Land/Sea - Which is better to do first?

[Lisa345]

Planning a land/sea for Feb 2006. Really wanted to do a 4 day cruise, but then would have to do the cruise first. I have heard that it is better, less exhausting, to do land part first. Any experiences? Either way I can't lose, but really wanted to squeeze in the extra cruise day.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Hollua]

I would want to do the land part first to ensure I'm in the area and won't have any airline woes that cause me to miss the ship, or cause me to stress about missing the ship.

Also cruising is relaxing, WDW is not. I would much prefer to have that relaxation time after WDW touring.

 

[allears]

Our first was land and sea, 3 days on land (actually we added a day on the front of that ourselves) 4 days at sea. I would recommend this, cause you can run yourself as much as you want in the parks, then board the ship and really relax. You feel much more rested at the end. However, others like to do it the other way around and keep the "wonder" alive by heading to WDW afterward.

 

[mmouse37]

If you book the official package with Disney the LAND portion IS ALWAYS FIRST. You do not get a choice to have the land portion before or after the cruise.

This is to ensure that if your flight is late, you will not miss the cruise.

I suggest pricing out the land and cruise portions separately and seeing which way is more cost effective. If you book them separately you have the flexibility of picking which resort you want (on the L/S pkg your hotel is based on what cabin category you have), if you want to do WDW before or after the cruise, how many days you want at WDW, etc.

Check out www.mousesavers.com for some great codes that can applied to resort reservations at WDW.

If you do go with the L/S "package" thru Disney just know that park tickets are included, but food is not.

 

[jacobatt1]

Hi--we just took a land/sea in October and loved it! But, I actually am thinking of it differently now, so I'll give you some things to think about . . . . .

We did the land first for many of the reasons most people are giving--you run around at the parks, and then you get the relaxing part last. Well, we ran around SO much at the parks, we felt like sleeping through our whole cruise!!! My DD5 fell asleep at dinner every night (we had late seating) and my DS9 was not that far behind. When Sunday came, it seemed very unmonumental to get in our car at 8:00 in the morning and drive home. Now, don't get me wrong, we had a wonderful time and loved both parts of the trip!

The packing was a bit hard as well, b/c the cruise has a lot more things that you have to pack, dressier clothes, etc., and things you can't just run down to the store and buy. So the morning we were leaving for the cruise, it was hard to pull it together to make sure we had everything we needed to take with us (we drove so we could leave some of our luggage.)

So. . . . . on our cruise next May, we are going to WDW AFTER the cruise. I think of it like going to the beach--at first you just want to get there, sit on the beach and do nothing, and then after a couple days, you might be ready to tool around town or do some activities. It gives us something to look forward to at the end of the trip, makes packing easier for me (t-shirts and shorts at WDW), and lets me relax right off the bat and enjoy the vacation.

Just a thought---HTH!

Amy

 

[RichNKatHolly]

Planning a land/sea for Feb 2006. Really wanted to do a 4 day cruise, but then would have to do the cruise first. I have heard that it is better, less exhausting, to do land part first. Any experiences? Either way I can't lose, but really wanted to squeeze in the extra cruise day.
Thanks for the help.

Just my opinion, but I did not enjoy the last day aboard the 4night cruise. I found it quite boring and I felt a bit trapped. I had cruised before and had sea days, but there are SOOO many kids on Dis Cruises that we couldn't really enjoy the pool and they got a bit antsy too. I know I'm gonna get some flack here but that is just my opinion.

This time we are doing the official land/sea booked through a TA and the cruise is the 3night. So each day there is a stop. I also will not rush to be one of the first on the ship. Tooling around with my "day bag" really stunk - I just ended up sitting on the floor in the elevator lobby of our floor until 2pm when they opened the rooms. Otherwise, we totally LOVED it - food was great, etc and we're going back in 8 short months!

Also, I searched every which way to Tuesday to see if booking separately vs. the land/sea package was cheaper, and I could NOT beat the price my TA got for the package deal. I only wish we could add the dining plan for the land part but it's not available with the land/sea Oh well, we did save about $120 off the lowest price I was able to obtain (and trust me, if there was a cheaper way, I would've found it). My TA said that the room portion of the land/sea is so heavily discounted that it is hard to beat even with a code.

JMO and I hope it helps somewhat!

 

[keishashadow]

Glad to hear someone else say it's hard to beat the Land/Sea Package price. Even using room discounts wouldn't give me a lower total (including room & tickets). I priced out cruises for Jan - March, 2006, in categories ranging from 11 to 7, and hotels from AS to Contemporary. Finally, I gave up and booked through DCL. I am holding out on booking my own trip insurance.

 

[East Coaster]

I actually priced it both ways before we booked and I think we got a great deal by booking the package. It's the only way I could afford to stay at the Poly! Of course we booked a year in advance to take advantage of savings.

 

[roscodog]

We did the 3-land/4-sea in January. Felt three days at land was not enough so we arrived a day early before the package started. The cruise felt relaxing after all the rushing around at the parks. We did not feel that we had to spend alot of time with characters at the parks since they were on the cruise with easier access.

I know that many spend time on land after the cruise but for me, I think that the set up is perfect if your can only afford 7 or 8 days vacation.

 

[RichNKatHolly]

Glad to hear someone else say it's hard to beat the Land/Sea Package price. Even using room discounts wouldn't give me a lower total (including room & tickets). I priced out cruises for Jan - March, 2006, in categories ranging from 11 to 7, and hotels from AS to Contemporary. Finally, I gave up and booked through DCL. I am holding out on booking my own trip insurance.

Oh good. I was worried now that maybe I could've done better!

Also, when I was comparing I was only doing park hoppers without the "extras". Now, for less we have the extras should we decide to use them. I believe my TA said it used to be less to book separately but Disney has since turned that around to get more people the ease of the package.