Help settle this dispute PLEASE...

[EmmasGrammy]

From reading the info on these boards I am trying to decide whether we should wait for the DCL bus to get us from the resort to the port or whether we should hire a towncar or taxi.

We are doing the Land/Sea package and from what I gather here, the buses that pick you up from the resort to take you to the port, pick up rather late. We aren't planning to make Palo or spa ressies so I guess we really don't need to rush. I just don't want to miss out on anything on the ship.

Has anyone out there used the Land/Sea package and use the DCL transfers? Did you get to the ship too late?

If we did decide to hire a town car..
1. Do we need to inform anyone that we aren't going to use the transfers?
2. Can we call from the resort and reserve the car or should we do that ahead of time?
3. What service company do you recommend?
4. Approximately how much $$ would it cost for the one way to the port?
5. If we decline the transfers to the port, do we automatically decline the later transfer back to the airport?

Sorry for all the questions. DH and I are really "at odds" over this. Any help could possibly save this vacation (maybe even this marriage)!!! LOL

 

[crisi]

Prices tend to be posted on web sites. Tiffany has a one way price listed of $90 (plus tip) for a towncar (1-4 people). We have used them and were happy. Other towncar vendors that get mentioned a lot are FLTours (which sponsors this site), HappyLimo, Cartier....if you visit the transportation board there is always a towncar thread.

You will want to make your towncar reservation in advance.

I would think you need to let Disney know you don't want to use their transfers (at least that one direction) so they aren't holding a bus for you.

And you can get one way transfers through Disney from the port to the airport (or you could book your towncar round trip).

I haven't taken the Disney bus, so I can't address what time you'd get to the port if you did. It does take a few minutes once you get to the terminal to get checked in before you board (its like checking into a hotel room). Then, there may or may not be a short line to actually board (they run your card through a machine to say you are onboard, and also have a photographer taking pictures that holds things up a little). There are two things you would miss by not boarding early (other than the spa/Palo ressie rush and the "I'm hoping to upgrade for cheap" rush) - the opportunity to have lunch at Parrot Cay over Topsiders/BBB, and the opportunity to lug your day bags around for an hour and a half until you can dump them in your stateroom. Pools are open early, you can get kids registered for the clubs, and explore the boat - and it IS more fun to be on the boat - regardless of if you sail.....but the programming doesn't really get into gear until after the boat drill.

 

[tecdavidt]

Out of the 5 DCL cruises we have taken we used DCL transfers 4 times. The first cruise was a 3 day land/ 4 day cruise. We were at the Boardwalk and we arrived at the port before boarding begun. The other 3 cruises were 7 days and we were at the Hyatt. Again we always arrived before boarding begun.

We opted for a Limo last March since we flew in 1st class. Long story, canceled trip back in Nov. and had to use plane tickets. Our daughter loved it. Daddy decided if we flew in on 1st class we might as well travel to the port in style. We also had purchased DCL bus transfers and we did not tell anyone we weren't using them. We were also at the Hyatt not at a Disney resort.

This trip 3/20 we are using a Town Car service because my husband just wanted to. Fine by me, I have a bad knee that can't stand being bent for long periods (I had knee surgery in Jan.) so I will have more room to stretch out the leg in the Town Car. Again, we have purchased DCL transfers but I think this time we might have them transfer our luggage. I found out we could of done that last year since we had paid for transfers--doesn't matter if it is you they are moving or your luggage.

The busses are fine. There is a video of the cruise to watch as you travel to the port. I love hearing all the ooh's and aah's when the Magic first appears (for you it will be the Wonder).

Kathy

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

I can't comment on the alternative as we have always used DCL buses. For us it is part of the trip!

Our first two cruises were land sea out of the Poly and Grand Floridian. Because those are the first hotels picked up we were at the port with plenty of time. Our first cruise was so early in the process (Aug. 1998) that we didn't know about doing the reservations first, etc. So we wandered around the terminal, etc before getting in line. Second cruise we knew better! Got in line as soon as we cleared into the terminal. In fact I was SO determined not to miss out on a reservation for the massage on CC I didn't wait for the rest of the family and the embarkation photo is missing mom! But I got that reservation.

