7 day cruise and parks too

[jfeasel]

Call me crazy, but 11 of us want to do the 7 day cruise in 2003. We did the 3 day park/4 day cruise in 2000 and it was just awesome but we'd like more time on the ship.

So, we want to do the 7 day cruise with 3 days in the park before hand.

Has anyone ever done this before? We liked being able to get off our plane and get the Disney transportation to everything but was wondering if we'd have to arrange for our own transportation to the ship if we did 3 days in the park prior to the cruise. With 11 of us and luggage, arranging for our own transportation, especially from the parks to the ship might be expensive.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tkd lisa]

I'd actually think it would be substantially cheaper to do the transportation on your own with that many people. I'm pretty sure you could just buy a separate Disney transfer to WDW, then the round trip Park to port to airport transfer. I think that was an option that I priced in reverse (we were going airport, port, park, airport).

I know that the towncars are cheaper for big groups. For a family of 4, it was really close to break even with the coupons. There are lots of these types of questions on the transportation board. You go to the bottom of the page here where there's a drop down menu for go to ... One of the selections is "Main Forum Home" or something like that. That will show all the DIS forums including transportation. Good luck!

 

[two4ruff]

We just recently returned from the 7 day Magic and spent 4 days before in the parks. To save money, we did stay offsite though.

We found it easier and cheaper to rent a car through Avis than to use Disney transport. It gave us a little more freedom and the drop off at port supplies van service to the ship.

Don't know if this helps, we were trying to save every cent for the cruise - that was our inspiration!

jill

 

[sigafoos]

We did the 7 day cruise last April and spent 7 days at CBR before the cruise. We checked in all docs at the resort and had Disney pick us up Sat. morning. We walked onto the Magic, went straight to our cabin and our key we used at CBR and in the parks for park passes opened our cabin door no problem. It was very easy with the one time check-in. We had previosly read on these boards the because it was not a land sea cruise but a 7-day with extra added days at CBR that we would not be able to do the one time check-in, but our TA had assured us we would be able to and she was correct!! Enjoy, it was a wonderful trip that we hope to repeat next year.
Kim

 

[heidica]

sigafoos -
who did you have to talk to about getting it arranged so that you could turn in all your paperwork at CBR? Did you mention it at check-in? Or did you call ahead and tell them what you were doing?
We are doing a 7 day cruise in November and will be spending 3 days at the Contemporary before the cruise and we would like to do this. It sounds very nice to have them pick up your luggage and it be there when you go to your stateroom.

 

[sigafoos]

Hopefully this won't be a double post, the first time my computer froze after hitting submit! We didn't have to call ahead, our TA assured us we would be able to do this and she was right. When we recieved our docs there are luggage tags you put on when you leave and it says Disney Magic, very bold and on the tags it is printed with the name of the resort and the date of the cruise and all reservation numbers. Disney picked us up in Orlando and took care of our luggage and it was at the resort a couple of hours after we arrived. We were prepared to have to wait so we had a change of clothes in our carry-on bags. The Sat morning of the cruise they came by and took our luggage from our room to send to the ship. We were picked up around 11:30 and when we got to our cabin the luggage was just being delivered. It was very easy. It made me a little nervous having them do all this, I kept thinking that somehow a bag would come up missing but it never happened and when we go next year I will probably do it the same way.
Kim

 

[I Luv Disney Cruise]

Last year in May we (DH, Mom, Dad and I) stayed 3 nights at Coronado Springs Resort then went on the 7 day cruise. We had so much fun we are doing it again this year.

May 8th - 11th we will be at Caribbean Beach Resort and then on the 7 day Inaugural Western Cruise.

You will have a great time!

 

[Mogoofy]

We aren't using Disney transportation. Do you think it is still possible to do one check in at that Beach Club Villas. It sure would be nice to do one check in.

 

[AnnaB]

Our family also plans on spending 6 days at PO-R before our trip and also plans on driving our own car to the port. Does anyone know the answer to the previous post...can we just check in at our resort and bypass the double check in at the port. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[I Luv Disney Cruise]

Sorry to say, but the only way you can check in once, is if it were a part of a package deal (ex: 4 day land/3 day sea). At least that is what I was told from a Disney CM.

 

[BethC1952]

We added an extra day to our package last year. We did the one-time check-in with no problems. The only difference is that, since we arrived at the airport on a "non-package" day, we had to take a Mears shuttle from the airport to POR. This time, we're adding one day before our package and two days after (DH doesn't know about the second night after, and Grandpa doesn't know about either extra night. He thinks he's going home right after the cruise!) TA assured me that we'll have one-time check-in, and that everything will go just as smoothly as last year.

Beth