Can you DCL veterans help me?

[tidoublegger]

Hi! Dh and I want to book a land/sea package for October 2006. I have a bunch of questions maybe you can answer:

How much is the deposit per person for the land/sea package?

Has anyone used allseastravel.com?

Is it more economical to rent a car for MCO-resort-parks-PC-MCO or pay for Disney transportation? How much does it run for the transfers?

It seems that what I'm coming up with to book land and sea separately vs. doing it as a package is actually less doing it as a package. Can this be right??

Is it a pain to add a night to the hotel...ie: arrive on Wed., stay in WDW Wed. night and have the land portion start on Thursday to make the most out of the passes? Can I do this through allseastravel?

If I wait until Aug. 2005 to book our Oct. 2006 cruise, is it apt to go up much in price between now and Aug.?

Can you request the deck your room is on? For example, we're probably going to go with a catagory 10 room and they are on multiple decks. I want a deck that's higher up. Can I request a particular deck if there's availability? A particular room?

I appreciate any and all advice you can give me!!

 

[mmouse37]

I believe the land/sea package deposit is $250 per person.

Many here have used All Seas travel and been very satisfied.

Transportion is a personal thing...I prefer rental cars but many prefer the transportation...you can check the DCL website for transfer prices but I think it is around $60.00 per person for the legs of the trip. WDW now has a new Magical Express service that might be good for you...it is complimentary transers from the airport to WDW but not to the port.

Depending on the time of year and other factos...it could quite possibly be tha the package is cheaper and yes, you can pick what deck you are on, as long as their is availability. You look at deck plans and ask for a specific cabin as well, as long as it is available when you book.

I am sure All Seas can add an extra room for you and I do not think it is a pain to do.

Price are apt to go up between now and August, so if you can swing the deposit, book now or as soon as possible to lock in your price.

Good luck!!!

 

[the kabuki]

I have booked our Jan 06 first ever cruise with AllSeas travel and have found them to be very helpful and they had the best pricing

The sooner you book the trip the better. Prices will go up.

Yes you can request a certain deck.

Our family prefers using a rental car rather than relying on Dis. trans.

 

[floridaminnie]

I have used allSeas before and they were great. I would have them price the land and sea separate also b/c sometimes that is cheaper.

 

[kcashner]

Whether it is cheaper to book the package or separately depends in part on what you want and on what specials WDW might be running at the time of your trip. October is slow season, so there are typically GREAT hotel deals. One of the best right now is the Magic Dining deal--it costs $10 for a kid and $35 for an adult for a sit down meal, a counter service meal and a snack each day. This can include character dining......details on WDW web site.

You might choose a lower grade hotel than is included at your cabin level--a savings. You might choose a different type of ticket--again a possible saving. WDW may be running sales on hotels due to time of year and level of booking.

The only way you can tell is to price it out both ways. Usually separate is cheaper, I've seen the equal, but never seen the package be cheaper.

Right now, they have the Magical Express program which is "free" transportation from MCO to the resorts and back. DCL has adjusted their prices to reflect this. Thus, a car would add substantially to your costs. Personally, we don't drive much at WDW, so a car isn't a necessity for us. WDW transportation is good for resort to parks. It can be a pain if you are going from one resort to another.

 

[mark & sandra]

We booked our first cruise with AllSeas, www.allseastravel.com because they beat everyone else's price by 610.00. Since then we've booked 3 more cruises with them...Mark

 

[DrCavin]

Have used All Seasons twice. Yes they have competitive prices, but their customer service is the greatest...

BOOK NOW!!!! We booked our May '06 cruise in Oct '04 & it has since went up about $950

 

[tidoublegger]

Thanks for the replies! The one thing I've noticed is that the magic your way hopper is for 7 days. Is there an expiration on that? It seems kind of silly to offer it that way unless they assume that people will be adding on days to the beginning of their package. At any rate, I'm going to try and book it next week. Thanks for the helpful info!!! Tracy : )

 

[noahsmom]

In my experience it's cheaper to book land and sea separately. The nice thing about booking them separate is you can stay at the resort of your choice. If you book as a package the resort you choose determines the cabin on the ship and vice versa.

We wanted to stay Poly concierge on our 1st trip because it was our 15th anniversary the only way to do this was to book separate and it was actually cheaper then the package would have been for regular Poly.

As for transporation we love getting a limo service. It's a special treat for DH to not have to drive in a strange place. It's only slightly more then DCL transfers and much more convenient.