Disney Cruise Line

[Bellybee]

Hi,

Has anyone booked this from the UK as part of a longer stay we are looking into the possibility of it just for a short while and wondered if anyone had and how you arranged it.

Thanks

 

[3cheers4DIS]

We are DVC members and have booked a DCL cruise using points, and also booked direct with DCL on the internet, it didn't make any difference that we lived in the UK. cheers Iain.

 

[Young Pooh]

We plan to visit WDW in Aug 2009 and have already booked the cruise portion - a 4 night on the Wonder. Prices tend to be cheaper the earlier you book - also DCL will be applying fuel surcharges on any new bookings made after end of May (?).

We priced this up with DCL and then also with Dreams Unlimited (one of the Dis sponsers). DU came out cheaper and were also offering onboard credit so we went with them. It is very simple - everything is done by email which is good if you are in the UK.

Just have to wait until September before I can book flights and DVC accomodation.

Hope this helps.

 

[CustardTart]

We're doing that next week - firstly spending a week in WDW and then cruising for 4 nights on the Wonder before returning home! The first thing I would do is check out what's available on the DCL website and get an idea of prices...

 

[wayneg]

We have been on Wonder twice and Magic twice, booked again for Magic next year. See my list below for dates we have been.

1st 4 we have booked direct with DCL on their website, very easy to use. The next one for August 09 booked thru Dreams Unlimted, they are usually the same price(sometimes slightly cheaper, never for me) but offer onboard credits, we got $100.
You must book as early as poss, over a year in advance if you can, then you get best price, pick of cabins and choice of dining times. We always want a secret porthole room, they only have a few on each sailing but you pay for inside cabin and get outside with restricted view, they are great value. If the price is reduced after you book you pay the lower price, booking with DCL you have to check prices often, DU check the prices for you.
Before you get onboard decide if there is any chance of you doing another as booking onboard is the cheapest option, last month we saved $452 just for 5 minutes at the rebooking desk, then transferred the booking to DU when we got home.
You can book in UK with companies like TCD, DONT, they are way OTT, I helped someone recently cancel their booking and go with DU, it saved them over £1,000 thankfully didn't cost anything to cancel.
Prices vary a lot for different sailings. Next year we are doing 7 nights in August cheaper than I can get 4 nights this August, we have paid as little as £50pppn another I priced up was £140pppn(New year, too much for me)
Book before the 28th May when fuel surcharge is added if you can, It will add about £4pppn see here http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/news.htm#toystory
Good luck, ask if you need anymore help.

 

[hogwartsdropout]

We did the Disney Wonder. Although we saw very beautiful places, I did start to miss the parks after a while. I'm really glad we gave it a try though, we got such beautiful photos!

 

[Bellybee]

We want to do two weeks at disney with say 1 week and 3 days at Pop C and then a 3 or 4 day cruise.

We are going at approx end of Nov - Beginning of December.
We usually book direct with First Choice or Virgin so would be pretty scared to do it all seperatley.

Anything else you can tell me would be great.

Also if we do a 4 day cruise do we take all 14 days worth of luggage with us.

Thank you

 

[Dead-metal]

We booked through DU for Oct 2009 and saved alot of money. No fuel surcharge either. We got to choose our Cat 4 cabin and you get a $100 on board credit.

 

[wayneg]

We want to do two weeks at disney with say 1 week and 3 days at Pop C and then a 3 or 4 day cruise.

We are going at approx end of Nov - Beginning of December.
We usually book direct with First Choice or Virgin so would be pretty scared to do it all seperatley.

Anything else you can tell me would be great.

Also if we do a 4 day cruise do we take all 14 days worth of luggage with us.

Thank you

I would not do a 3 day cruise, 4 day is short enough, by the time you get on 1st day its half over so really on a 3 day you only get 2.
I would not worry about booking yourself, its the easiest place in the world to do it, from all my trips below only 1 is a full package, the 1st one I then realised how much money I had wasted and then found out how much I enjoyed putting it all together myself.
Luggage, we take 25 nights luggage onboard unless we leave it in boot of car at port.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

My first DCL cruisae was booked with Virgin holidays there after I booked with the USA travel agency DREAMS UNLIMITED.

 

[Bellybee]

Cool so I just need to price up the room and the cruise and then finish up with the flights when they come out and maybe book them all seperatley I will have a look again.

