Land/Sea Package Questions

[AlexandNessa]

Hi there. We are considering a Land/Sea Package for next fall. I assume that you get a standard room as part of the Land Package portion? I tried to play around with booking online, and they didn't seem to offer any upgrade opportunities like paying extra for a water view or concierge, etc, which I found a bit odd. I was only able to look at Cat 4 rooms, and our resort of choice given that category was the Beach Club. You'd think DCL would jump at the chance for people to pay to upgrade their rooms -- did I miss this when trying to book online?

Also, for anyone who has cruised HAL, we have taken several HAL cruises and always book their S-suite which is anywhere from 510 sq to 556 sq ft depending upon the ship we book. I am hesitant to book a CAT 4 room w/DCL thinking that we might be a bit let down with the cabin size, but does it really take a 2-year wait to book a CAT 3? We are the type to spend a fair amount of time in the cabin, so the room is pretty important to us. Don't know that I'd sit out a 2-year wait though for a Cat 3. Any input? Anyone have any luck getting on waitlists?

Thanks!

 

[Lisa345]

Sorry, I can't really speak to the wait for at cat. 3 room.
If you book a land/sea package the resort and your cabin category are linked and there is no way to get around it. You can make a request with your TA or maybe directly with the resort for what type of room you want. I am not sure if they will honor specific room type requests.
Most people who want to get specific about any portion of their trip book the land and sea portions separately. You can sometimes get a better deal this way plus you can be specific about what you want.

 

[spectrum-turbo]

I think that Cat 1,2,3 have to be booked by calling Disney directly or going through a TA. We booked a Late September Land/Sea cat 2 on 1/15 of this year with no problem.

If you have no luck getting a cat 3 stateroom on a package you can try a couple of things:

1. People cancel all the time, in particular at the 90 day mark when the final payments are due. Keep trying, sonething will probably come open.

2. You might try putting your land portion and cruise protion on two different ressies. This will give you more flexiblitity with where you want to stay at the world and what stateroom you really want. The down side you have two different deposits.

 

[AlexandNessa]

Thank you for the info. It is looking more like it would better for us to book our land and sea portions separately.

Spectrum-turbo, can you tell me if DCL offers a concierge lounge for its suite guests? One of the reasons that suites appeal to us on Holland America is that they have a staffed lounge that can provide one-stop shopping for shorex, billing issues, spa appts, dinner arrangements, etc, and I'm wondering if DCL does the same. I haven't been able to find the info. Thanks again!

 

[churchlady]

We are considering a Land/Sea Package for next fall. I assume that you get a standard room as part of the Land Package portion? I tried to play around with booking online, and they didn't seem to offer any upgrade opportunities like paying extra for a water view or concierge, etc, which I found a bit odd. I was only able to look at Cat 4 rooms, and our resort of choice given that category was the Beach Club.

We were in a Cat 4 for our April Land/Sea package. We are a family of 5 with DD's 8,10,12. Plenty of room, especially with the verandah and the split bath. We stayed at the Beach Club and enjoyed the easy access to Epcot. I felt like we had spent too much money on the package to get a standard room, so after research searching these forums, allearsnet, etc. I put in my request at check in. I asked for a full balcony, refrigerator, and a view of Epcot. We got room number 4550 at no additional charge. The last night we enjoyed watching the Epcot fireworks from our balcony as we packed our bags for the cruise!

Just a note, when booking my package I looked at each piece separately as well as together. For the same price separately, we would have had the POR, which is a moderate resort. I felt like the Land/Sea gave us the upgrade for free.

Happy planning!!!

 

[spectrum-turbo]

AlexaandNessa,

I must confess that I have never been on a Disney Cruise before. My answer was based on my experiences in the travel industry and what I have read online (mostly the DISBoards).

I don't know if DCL has a concierge lounge per se for the suites. They do however have concierges available. Here is a quote from the DCL Website:

"...experience our signature concierge service which begins even before you board."

Can anyone else give specifics to the concierge service before the cuise and once on board?

 

[mmouse37]

I cannot speak from experience on the Cat 1, 2 or 3 but I know from reading these boards that those guests in the above categories do get a special meeting with the concierge staff upon boarding to make all their ressies and they get other amenities as well.

They also get to board before the regular passengers but there is not a separate lounge area just for concierege onboard....I believe they meet in one of the clubs onboard.

The way the boarding works is first handicapped, then concierge, then the rest of the passengers.