Port Canaveral

[battymum]

Opinions please!

We are sailing out of Port Canaveral on Sunday 25th September-

However we intend to hire a car and drive to Canaveral for Kennedy Space Centre on Saturday 24th.

At this stage we are booked that night at Pop -we dont mind driving back.

Should we :

A: Drive back to Pop - have another "free" dinner, drive back to Port Canaveral in the AM - perhaps stop for some shopping on the way. We are early risers when needed!

or

B: Book a room in the Canaveral area (recommendations?) Surely there would be a good restaurant - the cruise doesnt start boarding until at least 11:00, what can we do in the AM, is there any shopping here.


I am sure I could fit 2hrs in somewhere. We have 8 nights at Pop (9 if we include this one), but with doing 4 parks and at least one water park + KSC, I am having trouble fitting any shopping in on our schedule. Are there any days where the malls are open late?

 

[chris31997]

For my family, that would be alot of driving so I would find a hotel near the port. Can't think of any off the top of my head, if you want to look in the Cruise Line thread hotel questions pop up all the time.

Good luck and Enjoy your cruise

 

[DVCAustralia]

The drive accross from WDW to Port Canveral is only about an hour each way and it is a major expressway almost all the way.
I would consider it well worth it to be able to leave all your stuff in your room, get an extra "free" night of meals, and go to the shops near WDW.
For shopping using the car you have anyway will make it so much easier and cheaper to get around. In particular on the Sunday the outlets near WDW are open at 10am whereas most other shops and malls do not open until 11am or 12noon on Sundays. Further the outlets and malls are mostly open until 9pm on the Saturday night and most of Downtown Disney will be open until 11pm meaning you could shop that night as well.

 

[battymum]

Why cant the malls open at eight? I guess we wont do any shopping Sunday either. We are going to have to give up a waterpark day to visit any malls,

The more I think about it, it makes sense to stay at PC, as we have two rooms at Pop - it is costing us about $300 per night - So any meal we may get is not really "free" I just dont want to waste a night at Port Canaveral if there is not much "happening" over there. (although after 8 non stop days at WDW, I will probably be exhausted and appreciate a rest)

Just found Ron Jons surf shop, Cocoa Beach looks like its worth a look, open 24hrs!

Also concerned about leaving our luggage (probably with laptop) in the car all day at KSC ,

 

[Travel Mum]

We will leave Orlando to drive to KSC in our rental car on the morning of Saturday 15 October. After spending what I expect will be much of the day there, we are booked to stay at the Country Inn Cape Canaveral. We will drop our rental car off on the Sunday morning (the depot is very near the hotel) and then take the hotel shuttle to the port where our ship, Freedom of the Seas, will start boarding about midday. We are always keen to get on the ship as early as possible so that we have time to have a good tour around (especially on Freedom as she is sooo big!) and make any bookings we need to do.

For dinner on the Saturday night, there is a restaurant (I've forgotten the name right now) that is located on the water and so the cruise ships departing on the Saturday night from Port Canaveral cruise right past it. I'm keen to time it to see them while we are having dinner there. By that stage, I will be out of my WDW addiction and onto my cruise ship addiction!

 

[battymum]

Travel Mum,
Does that place sleep 5 in one room? It is not clear on their website. I can fit 2 in a double bed, but would need a sofa bed or rollaway.

Also when I put the 24th September in their booking system it comes up with 10 night minimum stay - what the?

There was a rocket launch scheduled for this day which apparently makes things crazy down there, but I think it has been rescheduled.

 

[Travel Mum]

Battymum,

We have booked a Kids Suite for our family-of-five. It has a queen bed and, in a separate area, a set of bunks plus a single bed. My in-laws, sister and brother-in-law and niece are in a Suite which has two queen beds and a double sofa bed. I've no idea why you are getting a minimum stay required so suggest you just email them as I've found them very helpful to deal with.

Hope that helps

 

[battymum]

I realised I was looking at Comfort Inn, not Country Inn

I have since looked at Country Inn and that looks like it will suit our family. I will book that tonight when I get home, (dont have CC at work)

Thanks for the tip, Travel Mum

BTW: Have you asked about dropping your luggage in before heading to KSC?

 

[Travel Mum]

Oh that makes sense now!

I haven't actually asked whether they will mind our bags but I'm sure they will. I called to give my credit card number (I booked via email as opposed to on the website), as I don't like to give it on email, and had a nice chat to the lady in reservations. She did mention that, as soon as we check in, we should make a booking on the cruise shuttle for the next day (as the first to book get the first shuttle if they want it, yet you can't book until you check in) and therefore I mentioned we'd come and check in before we did KSC. She said that would be fine so presume it will be fine to look after the bags.

