Land-Sea Transportation

[ncherry]

Evening.
I have read some of the threads about the above topic. We are booked on the three nights at the polynesian and the four day cruise. We are flying in from Canada. Do we put the tags on teh bags before we leave home...and they nagically appear in our room at the polynesian? Do we get a disney bus or mears shuttle to the resort....and then to get to the Wonder...what do we do with our bags? Finally, when the cruise is over...do we claim them from the dock?

Thanks very much

Bruce

 

[DoomBuggieDriver]

Hi Nancy
When you get your documents it's all spelled out for you, so don't worry too much about these details too soon

I can't answer any but the last part for you, as we had a rental car going to the port. But here's what I do know about leaving:

First, remove all the airline tags and the yellow "Magic" tags from bags you want the Disney staff to move for you.
The cruise line staff will deliver new tags to your stateroom the night before you need them, with instructions. You attach the tags, adding your name, address and stateroom number on the appropriate lines. You also add a count: ex: if you have three bags, you'll write "1 of 3" on the first tag; "2 of 3" on the second tag; and "3 of 3" on the third. This helps them keep all your bags together. If you mess up or need more tags, they have them on a table at guest services.

These tags are color coded to your stateroom. This matches the area where you pick up your luggage when leaving. They also arrange each area in numerical order according to stateroom. It was unbelievably easy to find our bags the next day.

Put out the bags anytime after 9pm and before midnight, and you are done. They encourage you to take carry-ons you with you to breakfast in the morning, and proceed off the ship when they announce it's ok to start debarking. They need the time to clean the rooms etc., so even though we could have had a continental breakfast in the room (Category 3) we decided to get out and let them have more time to do their work.

If you are on a major carrier such as Delta, American, Continental etc., you can get rid of your bags at their stations right at the port after leaving the ship. These carriers have trucks to Orlando International. The Disney reps will give you a list of carriers who offer this. We were on JetBlue, so we brought the bags with us on the bus.

The Disney reps are outside to direct you to the proper bus, and you are right there to make sure your bags are on the same bus as you.

The bus drops you at your terminal. As we had time to kill, we got a porter to take the bags to the Hyatt where we had a day room. It was all very easy.

Hope this helps. Any questions just let me know!
Kathy

 

[EmmasGrammy]

ncherry,

If you bought your land/sea package thru DCL or thru AAA and the package includes transfers, you place the luggage tags that you recieve inside the documents booklet onto your luggage before you leave home. And you check your bags at your airport.

When you arrive at MCO (orlando airport) you look for a DCL rep at the airport. Do not go to baggage claim. It will be transfered to your resort. The DCL rep will walk with you through the airport directly to the DCL buses. You will enter a que line according to the resort you will be staying in. The DCL buses run up until 5:00 p.m. then a Mears bus will provide transportation. (By the way, DCL buses are operated by Mears.)

The DCL buses are very comfortable and they show a video explaining all you will need to do once you get to the resort. They will give you an envelope and explain which pages from your docs you will need to place into the envelope to give to the DCL reps at the resort.

The bus will drop you off at the lobby of your resort and you will proceed to the DCL Cruise desk were a rep will review your "stuff" in the envelope, check your ID and birth certifictes, etc. then they will instruct you where to be on the morning you are to head to the port. You are given 2 options, to be picked up at the resort or you can spend the morning at the Animal Kingdom park and the DCL buses will pick you up there at 12:30 p.m. ( We took this option and enjoyed the morning at the park.)

You will then get checked in to the resort. If your room is not yet ready, they will hold your luggage for you and you can head to a park to begin your vacation. Believe me your luggage will be waiting for you when you come back to your room. They will even give you a phone # and you can call from the park to see if your room is ready.

Also at the DCL desk you will be instructed to have any luggage you would like them to transfer to the ship ready and inside your resort room by 8:00 a.m.on the morning of departure. If you opt to go to the Animal Kingdom just take your "day bags" with you to the parks. Just before you go thru the turnstiles, go to the left and there are DCL reps there who will give you further instructions. You can leave your day bags there and they will hold them for you until it is time to load the bus to the port. You are given "priority seating" at one of the shows at the park and you will be told to show up at the same place just outside of the turnstiles by 12:15 p.m. You will pick up any day bags you checked with them then.

They will walk you to the DCL bus pick up and you should arrive at the port around 1:30 a.m. Once at the port you will not be required to check in. Your check in at the resort was the only check in necessary. The Key To The World card you are given at the resort will be your room key at the resort, ticket to enter the parks, and the key to your ship cabin (plus the ID you will need while on board for your charging priviledges). You can have your picture taken in the terminal with one of the Disney characters plus they take an embarkation picture and you are then announced onto the ship.

Your daybags can be dropped in the rooms. The luggage usually shows up around 3 or 4 o'clock. You are sent off for a lovely lunch buffet and your cruise vacation begins!!

After the cruise, on the night before you disembark, you are given tags for your luggage. You must leave it outside your stateroom by 11:00 p.m. that evening where they pick it up and take it to the luggage storage. In the morning, after a very early breakfast, once customs clears the ship, you go and pick up your luggage (it's so easy because not only are they sorted by the color of your luggage tags, but also by room #. It took us less than 15 min. from the time we left breakfast until we were seated on the bus to go back to the airport!!) and you walk thru the customs line. Several of the airlines have check in right at the port and they will take your luggage and issue you your airline boarding passes, you board the DCL buses and it's off to the airport (Boo Hoo!!) They show cartoons and a farewell message on the trip to the airport.

We just got back last Thurs from our land/sea vacation! It was fabulous!!! If you have any other questions please ask. I'd be happy to help you out!!

P.S. I just proof read this and WOW I apologize for it being so long! Perhaps TOO MUCH information. SORRY!!

 

[heathrow42]

Thank you EmmasGrammy for the excellent description. This is exactly what I was looking for. We are just starting to think about our first cruise... and this is exactly what we needed so we could understand the 'getting you and your stuff to the boat' process!

--Heather

 

[T1130]

I am also doing the land/sea with transfers from dcl. So your saying once I get to the terminal I can just get on the line to board the ship.

 

[huckster]

emmasgrammy . thanks that is the best... easy to read... easy to follow directions for land sea i have ever seen ..you need to post with best tips!!!THANKYOU!!!!!!!!!!

 

[EmmasGrammy]

Thanks for the nice comments!

T1130, once you are checked in at the resort you do not need to check in at the terminal you can go directly to the line to board the ship. We took the DCL bus from the Animal Kingdom Park so we didn't get to the port until 1:45 p.m. and there was no line at all at the terminal. But don't rush thru the terminal. The characters are there for photo ops, and the model of the ship is really cool!! If you have your heart set on the rush to get ressies for Palo or the spa, you may not want to use DCL transfers because you get to the port too late. If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

Huckster, I don't know how to post on the tips board. If you are able, please feel free to copy and post my thread. Thank you.

Lynda