Concierge Boarding Times

[riatees]

Hi, my husband and I are sailing on the Fantasy 11/05/16. We booked a 1 bedroom suite since it will be our 25th anniversary. So, my question is since we are in a Concierge Suite do we get to board the ship early? We plan on staying in Disney for 2 nights before the cruise and from what I have read, the DCL transportation from the resorts leaves much later than from the airport. If we are able to have priority boarding I would really like to take advantage of it. Would it be crazy to get DME back to the airport so we could get the earlier DCL bus to the port? I really didn't want to rent a car or service to take us to the port, but I do want to get there as early as possible. Any suggestions from people with experience? Thanks in advance!!
Maria

 

[tinkerone]

concierge boards after b2b, however only about ten minutes before regular boarding.
to me, having to figure out ME back to the airport to catch a bus is a waste of time. you have to have a flight that leaves the airport figured out, then you have a 45 (or so) minute ride to the airport to get off one bus and get to the bus for the port. then you have another 50/60 minute bus ride to get to your final destination.
people do this but, jmo, its a huge time waister. again, jmo.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi, my husband and I are sailing on the Fantasy 11/05/16. We booked a 1 bedroom suite since it will be our 25th anniversary. So, my question is since we are in a Concierge Suite do we get to board the ship early? We plan on staying in Disney for 2 nights before the cruise and from what I have read, the DCL transportation from the resorts leaves much later than from the airport. If we are able to have priority boarding I would really like to take advantage of it. Would it be crazy to get DME back to the airport so we could get the earlier DCL bus to the port? I really didn't want to rent a car or service to take us to the port, but I do want to get there as early as possible. Any suggestions from people with experience? Thanks in advance!!
Maria

As noted, Concierge board just before the "regular" boarding numbers (after the B2B people). So, not really much "before everyone else" time. As Concierge, you will board as soon as you check in (after boarding has begun, generally around 11:15-11:30). So, as soon as you check in at the port (whether 11:30 or 1:30) you will be boarding.

I agree the ME to MCO to port travel is more trouble than I want to put into it. And you still won't be boarding until (at the earliest) 11:30ish.

 

[bumbershoot]

Would it be crazy to get DME back to the airport so we could get the earlier DCL bus to the port? I really didn't want to rent a car or service to take us to the port, but I do want to get there as early as possible.

It's not crazy, but it takes a bit of time.

If I wanted to be there as early as possible (and I do, so I know where you're coming from!), I would cancel the second night on property and move over to the in-airport MCO Hyatt for that night. Just arrange with DME for that to-airport ride for that day, sleep that night at the airport hotel, and starting around 9 they start filling the buses!

 

[waggles02673]

For what you are paying for DCL transfer from resort to port spend a little bit more and get a town car to take you to the port. My wife and I do this all the time and we get to the port early as we sail most cruises in Concierge. We like to get onboard and to the Concierge lounge and start vacation and my coffee fix!!! I would go nuts if I had to wait for a bus to pick me up between 11:30-12:30. We did that our first cruise and said never again. We use Happy Limo for the towncar and it is easy and stress free. We usually have them pick us up at the resort around 9-9:15 and stop at a store if needed. I just looked at our booking for Happy Limo for our Nov cruise coming up and it is $140 from the Dolphin to the Port not including tip. If you have DCL transfer from port to airport when you get back keep it. If you want super easy you could call shore side concierge and have them book a towncar for you but it will be more expensive if you have them book it for you as they use Mears. We booked our return to MCO from port after JB moved up our flight time so we couldn't use the onboard airline check in and would have had to carry our bags off. Figured get a town car and have curbside porter check us in and check our bags at MCO. DCL charged $220 including tip from port to MCO for 2 of us in a town car.

 

[shelbell77]

We have 3 cabins in concierge on that same sailing so hello neighbor!!!

