Need help adding DisneyWorld to a Cruise

[Kerry's Girls]

Ok - I'm going to finally take the plunge and do a Carib cruise with my twins in Jan as we've done enough Mexico. I have a niece and nephew who are going to be in the Nemo show at Disneyworld, so I'd like to try to get in a Disney side trip as long as we're flying from L.A. anyway. What's the best order/process to do a visit to Disney and Carib cruise? I'm thinking Disney first, then a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale, but I'm stumped as to which airport and then getting from Disney to the port and back to the airport, etc. I assume fly in and out of Orlando, but is that completely miserable to do the drive before and after the cruise?

 

I'm not interested in a Disney cruise, and RCCL is not an option because I can't be sure one of my girls will be potty trained by then. I'm not thrilled with the itinerary for the Carnival out of Orlando, so I think Fort Lauderdale is my best choice, unless it's impossible to coordinate.

 

Thanks in advance for all the good advice that I know is coming my way!

 

Best,

Mia

[allieprincess]

My husband, daughter (6) and I are going to Disney World for 2 days in September (11th & 12th) then on the 13th we are renting a car and driving to Port Canaveral which is a little less than an hour away for our Carnival Cruise on the Glory. We are doing the Eastern which is Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

[Kerry's Girls]

Oh whoops - I didn't see that itinerary (since it leaves on alternating weeks). I may push the vacation a week so I can do that one and avoid FLL all together - unless there's another alternative I haven't seen...

 

Thank you.

 

Best,

Mia

[crusinmama06]

Mia you know you can always email me because we add on Disney every year to each cruise, or we simply do Disney alone. So I'll post here but you can feel free to email me if you need any extra info

bmediamom@comcast.net

 

OK with that being said -

 

We always do Disney pre-cruise. You will need a vacation after going to Disney anyway...lol.

 

So let's try to work this out.

 

--You fly from LA to MCO (Orlando) - if you stay at a Disney Resort - you get FREE transportation from airport to hotel - it's called Disney Magical Express. They will deliver your bags to the hotel. Just make sure you pack what you need for the day because you may not see your bags till later.

 

--I know the choices from Port Canaveral are slim - BUT - if you leave out of FLL (Port Everglades) then the drive is 3.5 HOURS :eek: (215 miles)

 

--So your only option would be to rent a car and drive the distance - then I would fly HOME out of FLL (only 3 miles from the port)

 

--OR, you could take a cruise out of Port Canaveral. How long would you have to potty train the girls?

 

--If you take a cruise out of Port Canaveral - then you would simply get a shuttle to take you from Orlando to Port Canaveral. (We get a private towncar, less hassle, $100 each way)

 

When do you want to do this? What month?

[Eeyoregon]

I agree with the previous poster: you need the cruise to relax after spending time at Disney!

 

What about cruises that leave out of Tampa? That would only be an hour drive.

[Jajone]

Hi, I'm a huge Disney planner and would be more than willing to help you too. Jajonet2187@aol.com

We are adding Disney to our 5 day cruise out of Tampa this year for the first time. I actually am afraid I'll want more Disney! We are doing Disney after because that is how it works for our schedule and flight. I hate using Disney transportation. Here's what we are doing: Green Bay to Tampa, cruise for 5 days, rent a car and drive to Orlando (we prefer having a rental) fly Orlando to Green Bay (leaving the car at the airport). We have a hotel in Tampa that will do free transfers from airport to hotel, hotel to port, port to airport to get rental. Carnival also leaves out of Miami if you are doing the drive.

[rphx2nc]

Hi, I'm a huge Disney planner and would be more than willing to help you too. Jajonet2187@aol.com

We are adding Disney to our 5 day cruise out of Tampa this year for the first time. I actually am afraid I'll want more Disney! We are doing Disney after because that is how it works for our schedule and flight. I hate using Disney transportation. Here's what we are doing: Green Bay to Tampa, cruise for 5 days, rent a car and drive to Orlando (we prefer having a rental) fly Orlando to Green Bay (leaving the car at the airport). We have a hotel in Tampa that will do free transfers from airport to hotel, hotel to port, port to airport to get rental. Carnival also leaves out of Miami if you are doing the drive.

 

We are also adding Disney to the end of a 5 day cruise because of schedule, for us from JAX. We are driving to Jax pre cruise so we will have a car. After the cruise we will drive to Disney for 3 days. This is not our typical Disney 7 full days. The first day we are planning on Down Town Disney and the resort. The next day we are attend the Halloween party at MK in the evening and the 3rd day we will attend MK for a full day. We will drive home day 4.

[soccerATAmom]

Just our experience - Got a wild hair on the way to FL for our cruise. Asked the kids if they would want to go to Disney after the cruise. They were very excited about this addition to the trip. When we got off the ship, they both said they were too tired and didn't want to go to Disney. Never heard of a kid passing that up before, but I was too tired also.

 

Having toddlers, I would think they would be more prepared for long hot (yet fun) days of Disney pre-cruise.

[Kerry's Girls]

Thanks Michelle - and everyone for the helpful responses.

 

As much as I'd love to book RCCL, since I can't be sure my little Kerry will be potty-trained by January, I've booked the Carnival Glory for 1/17 on the Eastern Route. She's getting there, but since she has global delays, I don't want to have to stress about her not getting to participate in the kids program if she's not completely trained yet. My twins loved the one Carnival cruise we did, and we don't care about being able to swim on board, so hopefully this ship will be an ok match for us. I'm still open to other suggestions...but the pickings look fairly slim out of Orlando for a 7 day cruise in January. I'm just happy we're finally going to get to do Coral World!