I have heard that some of the hotels don't leave for port until after 1 pm which would get you onboard with plenty of time as long as you aren't worried about reservations.

Deb

 

[Empire Day]

We used DCL transfewrs on our last cruise and will again!
Last year we opted in to go to AK for the morning (untill 12:45) and picked up the bus from the park we had no line to get on the wonder (one great perk with the land sea pakage is you alreaddy are checked in )
We would have missed out on ressies if we had wanted any though but when we got on are stateroom was readdy and it was nice to go see it look over the navigators and get an idea as to the layout of the ship befor the safty drill, we chose not to eat lunch at the buffett also as it was almost over( ate a small meal at AK befor we got on the bus)
This time we will do the same it works great if your not worried about palo or massage cabanas

 

[EmmasGrammy]

Thank You all for your input!

Deb, That was so funny, missing the boarding photo just so you could get ressies!! LOL!!

I'm still up in the air about the town car!?!? I don't want to get to the ship TOO late. And I don't want to rush through the terminal when it's time to board.

Does anyone know where I could find out the time the DCL bus picks up cruise guests from CBR?

Also, I see that others (Empire Day) opted to go to another resort the morning before heading to the port. How do we let the DCL bus know where we are, and would we have to drag our luggage around with us that morning until we catch the DCL bus?

I am SOOOO confused!!! I NEED this vacation!!!!

 

[Rence]

I vote a huge NO on DCL transportation from the resorts to the ship. It was the worst part of our vacation.

The bus was awful. Half the monitors didn't work. So we had five bored little girls complaining that they couldn't watch the TVs. Ceiling panels were hanging down, seats were broken. It was so un-Disney.

Then after we got to the ship we were locked out of almost everything reservatin-wise.

I got the last Palo reservation. High Tea and Brunch were long gone, I managed to get a dinner reservation. The other adults in our party who were two minutes behind me got nothing.

Spa reservations, tea with Wendy reservations etc. all gone.


Go DCL transportation only if you aren't interested in anything that requires a reservation.


It really put a damper on our trip and it is something I will never do again.

Use alternate transportation and get their earlier, more time to enjoy the ship, more chances at getting reservations.

 

[webray]

If you don't need ressies..you are fine with the dcl busses. You won't miss anything.

 

[Jeanny]

Originally posted by Rence
I vote a huge NO on DCL transportation from the resorts to the ship. It was the worst part of our vacation.

The bus was awful. Half the monitors didn't work. So we had five bored little girls complaining that they couldn't watch the TVs. Ceiling panels were hanging down, seats were broken. It was so un-Disney.

I know each person is different....I think the DCL busses are actually Mears, (run and owned by Mears), just thave the DCL logo on them. But I could be wrong....I would not use Mears Transportation for just going to WDW because of all the horror stories I'd heard (and also actually experienced) about Mears.... but for going from the Airport to the Terminal they were fine for us as it was going from point A to point B.

But back to the original question, how many people do you have in your party? We paid $49 per person for RT from MCO to PC... a towncar may be worth the price, it's certainly worth the convenience, but yes, you'll have to have your luggage with you and will have to have SkyCap take it for you and go through Security. We stayed at the Hyatt the night before, put our luggage out at 8:30 a.m, we were on the bus by 10:00 and at the port by 11ish. Our luggage arrived at our Cabin around 3pm

I didn't mind taking the bus this time, loved watching the video's (ours did work) and as a poster said above, seeing the Magic for the first time as we came over that hill was a sight I will always remember...

 

[EmmasGrammy]

There are only 3 in our party. (DH, Self and 3 yr old DGD).

Our need for a town car would only be from our resort (CBR) to the port following our land portion of our land/sea package. We have already paid for the transfers with the package price, but if we would be better off taking the town car, over waiting for the cruise line bus, I am willing to pay the extra$$$.

 

[Belle's Castle]

We are doing the land and sea package...can someone please tell me what time does the DCL bus pick up people from animal kingdom lodge???

 

[VintageKnight]

we had a party of 6, tiffany towncar was 280 for the land sea for all ways and disney was like 430.....

this was all 3 legs mc o to por, por to wonder, wonder to mco....and 49 of the 280 is because were gonna have 2 cars going to the resort....( parents are coming in on diff flight).

for us cost is the important thing, i'll ride in the van.


