Has anyone done their own airfare for a Disney Cruise?

[clbkatz]

I want to do my own air for a Disney cruise that I may be taking. Has anyone else ever done this? What airport do you fly too? And with the cost of the taxi, rental car or shuttle to the cruise terminal is it worth it?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Christina

 

[Robinette]

I always book my own air. I signed up with travelocity.com and they email when the fare drops. I also check the airlines web sites for deals. As for getting to the terminal, we are renting a car from Avis. Dave as good info about different transfers...http://www.dcltribute.com/

 

[Robinette]

Forgot to mention that we fly into Orlando (MCO)

 

[pal2pluto]

You can usually get a cheaper flight on your own rather than with DCL....we went AAA, and then bought the transfer bus to/from with DCL . That's $46pp. But you can save more money by renting a car from Avis. Pick up Avis at the MCO airport, drop it off at the Raddisson hotel, they take you over to the port, then when you get back in port, they'll pick you up again to rent another car back to MCO. There are also discount codes (anyone know them?) to use to get even better rates with Avis

 

[Robinette]

I 'm not sure if I can post the codes for Avis here so just check out this site for them...http://www.mousesavers.com/groundtrans.html

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

Our 1st cruise we used DCL air-only because we didn't know better and they had a kids fly free promotion. Our next 2 we did our own air. The one advantage to using DCL is they are responsible to get you to the ship if there's a problem with your flight. If you book your own-you're on your own! Having said that, we always fly in at least a day before to avoid this and I think it's just too hectic to fly in the day you set sail. We just booked with Southwest for our 5/11 cruise-they have a companion flies free promotion for flights until Aug (you have to book by some time in April). My family is flying to Orlando for $140 each-any other carrier would be $180-250 each and DCL would cost us $270 each. Our rental car costs $92 for the round trip to/from the port.

 

[IrishCowboy]

We always book our own flights and transfers. We save over $150 per person by doing it ourselves and we get to pick the flight that suits our schedule.

For our May 25 cruise, we are flying down late on May 23 for only $100 per person! Rentals cars/transfers will be about $30 per person. It pays to do a little research, I check Southwest's web site every day

 

[Diz-Me]

We also used DCL air for our first cruise. The flights were expensive, connecting and we had fairly long waits between the connections. For our upcoming cruise we booked the air on our own and got direct flights at the times we wanted and for less money. The convenience of a 'complete' DCL package is certainely nice but you can generally do better on your own booking separately.

We are using yourride towncars for this trip. We would only be using a rental car to get to WDW and the Wonder. For us it is easier to leave the driving to someone else who knows where they are going!

 

[SingingMom]

We booked our own fare for one simple reason - Disney will not guarantee a "non-stop flight". I hate to fly as it IS, but the thought of having to go up and down more than once had us making our own flight plans. We rented a car and parked at the port. We were continuing our trip to visit relatives in Jacksonville, so we needed the car.

Our travel agent was less than helpful and only told us that there were no car rentals at the Port and we would have to use the Disney transfers back to Orlando to rent a car and then drive to Jacksonville. She didn't even try to explore other options for us. It didn't make sense for us to go out of the way, back to the airport - so we just rented the car and let it sit for the week.

Of course, at the time I didn't know about these wonderful boards and Avis and the Radisson. Next cruise, we will fly in the day before and stay at the Radisson. (AND, we'll book everything ourselves or try another agency- forget that travel agent we used, she lost our business!)

 

[Mtdewbuzz]

So, if you book your own flight, and fly into MCO, how does one go about arranging the transfer bus to the port, and when do you need to arrive generally?

 

[pgesler]

I see that Southwest Air has some very good rates on their web site with the free companion fare.

I agree that it's best to book your own airfare and plan to arrive the night before. We stayed at the Hyatt at the Orlando Airport and it worked out great. We set our luggage in the hall outside our room the morning of the cruise and it was in our cabin when we arrived on the ship - but you need to use the DCL transfers to get this benefit.

 

[mmouse37]

Mtdewbuzz.....if you fly into Orlando on our own you can still book Disney transfers to the port if that's want you want. Just call DCL and tell them your flight arrangements and that you want to purchase transfers...they have no problem with people just buying their transfers. A DCL rep will meet you at the terminal and direct you to the buses to the port. But, like many other posters have stated....you will probably find it cheaper (depending on many people you have in your party) to rent a car from Avis at the airport and drive it to the Radisson/Avis location which is only a mile or so from the ship. Both the Radisson and Avis have a complimentary shuttle that will take you to the ship.

We always book through www.avis.com and use the GROUP AVIS CODE that I found on www.mousesavers.com

For an example of price using that group code....I only paid $61.00 including tax for a MINIVAN from the airport to the Radisson/Avis location. Obviously a smaller car would even be less. Disney one way transfers are about $24 pp or about $46 pp round trip. So, you can save quite a bit of money.

MJ

 

[swede63]

Since I figured out I paid over $230 with Disney over the price I could have gotten on my first trip I have been booking my own airfare. I use all the search engines and look for the cheapest fare. ie. Exoedia, Travelocity, Orbitz.

 

[Irishmom23]

I purchased my own air through Delt.com using frequent flyer miles, then puchased DCL transportation to the cruise ship from the airport, then from the cruise ship to WDW, and then back to the airport after our WDW stay. We bought the transportation when I booked my cruise and WDW stay through Dreams Unlimited. I rather rely on the DCL transportation as I am very unfamiliar with Florida, and did not want to rent a car, etc., and figured they would get us there on time!! Irishmom23 from Boston

 

[Ginny]

Christina-

I'm not sure where in Maryland you live but I checked prices at all three DC Metro airports for our Halloween cruise last October and our trip to WDW in January and, ultimately, picked United out of Dulles direct to Orlando for both trips. BWI was $50.00 cheaper than Dulles or Reagan National but would have added a minimum commute of 70 minutes each way (and probably more like 2-3 hours due to traffic) for us. I use American Express' travel site @:
http://www.itn.net/cgi/get?itn/pl/amex_personal/index

We used the Happy Limo coupon from Inkkognito's website and were very pleased with their limo service for the cruise.
http://www.castawayclub.com/

On our cruise return, we stayed overnight at the Hyatt Orlando Airport because United had cancelled our return trip (9/11 changes). What a dream to get up in the AM and have the bellman take your bags all the way to check in. All of the above was learned from these boards.

Hope this helps!! Have a wonderful cruise!

 

[teroot]

wE BOOKED OUR OWN AIR ONLY COST $186.OOPP OUT OF CINCY TO ORLANDO. CRUISE LINE TAKES US TO THE DOCS AND TO AIRPORT AFTER THE CRUISE. WE WILL STAY IN DISNEY FOR 6 DAYS FIRST. WE USED US AIR. GOOD LUCK.