transfers

[Misty89]

this in in adddition to my post below

looking at transfers ( we will not rent a car) if we booked our own flight ( insyead of booking it all through disney) that Florida tours line...is that a good service?
what would be best for us ?
we have Myself, DH, and 2 dd's ages 13 and 5 when we go.
we would need to get from, the airport to the resort. then on cruise day, from resort to ship, then from ship to airport to come home.
do alot of people do this> i am wondering how we plan the times. flights.. wondering if we will sit at the airport for a long time....etc or IF we wnet with disney would they have everything timed out perfectly for us to smoothly ( and not wait forever) from arrival to departure times?

thanks i hope this this is maing sense

 

[mmouse37]

If you take air thru Disney you certainly are NOT guaranteed convenient times to and from. You can be on a connecting flight, or a direct flight and it also could get you there pretty late on cruise day....but, on the other hand, it would be DCL's responsibility to get to the ship if the flight was delayed.

Now, the pros of booking air yourself are you can pick the time you want to fly (I would most definately suggest flying in the day before your cruise to avoid possible flight delays and delay to the ship), very often a much cheaper price, you can book a direct flight if you want it.

Some flight guidelines are when flying to florida get there a day early, if you must fly the day you cruise, make sure you get on the earliest flight out in the morning to give you some cushion if the flight is delayed. On the day you get off the ship, DCL recommends booking flights after 12:00 noon, but some have said they had them booked earlier with no problem. Don't forget...something could always hold the ship up from getting back to port (such as medical emergency) or traffic tie up on the Beeline in preventing you getting to the airport for your flight.

We always rent a car so I cannot offer any help with car services, but I am sure someone else can.

I just reread your post and realized you are going to WDW first....then you not necessarily have to fly in the day before but I would still suggest getting an early flight so you have time at the park that first day.

MJ

 

[Jestocost]

mmouse37 had some great advice, IMHO. The only conceivable benefit I can imagine from booking air travel through DCL is that you'd have a chance of catching up with the cruise at no additional cost if you missed the departure for some reason. Otherwise, I've always received high-priced quotes for inconvenient travel times and flights that involved switching planes.

I'd recommend that you look into a town car instead of the DCL transfers. It likely will be cheaper for a group of four and you'll have a more efficient and comfortable experience. I've read that pick-up times for people going from a resort to the cruise can be later in the morning, meaning that you could have a harder time booking ressies for Palo, etc. You will have to do more with your own luggage on both ends of the cruise if you don't use DCL transfers, but we didn't have much trouble with that.

If your resort stay comes before your cruise, the issue of coming in the night before doesn't come into play unless you want to guarantee a full day at the parks. Coming off of the cruise, people have said that they can make flights as early as 11:30 a.m. or noon, but that it is a hair-raising event at best. I'd personally avoid booking a return flight before 1:00 p.m. or 2:00 p.m.