Car Service or Disney Transfers?? I'm so confused!

PrincessShmoo · Nov 8, 2015

cedricandsophie said:
We always tip the bus driver something. It nevr occurred to me that people did not. We usually give him $2 or $3, not a lot.

Even if he is not handling your bags? Just driving?

ppiew · Nov 8, 2015

Maybe I am cheap but we tip driver if we have luggage for him to handle otherwise we don't/ We were staying at the Poly several weeks ago and took the DCL bus to the port (left Poly at 11AM) arrived at port at 12 noon checked in, boarded immediately, went to Cabanas for lunch, stateroom ready shortly after 1PM everything slick as can be with NO worries. Luggage appeared at cabin door as promised. Loved the DCL bus and would do it any time.

buzzrelly · Nov 9, 2015

cedricandsophie said:
We always tip the bus driver something. It nevr occurred to me that people did not. We usually give him $2 or $3, not a lot.

Lol! And it never occurred to me that people did tip!

buzzrelly · Nov 9, 2015

PrincessShmoo said:
Even if he is not handling your bags? Just driving?

ppiew said:
Maybe I am cheap but we tip driver if we have luggage for him to handle otherwise we don't/ We were staying at the Poly several weeks ago and took the DCL bus to the port (left Poly at 11AM) arrived at port at 12 noon checked in, boarded immediately, went to Cabanas for lunch, stateroom ready shortly after 1PM everything slick as can be with NO worries. Luggage appeared at cabin door as promised. Loved the DCL bus and would do it any time.

I agree with this…I would tip anyone who is handling our luggage but typically on the DME, we just carry our own stuff on-board.

MickeyEarrings · Nov 10, 2015

I do tip just for the ride, on those rare occasions when I'm not putting any luggage under the bus. Perhaps I'm overly generous...but that person is performing a service for us, and (s)he usually makes that ride very pleasant - welcome us aboard, pointing out that first glimpse of our beautiful ship...I tip for that.

andrencau · Nov 11, 2015

3rd cruise September 2016. We love having early PAT. We love boarding an empty ship. The year we were on the Dream, we boarded early, swimsuits under clothes and headed straight to the Aquaduck. We rode 4 times in a row as soon as we could get back in line. The rest of the cruise there was ALWAYS a line. We never rode it again the entire week.

The point is, we find it advantageous to get earliest possible PAT and board as early as possible. Super short lines at Cabana's, too. It is great to tour the ship when it is "empty." We do not do DCL transfers because there is no guarantee of an early PAT/boarding. For us, the cost is justifiable to get to the port on our own.

starousse · Nov 11, 2015

We loved the DCL transfers to the ship. I had my concerns too, about whether I'd arrive too late or miss lunch, but that wasn't the case at all. I believe the bus picked us up around noon and we were on the ship eating lunch around 1:15. Very comfortable and convenient.

buzzrelly · Nov 11, 2015

andrencau said:
3rd cruise September 2016. We love having early PAT. We love boarding an empty ship. The year we were on the Dream, we boarded early, swimsuits under clothes and headed straight to the Aquaduck. We rode 4 times in a row as soon as we could get back in line. The rest of the cruise there was ALWAYS a line. We never rode it again the entire week.

The point is, we find it advantageous to get earliest possible PAT and board as early as possible. Super short lines at Cabana's, too. It is great to tour the ship when it is "empty." We do not do DCL transfers because there is no guarantee of an early PAT/boarding. For us, the cost is justifiable to get to the port on our own.

So if we did do private transfers from the Poly, what time would you recommend getting picked up?

PrincessShmoo · Nov 11, 2015

buzzrelly said:
So if we did do private transfers from the Poly, what time would you recommend getting picked up?

Private transfers, as a rule, don't pick up before 10:00. Many of them don't arrive at the port until 11:00 at the earliest, due to port policies regarding private transportation access to the terminal.

It takes about an hour from WDW resorts to the port, so, depending on your PAT, you'll figure out when you want to be picked up.

buzzrelly · Nov 16, 2015

So, I think I have decided to do the private transfers and hope to get an early PAT with the chance that we can get there early and ride the Aquaduck a couple times. So I think I will go ahead and book the transfers, however, we do on-line check-in in January (Silver castaway club). If we don't get an early PAT (I'll try for 11am??) could I then cancel the private transfers and re-book the Disney transfers? Or would that be too late?

lanejudy · Nov 16, 2015

buzzrelly said:
If we don't get an early PAT (I'll try for 11am??) could I then cancel the private transfers and re-book the Disney transfers? Or would that be too late?

