Cruise and Land Combo Trip

[ilovetotravel1977]

Those of you who have done a cruise/land combo trip, did you do the land portion pre- or post-cruise?

We would be doing a 7-day Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral and 3 nights at Cabana Bay.

I was leaning towards doing the land part post-cruise as we would have more flexibility with flight times using air miles coming home.

Thoughts?

 

[kuhltiffany]

We did ours Cruise first and then land, I wouldn't do it again. The land part is so chaotic, busy, hectic, it would have been nice to do it first, then relax on the cruise before we went home. Doing the land after was exhausting, we did not go home refreshed at all...

 

[starvenger]

I did land then cruise. 4 nights offsite in Orlando - did MK and Epcot - then 7 nights on Fantasy, then 1 night in Orlando as we couldn't get a decent price to go home day of. But at this point we're pretty comfortable flying home on disembarkation day, so doing the parks first was right for us.

 

[Marc D]

We did both. As PP said, we much prefer doing the cruise second. It helps relaxing after a busy trip to the parks.

 

[AngelDisney]

We usually cruise after since it’s more relaxing (2004, 2011, and 2014). However, we did Universal, cruise then WDW in August 2017 to experience the MNSSHP and Food & Wine Festival (Wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity!). We had a blast! Taking an afternoon break back to the hotel for 2-3 hours every day made a huge difference.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Thanks for your input everyone!

 

[hdrolfe]

I've done both. I found it stressful to do the cruise last because of flights. Leaving Disney or Universal to catch the plane home is much easier than hoping nothing delays the ship or getting from cruise port to airport, at least for us! I do always fly down at least the day before though, that first night I will just stay somewhere near the airport or port. Either way, adding on some Park time is why I love cruising from Port Canaveral

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I've done both. I found it stressful to do the cruise last because of flights. Leaving Disney or Universal to catch the plane home is much easier than hoping nothing delays the ship or getting from cruise port to airport, at least for us! I do always fly down at least the day before though, that first night I will just stay somewhere near the airport or port. Either way, adding on some Park time is why I love cruising from Port Canaveral

These were my thoughts as well.

 

[starvenger]

I've done both. I found it stressful to do the cruise last because of flights. Leaving Disney or Universal to catch the plane home is much easier than hoping nothing delays the ship or getting from cruise port to airport, at least for us! I do always fly down at least the day before though, that first night I will just stay somewhere near the airport or port. Either way, adding on some Park time is why I love cruising from Port Canaveral

This is why I added the caveat that doing the cruise last was right for us. Not everyone wants to deal with that crush of humanity through CBP and then the travel to the airport on the same day.

 

[Spotthecat]

We have done both, and much prefer land portion first. Get the crazy running around done, and then relax on the ship for the cruise. This will be the first year we try flying out the day we get off the boat, so we'll see if I like that! 9 pm flight, so LOTS of time to get from port to airport, lol.

 

[isabellea]

We have done both and I don't have a preference.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

We have done both, and much prefer land portion first. Get the crazy running around done, and then relax on the ship for the cruise. This will be the first year we try flying out the day we get off the boat, so we'll see if I like that! 9 pm flight, so LOTS of time to get from port to airport, lol.

9pm ugh. I did a 6pm departure before and that was painful enough! At least you can sleep in as late as they will let you and not have to rush!

 

[Mto3]

We just went in November only with a 4 day cruise and split it up with a couple of days before and a few days after. The days after we’re a surprise for the kids when we got off the ship. This gave us flexibility with the flights and allowed to go home at the end of the week and still have the weekend to rest before going back to everyday life.

 

[hardis5]

We prefer post land if not doing the parks as it allows greater flexibility when leaving (getting those cheaper morning flights or not worried about a late day departure as you have the resort for the day) and that blue feeling getting off the ship is lessened by a few days vacation still to go. Always feel when the flight out or drive home starts immediately after the cruise I enjoy the last days of the cruise less knowing vacation over as soon as off the boat.

Actually our best land/cruise combo was Disney Vero Beach before, cruise and WDW resort after (without the parks) as each was its own distinct vacation in feel and experience.

 

[Frozen2014]

We'e looking at doing 4 day cruise (Mon-Fri) followed by 2.5 days at Disney. We actually just had the cruise booked, which happened to be out of Port Canaveral and figured lets see if we can add in a few park days before returning home (and starting school year). It's just how it worked out....and will take what we can get.

PS - In terms of flying, I feel more stressed getting to the departure port in time. We fly a day before but still worry over something out of our control and missing the cruise. Less upsetting if we miss our plane coming home... So would probably do parks first if the dates worked out.

 

[RipperSB]

When we did our first cruise (Jan 2015), we did resort stays before and after. 5 nights, at BWV, 7 night Eastern Caribbean, and 5 nights at OKW. We used DME to/from the airport and DCL ground transportation for the transfers. Worked so well we are planning on doing it again, Jan 2020.