$10,000 Later? OMG!

[Jade]

Okay so I decided to start checking things out. We are a family of 5. Two adults and three daughters. I was thinking of planning for a Dec. 2006 Cruise.

3Day Cruise/4Day Land WDW. Complete package rounding out around $7,000. I want to cry I tell you. I really want to cry.

3k for Cruise. I believe that includes airfare. If not, that price will go up. Plus there is an Adult Package for around $465 that I thought looked kinda nice.

Then we have WDW and staying at the Dolphin Resort. That came to $3,414. It includes staying a resort with dining for those days. Also, tickets for all four parks for those four days.


I'm not sure if I left anything out. I figured it would run up close to $10,000 for the family trip for five. Ugh. Are my calculations incorrect?! If read correctly the depo is $200 per person up front. Then rull payment 60 or 90 days in advance. So that $1k would go toward the full price of the trip.

Oh, and I didn't even figure in Car Rental with one car seat either. So that will be another $300 I'm sure.

What else am I missing? Have I covered it all? I'm stressed now. I think I"ll head to the gym for a while.

In the meantime, any of you have family of Five flying from CA to FL for the 3Day Cruise 4Day WDW Resort Stay? that can tell me what the cost was?!

I apologize if I posted this in the wrong place. Didn't see a forum for Cruise/Land trip combined.

Thank you all for your time!

 

[dzneprincess]

When in Dec? If it suring the holidays, then more than likely your calculations are very near correct. But if it towards the beginning of the month there are good rates to be had. Also, I recommend booking the 2 seperately, the land and sea that is. IT seems you can get a better deal that way. ALso, 5 only fit in a cat 4 stateroom, the highest os a cat 1 so of course a 4 is going to be expensive. We prefer to book 2 cat 10s (connecting) for a little less money and a lot more space. Also get in touch with Dana at www.micdan.com she has ALWAYS saved me money off of my lowest quote.

 

[DrCavin]

Depeding on when you sail in Dec, range is about $4900 - $10600 just the cruise & NO FLIGHTS included. That is everyone staying in one room. You can do better by staying in two seperate, lower category rooms. I looked at http://www.allseastravel.com/ to get those ballpark figures. You can also book the cruise/land seperate & do better as well. Dont give up yet, lots of options once you get past that initial sticker shock.... Also don't want to kick you when your down, but the deposit is $250 per person... sorry......

 

[dzneprincess]

Depeding on when you sail in Dec, range is about $4900 - $10600 just the cruise & NO FLIGHTS included. That is everyone staying in one room. You can do better by staying in two seperate, lower category rooms. I looked at http://www.allseastravel.com/ to get those ballpark figures. You can also book the cruise/land seperate & do better as well. Dont give up yet, lots of options once you get past that initial sticker shock.... Also don't want to kick you when your down, but the deposit is $250 per person... sorry......

THe depo on the Wonder is only $200 PP/ OP says she wants to do a 3 night cruise, I think your figures above are for a 7 night. Just to clarify.

 

[dzneprincess]

Depeding on when you sail in Dec, range is about $4900 - $10600 just the cruise & NO FLIGHTS included. That is everyone staying in one room. You can do better by staying in two seperate, lower category rooms. I looked at http://www.allseastravel.com/ to get those ballpark figures. You can also book the cruise/land seperate & do better as well. Dont give up yet, lots of options once you get past that initial sticker shock.... Also don't want to kick you when your down, but the deposit is $250 per person... sorry......

THe depo on the Wonder is only $200 PP/ OP says she wants to do a 3 night cruise, I think your figures above are for a 7 night. Just to clarify.

 

[shel985]

Jade....I am no cruise expert but if u could go during value season, it would save u a ton both on the cruise and on disney itself. Also, when I checked into 4cruise/3ngt. disney, it was alot more cost efficent to book it seperately. Unfortunately, when booking them together u pay for alot of things that is extra that u really don't need. Also, u can book the cruise in advance (and do like mentioned above-book 2 lower cat.rooms instead of the pricer suite) and get early booking savings and keep an eye out for deals on ur rooms at disney itself later on through the year. Expedia.com offered the best prices on the cruise alone. And believe me...i searched endlessly for the best rate. I did just that and scored rooms at the "higher" priced resorts (Wilderness Lodge) for only $129/night. www.mousesaver.com and www.allearnet.com constantly lists recent savings and lowered rates but u have to check often and be ready to book. It is costing me more to get into the parks than my stay onsite. Go figure!