 

[DISWolves]

last month we saved $452 just for 5 minutes at the rebooking desk, then transferred the booking to DU when we got home.

Looking at booking a 4 day for Aug 2009. What was the reason for transferring to D.U. ?

How did you arrange car parking & how much ?

Any cashback sites recommended for first time booking - is so what cruise company ?

Thanks

 

[wayneg]

Looking at booking a 4 day for Aug 2009. What was the reason for transferring to D.U. ?

How did you arrange car parking & how much ?

Any cashback sites recommended for first time booking - is so what cruise company ?

Thanks

If you book with DU before 30th April they are giving double onboard credits for 2009 sailings. We got $100 (4 nights get $50) on top of the $200 we got from Disney so we have $300 to spend onboard now.

Car parking has just been increased to $15/day you have to pay on entry either by cash or credit card. We have always parked up but budget have some great deals just now and they do one way rentals to the port, we are considering Budget for this August when we sail with RCCL, will save about £80 (3 days less rental, $60 parking and extra tank of gas included on new rental after cruise) downside to this is losing car boot storage space while on cruise.

I have booked RCCL(can also use for Disney) with Cruisedirect.com via rpoints 2.5% (I have put claim in to pricematch cashbackings @5%) Booking this way will probably be better than the $50 with DU. depending on cost of cruise.

 

[gordonandjackie]

Don't book through UK T/A they are rip off prices. We went on 3 day Wonder cruise last year and I thought it would be easier to book everything together but we saved £637 by cancelling with UK T/A and rebooking with Dreams Unlimited. Hope you get something booked soon you'll not be disappointed with the cruise it is fab. Can't wait to be able to afford to go on a 7 day cruise. 3 days was not long enough!!!!
Jackie

 

[amystevekai&bump]

We want to do two weeks at disney with say 1 week and 3 days at Pop C and then a 3 or 4 day cruise.

We are going at approx end of Nov - Beginning of December.
We usually book direct with First Choice or Virgin so would be pretty scared to do it all seperatley.

Anything else you can tell me would be great.

Also if we do a 4 day cruise do we take all 14 days worth of luggage with us.

Thank you

Hi - In a couple of weeks we will be going on the Disney Wonder for 3 nights.

In the past we have normally booked everything independently, but this year is our first time travelling with our kids, so we decided to book through virgin. (We are staying part of the time in a villa and 'hope' that Virgin will sort it out if there are any problems!! )

HOWEVER - the 3 night cruise through Virgin was extortionate, so we instead booked all our hotels, car hire and flights through them and then told them that we will be arranging our own thing for 3 days and then we booked the disney cruise directly through DCL.

To be honest Virgin have been a nightmare, so next time we will book everything ourselves, and perhaps even go through Dreams Unlimited if they can give us more onboard credit that DCL!!!

Hope that helps a little!!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Your options are to book directly with DCL, or book with a specialist DCL travel agent or an independent travel agent.

I use Dreams and the service there is second to none, the only other TA I would recommend would be Allseasons travel.

Often overall the cruise price is exactly the same, some independent TA's quote prices without port fees and taxes, but overall all prices are the same.

The exception is when a TA, Purchases a number of Cabins at 'first' opening day price tier, and then has those on hold and sells them to you, if the cruise price has increased these are at a discount.

Now the only 'difference' between all of the above, is the OBC's- on board credits, whilst the cruise price is the same various TA's offer different OBC's and you need to take that into account on your overall price.

Upgrades, no difference, whatever way you book,

Booking onboard can give you up top 10% off and an OBC, (Cat 4>11)and you can also transfer that to a TA.

I use Dreams unlimited, as well as good OBC's they give great service and good support.

Also you still can access your reservation on the DCL website if booked through a TA, you can still book Palo, kids clubs and Shore trips direct, only payments to your cruise go through the TA, with Dreams its easy through their website, I regularly pay off interim amounts directly myself via them quickly, DCL debit my credit card, the T/A doesn’t hold it.
I hope this helps.

 

[StephenKay]

Hi there,

We are experienced Disney travellers going year in year ago for 10 years now and a couple of years ago we decided to have a 3 day trial cruise, just in case my DW didn't like the ship. It was wonderful and for the last few years have been travelling to WDW and then a cruise to top it off. We first booked via expedia.com but found out later that we could have got this cheaper by using an american travel agent. In the end, we went with http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/

They have been great, always and it's easy just go to the DCL disboards page and then take it from there. You won't ever regret it.