hi.. ok so I am really confused and my travel agent doesn;t have all the information I need. She told me that transfers were included in the price to and from the airport... but we are going to fly in the night before and proably stay in Orlando or does anyone recommend staying closer , so how do we get from the hotel to the port? and coming home we have a 12:30 flight, so how do we get from the port back to the airport.. i am so confused so any help would be appreciated.
thanks!
I think (don’t quote me since their site is down I cant double check) that you can check to see if you have
DCL transfers included in your reservation on the DCL website if you look up your reservation details. If you have a paper copy of the DCL reservation it should say near the bottom “transfers” and tell if they were accepted our declined. Even with having an agent, you may be able to give DCL a call and just let them know you are having trouble getting the info from your agent and just wanted to confirm if you have transfers included or not.
You can always add them to the reservation if they are not on there, you would have to catch the bus the following morning at the Airport or a Disney Hotel. You also have the option to cancel them if you want up to a certain date. We personally choose to use a car service to get us around when we don’t want to rent a car or dont have MILs vehicle.
Looks like there are about 6 of you in the party so that would be $414 to have the DCL bus transfers roundtrip.
As an example for other options: We are having a suburban transfer us from MCO to Port then Port to Disney then Disney to Port for less then that price above, including tip.
If you want me to check with our driver to see if they have a partner to recommend to you, I will be happy to… Just let me know.
You may want to check out the HappyLimo.com site to get an idea on base pricing for different options from the airport area to port and back again. Looks like a Suburban would be $265 roundtrip plus tip and whatever tolls they charge or a stretch limo would be $330 Roundtrip plus tip and whatever tolls.
There is also TiffanyTowncar.com that gets mentioned a good bit on the boards. They look to be $384 RT with fees based on their website for a strectch limo for up to 8 people.
Always keep in mind there will be more luggage limits when in a suv/limo/van vs. a bus, though DCL may be limiting the amount of bags you can take these days too?
Now in regards of where to stay the night before… We are staying in the Hyatt right inside the airport for $135 for the night via a Stay certificate. That room holds up to 4 adults. There are also numerous hotels around the airport that have a free shuttle to the hotel and back to the airport (if you want to catch the DCL bus) and you can book with the hotel directly or via Hotwire or PriceLine to snag a better deal.
We usually stay near the port or at Disneyworld (once) the night before cruising, but this time we just decided to stay in the airport and so far are happy with the decision. You can have the car service you get pick you right up at your hotel and drive you the 50 minutes or so to port the next morning. It’s a smooth quick drive so no need to make sure you are staying by port the night before.
If you decide you want to stay by port the night before there are a bunch of hotel options some with beach access and many without. Many of the hotels now offer a shuttle service to the port in the morning and most charge a few dollars per person. I know the Radisson near the port has a free shuttle for people that stay there and there may be another hotel or two that has free shuttle.
You can have a car service drive you down there and drop you off at the hotel Friday then use a shuttle or taxi to port the next morning.
You can also rent a van at the airport and drive it to the hotel near port and then drive everyone over to the port the next morning and have one person return the rental and grab their shuttle back to port to meet up with the rest of the party. You could also keep the rental while cruising and park it at port- but there is a $15 per day charge to park.
I don’t know that there is a real good reason to stay near port vs. the airport the night before unless you have a hotel with beach access and will have time to use it or have a car to drive around the area. Oh, and I guess the biggest plus is you would be 5-10 minute drive to port the next morning vs. an hour by the airport.
I think it is a more of a toss up when deciding to stay in Disneyworld for the day before to hit up some parks if you are arriving early vs. staying by Port to be close to the ship.
For the flight home: I think a DCL bus can get you there in time for the 12:30 flight without a problem, or so I have read on the boards, if you just try to make sure to get to breakfast early the next morning then off the ship. I would feel a bit safer knowing I had a driver or a rental waiting for me at port when I step out of the terminal to shoot me over to MCO for the flight home… but that’s just me and the DCL likely would be fine for a 12:30 flight I think.
wow... just realized how much I wrote hopefully it makes some sense!
I guess all the excitement of the cruise and all the chatter on the thread I just lost track.
It sounds like your plans are really coming together nicely- and at not much of a cost out of pocket!
Just when I got the WDW FAQs down I come to 
Ok I will try to not to go overboard this time writing! 
I am with the gals in your group... not really into dressing all that fancy on Formal Night, so maybe we will see you at Palo on Sunday 
