Port Canaveral hotel vs. Disney pros/cons

[KEMdisney]

Hi Everyone! We are sailing on the Dream Sunday, June 23rd and flying in on Saturday, June 22nd. I'm curious about our options for where to stay Saturday night. Obviously, since its a Saturday room rates are a little on the high side.

Option 1 (my natural choice) is to stay at a Disney resort and take DCL transfers to the port. (roughly $200 for a value room + $35 per person for transfers= about $340)

Option 2 is where I need some help. I'm curious if staying at a hotel closer to the port may be a less expensive option?? This option seems like a lot more complicated (choosing a hotel (by the airport, or by the port?) finding out how to get from airport to hotel (cab, shuttle?) carrying luggage, etc)

I'd love to hear advice from fellor cruisers. This will be our first cruise, but we love Disney and love how "EASY" they make things! What do you usually do??

 

[Weedy]

Here is a link that may help you

http://www.parkingstay.com/p/port-canaveral-area-hotels-view-port.html

The Radisson is closest to the port. If you don't want to deal with the shuttle the morning of your cruise a cab would not be much money.

http://www.radisson.com/cape-canaveral-hotel-fl-32920/flcocoa?s_cid=af.cj.carlson

I looked at the site and it was a $180 for two adults for a one way transfer for Orlando Airport and and one night stay.

 

[afoyt]

We live in Tampa and have always gone over to Port Canaveral the day before the cruise. We have stayed in the Courtyard Inn & Suites, its right next to the terminal and offers a park and ride shuttle in the price. You board the shuttle around 10:30am and get on ship around noon.

We last stayed in the Hilton, which is right on the beach, and paided $5 each for a shuttle. Same boarding times.

Last year we stayed at the Marriott Courtyard, also on the beach, and parked our car in the Port Canaveral Garage. I really liked the Marriot, loved the room, it was on a nice part of the beach, and had a good resturant.

Staying at a Disney Hotel is a lot of fun, and it would definately add an extra Disney experience to your vacation. We have stayed at most of the Disney hotels, so if you need any advise of which to stay at, ask away. I think it is about an hour drive on Disney's bus to Canaveral.

 

[iloverags2]

Like the previous poster, we live in FL (Jacksonville) and always travel to the port the day before our cruise. We have stayed at Country Inn & Suites, Residence Inn, and La Quinta Oceanfront. All have their plus and minuses. If staying oceanfront isn't a priority, then I would choose Residence Inn mainly because I overall prefer RI's to any other hotel.

As for getting to the hotel from the airport, if you do decide to stay near the port, you have a few options. You can either rent a car (one-way rentals both going to and coming from the port...or renting for the length of your cruise and keeping it at the port), or you can book a town car service.

I prefer staying at the port so we are already there and do not have to worry about traveling the morning of the cruise. Plus you can see ships come in and leave the day before (and if you are up early enough, the morning of) your cruise. And spend a nice day at the ocean.

 

[mousemamma]

We love to spend the night before in Port Canaveral because we love to eat at Fishlips on the water and watch the ships cruise by. We love to wave at the passengers. It's just exciting knowing we'll be on the ship the next day.

We have stayed at the Residence Inn Port Canaveral and love it (free breakfast in the morning). You can get a one-way rental car from MCO. If you use Hertz, their location is in the parking lot of the Residence Inn. Then you can shuttle to the port.

The other nice thing about having the car is that you can pick up some wine for your carry-on the next day.

Have fun!

 

[EPCOTatNight]

We stayed at All Star Movies the night before our cruise and we loved it. It really helped get us into the Disney mood. BUT, we drove and there is no way that I would pay $200 for a value room. Our room was $69. So, if I were you, the cost of the room and dependence on Disney for transportation would push me to just stay at P.C.

