Help! Want to add Cruise but can't figure out a plan!

[Azza1987]

Hi All,

Happy Tuesday

So my 2015 trip, changed to 2014 about a week ago and now we're think of tying in a cruise!

I've looked on Disneey Cruise for some dates/prices and Ideas and I think Im set on just the 3 night Bahama's cruise on the Disney Dream. Main reason for just a short cruise is because neither of us have 'cruised' before so it'll be a nice taster for us.

But here's where im stuck, we could either go 25th Sept or 2nd Oct (doesn't make a different) but everyone needs to be on board by 15.45! Our flight wouldn't land until really 3pm ish if we took the Virgin flights so theres no way we would make it.

So I thought about flying in the day before, using DME to WDW and booking a one night stay at a WDW hotel (somewhere different to BC) and then taking the port transfers to Port Canaveral, and then the transfers back to WDW for our 7 night BC CL stay.

Or booking one night somewhere around the Port, Cocoa Beach and just hiring a car?

Has anyone cruised before their WDW stay or do you cruise afterwards? I actually haven't looked at doing the cruise after our stay but think that might be our only better options!

So really my query is what do you do when you tie in a cruise to consider flights etc etc!

 

[wayneg]

To me it would be a waste & expensive staying in a Disney hotel and using their transport.
If I was arriving the day before a cruise(never have as we always cruise mid to late holiday) I would get a car from the airport drive to a hotel (my choice would be LBV area) then drive to the port next morning and board as soon as poss.
The car rental would be ridiculously cheap, just checked and first price I saw for a small car would be £25.87 including insurance and a tank of gas, add a hotel at about £30-40 and it would cost about £60 total + about £3-4 tolls.

Look at all cruises available within your dates and see which suites best.

Personally I would never consider a 3 night cruise, the first day is taken up with boarding, unpacking & lifeboat drill etc, you get 2 full days then disembark 8am. 4 day cruises are the minimum for us and we were in your position once, wasn't sure if we would like it, so glad we did 4 nighter as it flew by and we didn't want to leave. Others do enjoy 3 nighters but they are not for us.

 

[Azza1987]

Thanks Wayneg!

Yeah as soon as I wrote one night at WDW I thought that would be daft!

If prefer the idea of hiring a car and getting a cheaper hotel somewhere the night before.

But now I'm thinking of just booking the whole 2 weeks! Doing a few nights by the beach, the cruise then the 7 nights at Beach Club. Is it easy enough to rent a car from MCO and return it elsewhere near the port? We'd use the port transfer to WDW as we don't plan on having a car whilst we're at Disney.

Or maybe just hire a car for the whole time and explore other areas. Oh the decisions. 14 days hire is £224 for an economy car on holiday autos! Wayneg I'm sure you'd find cheaper I just did a quick search

I think we'd just do 3 days, OH isn't keen on cruising on the first place & it really is just a quick test of what we think. My parents want us to go on a 10 night cruise in 2015 for my dad's 60th whale watching so really I need to see how we cope! Although I'm sure it'll be fine mind you the price difference isn't that much between 3 & 4 nights for a Veranda room & I can always jig my dates around further.

 

[wayneg]

Neither myself or Wife were keen on trying a cruise, really couldn't understand how we would enjoy it but we did, now done 6 Disney cruises.

You need to have a think about what you want to do regarding car rental. If you decide to rent just ask and myself or others will help find best price.

So many choices, that's why we all go back time and time again.

 

[Azza1987]

Neither myself or Wife were keen on trying a cruise, really couldn't understand how we would enjoy it but we did, now done 6 Disney cruises. You need to have a think about what you want to do regarding car rental. If you decide to rent just ask and myself or others will help find best price. So many choices, that's why we all go back time and time again.

Almost too many choices!

I've now set up a spreadsheet with all my options & costs.

We definitely know we're looking at end of sept early October, we just don't know what we want to do!

 

[wilma-bride]

We did a cruise in October, flew out the day before and rented a car for just one day. Drove to the port, stayed at Country Inn & Suites overnight, then dropped the car off at Hertz the next morning. The advantage of Country Inn is it is a stones throw from the Hertz rental car return depot, so very easy to return the car and catch their (free) shuttle to the port that morning. We paid £27 for a mid-size SUV, including a tank of gas. We paid a little more for the hotel (just over $100) but this was for a 1-bed suite. For a standard room, it would be less.

That said, this was our fourth cruise. We have always combined it with a stay at WDW but usually do the cruise in the middle/at the end of the holiday. This time, due to cruising with friends, we did the cruise at the beginning and we found this didn't work as well for us. We find the cruise to be a way of relaxing/winding down after busy days in the parks. For us, the cruise just wasn't relaxing at all. Not only that but cruising at the beginning meant we still weren't fully on local time so found it a bit difficult to stay up late but were awake far too early in the mornings. If it is possible, I would urge you to sail towards the middle/end of your trip.

 

[Azza1987]

Thanks for both of your replies! I'm definitely thinking a mid or end stay would now be more preferable and I've done a bit of date swapping & comparisons but I'm still none the wiser!

