Land/Sea Package vs. separate pricing

[Zeile27]

Hello all! My husband and I (no kids) are planning a trip to Disney World in November and want to stay on property for 4 nights and then go on the 4 night Disney cruise. I've priced the Land/Sea packages, which would give us 3 nights on land (we would add a night to this) and 4 nights at sea but I don't like having to purchase deluxe hotel accommodations in order to get a veranda room on the ship. I've called them several times and requested a veranda room and a stay at a moderate resort but they won't reduce the price. I have no problem pricing these accommodations separately but I'm worried about the transportation. The land/sea pkg takes care of that for you and now I'll need to get it separately and we don't want to rent a car. I've never cruised before so I don't know what time to arrive at Port Canaveral if I hope to board the ship by 1:00. I've heard that the Disney buses from the resorts don't get you to the ship until about 3:00. Also, are there shuttles from Port Canaveral to the airport?

Any help you can provide would be so appreciated! Thanks!

[wdwgrandma]

Hopefully one of our highly talents "resident" travel agents will come along soon and offer you some helpful advice...

[SorcererMickey]

It's too bad Disney will not offer different options for the Land/Sea package.

Ok, here is the answer.

Disney Cruise Line buses are not owned or operated by Disney, but by Mears Motorcoaches. Mears just has buses decorated with DCL logos and colors which are used specifically for the pick-up and drop-off of DCL guests. Mears uses these buses around Orlando on days they are not servicing DCL.

Their price for transporting guests to and from Disney resorts and Port Canaveral is $50.00 per person round trip. You just need to transport yourself from the resort you are staying at to the closest resort where they pick-up to go to Port Canaveral. You could probably get Guest Relations to take you from the resort you are staying at to the pick-up resort, doesn't hurt to ask. To get this information we just called the DCL telephone directly and asked.

We just booked our Disney Cruise and asked about this since we are locals and have never used the DCL transportation when going to Port Canaveral. We normally drive and park at the port's parking lot which is $10.00 per day.

[Bambi]

Hello all! My husband and I (no kids) are planning a trip to Disney World in November and want to stay on property for 4 nights and then go on the 4 night Disney cruise. I've priced the Land/Sea packages, which would give us 3 nights on land (we would add a night to this) and 4 nights at sea but I don't like having to purchase deluxe hotel accommodations in order to get a veranda room on the ship. I've called them several times and requested a veranda room and a stay at a moderate resort but they won't reduce the price. I have no problem pricing these accommodations separately but I'm worried about the transportation. The land/sea pkg takes care of that for you and now I'll need to get it separately and we don't want to rent a car. I've never cruised before so I don't know what time to arrive at Port Canaveral if I hope to board the ship by 1:00. I've heard that the Disney buses from the resorts don't get you to the ship until about 3:00. Also, are there shuttles from Port Canaveral to the airport?

Any help you can provide would be so appreciated! Thanks!Hopefully Cinderella will see your post and be able to help you. She booked my land/sea pkg.
I denied the ground transfers it will be nice to be able to get to Port Canaveral as early as we like instead of when the busses take you there. We have our own car but if we didn't we would probably go with Mears and not DCL transfers.

[SorcererMickey]

I've heard that the Disney buses from the resorts don't get you to the ship until about 3:00.

:huh: About that, you should really call and verify. All the other times we've been on a Disney Cruise we have driven to Port Canaveral and we always pass at least 2 or 3 DCL buses on their way to drop-off guests. We always make the comment that "they are also going on the Disney Cruise" and wave at them.

We always leave early, around 9:30am and get there around 10:20am, just before they start letting people board the ship, and by that time I think there are already people at the DCL building that have been dropped-off by the buses.

4:00pm is when they close the doors and do not let anyone else board the ship. I'm guessing that 3:00pm is the latest a DCL bus will arrive to drop-off.

Again, you should call and verify.

[SorcererMickey]

We have our own car but if we didn't we would probably go with Mears and not DCL transfers.

