Advice Needed:Flying, Staying, Arriving...

[pewing]

Bare with me

Do you fly into MCO? Is that the closest airport?

How far to the Port from the airport?

Where do you stay if you come in the the day before?

I have read about shuttles from MCO hotels. Are those shuttles to the port?

Is it nuts to fly in the morning of?

Thanks for any help you can offer
Penny

 

[Typhoon Guy]

MCO is the closest airport to Port Canaveral. Sanford is not that mucg futher away but there are only a select airlines that fly in/out of that airport.

If you are combining your cruise with a land package at WDW there are ground tranfers you can purchase.

The worst thing is to miss your cruise due to an airline delay. I would travel the day before. That way you are not stressed from traveling to enjoy your first night on board. Disembarking the ship at the end of your cruise is the most seemless of any cruiseline. It is pretty safe to say that you will have plenty of time to get to make an afternoon flight the day of return to Port Canaveral.

I am not 100% sure about hotel shuttles (other than from Disney hotels) to the port. Hopefully someone from the site can add some best practices. I believe there is car rental lot near the port, driving from the Orlando area to Port Canaveral is very simple.

Good luck and happy sailing!

 

[ksjayhawks]

Fly in the day/night before.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Select, about 5 minutes from MCO. They had shuttles to and from the airport that run about every half hour. There is a perkins, TGIF, and a few other restaurants in walking distance as well as one in the hotel. We used our entertainment card and got a great rate.

 

[pewing]

Fly in the day/night before.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Select, about 5 minutes from MCO. They had shuttles to and from the airport that run about every half hour. There is a perkins, TGIF, and a few other restaurants in walking distance as well as one in the hotel. We used our entertainment card and got a great rate.

So...did you take the shuttle back to MCO and then take DCL transportation?

We have a little one in need of a carseat. Should we bring our own?

Entertainment card?

 

[poohssmum]

I'd suggest flying in the day before if at all possible. For our 1st cruise, we flew in the day of, and although we lucked out with smooth flights and only 1 small oops when driving out to the port (remember to stay to the right ) we arrived at the port and walked right onto the ship. The problem was that it made for a VERY long day for our kids. To say they were exhausted by dinner time was an understatement.

Last November we flew in Friday night ... late. We stayed at the Radisson by the port. Even though it was midnight before we got to the hotel, we all slept well and didn't really have to rush to the ship and we were on board by about 12:30, I think.

We are a family of 4 and found that renting a car one way and driving ourselves out the port works best for us. It's actually a bit cheaper and we're on our own time schedule. For our first cruise, my youngest was still in a car seat, so we brought ours with us from home. We just checked it at the gate for the flight and used it in the rental car. Easy-peasy

 

[brack]

Bare with me
Is it nuts to fly in the morning of?
Penny

YES!!!

 

[glindamood]

I have to agree with everyone else, fly in the night before, much less stressful. We usually rent a car, get a hotel from Priceline around the airport and then drive over in the morning. Makes it convenient to stop and pick up anything you forgot too. But, DCL does have transportation if you do not want to rent a car, you can stay at one of the airport hotels with a shuttle and just take it back to the airport in the morning.

 

[daisy112878]

We're flying into MCO the day before and renting a car from Budget. Then driving to the Marriott Courtyard in Cocoa Beach. It's near the port. Saturday morning we plan to get up take the car to Budget near the port and then take the Budget Shuttle to the port. I wouldn't fly in the day off to many things could go wrong.