few US (and no UK) agents to book Disney cruises seems very insular and rather blinkered as Disney are effectively putting up barriers to booking vacations. With that and the non-availability of the cruise DVD to UK residents, you do wonder whether Disney wants foreigners on their boats!
We decided at the time to take a non-Disney cruise elsewhere at some point in the future instead although, knowing Lee's thoughts on the subject, I doubt that will ever happen.
Ultimately though, with the exchange rate in freefall, we decided the cruise would just be stupidly expensive compared to other cruise and non-cruise vacation options. We can book a week's cruise elsewhere for the price of a 4 day (and sometimes even a 3 day!) Disney cruise.
So - instead, we took advantage of the latest WDW offer and booked 14 nights for the price of 10 and got a 14 day park hopper for the price of 7. The deal was too good to turn down!