They are the same, Mears owns the buses. The buses are simply painted with the DCL colors and logos for the use of transporting guests to and from WDW and Port Canaveral. If you look on the side of the DCL buses it says "Owned and Operated by Mears Motorcoaches".

[Cinderella]

The DCL buses start picking up at the resorts about 11am -12noon and then head off to the ship. Figure about an hour ride to the pier once they are on the road

Disney will not offer a discount on a lesser room for the land portion. They will however offer an upgrade to a better resort. Say you want a deluxe but prefer the GF you can do that without having to book a suite on the ship

[Bambi]

SM thats interesting, I had no idea mears owned the busses. I just remember last year at the dolphin resort I saw the DCL motorcoaches there picking up guests it was in the afternoon. I wouldn't say it was late afternoon probably around 12:00. According to my passporter guide there are many downsides to the ground transfers. This is what I read not from my own personal experience:shrug:

So if I have a ps for 7:30 am for Chef Mickey on the day we head to Port canaveral. If we hit the road around 8:30 ish do you think we will be at PC by 10:00-10:30?

[Slowhand]

The DCL buses leave very early from the Hyatt at MCO.
Both times we`ve used them, having spent our first night at the hotel, we`ve arrived at the cruise line terminal just after they had opened.

[uscwest]

We are going to be staying at the Radisson Port Canaveral with our transport being provided by Quicksilver both to and from the port.

[SorcererMickey]

So if I have a ps for 7:30 am for Chef Mickey on the day we head to Port canaveral. If we hit the road around 8:30 ish do you think we will be at PC by 10:00-10:30?

Yeap :yes: .

It's never taken us more than an hour to get there. We get on the Bee Line at Exit #2. From the Contemporary at that time in the morning, I would say 15 minutes to get to the Bee Line (528) and 50-55 minutes to PC.

The DCL building opens at 10:00am for guests self-parking. I think that the official boarding start time is 11:00am, but the last two times we've been there we've been able to board around 10:45am and have arrived at Parrot Cay Restaurant for the "Welcome Aboard" lunch just around 11:00am. That's an additional 6 hours of fun around the ship before it sails :hyper: !!!

[Bambi]

SM thanks for confirming that:) BTW just checked out your countdown timer what cruise are you taking? The 7 day?

[Zeile27]

I went to the Mears website but they require you to contact DCL for those reservations. I called DCL to get specifics on motorcoach departure times from the carribean beach and port canaveral but it took several calls to get 2 people to agree on an answer.

Also, 2 CM's said I could check in at the CBR for the cruise and 2 said I could not. I think I'll stick with the info I get from this website since you all seem to be such experienced cruisers who give info that is consistent with what others are saying. This could be a long planning process but I'm so glad I found this site! Thanks so much! :)

[SorcererMickey]

SM thanks for confirming that:) BTW just checked out your countdown timer what cruise are you taking? The 7 day?

No, the four day :hyper: . We did the 7 Day Western last time back in April 2004. Check out my photos, links are on my signature.

We are really looking forward to just relaxing. We've never been to Atlantis, so we'll be doing that this time.

[Bambi]

I went to the Mears website but they require you to contact DCL for those reservations. I called DCL to get specifics on motorcoach departure times from the carribean beach and port canaveral but it took several calls to get 2 people to agree on an answer.

Also, 2 CM's said I could check in at the CBR for the cruise and 2 said I could not. I think I'll stick with the info I get from this website since you all seem to be such experienced cruisers who give info that is consistent with what others are saying. This could be a long planning process but I'm so glad I found this site! Thanks so much! :)
Zeile, this is my first cruise also, I am getting lots of questions answered right here on the message boards also. I don't think there is a question that SM, dizzyknee and Cinderella can't answer.
I also find the Passporters Field Guide to the Disney Cruise Line to be very informative. I don't know if you have a Disney Cruise guide book yet but you might want to get it. I believe DCL will send out a booklet with info in it, but I wanted to get a head start on my research.

SM, I have already viewed you amazing pictures but looked at them again :)
I do want to know what you think of the Atlantis Resort. I am doing the Dolphin Encounter so won't be able to check it out.