 

[luvsTink]

I agree with what everyone else has said. We booked all of our stuff seperately. For SIX on the cruise (4 night) it totaled less than 3,000

We are then doing 3 nights at POFQ (total 284.00) I should clarify that only 4 of us are staying on at WDW. we could have had 2 values for about 375.00. Our tix (5 day ph's, because of an additional day at the beginning) totaled about 850. That brings us to approx 4200.00. Figure 800 for food (we eat very well at WDW) and 200 for souvies plus 220 for rental VAN (that is the price we got) and you come in for about 5,500.00. Not chicken feed, but a far site better than 10 g's.

All of this to illustrate that you CAN do it cheaper, but it takes a bit of work. If you want you can pm me and I would be happy to help. I know there are also some great Disney focused travel agents, but I love to do the planning myself.

Good luck!
Anne

 

[dis-happy]

As a frequent coast to coast flyer, figure that a good rate for your family to fly is $250. pp. Keep your eye out for the specials.

And, as I found out myself recently, the cost to cruise over the Christmas holiday itself is about double the cost a week or two earlier. You will save money if you can come to WDW around Dec. 10th vs. say, the 20th. Plus it will be less crowded.

 

[HappyLawyer]

Okay so I decided to start checking things out. We are a family of 5. Two adults and three daughters. I was thinking of planning for a Dec. 2006 Cruise.

3Day Cruise/4Day Land WDW. Complete package rounding out around $7,000. I want to cry I tell you. I really want to cry.

3k for Cruise. I believe that includes airfare. If not, that price will go up. Plus there is an Adult Package for around $465 that I thought looked kinda nice.

Then we have WDW and staying at the Dolphin Resort. That came to $3,414. It includes staying a resort with dining for those days. Also, tickets for all four parks for those four days.


I'm not sure if I left anything out. I figured it would run up close to $10,000 for the family trip for five. Ugh. Are my calculations incorrect?! If read correctly the depo is $200 per person up front. Then rull payment 60 or 90 days in advance. So that $1k would go toward the full price of the trip.

Oh, and I didn't even figure in Car Rental with one car seat either. So that will be another $300 I'm sure.

What else am I missing? Have I covered it all? I'm stressed now. I think I"ll head to the gym for a while.

In the meantime, any of you have family of Five flying from CA to FL for the 3Day Cruise 4Day WDW Resort Stay? that can tell me what the cost was?!

I apologize if I posted this in the wrong place. Didn't see a forum for Cruise/Land trip combined.

Thank you all for your time!

try to see if you book the cruise only if it is cheaper to do your land seperately, consier staying off property and i think up to the 14th of dec 2006 is value season then prices increase

 

[Jade]

When in Dec? If it suring the holidays, then more than likely your calculations are very near correct. But if it towards the beginning of the month there are good rates to be had. Also, I recommend booking the 2 seperately, the land and sea that is. IT seems you can get a better deal that way. ALso, 5 only fit in a cat 4 stateroom, the highest os a cat 1 so of course a 4 is going to be expensive. We prefer to book 2 cat 10s (connecting) for a little less money and a lot more space. Also get in touch with Dana at www.micdan.com she has ALWAYS saved me money off of my lowest quote.

Went to the site and left Dana a message. I was looking at booking 2 Cat 9s. As for the date? I'm clueless. I thought the first week in Dec. However, my DH heads to Houston in the month of Dec. for sales meeting. So, as much as Dec. sounds fun I don't think it's quite doable.

So, then I thought April. That's when the kids have off for Springbreak. But talk about being crowded. So are the summer months...crowded. Brings me to the point of asking when is the best time to go?

I actually thought of going the first week Jan. 2007. I have no clue how the weather is like at that time though. We can always bundle up but I'm not too keen about being really cold either. Suggestions most welcome!

Thank you for your time

 

[CM_Mom]

DD is a CM on the Wonder. When she called me Sunday from Port Canaveral, she was in a tank top and capris but on Thursday she didn't get off the ship because she said it was "cold" (translates into jacket required). I think January cruisers will tell you that weather in January is "variable". Most times you'll need a light jacket in the evenings but the days are warm enough to swim.

I would check out the temps on Weather.com for Nassau and Port Canaveral for the next 4 weeks to get a pretty good idea.

 

[tvguy]

Don't forget tips and food in the parks.

