Land/sea book separately?

[BLOOBERRY]

I'm about to book our first-ever WDW and DCL vacation, for late Sept./early October. For our WDW portion we'll be vacationing with family (adjoining rooms at AKL), and it'll be longer than 4 days, so I was planning to book them separately. I also got a great rate at AKL ("fall fling" rate).

I'm wondering if anyone else has done this, and how it worked for them. I'm mostly concerned about transfers. I'd love that seamless transition (same room key, etc.) but I have a feeling it won't work.

Thanks!

-- Mary

P.S. -- any other 10/3 cruisers out there?

 

[NCRedding]

I am cruising with my husband and daughter, and with 4 other cabins of family members on 10/3 Wonder. I can't help you with the land/sea--when we did it last year, I booked land/sea through DCL, so we really did have a seamless transfer.

 

[MFan]

We did that on our 1st DCL vacation. Like you, we wanted to spend extra time on the land portion. So, we booked the cruise and land separately. If I recalled correctly, it costed about the same as a 3/4 (land/sea) package, yet we got an extra night at BCR + a rental car for the duration.

As it turned out, we're glad we didn't go with the standard land/sea package. We really enjoyed the extra day on land, and the car was invaluable. We had other friends with us on that trip who were on the standard package. We were able to do so many more things. Except for the 1st day, when we were still trying to get the roads mapped into our head, it was much quicker to get from place to place not having to wait for the shuttle bus. We were also able to stop anywhere for food, groceries, supplies, etc.

As for the transfer, I don't think it would've made much difference to us. The drive to port from WDW was easy going. Yes, we had to transfer our own luggages from BCR to car and then check them in at the port, but as a trade-off, we were able to stop by an outlet mall to do some shopping and a grocery store to pick up some snacks & drinks to take onto the ship.

All in all, I would never go with a complete land/sea package...

Just my $0.02.

 

[AliPom]

I have stayed on land only via Disney all inclusive and felt that I did not see any benefit versus booking things separately. I prefer to buy the park hopper plus pass and if I have days left on the passes, I either use them as gifts for family/friends traveling to WDW, or I sell them and get $ back in my pocket (I keep track of the days unused on the ticket for the Parks and the Options). We are saving by purchasing the park hopper plus pass this trip in lieu of a land package. You have to work the numbers out and see which is most cost-saving. On a prior cruise I booked land and sea separately; did the same for this trip. This trip we opted for the All Star Sports and saved enough $ to stay at WDW an extra day, plus $ to spend.

Also, in terms of Disney transfers: add the cost of them up and compare that to towncar service or car rental cost. I have used airport curbside towncar, Tiffany Towncar Service (w/grocery stop) and rentals (if you stay on WDW property, parking at the theme parks is free) which have all worked out well. I do not like waiting for the WDW Bus System, it can be crowded and time-consuming. I’ve left parks via taxi (when exiting after evening shows) rather than wait in a long line for the bus. Plus, I would rather arrive at the Cruise terminal early, before the Disney buses pull in; the ship is so relaxing and enjoyable after long days at the parks and the pools are open for use. (When I have a rental, I take a drive over to “Celebration”; the planned community that Disney developed to stroll their Main Street and even tour an open house or two.)

 

[mmouse37]

If you do decide to book separately, there is no big deal in checking in at the port and getting a new "KTTW" card. You can still buy Disney transfers and they will handle your luggage from WDW to the ship and then from the ship to the airport.

MJ

 

[disykat]

I booked my trip last year seperately. I figure for the same price as the 7 day land/sea we had 10 days including all expenses. I did LOTS of figuring and weighing options. We stayed at SOG so had a good hotel on property for a reasonable price. We took Disney transportation to the cruise. We just went over to the Grand Floridian (we were going to get on the monorail at the ticket transportation center, but our SOG bus driver just took us straight over when he heard that) to catch the bus. Our bus got there early and there were no lines to get checked in or get on board.

I would never book it together unless my time and energy were just too short to spend the time doing the research.

 

[NCRedding]

When I booked the land/sea last year, it was cheaper to book than booking the cruise and rooms separately. I wanted to stay at the Poly, and for the price quoted for just the cruise, I would have had to get the room at the Poly for less than $100 per night in order to save money over the land/cruise. I've seen some good rates at the Poly, but the least I have ever been quoted was $179. So for my purposes and time frame, the land/sea was actually a sound decision--It wasn't that I was too lazy to do the research.

 

[WDVeteran_15]

I had booked the land and sea together last year and in retrospect, wouldn't do it again. We wanted a Cat 6 on the ship since we wanted a veranda. But this also meant we had to have a hotel room at the Boardwalk. DCL evidently matches the hotel level with the Category level and won't let you change. While the Boardwalk is nice, it's not that nice in my opinion. We would have been just as satisfied with Port Orleans Riverside.

As one poster indicated the travel can be booked through DCL in any case as long as it's one of the hotels being used by DCL. For example, we stayed at Old Key West, which isn't used by DCL and couldn't be used for DCL land travel. If we had been staying at the BWV then it wouldn't have been issue since the hotel portion of Boardwalk is used by DCL. We used Tiffany Town Cars on the June 8th cruise and it actually worked quite well.

 

[tksbaskets]

Hi, we booked our Land/Sea directly with disney cruise and had no trouble adding an extra day onto the land portion. I just didn't want to hastle with any transfer from the park to the cruise. We are planning on going to AK the morning our cruise departs and taking the DCL bus from there

Happy Cruising!

 

[dbcruise]

BLOOBERRY
WHAT IS THE RATE YOU GOT FOR AKL for ? I am going in OCt . THanks

 

[BLOOBERRY]

I got the "Fall Fling" rate, code CQT. I think it's $164 a night. The CRO (?) agent said it's the lowest rate she's seen (I kept trying out different codes, memberships, etc.). She said I wouldn't be able to get that rate (or at least, that code) with WDW Travel. I may have misunderstood her, though. Check out Mousesavers.com -- that's where I got the code.