This trip really is so we can go to F&W festival so I don't want to move my dates about too much as we'll be going into the cooler weather if we push it back. (Weather is a big thing for OH!)

So we both are able to take 2 full weeks off work so I definitely want to utilise the time off.

Currently I have 7 nights booked at BC 02/10-09/10.

My options are -
Stick with the 02/10 - 09/10 and then book the 3 night cruise 9/10-12/10.

Move my dates to 04/10 - 12/10 (increases to 8 nights) don't want to waste a Saturday in the UK! And then book the 12/10 - 16/10 4 night cruise

Or finally book 5 nights 20/09 - 25/09 somewhere either somewhere different in WDW or Florida, go on the 3 night cruise 25/09 - 28/09, then spend 6 nights at BC 28/09 - 04/10!

I've done so many searches I think kayak is about to give up on me, the about seems a bit messy but includes consideration of prices/flights Etc.

I'm looking at my cheapest option being £3580 and my most expensive £4600!

However I'm kind of leaning towards this;

5 nights WL, 3 night concierge cruise, 6 nights BC CL. Which is coming out at £4100 which is £500 more then the cheaper option but it gives 4 extra nights in WDW

I must be mad.

 

[RDP]

Thanks for both of your replies! I'm definitely thinking a mid or end stay would now be more preferable and I've done a bit of date swapping & comparisons but I'm still none the wiser! This trip really is so we can go to F&W festival so I don't want to move my dates about too much as we'll be going into the cooler weather if we push it back. (Weather is a big thing for OH!) So we both are able to take 2 full weeks off work so I definitely want to utilise the time off. Currently I have 7 nights booked at BC 02/10-09/10. My options are - Stick with the 02/10 - 09/10 and then book the 3 night cruise 9/10-12/10. Move my dates to 04/10 - 12/10 (increases to 8 nights) don't want to waste a Saturday in the UK! And then book the 12/10 - 16/10 4 night cruise Or finally book 5 nights 20/09 - 25/09 somewhere either somewhere different in WDW or Florida, go on the 3 night cruise 25/09 - 28/09, then spend 6 nights at BC 28/09 - 04/10! I've done so many searches I think kayak is about to give up on me, the about seems a bit messy but includes consideration of prices/flights Etc. I'm looking at my cheapest option being £3580 and my most expensive £4600! However I'm kind of leaning towards this; 5 nights WL, 3 night concierge cruise, 6 nights BC CL. Which is coming out at £4100 which is £500 more then the cheaper option but it gives 4 extra nights in WDW I must be mad.

Great itinerary! We are doing 4 nights universal, 3 nights Dream CL then the CR for 7 nights this August... Can't wait !

 

[UK mum of 4]

We're also cruising for the first time this summer. We're doing doing 13 nights at AKL then 7 nights on the fantasy, very excited xx

 

[Azza1987]

Great itinerary! We are doing 4 nights universal, 3 nights Dream CL then the CR for 7 nights this August... Can't wait !

That sounds great! I bet you can't wait! I wish ours was sooner then October!

 

[Azza1987]

We're also cruising for the first time this summer. We're doing doing 13 nights at AKL then 7 nights on the fantasy, very excited xx

Wow! 20 nights! I'd love to do that, I'm considering AKL with a savannah view if we did the 5 nights prior to cruising! I think I'd spend all my time animal watching though....! Ha!

 

[Azza1987]

Ok so I've figured out some options but I'm not the wiser!

I'm stuck with

Option 1) 8 nights BC CL, 3 night Bahama Cruise Concierge level on Dis Dream

Option 2) 8 nights BC CL, 4 night Bahama cruise in veranda stateroom deck 9 or 10 on Dis Dream

Option 3) 7 night BC CL, 7 night Carribean cruise itinerary A (stops at Mexico, Cayman, St Maarten & Castaway Cay) in veranda stateroom Deck 7 or 8 on Dis Fantasy!

The difference between all 3 options isn't a huge amount of money (£400) I just don't know what's giving us the 'best' time!

I've never ever cruised before so 7 days might be too much!

Has anyone done concierge level at DCL? I can only see it for the 3 night cruise currently must be sold out on the others for the dates I want.

 

[wayneg]

Option 2 or 3 for me but we are very happy with an inside cabin as long as we are on a Disney cruise.
We would go with option 3 but we know we like the cruising as much as the parks, our first cruise was only 4 nights.

 

[london75]

As cruise converts, we'd definitely go for the longer the better. We started with three nights and have only ever done 7 nights since. We've flown in the night before (to Tampa as well) and stayed in the Hilton at Lake Buena Vista, a little trip round Downtown Disney then off to the cruise in the morning.

We got two one way rentals which worked out just fine, we used Alamo but any would do, just make sure the car is big enough for luggage and you're all set.

Personally, I'd finish on the cruise if it's an option, there is more benefit to your body being on UK time in the theme parks (e.g. better weather and crowds in the morning) than there is on the cruise where mornings are pretty quiet and it's nicer to stay up late.