My family and I have made reservations for a 7 day cruise in Feb 2011. We are flying in the night before, staying at a one of Disney's economy resorts before and after and taking their transportation to and from the port. In the past we have taken the 3 day cruise and stayed afterwards offsite while renting a car. We also flew in the night before and were able to pick up a case of bottle water on our way to port. Seeing that we are using Disney's Transportation this time, anyone have any suggestions as to how to pick up a couple cases of water before we board. Taking a taxi would defeat the purpose because after paying the fare and the case it probably would be cheaper for me to just buy the case on the ship. If anyone has any other suggestions other than using Disney's transportation, I would be open to that too. I just don't think renting a car this time is even worth it since I would only be using it to and from port and for two days afterwards. Thanks
They sell water at all the Hess gas stations on Disney property. I know ther's one by the entrance to Boardwalk, and I think(?) one at downtown Disney as well. They are reachable on the Disney buses. I used to fly with a case of water in a suitcase or 2, but now that you have to pay for checked bags, that doesn't make sense. The ship's water was fine last week. We brought re-usable bottles and did it that way, and we are BIG bottled water drinkers.
I remember s few years ago we ordered a case of water from Staples and had it delivered to our hotel. Do they still do that?
I think it would be cheaper for your family to use a car service to and from the cruise. Many have free grocery stops. If you do this, you can still use the FREE Magical Express to and from the airport.
Any suggestions for Car Service? Also any suggestions as to where to stay the night before the cruise? I have 8 people in my party going.
Save some money. The water on the ship is very good. My DH and I brought our water bottles with us and just filled them throughout the day.
FL tours offers a 3 leg land and sea town car for $260. This is what we did only we had Happy Limos match the price because we had read good things about them. Then you can do a quick grocery stop and pick up some water. ( get some beer and/or alcohol too if you wish) You are also able to get to port before all the other people coming from the parks do. You can also get a 2 leg rate but for us the 3 leg was less than the two DCL transfers and the town care was a nice luxury
There are many hotels that are cheaper than a Disney economy resort for the night before the cruise IF all you want is a place to sleep and breakfast in the morning. If you want the Disney experience, you'll have to make that trek. OK, places to stay the night before. I've become a real Priceline freak. By getting a 2.5* room on priceline, I get a place with a complimentary breakfast and usually a shuttle. Rooms at the port are minimally more expensive than at the MCO area. MCO, I can get a room with a bid of $31 -$39 + a bit under $10 in taxes and fees. Recent assignments have been the Hyatt Place and Amerisuites. All have free shuttles to/from MCO.At the port, the only 2.5* is the Country Inn and Suites which has a shuttle to the terminal in the morning. Obviously you'll need 2 rooms, but you'd need 2 at Disney also. And back to the water question...a car service allows a 15 minute stop for groceries or at Wal-mart. Another option--the shuttle driver for the MCO area hotels will take you to dinner or grocery for the price of a tip when he's not busy doing airport runs. You could take the free shuttle to the MCO area hotel, and have the car service pick you up there in the morning. Alternatively, if you decide to stay near the port, have the car service pick you up at MCO, and take the hotel's shuttle in the morning. Cost comparison: MCO area Priceline + breakfast = $45-50 per room Port area Priceline + breakfast = $60 per room WDW resort = $79 + tax ~ $89 + breakfast at $5 -10 per person.....you can see that it isn't cost effective. I'm not knocking a Disney stay...just don't feel it's worth while if I'm not going to be there long enough to enjoy Disney. If I just need a clean safe place to sleep, there are LOTS of MCO and port area hotels.
At MCO there are gift shops that sell magazines and books and florida merchandise. They also have cases of water that they sell. Not sure on the price but I bet it is comparable to Hess or Publix. I know there is a gift shop(big one) in the Air Tran terminal that sells water. We used to have water shiped to the disney resorts from Staples or costco but they stopped shipping to resorts(not sure if it was disney or the company's that stopped it) As for town car services we have used: Happy Limo(mousesavers discount) Persion Limo(universal resorts recommended) Tiffany town service(friend used them) Mears(most expensive) FL tours(dis boards) They are all very comparable in terms of prices(just used them from MCO to WDW) but we had the best service with tiffany. Even though they don't have the nices fleet. They were very reliable and showed up on time and very friendly. Also, a big fan of hotwire and priceline if you need to find a great hotel rate. We tend to use hotwire more since there are 4 of us and priceline can only gaurantee 2 per room. HTH
If you really want the water and are on the 7 night cruise, then just wait until you get to Key West (assuming that is still the itinerary) and buy it at the CVS right outside the port. It is maybe a 5 minute walk from the ship. You could also just bring a bottle per person and fill it up at the drink machine.
The easiest way to get a case of water in your stateroom is to buy it onboard (or pre-order in before you even leave home) - it's not really THAT expensive. You are spending thousands on your VACATION. Why nickel-and-dime the water bottles (of all things) and have to deal with schlepping it onboard?
My family drinks a lot of water too. We typically don't like the taste of the water in Fla so we have some of the Brita Sports Bottles with filters. Would something like that be neccessary on the ships or does the water taste OK without it?
The water on the ship is very good. They produce the drinking water on board, so it is not Florida water.
The 'tap' water on the ship tastes better than many brands of bottled water. Plus, it's freshly made and hasn't been sitting around in plastic bottles for heaven knows how long! I stopped worrying about it after my first cruise. Just have your own bottle to fill up at the sink and you're good to go!
