Is Land/Sea package really worth it?

[dcibrando]

My girlfriend and I just returned from WDW, and now talking about our next trip. Is the land/sea package really worth it? We'd love to do a cruise and thought about maybe combining the two.

Do you save money doing all of this through Disney or is it cheaper going through like Carnival for a 3 night cruise and then onto disney?

 

[crisi]

Its usually cheaper to create your own "package" rather than booking one of Disney's - even if you cruise DCL.

Carnival would probably be cheaper. Disneyphiles will appreciate being on the Disney ships with Mickey theming and Disney style entertainment.

Most people want Disney first, cruise last. The cruise is more relaxing. Personally, I wouldn't combine them and I'd do Disney for a week or the cruise. We never get longer than a week, and four days in WDW isn't long enough, three days on a cruise ship isn't long enough - and I feel a day is "wasted" switching gears. But that is me and you are you.

 

[jaysmom4285]

I haven't done the math on this for a while, but I think that some land/sea cruises are cheaper as a package, depending on which level of resort you stay at. Take the price of a land/sea package , then subtract the price of the equivalent cruise (if you're on a 3 day land/4 day cruise package, find the price of a 4 day cruise at the same cabin level and time of year and subtract that from the land/sea package price). The amount you have left is the essential cost of the land part of your vacation, which would be resort plus admission tickets. Compare that to whatever deal you could get for the resort plus admission if you did it separately. As I recall from our previous land/sea cruises, it would be hard to beat the cost of the land part if you're staying in a deluxe resort. If you're at the moderate resort level, you may be able to do better on your own.

 

[IASW Rider]

I agree with Jaysmom4285, in terms of determining the cost of each option. My DH and I have done the land-sea package through DCL for the past 2 years (we just returned from one, last weekend, in fact!), and we love it so much that we booked next year's land / sea package WHILE WE WERE STILL ON THE WONDER, last weekend! Since we have been to WDW so many times, we feel that the package gives us the best of both worlds - 4 days at WDW and 3 days on the ship. We have never felt as though we were rushed or didn't have enough time to do everything that we wanted to do on land or sea. And we've felt that the package was pretty affordable, given all that is included. I think that you would really enjoy the combination!

 

[3mickeys&me]

We just came back from our land and sea trip!! IMO it was nice to do both. We did the parks first then the cruise for 4 nights. I was great. It was also our first cruise. The room catagory we chose on the ship determined the resorts we could chose from at the parks. We had a catagory 5 (Deck 7) and we stayed at the Poly!! Would do it again in a heartbeat!!

 

[NCRedding]

we got our feet "wet" with cruising doing a land/sea in 2001. I priced both ways--as a land/sea and as a cruise, adding on with days at WDW. For us (off-season, stayed at Poly), it was much cheaper to do the land/sea.

I know that Carnival would be cheaper, but it is a different experience than the DCL ships. It is older and more of a party scene (the High School band went on it this past year, and I know one of the adults who went with the band); DCL is one of the few lines that uses a new ship for shorter cruises.