ADVICE needed AND what time does Cabanas close on embarkation day?

[swimfin]

Hello! TYIA as I know I posted something similar but also got MANY DIFFERENT answers in regards to Cabanas and need some clarification on that in particular ... The rest of advice needed is new to my threads! In a nut shell, this is our 2nd cruise. Last one was a 3 day Dream last June. This one is a 7 day Fantasy this June. I want to board as close to our cabins opening (1:00 or 1:30) and then go to Cabanas. Is this possible? What time does Cabanas actually close down. Also, we have 1900 Park Fare reservations at 8:05 and (if possible) also wanted to do 1 or 2 FP+ rides before heading to PC. Dropping off rental at National at PC location. Reservations at 1900 are a must but rides are a *want* ... Trying to figure out if it's too much the morning of embarkation. We are arriving on Thursday and will have only had Friday in MK so we wanted to do our favorites on Sat before leaving. We will also have Sat after the cruise to visit MK as our flight isn't until 7pm. (We have 4 Day Military Salute Hopper Passes) Advice greatly appreciated Cheers!

 

[erionm]

Cabanas will close at 3 pm on embarkation day. The staff has to get ready for the mandatory safety drill which begins at 4 pm.

 

[swimfin]

Cabanas will close at 3 pm on embarkation day. The staff has to get ready for the mandatory safety drill which begins at 4 pm.

PERFECT!!! THANK YOU!!! I had originally heard 2pm on another thread, so I'm glad I asked again!!!

 

[lanejudy]

... Trying to figure out if it's too much the morning of embarkation.

Trying to do both a character breakfast and go to a park in the morning before boarding a cruise is too much for me. I would choose one or the other, with breakfast as my preference. Unless you have APs, the ticket price is steep for that 2nd day for probably less than two hours. And the hurry-hurry to make it into the park, through the rides, and back to your car wouldn't be worth the stress (for me). That's assuming your plan to board 1-1:30ish, with the drive from WDW and time to return the rental car.

But some people wouldn't mind -- so whatever works best for your family.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[erionm]

PERFECT!!! THANK YOU!!! I had originally heard 2pm on another thread, so I'm glad I asked again!!!

Enchanted Garden typically closes at 2 on embarkation day.

 

[DizneyNutz]

PERFECT!!! THANK YOU!!! I had originally heard 2pm on another thread, so I'm glad I asked again!!!

As erionm stated it was 3pm on our March 6th 2016 cruise. Takes about an hour or little more for rental turn in and transport. You should be able to be on board by 2pm, eat and still have time to get to Muster. So enjoy a couple of Fastpasses!

 

[swimfin]

Enchanted Garden typically closes at 2 on embarkation day.

Ahhhh! I bet that's what I was confusing it with!

 

[cedricandsophie]

But the grill will be open just before and after the drill. I wouldn't try rides but I hate getting hectic. Think about timing. If you have Park Fare reservatins at 8 it will take a few min to get a table. The characters take a while to cycle thru and you don't want to miss it when they interact with each other so its likely you won't get out of park fare until at least 930 or so. If you take monorail to Mk it's unlikely you will get there much before 10. Even if you have a FP at 10 your next one won't be at least until 11. So if you're lucky you might be on road by 12. It's an hour and half to port depending on traffic. Car drop off can take a while based on how busy it is. So you might get into port and on ship by 2 or 230. Personally I would hate it but you might enjoy the excitement of running around.

On the day you arrive back assuming you are getting a car again, get off the ship as soon as possible. The line for the car is long. Also you will be hitting rush hour traffic when going back into Orlando. And remember you will want to be on the road from DW by 430 to allow time for travel, getting gas, check in and security. Avoid interstate 4 at that time of day and take the toll road. It costs money but is well worth avoiding traffic.

 

[swimfin]

Trying to do both a character breakfast and go to a park in the morning before boarding a cruise is too much for me. I would choose one or the other, with breakfast as my preference. Unless you have APs, the ticket price is steep for that 2nd day for probably less than two hours. And the hurry-hurry to make it into the park, through the rides, and back to your car wouldn't be worth the stress (for me). That's assuming your plan to board 1-1:30ish, with the drive from WDW and time to return the rental car.

