Land/Sea package v. book separately

[DLW8]

I know this has been debated on the boards and I wanted to give you my real life example.

I was very excited for the Disney Visa free dining that just came out, but it ends up that the package we booked last year is still a better deal even with the free dining! Now, this could be that the cruise has gone up a bit since we originally booked, but since we wanted the time to save the money, we were not going to wait anyway.

Here are the details:

We booked our land/sea vacation in June 2008 and are going in December 2009.

4 days on land at the Poly
3 day cruise in Cat 6 with verandah
the land/sea package includes 5 day hopper passes
we added the dining plan
2 adults and 2 children
no insurance (bought it on my own)
no transfers (we found a van for cheaper for our party)
no airfare (they charge too much and I got better rates)
$4239 including all the taxes and whatnot

If we booked it separately with FREE dining, it would be:
4 days at the Poly = 2673.52 (this is with a 4 day hopper, not 5)
3 day cruise Cat 6 = 2125.92

Total: $4799.44 which is $560 more than what we paid with the package.

Now, many people post that they find better savings in booking land separate from sea, but obviously we got a better deal, even with free dining by booking the package. If you are considering doing the cruise and parks, make sure you price it out the 2 different ways to find the best rates for you.

 

[sunshine1259]

I agree with you. Everytime that I have tried to book them separately, I come out less expensive doing them together. But, I guess it depends on the category of resort and stateroom you want and how far in advance you book.

 

[DsnyQueen]

For the same type room at Disney World, I think that the land/sea is often a good choice. For us, though, we would rather stay in the value resorts & take advantage of a discount which tends to work in our favor. It's important to run the numbers, that's for sure!

 

[mmouse37]

A good reason to price everything out both ways. You never know unless you price YOUR stay at WDW and cruise. Depending on many variables is can be cheaper either way. It can be worth the effort to compare!

Thanks for posting your experiences.

MJ

 

[Jasminerk13]

our l & s was cheaper as a package too! priced separately it was almost $1k more!

 

[DLW8]

For the same type room at Disney World, I think that the land/sea is often a good choice. For us, though, we would rather stay in the value resorts & take advantage of a discount which tends to work in our favor. It's important to run the numbers, that's for sure!

I agree that if you don't want to have the matching room category on land with sea room category, that separate will be your better deal (plus the fact that your ship room category determines which level on land you can choose).

For us, we wanted the Poly, always been my dream to stay there and with only a short trip to the World, being on the monorail will make it easier to get around. And I can't wait for my verandah for mornings or a glass of wine while the rest of the crew is getting ready for dinner. I know many say it's not worth it for a short cruise, but we decided to make this trip the way we REALLY wanted it and not 'settle' for something else.

The 3 day is our trial cruise as non of us have cruised before, but if all goes well, I plan on re-booking onboard for a 7 day...

 

[tea for girls]

We did the 4 day land/ 3 day cruise last year as we were also nervous about having never cruised before. If it tells you how much we enjoyed the cruise we are now booked on the 14 day TransAtlantic next year. My children both said that they would give up WDW if it meant that we would get to cruise again. Enjoy your trip.