We like getting on as soon as possible, so we typically stay at the Hyatt MCO the night before. However this time we are talking about going down a couple days before to enjoy food and wine. But someone in the group is planning to drive this time so we may be able to catch a ride with them. Otherwise, we probably just would wait for Disney transport even though we like to get on early. Perhaps the time in the Concierge lounge (since you go straight there to meet with them upon boarding) will be less crowded and we'll get through that stuff faster.

 

[JLMDisneyCruise]

We boarded the ship last week, we got there at 10:15, and people where lines long already boarding....we had to "turn right" to board concierge! I did not realize anyone one was on the ship till later that night! Lol

 

[riatees]

It's not crazy, but it takes a bit of time.

If I wanted to be there as early as possible (and I do, so I know where you're coming from!), I would cancel the second night on property and move over to the in-airport MCO Hyatt for that night. Just arrange with DME for that to-airport ride for that day, sleep that night at the airport hotel, and starting around 9 they start filling the buses!

This is definitely a possibility! I will have to look into it some more. Thanks.

 

[riatees]

We have 3 cabins in concierge on that same sailing so hello neighbor!!!

We like getting on as soon as possible, so we typically stay at the Hyatt MCO the night before. However this time we are talking about going down a couple days before to enjoy food and wine. But someone in the group is planning to drive this time so we may be able to catch a ride with them. Otherwise, we probably just would wait for Disney transport even though we like to get on early. Perhaps the time in the Concierge lounge (since you go straight there to meet with them upon boarding) will be less crowded and we'll get through that stuff faster.

Wow, that's great! We are in cabin 11014. It's always fun to make new "cruise friends"!! I'm pretty sure we will not take the DCL transportation from the resorts. I guess we will either use a car service, move to the airport the night before, or we may even spend the night before at Vero Beach instead of Old Key West. We still have some time to make our decision. Thanks so much for all of the helpful information everyone, I knew this was the place to go for answers!!

 

[riatees]

Ok, I'm having another thought about transportation! I was thinking we could rent a car Saturday morning and drive to the port ourselves. It looks like the car rental drop off is very close to the port and they have a shuttle that goes back and forth. Has anyone ever done that and if so, how did it work out for you? Does the shuttle run often or have you had to wait a while. I haven't checked prices yet, I'm not sure how they would charge for a couple of hours, but maybe that would be a good way for us to get to the port early. Thanks again for all of your help, it is much appreciated!
Maria

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Ok, I'm having another thought about transportation! I was thinking we could rent a car Saturday morning and drive to the port ourselves. It looks like the car rental drop off is very close to the port and they have a shuttle that goes back and forth. Has anyone ever done that and if so, how did it work out for you? Does the shuttle run often or have you had to wait a while. I haven't checked prices yet, I'm not sure how they would charge for a couple of hours, but maybe that would be a good way for us to get to the port early. Thanks again for all of your help, it is much appreciated!
Maria

Yes, many have done one way rentals to the port. Well, to the car rental place (usually abut 2-5 miles away). If you do this, it's a good idea to swing by the port first, and unload baggage and extra people. Then just one person returns the car. It's much easier and quicker for a single rider without luggage to get on a shuttle, than a group with bags.

 

[tinkerone]

Ok, I'm having another thought about transportation! I was thinking we could rent a car Saturday morning and drive to the port ourselves. It looks like the car rental drop off is very close to the port and they have a shuttle that goes back and forth. Has anyone ever done that and if so, how did it work out for you? Does the shuttle run often or have you had to wait a while. I haven't checked prices yet, I'm not sure how they would charge for a couple of hours, but maybe that would be a good way for us to get to the port early. Thanks again for all of your help, it is much appreciated!
Maria

this is another of those subjective things. we have done this and it is something we will probably never do again. the drop off of the car took for ever as there were so many people doing the same thing and the wait to get a shuttle to the port from the drop off location took a long time. there was a 20 minute wait as the shuttle had just left and they only had one running.

thats just our one time experience. there are people who do it all the time and love it. maybe we didn't know all the ins and outs, the secrets so to speak, but it just is not for us. for the one hour we would gain i'll let dcl do the driving and take care of the luggage. keep in mind, mostly its just two of us so cost savings isn't so big. when there is more people we use a car service.

