Cruise and Land Vacation ???

[ToyStory]

Is it better to book your vacation cruise/land vacation togeter or separate?

I was playing around tonight on the Disney website pricing a 3 day cruise/4 day land vacation. I was pricing with a deluxe interior room and felt I got a reasonable price for August. The only thing I didn't like was the only hotel choices were the moderate hotels. If I am spending only 4 days at Disney I rather pay extra for a monorail resort. Can you upgrade to a deluxe and still stay in an interior room? I am assuming the park tickets are included, but are the base tickets or have hopping ability?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[mickeyboat]

Conventional wisdom is that it is cheaper and more convenient to book the trips separately.

Denae

 

[Pea-n-Me]

If you book separately you can stay wherever you like. There are also more options as far as number of days and whether to do land before or after your cruise.

If you book Land/Sea your options are limited to a moderate if you have an inside room.

This topic comes up very frequently here so if you do a search you should be able to find lots of information. Good luck!

 

[poohfriend]

If you book a nicer room on the ship, you'll be offered a deluxe resort for your land stay.

I just booked a new year's cruise and it was $3000 cheaper for our 4 rooms to book the land seperately -- same moderate rooms.

However, I had several people post in the thread that said that booking a nicer category saved them money on the deluxe resorts. One reported that for her cruise the polynesian resort averaged $100/night!!! I wish I could have gotten that price any day of the year!

So I recommend...pricing it both ways. Also, if you're not willing to put all the time into it, I would recommend choosing a disney travel specialist (not disney travel co). They can answer you questions and oftern get you a cheaper rate by offering a cash-back incentive.

\After spending HOURS figuring all of our options out, I finally contacted Small World Vacations...they saved me money and heartache. I still get to choose what options I want for everything.

Good luck and have fun...like everything else with Disney there are no easy answers!

 

[LAMPSKIES]

I ALWAYS book together.....one checkin.....The monorail is nice but WDW transportation is more than adequate....IMHO

 

[ToyStory]

Thank you for all your advice. It is greatly appreciated. I will try to figure it out both ways and with upgrading to a better room to see what will be best.

 

[vossjemi]

We booked our land and sea separately. We went cheap (SPR, cat 10) on the cruise, and the poly for land. If you want to be in different categories for cruise/land or if you want to do wdw afterwards instead of before, you have to book separately. We considered doing it either all lower category versus all higher category and priced it out both ways...and then kind of figured out what each portion of of each option cost so that we could piece together a comparison of what we actually booked, and for us it was cheaper to do it separately. But, I've often heard of it being cheaper to do it together too. So, you just have to price it out and see what you prefer.

 

[mom_rules]

We booked ours separately too-plus there may be a chance of a code rate becoming available for your resort!

 

[jaysmom4285]

We've done a couple of land/sea cruises and a few WDW only. I found that staying in a cabin level on the cruise that gets you a deluxe resort (category 7 and up, if I recall - I don't have the info in front of me) works out to a very cheap price for the deluxe resort for three nights. If you take the inclusive price of a land/sea vacation, then subtract out the cost of a 4-day cruise for the same period of time and cabin level, the amount you have left is your cost for your resort room and park admission tickets. If you can do better than that price by booking the resort separately, then that's the way to go. But I think if you want a deluxe resort, you'll find that the land/sea cruise is a good deal for the land portion. Again, I don't have any figures with me - that's just what I think I remember.

 

[mom_rules]

Here's how ours figured in the end:
Category 6-4 day Wonder and Deluxe resort 3 nights
Through DCL Land /sea $3621.22 Booking separately
$2796.72 - saved $824.50 (includes transfers and insurance etc).
Guess which way we went?

 

[ToyStory]

Thank you again for all your advice. I have been doing the math, got some quotes. Right now it looks like it would be better to book together.

This is how I am thinking for the 3 day cruise only there is a difference of $505.00 between category 6 and 10. With the land added the difference becomes $800.00. This is using DCL prices since I would drive my TA nuts at this point.

When I add the resort/tickets (Poly) to the cruise only (category 10). It is more expensive then the category 6 with the land/sea. Of course if I could get a code or AAA rate it might change. So if seems if I want to do a deluxe resort (DH insists on that...no complaining here) this would be best. I just now have to convince him to go on the cruise part. He likes cruising, but says he isn't going on a ship without a casino. I want to experience DCL so that is why I am just thinking of doing the 3 day only. He can go to Atlantis and gamble. But now I am considering doing a 4 day sea/3 land and getting quotes on that.

Trying to compare oranges to oranges is a bit difficult.
Since I am reading that the land/sea package includes a 7 day/hopper MMW ticket (mouse savers) and 2006 rates aren't available yet so I am using 2005 rates.

DU came in about $530.00 lower on the Category 6 4 land/2sea then DCL.

 

[mmouse37]

Before you book....check out www.mousesavers.com for some codes to be used for WDW.....they often have codes that can significantly reduce the price of the WDW deluxe rooms and maybe one will work for when you are traveling.

If you do book the land/sea package...something to consider is that if you book 4 days land/3 days sea you are paying for 4 days worth of food at WDW which can add up quickly.

I would do, as you say you might....3 day land/4 day sea....that way you are only paying for 3 days of food at WDW. I think a better value for the money spent.

 

[keishashadow]

If you decide to book the L/S pkg, in 2006 you'll get the 7 day MYW tickets that you can upgrade reasonably (to no expiration) and use on your next trip to save even more money. Good Luck.

 

[kcashner]

You really have to price it out both ways. Which is the better value depends on time of year and the choices you make concerning resort, cabin category, etc. There are frequently discounts available on resort rooms. Remember that you can purchase any part of the trip separately. Also, it is frequently cheaper to by "outside" travel insurance than buying thru DCL. However, if you use the DCL insurance, only the portion of the trip that you buy on that ressie will be insured. If you buy privately, the entire trip will be covered.

Some possible cost savings include transportation to the port (generally break even point for private limo vs. DCL transfers is about 3 people). Savings on tickets used to be possible, but with the new pricing structure, this isn't a place to save now. The biggest thing is that booking separately gives you the maximum flexibility--you can have as many days as you want at whichever resort you want before or after your cruise (or both!) By private limo, you can arrange travel on your schedule. By purchasing you own air, you choose your airline and flight time. Buying a package is a huge convenience for your travel agent (and to a lesser extent, for you), but doing it separately maximizes your choices and frequently your budget.

 

[ImMarcik]

I booked my cruise over a year in advance, but I found that it was cheaper to do the land/sea package together then separately. We chose the Cat 7 so we could stay at a Deluxe resort. Now I am not sure if it would be the same if I booked it todayl. The package has gone up $1,000 already