 

[Scooby3x1y]

We too stay in Cocoa Beach, literally 5 min away from the port. We fly in the afternoon before because we are coming from the West coast. We like staing in the area, it's exciting. Our little tradition is to go to the Waffle House, since we don't have them, and love them.

I get the easy part, I don't get the price tag. I wouldn't say we're cheap, after all we're going on a Disney Cruise, but we choose to spend the bigger money on excursions. Unless you're enjoying the parks and are out and about, it is money that I enjoy in my pocket.

We rent a car from the airport, and drive to Cocoa Beach. That way we have the freedom to pick up the case of water we want, eat where we want and get to the port as early as possible. We have traveled with all of our kids and only a few of our kids, and it is still cheaper for us to rent a car then to pay for transfers. I think it boils down to doing a little prepatory leg work vs. ease and paying more. In the morning, DH drops us off at the port, returns the rental car and takes the shuttle back to the port.

There are a few variations to this, like return the car the night before and take the hotel shuttle to the port, etc.

 

[MND]

Hi Everyone! We are sailing on the Dream Sunday, June 23rd and flying in on Saturday, June 22nd. I'm curious about our options for where to stay Saturday night. Obviously, since its a Saturday room rates are a little on the high side.

Option 1 (my natural choice) is to stay at a Disney resort and take DCL transfers to the port. (roughly $200 for a value room + $35 per person for transfers= about $340)

Option 2 is where I need some help. I'm curious if staying at a hotel closer to the port may be a less expensive option?? This option seems like a lot more complicated (choosing a hotel (by the airport, or by the port?) finding out how to get from airport to hotel (cab, shuttle?) carrying luggage, etc)

I'd love to hear advice from fellor cruisers. This will be our first cruise, but we love Disney and love how "EASY" they make things! What do you usually do??

You should stay near Port Canevral instead of Disney. It is closer to the ship, and more than likely cheaper. You can hang out at the beach, before the cruise. IMHO, it is a no brainer.

Enjoy your cruise

Mike

 

[ktb2002]

There is also the Hyatt inside the airport, it's about an easy experience as you can get.

 

[ECH37]

My wife and I are on that cruise as well. We're staying near the port at the Sheraton. Never been there before but looks nice from hat I've seen and read.

 

[MND]

My wife and I are on that cruise as well. We're staying near the port at the Sheraton. Never been there before but looks nice from hat I've seen and read.

The Sheraton 4 Points is a great hotel. I think you will love it.

If people get in early the day before, I never understand why they stay at the airport. To me, it is waste of your day if you don't do something with it.

Mike

 

[juliebug1997]

There is also the Hyatt inside the airport, it's about an easy experience as you can get.

This is what we did for our second cruise and it was so easy a caveman could do it.

 

[mdurette]

Here is my experience:

1st cruise: 3 night dream - stayed at an all star and had Disney transfers (paid for by travel agent). I found out our pick up time was 1:30 and it dawned on me that we may not get to the ship until past 3 depending on how many other pick ups were after us. It was a short cruise and I wanted to be on the ship as soon as I could. I called for a shuttle service.

2nd cruise: 4 night dream - We stayed off site in Orlando for a days prior to. The weekly car rental was so darn cheap we just parked the car at the port.

upcoming cruise: 7 night. Flying in the day before. Staying in 2BR at Marriott Residence Inn in PC. About $200 - but we will split with another family. Renting a one way minivan from Budget from MCO to PC about $125 each way. We will fit 7 in the minivan - HUGE savings from DCL transfers + we get to the port when we want + I can run out an get a case of water to bring on board!!!

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Hi Everyone! We are sailing on the Dream Sunday, June 23rd and flying in on Saturday, June 22nd. I'm curious about our options for where to stay Saturday night. Obviously, since its a Saturday room rates are a little on the high side.

