Recommendations form those who have learned the hard way. About This Page:

[mpsilv71]

Some good ideas born from bad decisions to help others from making the same mistakes.

[Sandy_N]

Welcome to the boards!

I always tell people, think of it like WDW, you will never see/do it all in one cruise. Take it slow and enjoy. Also, like ADRs, if you are on the fence for an excursion but it when you are able. You will be able to cancel later but you may not be able to add it

Enjoy!

[mpsilv71]

We drive! Yes the idea of piling mom, dad and two kids in the car for a 13+ hours car ride scares the heck out of many (me too), there is a way to make it work. And it saved us a ton of money:

The cost to drive, for us is this: $350 gas round trip, $200 food for the trip up and back, $125 hotel upon arrival at Orlando (we try to drive straight through on the way home, but if you stop add an extra $100), and $100 for parking at the DCL lot= ~$800($900).

The cost to fly, for the four of us ~$1500, plus ground transport ~$100, plus having to leave the day before (more $) or very early that morning to get to the cruise terminal on time (who drops you off at the airport, or do you park the car there?). Assume $1800 total.

To us, $1000 saved is a big deal.

How we do it. Try to break the drive into 4-5 hour stints.

We leave very, very early. Like 4am. One drives, the other sleeps, and the kids still in their jammies are asleep until 8am. We stop for breakfast. Then the kids watch a movie, and the other adult drives while driver one sleeps (we switch out almost every stop to give each other a chance to nap).
Soon it is almost time for lunch. The kids fight with each other until then(“stop touching me,” “Mom, tell brother to stop looking out MY window,” “If you two kids don’t stop fighting I am going to stop this car and put you on the side of the road. Your mother and I will go on the cruise without you, which is what we should have done from the beginning”……) after about 45 minutes of that stop for a lunch break.
After lunch is a tough stint until the kids nap on their own, they awake and try another movie and workbooks. Soon it is time to stop for dinner.
After dinner it is a relatively short hop into Orlando area. Kids are too wired to see the Mouse to fight with each other at this point. We check into the hotel and take the kids to swim.
Much like Christmas eve, the sooner asleep the quicker the next morning comes and then chance to rip into your gifts, or in this case, get to the “Disney Boat.”

[mpsilv71]

Travel Insurance: I highly recommend it if you fly, cruise, or otherwise have to make a substantial deposit. I don’t buy it through Disney though.

For our last DCL cruise, DCL offered in the package for ~$350. I purchased a policy which offered the same benefits plus a little more for less then $100. Just do a search of the web for travel insurance. There are pages that will compare 4 or 5 plans with different benefits. But even the most expensive are the same price as the DCL insurance, but offer much, much more.

We don’t need all the bells and whistles of the expensive packages, just some basics: Cancelation coverage due to death, sickness, injury, and even change in employment status (polite way to say you get fired); luggage insurance; medical coverage if someone gets sick onboard; missed connection coverage. Those are the main coverages we get.

We have yet to use it, but the peace of mind is worth it for a cruise that is costing as much as it does.

I imagine that if something does go wrong, the DCL insurance is very easy to work with since it is all Disney. But for another $250 saved, we are prepared to have to make the call to our insurer to have them handle it over the phone.

[mpsilv71]

Land-Sea packages. We did it right the first time (we must have gotten lucky).

We took a 4 night cruise, and then went to WDW for 3 days after. I recommend this order for others if they choose the L-S packages.

The cruise is delightful and relaxing. Going home is hectic (back to the grind). I don’t like having to shock my system from going from a relaxing cruise to the trip home. We prefer to decompress.

Anyone who has done WDW with kids knows that you are not on vacation, the kids are. You are there to serve them. It is still a vacation, but it aint no cruise!

We enjoy the cruise, and mom and dad relax. Upon de-embarkation after the cruise, we drive the 90 minutes back to Orlando, check in, get park tickets and take the kids to the pool or Downtown Disney. We then ride the monorail at night. The kids think they are really at WDW, mom and dad know they are getting away cheap.

The next day we begin the WDW adventure, lugging the kids around etc. We enjoy the park, but it is not as relaxing as the cruise. You have to walk a lot, plan meals, kids get tired, etc.

After a few days of this, we are ready to go home.

Others may argue that they rather go through the WDW “death march” first, and then relax on the cruise. We find that you just get depressed when you have to wake up on the cruise one morning and the same night you are home to the same old, same old.

You just come to the surface a little too fast that way.

It really worked out well for us, so I recommend it to others.

[mpsilv71]

“Don’t get off the boat!”

This applies to parents with children, one being in the 2-3 yrs old range.

First of all, correct me if I am wrong, but this may be the first time a quote from Apocalypse Now is used to give good advice to be used in the Wonderful World of Disney, but for us it is very apropos.

There we were: a 7 night Caribbean cruise. While we were aboard the Disney Magic “Charlie” was getting stronger, but hey; I am on vacation not fighting “Charlie.”

We did not purchase a shore excursion, we thought we would adventure the island on our own. We had been to this island before for a 7 day honeymoon, so we knew where to go, or so we thought. We got off the ship at our first port of call. By the time we were ashore (we had to tender) the kids wanted lunch. That means you have to find a place they can agree on. If you can do that, then you have to keep an eye on them, wrangle them, and keep them happy. Then they don’t want to, but you want them to, take a nap. At this point you have to trudge back the way you came to get back aboard the ship.

There was kicking and screaming. There was fighting and crying. After only 30 minutes, yes 30 minutes, we gave up. We went back aboard, went up to the nearly empty pool, relaxed, ate from three different food providers aboard the ship, and sent the kids to take their knap while one parent relaxed up on deck.

I did take the 6 year old ashore for about 90 minutes to “shop” and we had a good time because I did not expect much, and thus did not demand too much.

Yes, we missed the experience of the Caribbean island, but unless your kids are “with the program” you won’t enjoy it. The vacation was about relaxing, not another “death march” (see above comment) just to say you have been there.

[Kenny]

That is good info... I think I am glad I'm a Grandparent!!

[Magic#7564]

Good info. We do the driving adventure too. Your numbers are exactly like ours. We figured to save the same amount in driving vs flying. It is an adventure, but worth it for saving money. We are going on our 2nd cruise in February 2011. 7 Night Western Carribean. We flew the last time, but we are driving this time. Grandma is going with us, so we all save money by splitting the cost with gas, hotel, etc.. So that helps. Can't wait!