Instacart VS Garden Grocer for a late night delivery (with alcohol)

[Anal Annie]

Would it be less expensive to just order delivery directly from a Publix or Winn Dixie near Disney that uses instacart?? Just wondering

Instacart is probably the cheapest option available...our problem tho is that we don't even LAND at MCO until 10:20 (assuming on time). It's just a 4 n trip for us so we'll want to get up & out early the next morning so I was hoping to have breakfast items waiting on us when we arrive....and of course wanting the beer is complicating the issue as we need a delivery service that will leave it without us being there yet since we arrive past all the last delivery times. Maybe I should just suck it up and check a bag with the beer in it the way we usually do. I was just hoping to skip the baggage claim all together since it's a short trip and we arrive so late. I guess this will be the last time I book an evening flight. We were just trying to work all day and not have to take the extra day off...It's always sumthin' ain't it?

 

[smjj]

The site clearly says they charge an extra $10 to add alcohol. And we also need a $50 minimum grocery order to add the alcohol... without up front pricing I won't even know if we're even eligible to add the alcohol without submitting this pretebd order (we're only ordering breakfast items and beer).

As I mentioned you submit a order and they price it out for you(each item) within a day or so. They do not shop or commit you to anything until you approve this draft of your order! I think most or all have a minimum order requirement before delivering to you. We started using Dizzy Dolphin when we had quality issues with one mentioned here. A Bell Services cast member recommended Dizzy Dolphin to us and they got high marks from others. There are certainly many to choose from but we have had nothing but great service from them. Maybe Dizzy Dolphin is not for you and one of the others might be best, good luck.

 

[js]

As I mentioned you submit a order and they price it out for you(each item) within a day or so. They do not shop or commit you to anything until you approve this draft of your order! I think most or all have a minimum order requirement before delivering to you. We started using Dizzy Dolphin when we had quality issues with one mentioned here. A Bell Services cast member recommended Dizzy Dolphin to us and they got high marks from others. There are certainly many to choose from but we have had nothing but great service from them. Maybe Dizzy Dolphin is not for you and one of the others might be best, good luck.

If you are going to check a bag, just use the GG service. You will be paying higher prices but I would do that for a four night trip for convenience.

Let us know what you decide.

 

[Anal Annie]

OKAY so I submitted an order to Dizzy Dolphin for pricing on Saturday just so I could compare them to GG and I still haven't received anything back from them (it's now Tues). So I don't even know if I submitted enough to qualify for their service. Maybe not. Maybe that's why they're not responding? Either way...not a big fan of the delayed response (or lack of response) so far.

 

[kmorlock]

Thanks all.

I started to look into the Dizzy Dolphin thing but I didn't like that they apparently don't have a website populated with available items OR any pricing. It looked like I had to submit an order just to get a final price.
They also charge an extra $10 fee for alcohol and it's delivered thru another party. Doesn't sound like Dizzy Dolphin is any easier or cheaper in the long run. Looks like we're stuck using Garden Grocer if we want up front prices and to get alcohol delivered without us being there. We often check a bag with beer in it but I'm not going to check luggage on this trip since we arrive so late. One less thing to have to deal with. Thanks again for all the info!

I'm a huge fan of Garden Grocer even though they are a littler pricier. You get a lot of peace of mind and if there is the slightest issue, they will make it right. I used Insta Cart once when it was pretty new on the market. It was a terrible experience so, I don't care to spend a little more to get quality from Garden Grocer.

 

[js]

OKAY so I submitted an order to Dizzy Dolphin for pricing on Saturday just so I could compare them to GG and I still haven't received anything back from them (it's now Tues). So I don't even know if I submitted enough to qualify for their service. Maybe not. Maybe that's why they're not responding? Either way...not a big fan of the delayed response (or lack of response) so far.

I keep trying to use DD but I dont understand the big hype. For a case of water, they wanted to charge me $10.

I use Instacart for alcohol and food but after this thread may just pay for GG (I use to use years ago) and not have to be around for my alcohol.

Good luck!

 

[Anal Annie]

LOL. I'm just a hot mess over this nonsense... Garden Grocer was always pricey but now they want over $17 for a six-pack of beer (any and all beer). Say WHAAAT? I understand a couple of bucks mark-up but they're easily charging $6 or $7 extra per 6-pack.

Sooooo I double checked our departing flight options and I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and change our departure flight time from the 8:05 to 3:50 because I can still get it for the same price that we paid for the 8:05 way back when (the 6:00ish flight is over $100 more pp now so while that one would be ideal I'm not going to spend an additional $300 for the 3 of us). This way we can be in Orlando shortly after 6:00 and hopefully to the resort between 7 & 7:30 so I can just use Instacart for everything and plan to be on site for the delivery. Win-Win except that we'll all have to plan for an extra half day off from work which could be a little dicey for DS and I. But in the end I'll probably be happier.

Thanks all for your thoughts & input!!!

 

[Pens Fan]

We had a bad experience with Garden Grocer last year. I needed to make a change to our order way in advance of our trip (like a couple of months or so). It reduced the cost by around $30. I emailed them and immediately received a response that they had changed the order and would be issuing a refund. Great! Yeah, not so much. That refund took several months to get and that was only after multiple (mostly unanswered) emails and phone calls. For what it's worth I'm convinced they don't have anyone answering the phones. No matter when I called, it just went straight to voicemail. Every time.

I'm done with them. We are wine drinkers so we used them because we also didn't want to have to be present at delivery. Well, their wine pretty much sucks. The options are very limited and not very good. I keep looking at Dizzy Dolphin but as previously mentioned I don't like that there isn't a website where I can just see what's available and what the price is. The whole make a list thing and wait to see if it's something they can get and what it cost doesn't really work for me. And yes, I'm aware they have some big fans, and I'm glad it works for you. I just don't think it's for us.

We'll probably use Instacart or Amazon on our next trip and either try to coordinate the delivery or skip the alcohol in that order. On our last trip we bought a couple bottles of wine in Epcot and they were really good and very reasonably priced - much better than what we got from Garden Grocer. But we are kind of picky YMMV.

 

[DVCKev]

I have always used Garden Grocer, paid a lot more for stuff for sure, but never had a problem. Peace of mind can be priceless.

 

[mlayman7]

We use instacart for most of our trips now. Haven't had a bad experience yet. If we only need a few things like for our upcoming cruise in August, we are just going to stop by a store en route to our dvc room, stop is included in transportation cost through Tony Hinds.

 

[js]

We use instacart for most of our trips now. Haven't had a bad experience yet. If we only need a few things like for our upcoming cruise in August, we are just going to stop by a store en route to our dvc room, stop is included in transportation cost through Tony Hinds.

I use Instacart too and about two years ago, my order was canceled (we were three couples that like to eat and drink) while staying in a GV at SSR and another time
my order was canceled out of the blue while staying at BWVs. Both times, the customer service people were very helpful and compensated me for my trouble.
So, I use them even thought I've had problems, they fixed them and made me fell okay about the outcome.

 

[dez1978]

Have you looked at Dizzy Dolphin? We use them and have beer/wine in our order and have no delivery issues with them and they are so easy to work with..

I wonder if they deliver to Universal hotels too

 

[smjj]

I wonder if they deliver to Universal hotels too

I think they deliver anywhere in the Orland area.