But some people wouldn't mind -- so whatever works best for your family.

Enjoy your cruise!

THANK YOU! Since our passes are Military, we are paying for 4 days at once. I was trying to maximize our 4 days, but I am worried about the "rush." We were planning on leaving our car at GF and taking the monorail in to MK. Just trying to figure out what to do between breakfast and boarding at 1:00ish ... We don't want to be wandering the boat with our carry on luggage or stuck in a crowded Cabanas.

 

[swimfin]

But the grill will be open just before and after the drill. I wouldn't try rides but I hate getting hectic. Think about timing. If you have Park Fare reservatins at 8 it will take a few min to get a table. The characters take a while to cycle thru and you don't want to miss it when they interact with each other so its likely you won't get out of park fare until at least 930 or so. If you take monorail to Mk it's unlikely you will get there much before 10. Even if you have a FP at 10 your next one won't be at least until 11. So if you're lucky you might be on road by 12. It's an hour and half to port depending on traffic. Car drop off can take a while based on how busy it is. So you might get into port and on ship by 2 or 230. Personally I would hate it but you might enjoy the excitement of running around.

On the day you arrive back assuming you are getting a car again, get off the ship as soon as possible. The line for the car is long. Also you will be hitting rush hour traffic when going back into Orlando. And remember you will want to be on the road from DW by 430 to allow time for travel, getting gas, check in and security. Avoid interstate 4 at that time of day and take the toll road. It costs money but is well worth avoiding traffic.

WOW!! THANK YOU!! I am a timeline person and you just helped me a TON!!! I don't like rushing around or being hectic! I think we'll pass on MK and figure something out for the inbetween time. I also don't like *wandering* the ship with carry on so that's why we are trying to board closer to our cabins opening. They open at 1:00 or 1:30? THANK YOU too for the I-4 advice ... Will a Sat be rush hour traffic too?

 

[swimfin]

As erionm stated it was 3pm on our March 6th 2016 cruise. Takes about an hour or little more for rental turn in and transport. You should be able to be on board by 2pm, eat and still have time to get to Muster. So enjoy a couple of Fastpasses!

2pm boarding works for us too! Oh what to do?!?! Very torn right now

 

[beach baby]

I just want to add something to think about when planning your morning. You should plan for extra time getting to port. Unexpected things can happen. Once it took an more than an hour to drop off our rental and get the shuttle to port because it was very busy. My last cruise we drove from WD planning to arrive at port on the later side but there was an accident that had the entire freeway at a stop for more than an hour. I would have been panicking but there was a DCL bus behind us. The only 2 times we had challenges but they should always be part of your planning Have an awesome cruise!!!

 

[DizneyNutz]

2pm boarding works for us too! Oh what to do?!?! Very torn right now

Although I said it was doable and you seemed to WANT to do it, we would not do it. We are the type that likes to get where we are going early, just so we know we made it on time. Like others have said, unforeseen circumstances can suddenly put a lot of stress on you. We normally only have one carry on rolling style luggage and don't consider it that big of a hassle to keep up with it on the ship for a couple of hours. We have been on enough now that we aren't doing a lot of roaming when we first get on. Just signing up for beverage tastings, grabbing a bite, etc. If you are interested in doing some beverage tastings, you may want to reconsider getting on early because some of them fill up quickly. Either way you choose we hope you have a GREAT trip.

 

[swimfin]

I just want to add something to think about when planning your morning. You should plan for extra time getting to port. Unexpected things can happen. Once it took an more than an hour to drop off our rental and get the shuttle to port because it was very busy. My last cruise we drove from WD planning to arrive at port on the later side but there was an accident that had the entire freeway at a stop for more than an hour. I would have been panicking but there was a DCL bus behind us. The only 2 times we had challenges but they should always be part of your planning Have an awesome cruise!!!