DisneyVK

 

[RKB]

We did the land and sea in July 2002. We took the DCL bus (did not care about reservations - in fact back then didn't even know about them!). We liked the fact that we were able to visit a Disney Park (Animal Kingdom) and go on rides until it was time to leave. We left straight from the Park. We got to the port in plenty of time and had lunch. Didn't feel like we were missing anything. We thought the buses were fine. For those who want to know what time the buses leave just call the resort and ask for the DCL desk. On our last trip we went on the bus from the Swan, but stayed at Pop Century. We had no problem finding out what time to be there, etc...

 

[EmmasGrammy]

RKB


Did you catch a cruise line bus from the Animal Kingdom Park? And you stayed @ Pop Cent. but caught the cruise bus from the Swan? What about your luggage??

I am soooo confused!!

 

[yvettpal]

We did the land/sea in March 2003 and did the AK pick up. We were given a phone number to call when we checked in for the cruise at the hotel to let them know if we wanted to be picked up at the hotel or AK. They also gave us a list of the hotel pick-up times. The AK pick-up was at 12:45.

Our luggage was picked-up from our hotel room at 8 am and delivered to the port. It was outside our cabin door when we arrived. We took our carry-ons with us and they have a place to store them at AK.

If you want to leave from another hotel, you could just probably let them know, so they will know how many busses are needed at each location.

Also, you can cancel a segment of your Disney transfers and they will refund your money for that portion. We only had transfers from resort to port. We used a towncar for the airport to resort and rented a car for the port to airport.

I hope this helps.

 

[EmmasGrammy]

yvettpal,

I Love You!!! You are my new best friend!!! Finally I have answers that make sense to me. ( I tend to be a wee bit dense at times!)

Now I know I will not be using the town car, and Dh will be happy to save the $$$. More $$$ for Konk Koolers!!

Just for clarification... You were able to visit AK on the morning before the cruise and you didn't have to worry about your luggage (just carry-ons) right? Now, what time did you make it to the ship? And lastly was lunch still being served on the ship or did you eat at AK before you got on the bus?

I'm almost total clear on this now!!! (OK maybe I'm alot denser than I thought!!) LOL Thanks again for your answers and your patience!!!

 

[EmmasGrammy]

yvettpal,

I Love You!!! You are my new best friend!!! Finally I have answers that make sense to me. ( I tend to be a wee bit dense at times!)

Now I know I will not be using the town car, and Dh will be happy to save the $$$. More $$$ for Konk Koolers!!

Just for clarification... You were able to visit AK on the morning before the cruise and you didn't have to worry about your luggage (just carry-ons) right? Now, what time did you make it to the ship? And lastly was lunch still being served on the ship or did you eat at AK before you got on the bus?

I'm almost totally clear on this now!!! (OK maybe I'm alot denser than I thought!!) LOL Thanks again for your answers and your patience!!!

 

[yvettpal]

Glad I could help

Yes, If you choose to go to AK in the morning, you don't have to worry about your checked luggage, just the carry-ons. They will store your carry-ons at AK so you don't have to carry them around the park. You pick them up before you board the bus.

We boarded the ship around 2:30 and they were still serving lunch. We were on the next to last bus leaving AK and it didn't leave until around 1:00. The busses leave as they are filled, so if we had gotten there earlier we would have been on one of the earlier busses.

 

[EmmasGrammy]

yvettpal,

Thanks again. I am now no longer confused (at least about his topic!!!) I really appreciate you patience!!!

 

[jlp651]

We did this in Feb...I had DCL transfers set up and then books a limo(I wont give the name b/c I wouldnt use them again)...I asked the DCL desk at the poly if this was going to be a problem they said no just get the limo. You can even leave your luggage for the DCL guys to pick up in your room...they pick up at I think 0830.
So, we had no worries...if the limo service didnt show we had a back up plan (they did but that isnt why I wouldnt use them) I got to surprise BF and didnt have to worry about out luggage b/c we were there when the picked it up and saw it off...it worked out well..
For the price of transfers it wasnt a big deal to pay the few bucks more...just my $0.02