Actually, $10k for 5 for a week sounds right in the ball park for Disney and their parks.

You can shave about a thousand off that during off peaks times.

But anytime you go, Disney isn't cheap. The lowest per person rate for an inside cabin on a 7 day on Disney I have EVER seen is $799. A similar cabin on ANOTHER line for 7 days out of Port Canaveral can be found at times for as little at $399.

 

[HappyLawyer]

you can do it cheaper and it does take some time, reading all te threads, getting helpful information, spending time on the net for hotels, checking rental car codes everyday, it is like you are your own travel agent

 

[*Fantasia*]

Don't forget tips and food in the parks.

Yep don't forget the tips at the end of the cruise and alcohol beverages are not included with the cruise fare. Also if you and your family are doing some excurssion, then it will be another price to add to what you are already paying. Did you also include the souviniers in your budget?

$10K sounds a lot. My 2002 car was only about $12K. I would book everything seperately. You might even find a discount code for your resort. And also check out all the airlines on online, usually they are cheaper to purchase them online. Don't forget to check out cheapticket.com or expedia.com or orbitz.com, sometimes they have special deals. If you have AAA, that might help too depeding on when you're going and if the room is available with the AAA discount. From what I read on the other board is that you can even use AAA when buying the Magic Your Way Tickets.

Good luck! I hope you find a better rate. Let us know how you make out.

 

[scrapperjill]

If your only looking for a time when the kids are out of school...you'll be looking at higher rates...but if you willing to take them out of school for a week then you should be able to find some great deals.

Average temps for the Caribbean in Jan are between 62F-77F...with low rain fall.

Rates for 2004 tend to peak durring...Mid Feb...and continue to go up slowly through April...Then drop durring May...but go back up durring the summer....and trends show the lowest priced time to go is Sept through the start of December...excluding the week of Thanksgiving in November. But keep in mind Hurricane/Tropical storm season runs from Mid May through November...it's highest the first week of September.

We cruised durring Sept this past year and had a great time..the weather was wonderful..and even though our cruise itinerary was changed daily (we booked a Western and ended up doing a modifyed Eastern) we had a blast. And wouldn't hesitate booking durring Hurrican season again.

I also remember WDW had some GREAT deals on their budget resorts...something like $40 a night...durring late Sept-Oct. of this year. Flights were also low durring this time (from Seattle to Orlando).

 

[tvguy]

$10K sounds a lot. My 2002 car was only about $12K. I would book everything seperately.

Yep, my 2003 car was $12,800....and my Disney cruise for 4 was about $10k with air fare($1200) , tips, hotel the night before, food at airports ($100) there and back, excursions ($800) and alchohol ($125).
Which explains why I bought the Ford Focus instead of the Ford Thunderbird

 

[Suzanne033]

We have never had good luck booking separately. It has always comes out more expensive. This could be due to the fact that we normally book early and are able to take advantage of the early booking discounts.

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

I suggest you e-mail Sue Ellen from Dreams Unlimited. I am quite sure she would be able to get the price down--she did a fantastic job saving us lots of money for our December 2004 trip and she is wonderful.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

If you are planning to spend that kind of money you may as well buy a DVC (Disney Vacation Club) time share at a mear $13,000 you can get 50 years of free stays at Disney plus any other top notch resorts and hotels around the world. For a family of 5 to vacation just once at nearly 10K dollars the DVC would certainly pay for itself in no time. We are a family of 2 and we are doing the 4 day cruise and 4 nights at Disney for a mear $75 thats right $75 we belong to DVC and we love it.
Think about it... How many family vacations will you and your family be taking over say the next 5 - 10 years how much would you venture to guess you will spend on all those vacations. I bet it would be more than the investment in DVC!!!

 

[Tinkrbell]

I tried in vein too, to book a Disney Cruise. Visited all the sites, got as many quotes as possible, read everything I could, haunted these boards for info, but in the end I just couldn't do it.

I can't justify spending all that money for so little time.

I know they say its wonderful, but at that price I'll never know. It averaged out at $1300/DAY!!! I don't bring home Eisner's paycheck

Anyway the option I'm looking at now, that is also "wonderful" (according to others) is Beaches. Its all-inclusive, so no unexpected bar bill at the end of our stay, or excursion expenses either. It is MUCH cheaper than DCL.

I've never cruised before so I don't feel like I'm "missing out". Hey, maybe I'll try Carnival