Option 1 (my natural choice) is to stay at a Disney resort and take DCL transfers to the port. (roughly $200 for a value room + $35 per person for transfers= about $340)

Option 2 is where I need some help. I'm curious if staying at a hotel closer to the port may be a less expensive option?? This option seems like a lot more complicated (choosing a hotel (by the airport, or by the port?) finding out how to get from airport to hotel (cab, shuttle?) carrying luggage, etc)

I'd love to hear advice from fellor cruisers. This will be our first cruise, but we love Disney and love how "EASY" they make things! What do you usually do??

It takes a little over an hour to get from Disney to Port Canaveral (I just came from the port to Disneyworld on Saturday) so I would rather stay closer to the port. We stayed in the Orlando Airport Hyatt and took DCL bus to port.

 

[ktb2002]

This is what we did for our second cruise and it was so easy a caveman could do it.

LOL! I wish I had known about it sooner, it took us cruise 3 to figure it out.

 

[Bfreitag]

We are cruising in 16 days!! We had also been trying to figure out where to stay before and the best option for transportation. We have 4 in our party (me, my son, my bf, bf's mom). We essentially need a room with 3 beds which was hard to come by economically. We ended up using some codes we found on these boards to get a minivan rental for 6 days for $313. We used Hotwire to get two rooms near Downtown Disney. We ended up paying $107 total. The hotel got great reviews. We are planning on parking off site during the cruise to save some money (something like $6 a day). Our flight arrives at 1:30 pm the day before. We are planning on heading to Downtown Disney to explore. We may take the transportation to check out some of the resorts, as well as catch the MK fireworks from there. I'm hoping this gets us in the Disney mood without paying Disney prices!

 

[JimGA]

I was stuck with this decision too, stay at Disney or the Port. For us we are able to drive down from Atlanta, so that took the transportation issue out of the decision.

We decided to stay at the Port, mainly because the only thing we would be able to do at Disney is lounge by the pool and enjoy the hotel and maybe go to Downtown Disney or the Boardwalk area, but if it rained all that would be a wash and we would just sit in the room.

At the Port, you do have the beach and also, depending on what cruise you are on, we leave on a Sunday, and the Fantasy is in port on that Saturday so we will be able to sit at a port side restaurant deck and watch the Fantasy sail on by at about 4:30 and a couple of other ships leave port that day too. This will be a nice touch to watch.

Plus, on the morning of the cruise we have a 20 min commute vs. an hour, so our morning will be less stressful. The hotel cost was about the same for us.


Rent a car, tha twill be about the same price if not cheaper then the DCL Express.

Happy sailing

 

[Sandya]

We are staying in Downtown Disney ... We r flying the day before our cruise, this is our second cruise. We rent a car from MCO to get to our hotel, then spend the rest of the day at Downtown disney ( hotel is cheap ) then the next day we drive early to the port, return the car and get shuttle to the ship... The hotel was 100 bucks and the car 65... Not bad for a family of 4!!!!

 

[DisneyDudet]

We stay at the Hyatt. They pick up your luggage from your room and take it to the ship, then use Disney transfers. We usually fly in the evening prior, so we aren't there an entire day with nothing to do, and it's less vacation days used at work. Since we tend to fly in of an evening, it would not be feasible to drive to the port area hotels.

This time, I will be staying at WDW for our wedding there, and then we will drive to the airport to stay at the Hyatt that evening after some park time and dinner off site. We are staying with my DVC points 4 nights and with DF's Starwood points at the Swan/Dolphin for 2 nights, then off to the airport Friday. We are trying to avoid spending OOP for hotels,except for the Hyatt, so staying on Disney property another night wouldn't work out, plus with transfers from WDW resorts, you arrive later in the day (totally not what I like, because you've paid for that first day)!

So it's really a preference and what you have in mind to do the day before the cruise.

 

[Andyram16]

We are leaving April 7th on the Dream and are staying at the Radisson the night before, it was around 80 bucks for the night with shuttle to Cruise terminal so its much cheaper than staying at a Dis resort, plus the Dis resort are ober an hour away. Good Luck!