DCL - land and sea stay- is this a stupid idea?

[Beezymouse]

Hi, Just looking for some advice please.

Dh and I have booked a 4 night trip on DCL so I've been trying to book flights, hotels, transfers etc to tie in with the cruise all separately, however I've done some pricing and I think it may be cheaper to book a "package holiday" to disney and just not stay in the hotel for the 4 nights we're on the cruise.

Basically I can take a 17 night trip including flights, hotels and transfers to resort for much less than the price of flights and a 10 night hotel stay if I book independantly.

Has anyone done this before? I guess we would need to let the hotel know we'll not be in our room for 4 nights and it also means we could leave some stuff in the hotel whilst on the cruise.

Just looking for some input as to whether it's possible to do something like that?

TIA

[wayneg]

Yes we have done this a couple of times. Usually it works out cheaper booking all sepearate but a couple of times we have booked packages and left empty rooms.
Both times offsite but no difference.
Once was a 7 night cruise, went for 21 nights, middle of holiday went on cruise, just told front desk what we were doing.
Look at all options, check which is best for you.

[WiganTony]

We've also done the same as Wayne. At Easter this year, we had booked a 14 night package through Virgin staying at the Springhill Suites (as it worked out cheaper than booking separately in this case), and also independently booked a 4 night RCL cruise from Tampa. We simply told the hotel staff we would be away for the 4 nights (just in case there was any emergency arising whilst we were away).

The advantage with this arrangement was that we only needed to pack for the cruise and not have to pack everything to vacate the hotel room and then leave it in the car or lug it onto the ship.

So definitely doable.

[Beezymouse]

thanks for the input.

I'm thinking I'll investigate further, but I do like the idea of not having to lug everything on the cruise and do lots of packing/unpacking etc. We plan to do the cruise towards the end of our holiday and then have a couple of nights back in the resort before we fly home.

[wayneg]

If you stay onsite before and after cruise you can leave your spare luggage with Disney and have it transferred. No need to keep a room just for luggage if cheaper to do DIY.