You can add DCL transfers at least up until 3 days prior, and I believe I've read you can walk-up to the desk at MCO on embarkation day to add them. You'll need to confirm cancellation policy for private transfers with that vendor.

Enjoy your cruise!

buzzrelly · Nov 16, 2015

lanejudy said:
You can add DCL transfers at least up until 3 days prior, and I believe I've read you can walk-up to the desk at MCO on embarkation day to add them. You'll need to confirm cancellation policy for private transfers with that vendor.

Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks!

LaceC · Dec 1, 2015

andrencau said:
3rd cruise September 2016. We love having early PAT. We love boarding an empty ship. The year we were on the Dream, we boarded early, swimsuits under clothes and headed straight to the Aquaduck. We rode 4 times in a row as soon as we could get back in line. The rest of the cruise there was ALWAYS a line. We never rode it again the entire week.

The point is, we find it advantageous to get earliest possible PAT and board as early as possible. Super short lines at Cabana's, too. It is great to tour the ship when it is "empty." We do not do DCL transfers because there is no guarantee of an early PAT/boarding. For us, the cost is justifiable to get to the port on our own.

Do you have a private transfer service you recommend?

Muskegon78 · Dec 1, 2015

We have 10:30-10:45 PAT and I requested 8:30 pickup by Happy Limo, which includes a quick stop at the store. Is that too early? They didn't say anything about not picking up that early

lanejudy · Dec 1, 2015

Muskegon78 said:
We have 10:30-10:45 PAT and I requested 8:30 pickup by Happy Limo, which includes a quick stop at the store. Is that too early? They didn't say anything about not picking up that early

That may be too early -- where is the pick-up? WDW or closer to Port Canaveral? Even with a quick stop, an 8:30am pick-up will likely have you to the port area before 10am. They may not be allowed to drop-off yet, which means driving around to kill time which the limo companies don't like to do. I recommend confirming with Happy Limo that they will do a pick-up that early.

Enjoy your cruise!

Muskegon78 · Dec 1, 2015

lanejudy said:
That may be too early -- where is the pick-up? WDW or closer to Port Canaveral? Even with a quick stop, an 8:30am pick-up will likely have you to the port area before 10am. They may not be allowed to drop-off yet, which means driving around to kill time which the limo companies don't like to do. I recommend confirming with Happy Limo that they will do a pick-up that early.

Enjoy your cruise!

Getting picked up at Port Orleans Riverside, I will have to check with them on the time

TandLMommy28 · Dec 1, 2015

We are going with Disney transfer because I don't want to deal with luggage. The idea of it being taken right from our room sounds glorious to me. I know the downside is getting there later but to be honest, I am not in a hurry to get on the ship faster. I feel like everything at WDW is a race to be first. Arrive for RD, have a good touring plan, run to best rides first, etc. The whole point of cruising instead of doing WDW, for me, is to not be in a rush on vacation for once.

Quellman · Dec 1, 2015

TandLMommy28 said:
We are going with Disney transfer because I don't want to deal with luggage. The idea of it being taken right from our room sounds glorious to me. I know the downside is getting there later but to be honest, I am not in a hurry to get on the ship faster. I feel like everything at WDW is a race to be first. Arrive for RD, have a good touring plan, run to best rides first, etc. The whole point of cruising instead of doing WDW, for me, is to not be in a rush on vacation for once.

What can you accomplish in that hour you miss by taking the DCL transfer? Make a spa appointment? Get meet and greet tickets? Mixology? Those things may or may not have value, and if they don't have value, nothing wrong with getting on later than 1st call.

TandLMommy28 · Dec 1, 2015

Quellman said:
What can you accomplish in that hour you miss by taking the DCL transfer? Make a spa appointment? Get meet and greet tickets? Mixology? Those things may or may not have value, and if they don't have value, nothing wrong with getting on later than 1st call.

I'm fairly certain we don't want to do any of those things... so we are probably making the right choice not being in a rush. To me, the luggage deal far outweighs any benefit of being there early.

bumbershoot · Dec 1, 2015

TandLMommy28 said:
To me, the luggage deal far outweighs any benefit of being there early.

I'm not sure if you've cruised before, but just in case... If you were to take another method, you deal with bags just to get them to the vehicle you're taking to the port. Pull up to the port and the porters there take your bags for you. They are taken onto the ship and appear at or in your room (depends on your stateroom attendant, I've found) *just like* if they had been taken from your WDW room. So it's just the part where they are picked up from your room vs you taking them (or asking Bell/Luggage services to help with that) that's any different, in terms of luggage handling.

Car Service or Disney Transfers?? I'm so confused!

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