WDW and DCL package

[Tink1987]

Hi all,

We are thinking of booking a WDW stay for 11 nights and 3 nights on the Dream for end of Sept/beginning of Oct 2014.

Has anybody used a UK/US agent for anything similar? We are interested in doing a split stay for 5 nights at WDW, then the 3 nights on the Dream and then the final 6 nights back at WDW in a different resort.

Or am I better off just booking everything separately?

Thank you

 

[Jakejosh4]

hi we booked our cruise with dreams unlimited which is a us based company which also offer on board credit, we then booked everything else separately as it was much cheaper but they can book wdw as well we are using them again for our next cruise hope this helps. if your interested Pm me and i will give you our contact at dreams

 

[Spencerfamily]

Hi,
we booked our split stay 4 day dcl cruise and 6 nights at POFQ for this december through Virgin. We had to book it through Virgin Cruises rather than Virgin holidays. We booked a year out and chose to book the package as we are travelling over Christmas and, as a teacher, I am very restricted for flights and I wanted to be sure to get on one and flights weren't on sale at the time! For us, travelling at that time of year, the price was very competitive (very expensive but very competitive and hey, we will be in the bahamas on Christmas day!) and I couldn't get it cheaper by booking elements separately either then or looking since.

However, if it had not been peak season, and having spent hours on here since, I would probably opt to book it all separately. The benefits of having a TA (esp a US one) for the cruise element is the on-board credit they offer. We got nothing from Virgin, although they did offer it as an incentive for all other dates than Christmas.

I have also found it very restrictive having to go through Virgin for any correspondence or ammendments I need to make, a) they try to charge you for any changes, far more than Disney do. b) they really don't have any knowledge of DCL and how it works beyond what is on their screen so I think a US specialist for DCL would know a lot more (as do people on here!). I have ended up telling Virgin many things that I think they should have told ME about eg wait listing for dinner sittings etc
I also was limited to the cabins I could choose (as in specific cabins) as Virgin had obviously only block booked certain ones and I had the same trouble not being able to get our first preference for room type at POFQ, even though the Disney site still had them as available.

I don't know if that helps at all! I would definitely price it up both ways. I don't think a TA in the UK gives you anything extra other than simply doing the bookings for you, which I'm sure you can do whereas I have heard that US TAs seem to go above and beyone a lot more!

 

[Elise79]

I would book yourself

Just to note by splitting your WDW stay to qualify for free dining you will need to buy 2 lots of tickets

The other option would be to look for a room only deal through Disney US but they are released much closer to travel.

 

[Jacqui8374]

I book my own I would not buy a package. Also have you considered a four not a three night cruise I have never done 3 night usually do four but actually since the fantasy came on board do the 7. Three nights is no time at all you need to remember with cruises that three nights unlike a hotel stay really is three days, whilst you can get to the ship and on board at around midday on day one the ship doesn't leave till five and then is back in port Canaveral at 5.30 a.m. on day four and you have to be off the ship but nine a.m. so its really two and a half days. Same for all sailings. Its a cruise thing as we all know any hotel stay in orlando with a virgin flight means you get the extra day

Jacqui

 

[Chilly]

You get much better T&Cs for the cruise booking through a USA TA. Plus they know more about DCL and will help you far more than a UK TA.

 

[Laurafoster]

I always book through a US travel agent, usually same price but they normally offer onboard credit.

The T&Cs are much better than the UK. I recently had to cancel a cruise we had booked. I had a full refund back on my card within a few days.

 

[Tink1987]

Thanks all. I think we will just book everything ourselves then. I only wanted to book with a TA for everything if anybody could really say they had great experience with one agent. I would rather book everything myself and be in complete control.

 

[mackay_j]

There is a site that you fill in the details of the cruise you want to go on and they send the info out to US agents who will come back with their best offer- price/ OBC free upscale meals ect- I am looking for the name and will post back when I find it

The only thing I will point out as I don't think anyone else has is that if you book it all through virgin cruises you will get the free disney dining plan for the pre and post disney stay if you go DIY you will only get it for your first half on the stay as no split stays are allowed on the package- we looked into this for next year.

Another useful resource for cruising is cruisecritc forums.

 

[mackay_j]

site is called cruise complete

 

[Mr Stoat]

DVC members can use their points to book cruises, we did it twice and they are quite an effective way of doing it. I do not know if you can book DCL by renting DVC points but that might be worth checking out.