Disney Cruise Line has released an incredible special on airfare inclusive cruises on the 10-night sailing on September 7, and the 11-night sailing on September 17th. Only $99 east of the Mississippi and $199 west of the Mississippi in most markets. See Mousesavers (http://mousesavers.com/dclsept06.html) for more information.

With the price of airfares going up, this is an awesome deal!!! Let me know if you have any questions... :D

Disney Cruise Line has released an incredible special on airfare inclusive cruises on the 10-night sailing on September 7, and the 11-night sailing on September 17th. Only $99 east of the Mississippi and $199 west of the Mississippi in most markets. See Mousesavers (http://mousesavers.com/dclsept06.html) for more information.

With the price of airfares going up, this is an awesome deal!!! Let me know if you have any questions... :DYeah, we were all excited about this until we called our travel agent and he explained the whole deal to us. What isn't immediately obvious is that in order to take advantage of this reduced-rate airfare, Disney will require you to use their airport transportation service AND spend one night at the Hyatt at the Orlando airport, (at $200+ for the night).

For Tony and I, it would have been about $1000 for the airfare through Disney, the port transfers and the night at the hotel. Needless to say, we're keeping our original plans.

AVP

It did take some effort and time on my part, but I had great sucess with this offer. After speaking with five different Cast Members (thanks Josef!! :D ) to verify the information, this is what I was able to book for one of my Guests:

9/7/06 the 10-night cruise
2 Adults, Cat 6
Airfare from LAX (day before cruise)
Airport hotel (Hyatt)
Round Trip Transfers (MCO to port)
Vacation protection (insurance)

Total: $5,658.82

If booked cruise only, with no transfers or airfare, the price was about $5,211. When I added on the airfare special, it only added about $447. It's a great savings for them (this is before our "Cash to You" check)

Just to compare, if booked without the special, and including regular airfare, the price would be about $6,381, so they saved around $720.

This is for new reservations only. It cannot be added to existing deposited reservations. They are basically trying to entice people.

Also, in case someone is considering any Disney Cruise, if you book airfare inclusive packages, roundtrip transfers are automatically included.

If flying from the West Coast, you can choose either a red-eye flight or to come in the day before. In the instances I have booked, the airport hotel has been included in the price of the flights, however, I always double check.

I hope this helps someone - it's a great offer, good luck to all who are interested! I wish we could go, but darn kidlets get in the way. :p

I'm coming in late here, but according to an email I got from Mickeymac's boss (Sue Pisaturo, owner of Small World Vacations - a MousePlanet sponsor):

Just an FYI, for guests coming from the west coast, if they take red eye and need one night of accommodations at the Hyatt at MCO airport, the room is included in the price of the airfare.

Also, for all guests, the roundtrip transfers from MCO to the ship and back are included in the price of the air.

These two factors make this an incredible deal.
That should address the issue of transfers and Hyatt accommodations.

I actually talked to our travel agent about it yesterday, to try and figure out why we were seeing such a difference in price, compared to what SWT is reporting. And I think we finally figured it out.

Mickeymac is partially correct about this being available only for new bookings. Disney will allow existing bookings to get the special, but, they have to transfer their booking to a new reservation - and pay the current fare. (We found this out the hard way - when our agent asked about the special, Disney applied it to our reservation, even though we were only asking about it, and royally screwed everything up, requiring a couple of hours on the phone for them to get it fixed).

That's why ours jumped $1000. The fare is $600 more now than what we booked it for. Add in the airfare of $400, and there you go.

I will say this to anyone interested - this is a fantastic price for a cruise. Especially when you consider that it is about 1/3 of the cost of the same length Med cruises next year.

The one major risk to consider is that this is smack in the middle of hurricane season. While not a huge danger (the ships go out of their way to avoid the hurricanes), it can cause changes to the itineraries, etc. This is one of the few times I have ever added insurance to our booking - just in case.

If anyone decides to take advantage of it, be sure to post here. AVP and I will be onboard, and there are several things in the works - incuding a free version of our MouseAdventure on the High Seas.

Tony

The one major risk to consider is that this is smack in the middle of hurricane season. While not a huge danger (the ships go out of their way to avoid the hurricanes), it can cause changes to the itineraries, etc. This is one of the few times I have ever added insurance to our booking - just in case.

While a slight derail, I wanted to comment that I am not a big fan of travel insurance except for when I go on a cruise. It is worth it and it paid out when my L&S trip got cut short a day after Hurricane Jeanne.

Sure, there is some risk in going during hurricane season, but it should not change peoples plans. But that is where travel insurance comes into play - to protect what you put into the trip from a financial point of view.