Very TRUE!!! THANK YOU for the reminder

 

[swimfin]

Although I said it was doable and you seemed to WANT to do it, we would not do it. We are the type that likes to get where we are going early, just so we know we made it on time. Like others have said, unforeseen circumstances can suddenly put a lot of stress on you. We normally only have one carry on rolling style luggage and don't consider it that big of a hassle to keep up with it on the ship for a couple of hours. We have been on enough now that we aren't doing a lot of roaming when we first get on. Just signing up for beverage tastings, grabbing a bite, etc. If you are interested in doing some beverage tastings, you may want to reconsider getting on early because some of them fill up quickly. Either way you choose we hope you have a GREAT trip.

Yep! As I said, it is a *want* not a need That's why I posted for great reminders and advice as this is only #2 cruise for us. In the end, it's never worth missing the boat! We just have a lot of "down time," so maybe I'll bump our ADR up to 9:00 instead ....

 

[RedSox68]

Hello! TYIA as I know I posted something similar but also got MANY DIFFERENT answers in regards to Cabanas and need some clarification on that in particular ... The rest of advice needed is new to my threads! In a nut shell, this is our 2nd cruise. Last one was a 3 day Dream last June. This one is a 7 day Fantasy this June. I want to board as close to our cabins opening (1:00 or 1:30) and then go to Cabanas. Is this possible? What time does Cabanas actually close down. Also, we have 1900 Park Fare reservations at 8:05 and (if possible) also wanted to do 1 or 2 FP+ rides before heading to PC. Dropping off rental at National at PC location. Reservations at 1900 are a must but rides are a *want* ... Trying to figure out if it's too much the morning of embarkation. We are arriving on Thursday and will have only had Friday in MK so we wanted to do our favorites on Sat before leaving. We will also have Sat after the cruise to visit MK as our flight isn't until 7pm. (We have 4 Day Military Salute Hopper Passes) Advice greatly appreciated Cheers!

If you are going to do the character breakfast, plan on not being out before 10 a.m. Then transportation to the park and getting on the rides and getting out of the park and back to the bus, I seriously doubt you will make it to Cabanas before they close and, depending on traffic and other unforeseen circumstances, might even risk missing boarding all together. I would say stay at the resort, have the breakfast and then head right out and you should be fine. Otherwise you may be too stressed to enjoy your arrival at the ship!

[when we took the Magic from LA in 2005, we had to turn in a rental car and got lost. The rental car company wasn't clearly marked on the building and we could not find them. Several calls later and a slight accident in the garage, and a long wait for a taxi -- we made it to the ship by 3 p.m. and they were sailing at 4 p.m. We have never cut it that close and I was in such a panic I didn't calm down until the next day. Awful way to start a trip]

 

[remlap]

We normally are at the port EARLY and like to maximize are time on the ship. (Live in California) However, our last four night cruise on the Dream, we wanted to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis (we had seen it launch), so we decided our cruise vacation would still be wonderful when we got on board. We had a lovely morning at Kennedy Space Center, saw Atlantis, took the KSC bus tour and then headed to the port with a stop by a grocery store for some wine; and made it to the port when we got there.. Check is was a breeze with no lines, and walked directly onto the ship.

So, if you will be at the Grand Floridian, and have Disney Theme park tickets already paid for, I wouldn't rule out a quick visit to the MK, even if you only get on one FP ride. If you can time your FP+ well, you might even get a couple in. This is a Cruise Line blog. Of course everyone is going to say maximize your time of the ship. However, you'll have an amazing cruise even if you don't get on the boat until 2 PM.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

The 3 times we've been to 1900 Park Fare we weren't close to sitting down near our reservation times. It was at least 40 minutes after our reservation, twice at breakfast and once for dinner.

Also, how much carryon stuff will you have? Can you check it all in and just have a backpack or two? Then you can get in the ship earlier and have a nice lunch and explore a little before the rooms open.

 

[Jeannette Campos]

I wouldn't try rides but I hate getting hectic.

 

[KristiMc]

I would plan on arriving at the terminal around 12:00. By the time you checkin you will probably be walking on the ship around 12:30. Go to Cabanas and then to your room at 1:30. Limit your carry on bags so you don't have much to pull. We usually only have a small bag to pull and a backpack.