Have you booked your rental car yet? I've booked with Hertz as I got a good earlybird all-inclusive rate. I was going to really shop around all the car rental companies but then found out that only 4 companies have depots in Cape Canaveral and so we are limited to them as we want to drop the car there.

 

[battymum]

Yes I have booked a car, with Budget, I am with you its very boring research, but with a family of five and luggage, our only option is a minivan, I dont know if we got a good rate, its the insurances that add up and I think they are all the same.

At the moment we are picking it up Thursday morning at WDW and will return it to Cape Canaveral on Sunday morning so only three days - although I might change it to pick up Friday. (for some shopping) (Originally there was a rocket launch scheduled on the 23rd, so I wanted a car that day, but that has since changed)

When we return off the cruise we will get a Mears car as we will be heading straight to the airport to fly to NYC -

 

[Travel Mum]

I think this is so funny that we are both families-of-five and doing such a similar Orlando-KSC-Cape Canaveral-Freedom of the Seas cruise-airport itinerary and only a week apart!

We actually pick up our car when we check out of POR a week before we go to Cape Canaveral. We will have it during our offsite week at the Staybridge Suites International Drive and will use it to drive around that week to the non-Disney theme parks and shops etc. So I think that's an 8 day hire. We were always intending to get a minivan but then I saw the Earlybird deal was only available on cars as big as a Full Size Auto. So, we've booked that as we figure the only days that we will be driving with our luggage will be on the day we move offsite in Orlando (about a 20 minute drive) and the day we drive to Cape Canaveral. The car boot will be pretty huge but if the girls have to have a bag or two on their lap then so be it because it saved us a lot of money!

We get off the ship and have a flight back to L.A. at 1pm. I thought we need to book the RCCL shuttle to be sure we got to the airport in time but apparently that is plenty of time so we will probably go Mears as well. Have you booked the Mears yet?

 

[battymum]

Yes even though we are going first I feel like I am copying you because you are so organised in your planning.
We are heading to NYC for four days after the cruise and then back to Orlando for four days - We are staying at Hard Rock Hotel and only doing the Universal Parks so wont have a car then. Will try Linx for a shopping day.
It annoys me how much money we will spend on airport transfers - I think by the end of the trip we will spend $1200 + on airport transfers and 2day car hire. Even getting to Sydney Airport is a hassle for us as we are about 50kms away.

 

[Travel Mum]

Yes, everyone on the cruise forums say that it is cheaper to do a one-day car hire when you get off the ship and drive yourself to the airport. However, I don't want that hassle or stress when we are on a 1pm flight. I haven't started getting shuttle prices yet though so my opinion might change....

By the way, I'm actually a bit over-organised because I'm currently holding a 7 night booking at Staybridges Suites in a Two-Bedroom Suite from 8-15 October as well as a 3 night booking for a room at Loew's Royal Pacific Hotel from 12-15 October! I really want the onsite perks while we are doing Universal and IOA but, after 9 nights in one room at POR, I think the 7 nights in the Two-Bedroom Suite will be just what we need. I'm leaning towards keeping the 7 night Staybridge booking and reducing the Royal Pacific one down to one night. So, I'll be holding two rooms for that one night. We'll leave most of our stuff at Staybridge and go over to check in really early at Royal Pacific, getting our room keys and going to Universal that day. We'll stay at the Royal Pacific that night and then do WWHP early entry and the rest of IOA the next day. At the end of the day, we'll go back to Staybridge. Everytime I go on the Universal board though, I love the sound of staying onsite and it makes me want to keep the whole 3 night booking there. However, we'd be back in one room so I'm now just steering clear from readying that board

 

[battymum]

I think if you are US citizen car rental is super cheap - they dont need to get the insurances we do as they are covered with their existing policy (makes sense, insure the driver, not the car)

Although I only looked at vans, it was going to be $156 for the one day. (This was when were going to go to KSC on return from the cruise)

A Mears van for five is about $120 from Port to MCO - We havent booked our flight yet, but was looking at something around 12:30 so I thought the best option would be to do the express departure off the ship, carrying our own bags and have a car waiting for us.

and yes, I am looking forward to staying at Hard Rock Hotel - even though my boys who will be two weeks short of 14 will have to share a bed, (they are twins, they shared a womb!) I hope we have some time to enjoy it - I actually upgraded to a club room - it was sort of like "what the hey, its only money" but I am sure we will get our moneys worth with breakfast and evening snacks and drinks. I am thinking of buying an annual pass to get the room a bit cheaper, but will have to do the math when annual passholder rates come out.