 

[waggles02673]

Ok, I'm having another thought about transportation! I was thinking we could rent a car Saturday morning and drive to the port ourselves. It looks like the car rental drop off is very close to the port and they have a shuttle that goes back and forth. Has anyone ever done that and if so, how did it work out for you? Does the shuttle run often or have you had to wait a while. I haven't checked prices yet, I'm not sure how they would charge for a couple of hours, but maybe that would be a good way for us to get to the port early. Thanks again for all of your help, it is much appreciated!
Maria

We have done this once and as previously mentioned it was a pain dropping the car off and then waiting in a long line for the shuttle. We rented from budget I believe but we had the car for the couple days prior to the cruise as we stayed at Bonnet Creek. I think you will find a one way rental from WDW to port will cost more than you think. Again I recommend a town car from WDW to port for the stress free ride and you set pickup time. If a town car doesn't work I would do as someone else suggested and cancel my second night at WDW resort and book the Hyatt at the airport and catch the first DCL Bus out. Just call shore side concierge and have them switch your transfer to the airport from the resort. You still will have to get from Disney back to the airport which would involve making a ME reservation for a dummy flight or paying for a cab or private transportation. Again to many moving parts for me. On one of our Concierge cruises we boarded the ship around 2:30 as we had some things to attend to in Cape Canaveral. Anyway we walked right on the ship and the Concierge lounge wasn't to busy as people were exploring the ship or grabbing a bite to eat. Still for us we want to get on the ship as early as possible.

 

[Tasmen]

Consider this another thumbs up for taking a town car. If you go that route, I'd recommend happy limo. I've used them a couple times and have been happy each time. I know for this trip, we are staying at the MCO Hyatt and then renting a limo bus to get us and the other families traveling with us to the port.

 

[tinkerone]

are you a part of the meet up group for your sailing? it is possible that there are others staying at your resort that may want to share in a car service, which would drop the cost considerably. you may want to check with them and see.
if not my vote is still with the dcl bus. your sailing for a week and your not going to miss a lot with the hour or so you will lose.

see, to many opinions. lol.

have a great 25th anniversary no matter how you get there.

 

[bumbershoot]

I was thinking we could rent a car Saturday morning and drive to the port ourselves. It looks like the car rental drop off is very close to the port and they have a shuttle that goes back and forth. Has anyone ever done that and if so, how did it work out for you?

We have done that, and it was simple. We dropped bags off at the port first. Then we all went over to National/Alamo/Enterprise. Alas we were traveling at the same time as many South American families, and they do LOTS of shopping while in FL, and their checked bags are the biggest I've seen other than when we took my MIL to the airport to go to Korea and saw the bags of people going back home there (I'm not sure what's so great about the stuff in the US, but people elsewhere sure think it's great). So it took a bit of time to load all those bags into the shuttle, given that our driver was 70 and wearing braces on both knees and both elbows. We got on with our carryons at last.

If you're not traveling during big tourism season you won't have that to deal with, but there still might be some people there. Maybe get there early so you're first on the shuttle?

Does the shuttle run often or have you had to wait a while.

See above. Time to fill the shuttle.

I'm not sure how they would charge for a couple of hours

They don't. They rent by day. So you'll get the same cost for 3 hours as for 24 hours. If you might need a car from, say, noon the day before, pick it up at noon and drop it off when you get to the port (I don't time dropoffs right to the minute lest there's an accident etc...don't want to tell them 9am then get there at 11 b/c we decided to sleep in and have an extra charge).


For a Royal cruise we've taken FL Tours, and that worked out nicely too.