Cost of Package vs seperate land and Sea vacations

[poohfriend]

Could somebody explain to me why the cruise line charges so much more for the land package than booking it ourselves through central reservations?

THE SAME 5 rooms at POR booked through CRO is $2800 less than through the crusise line. I understand charging something for convienence-- but that is highway robbery!

Am I missing something? Should I ask them to adjust the price? Is it really worth almost 3000 for the convienence? I have checked and tripple checked. This price comparison is accurate. We are going on the cruise the week after Christmas for 4 days.

thanks for listening to my vent

 

[Anthony1971]

you may be getting a discounted rate for one of the two..
if it comes out cheaper then see if you can book it seperate there is nothing that says you can not and any advantages to not that I know of??
maybe your airfare is in the Cruise vacation
and do not forget tranfers................
good luck

 

[mmouse37]

Many people often report that booking the land portion and cruise separately is much cheaper....especially if you can apply one of the codes found at www.mousesavers.com

I would definately say book your rooms separately.....you can still take advantage of DCL transportation if you wish.

FYI...are you comparing the land portion with park tickets??? because tickets are included when you book the land sea package, but not when you book rooms by themselves.

 

[poohfriend]

Thank you for your input.

I'm comparing package with tickets (same type) and the cruise land package. I've called three times to the cruise line to check my numbers.

This whole thing came up because the cruise won't let us add the dining option to the land package. They suggested calling the land folks.

I'm just comparing the cost of room + tickets for both sources. I don't have a discount code.

I still have to pay for transfers either way.

Let those of you with plenty of time to plan beware...you could save a bundle by booking the land seperately. (But I think we have to get new room keys when we check in for the cruise.)
Plus you'll spend another phone call booking it!

 

[BethC1952]

You definitely have to get new keys when you check in, and you have to check in at the port, unlike the land/sea package where you check in only once (at the resort).

Having said that, we probably will never book the land/sea package again. We save so much money by booking separately that this year we are taking back-to-back four-night cruises for the same price as one of our previous land/sea packages. We no longer need park tickets because with both have AP's, so that may make a difference. We can also book a hotel other than one of the "cruise" hotels (last year we stayed for six nights at Pop Century and three nights at CBR). It may make a difference that when we booked the land/sea package (three times) we chose a Cat. 11 room on the ship and stayed at PO Riverside.

Beth

 

[crisi]

Because they can. A lot of people don't do the research and believe the "price is the price." People paying that price either ups their overall profits or it allows them to sell other units cheaper.

 

[keme]

being a travel agent in the UK and being Independent means we can offer a wider choice of holidays and we do a lot of split bookings where by rather than offer a package holiday we offer the flights seperately to the accomodation 9 out of 10 it works out much cheaper and the people are covered by ABTA. But if the customer did it seperately and one part say the accomodation agency is not ABTA and went bust then they would not be covered and would lose their money.

 

[champagne27]

I think it must depend on when you are going. We priced a 4 night cruise for our family of 4 (2 adults, DD 5, DS 3 at time of cruise) and it was $3000.00.

I then priced it with the 3 night land and 4 day cruise (same cruise) and it came to $3600.00. So that is only $600 for 3 nights at the poly with park passes for all of us - you couldn't beat that with any code. Now because that deal was so good I thought I would extend our time at the Poly - to add just one more night was another $700 - hello - 1 night for $700 when I just got 3 nights for $600 total!!

Anyway - I was prepared to book seperately as well for a better deal - but in this case it was better as a package. Always shop around and see what works. Good luck and happy vacations!

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

I am also one of the few who is actually saving money doing the land/sea package. I priced it both ways before booking and we're saving $537 with the land/sea package. I guess it all depends on when you are going, what cat you are in etc. We are going September 2005 in cat 6, staying at AKL savannah view room.

 

[NCRedding]

We're also another family who saved money by booking the package. Taking into account the tickets, etc., we would have had to gotten our Poly room at less than $100 per night for it to be cheaper to book separately.

Part of the problem may be the time of year you are going. The week after Christmas is traditionally the most expensive time to book. I guess in reading your post that each room is $560.00 more (which is still substantial). How did you figure the difference--it looks like all the lower cats are sold out and only the Cat 7 and above are available.

 

[jacobatt1]

It was cheaper for us to book the package too. I'm a big researcher when it comes to Disney (aren't we all, lol) and I priced it both ways. It SAVED us money to book Land/Sea, and we even got an extra day at the parks than the tickets I was going to buy separately--it was still cheaper!!!

We went in October
We booked a year in advance
We stayed at AKL

Maybe a deluxe resort makes a difference???? Because to pay rack rate would be more money there, so it's a better deal to go with their rates for the whole trip???????

I don't know what makes a difference, but like the others said, don't assume it will always be cheaper to do it separately. It's not just people who don't research who pay the package deal--sometimes it really is a deal!!!

Amy

 

[poohfriend]

I guess the final message is check both!

thaNKS EVERYONE!

 

[jaysmom4285]

We've done the land/sea cruise twice, both times staying in deluxes and in a category 7 stateroom. I think that, at that level, the cruise package is cheaper because the deluxes cost so much per night. When we were planning our trips, I subtracted the cost of a four-night cruise from our land/sea package and took the remainder as the cost of our three days at WDW at a deluxe, with tickets included. I couldn't find a way to beat that price. If we had dropped down one stateroom category, we would have been at a moderate resort, but the reduction in the total land/sea cruise price would only have been about $100 per person. At that price level, it probably is possible to book a moderate for less than the land part of the land/sea cruise would cost. So I think it does depend on the level of accommodations that you choose.