Am I the only one who gets themselves sick before booking vacation?

[Disneydreamer5]

Hi all. I am so undecided as to what I want to do and my family is no help what so ever.Thats where you come in. We were booked and paid to leave last year for free dinning. Husband got hurt had to cancel 1 week before scheduled to leave. Everyone was totally bummed.{we have 5 kids}
We never have tons of money laying around so we always put as much away as we can, pay what we can then put the rest on Disney Visa with 6 months interest free. Ok so we are thinking about for this September for free dinning. We will be paying appr:$4,400.00. This will be for 6 nights/7 days, 2 rooms caribbean beach, 5 days park hoppers with water parks and free dinning. We are driving from NJ so I am figuring abother 200 or so for gas for the caravan, I may be of on that, not very good with figuring out miles per gallon and all that jazz.Anyway, DH has always wanted to try Cruise Land & Sea deal. Now we need passport. This would be a once in a lifetime for my crew, they are 18,16,15,13, & 10.
The total for that would be around 6,200.00, depending on hen exactly we would go. We also would need to get passports so add another $700.00.
If we cruise we could not go until next year anything after January and it would have to be during the cheapest time we could find.
No one in the house is giving me any feed back as to when they would wanna go or what they would rather do including DH he just says whatever will make me happy! Smart smart man normally I would say but right now I need imput.
Yesterday I decided that I am going to go ahead and book for September.
Pay as much as I can until the balance is due, take the kids out of school, and put the rest on credit card, then pay it off in February with Income tax return. Ok great.
However ever since I decided I was going to go ahead and book my stomach has been in knots!
I feel dizzie and light headed and I can't shake this feeling.
DH works 60 hours a week, I work 40, plus we book are running around with the kids all weekend every weekend, we, along with kids share household chores and we deserve a vacation. We need one. So why do I feel like this?
I was like this last time and the time before that and the time before that too.
Is it just me?
Ok so my other question is this. What would you do? September, free dinning, a lot cheaper, a lot sooner, and taking kids out of school in the beginging of the year? or wait a few more months, lets say February, Alot more money, the passport situation, but I think a lot mroe spectacular once in a lifetime trip!
HELP ME PLEASE I AM MAKING MYSELF CRAZY!

 

[mommytobug]

I will be no help to you but wanted you to know you are not alone. My dh never has any input until it is time to go. It is the same for Christmas. No input until the week before or day before when he wants to make sure I have gotten enough. God love him! I am kinda controlling so I like to plan but sometimes worry myself sick about everyone being happy. I have been struggling with planning a vacation recently. Even though our jobs are pretty secure, i look around and see all these people suffering and worry that I may need that few thousand $$. So, I plan and then I put off. I would think about what everyone would enjoy more. Then, plan from there!

 

[bumbershoot]

Ok so my other question is this. What would you do?

If you really need to go on the Disney cruise, I have heard over and over that the land and sea program is far more expensive than just booking them separately. Actually, since you have a package booked already I'm not sure you could get the land/sea package anyway.

But really what I would do is NOT go on a Disney cruise. I would go on something less expensive. Or if you really really want to go on the Disney cruise, I'd downgrade the WDW accomodations. Spending THAT much would just stress me out!

Since this is for THIS year or early next year, know that you don't yet need passports for sea travel to places like the Caribbean, Canada, the Bahamas, and Mexico. That'll be next year in June, according to what I read recently. But of course the downside to traveling with birth certificates is the hassle and probable sudden expense if something happens, if you get sick and have to go home or if you miss the ship or something...I personally would cruise with a passport, but until next year you don't *have to* for those locations as far as what I have read.

 

[Disneydreamer5]

I'm sorry you misunderstod, I haven't done anything yet!
I am still debating what I should do.
As for the passports, I am told from TA that I can cruise without one but I cant fly. So if we were to get left behind on an island we would be trapped there!

 

[PA Princess]

I am going to offer really specific advice because I have some real experience dealing with similar issues. We are a traveling party of 7 (me, dh, 4 kids ages 3, 7, 12, and 13, and my mom...we always travel together), we have traveled for the last several years in September, and we have cruised last fall and will cruise this fall with our group.

Giving up free dining for the sea and land package is foolish in my personal opinion. Instead, I would recommend you take a short cruise with Royal Caribbean and add that on to your stay at Disney with free dining.

You could do sea and land for less money in this scenario because RCCL is less money and you still keep free dining.

We did the 4 night on RCCL's Sovereign of the Seas after our 6 nights in Disney last year and we had a wonderful vacation. Okay, it is not a Disney ship, but it consistently gets good reviews by dedicated cruisers over at cruisecritic, and if you have never done a Disney cruise than you will not be comparing to that. The itinerary is the same on both ships...Naussa and a private island.

Plus, with the ages of your kids I think the RCCL ship with the rock climbing wall and activities are as good as Disney's. Also, RCCL private island is also awesome and again comparable to Disney's.

I would knock some of the land portion off the cost by eliminating the water park plus option or chosing the value hotel. Right now your group could book the 4 night cruise (4 nights tend to cost the same as 3 and sometimes less - weird, I know) for about $2100.

Not sure how much vacation time you have to play with, but you could either save money and do only the 3 days in WDW or stay with the 6 days and 4 cruise nights for about the same cost as the whole 7 day Disney land/sea package.

Sometimes I get anxious when I start adding up the cost of the trips, but they are truly a highlight of our family life and experiences none of us would trade for a better house, newer cars, etc. Now, I would not give up financial security to take a vacation, but we will budget and sacrifice and plan.

Your kids are older and whole family vacations may be something that will occur less and less frequently, so I can completely understand your desire to plan a great trip. Happy planning