 

We're going to follow Michelle's (and other's) good advice to fly into Orlando, stay at a Disney property Thurs & Fri using Disney transport and then hire a car to get to the port on Saturday.

 

Living near Disneyland, I have a Disney strategy, and it involves lots of breaks, fast-passes and NO whining allowed! Just save me the nightmares and tell me that those monster bugs aren't around in January???

 

Thanks again everyone.

 

Best,

Mia

[Jajone]

When are you going in January? We'll be there Jan 22-24. We have never seen the dreaded bugs at that time of the year.

[thunderbird1]

Excellent choices, for many reasons.

 

1. WDW first, always. I've done it both ways and not only am I way ready for a cruise after WDW, it's really hard (for me) to go from the luxury of a cruise (so much food, 2x a day room steward, etc) to a regular hotel, even a Disney deluxe. It's much more fun to "upgrade" than "downgrade," kwim?

 

2. No one wants the enjoyment of their vacation to depend on potty training. You (and your dc) do not need that kind of stress and pressure, so good call going with Carnival.

 

3. Excellent strategy for WDW (especially the breaks) but keep in mind that WDW breaks at WDW take much longer than those at DL because of the sheer size of the place.

 

4. No love bugs in the winter, for sure!!! We've been to Orlando many times in December and January, and had no idea what anyone was talking about when we were planning our October trip last year. :confused: Until we arrived and encountered them. :eek: Fortunately, bugs don't bother us, so it wasn't an issue (we're going back this September! :D ), but I can see how it could be for others.

 

Have fun!

[crusinmama06]

Love bugs are MAY and SEPTEMBER (not January :D ) - thunderbird is right.

 

Mia - you've never done Coral World? Oh geesh, you're in for a winding mountain ride adventure. LOL! Take a bonine and keep your eyes closed. ;) My kids loved chasing the big lizards around Coral World. It's a VERY small park, but is great for kids that age. And they will be able to touch starfish and other sea creatures.

 

For private car service, we have been using Florida Towncar Service for the past 3 years. Cost is $100 each way, you pay them at pick up.

http://www.floridatowncar.com

 

The drivers have always met us at the hotel in the lobby. You get their cell phone number for AFTER the cruise. You tell them what time you want them to be there and if the time changes you can call them again. It's always nice to have a private driver and they DO rent car seats ($10 extra). Some of them actually tell us about the area we are driving through, like a nice little tour. The actual drive is about 45 minutes.

[Livabeth]

Cruisinmama, your comment about Coral World has got me thinking. Can I assume that it is a winding road up/or down a mountain to get there?? We plan to take our two girls in October and thought we would just catch a cab so that we can also go to the beach right next door. Alternately, we could do an excursion for much more money and no beach visit.

 

Is it safe to take a cab to Coral World or are we best to stay with the excursion?? Any other advance on how to get there??

 

Thanks for all the great info.

 

Cathy

[crusinmama06]

Cruisinmama, your comment about Coral World has got me thinking. Can I assume that it is a winding road up/or down a mountain to get there?? We plan to take our two girls in October and thought we would just catch a cab so that we can also go to the beach right next door. Alternately, we could do an excursion for much more money and no beach visit.

 

Is it safe to take a cab to Coral World or are we best to stay with the excursion?? Any other advance on how to get there??

 

Thanks for all the great info.

 

Cathy

 

It's fine to take a cab to Coral World. If you do the excursion, chances are you would be in a van...so it's not like paying for the cruise excursion would be any safer. ;)

 

St. Thomas roads are narrow, winding and you can look down the side of a cliff off to your right at some points. :eek:

 

I think taxis playing chicken with buses is a national sport. ;)

 

But I would do it again. :D

 

I just found this Travel Channel report on Coral World. This is what you will see there...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lebr07x9p8s

[cruiseinfoseeker]

I haven't done a disney&cruise vacation yet, but plan to at some point in the future. The main factor that would prevent me from booking disney after is this: I need several days to get my land legs back after a cruise and could not imagine trying to do that at the parks. Just a thought for any of you who "feel" the same after a cruise. (although mine is probably more exaggerated due to inner ear issues)

[CanadianTwosome]

We're not doing Disney on our cruise next January, but we are doing the drive down to Miami. I have done Disney enough times to know that I agree with all the posters that are suggesting doing it pre-cruise, though. That's a given!!

 

I just wanted to add my two cents concerning the drive, though. As long as you've found the cruise that you want to take out of the port you want to embark from, that's great. If you're still wondering about other ports/itineraries/ships, though, I've done the Orlando - FLL or MIA drive a few times now, and as far as car trips go, it's a great drive. Coming from where I do, where driving can be EXTREMELY frustrating due to having many single lane highways, slow moving vehicles (like tractors!), and curves and hills just big enough so that you can't pass... the gorgeous, well maintained, roomy toll road between Orlando and Miami is like a dream. :) We'll be driving it back and forth in January with at least three other couples, including our daughter and possibly another child, in a convoy of rental vehicles. It's true that it's a 3+ hour drive, but as long as your kids can tolerate car rides, it's not bad... depending on what you're used to it can fly right by. To me, three hours driving in Florida is like an hour or less in SK, depending on who else is on the road... :cool:

[Kerry's Girls]

Thanks everyone! I had all the arrangements made for Disney + Carnival Glory, following all of your wonderful suggestions, but figured out that instead of a 7 Carib cruise and 2 days of Disney, I could do a 14 day Hawaii cruise for the same price with the added benefit of avoiding flying - so we switched to Hawaii. I really appreciate all your help - as always.

 

With gratitude,

Mia