Any advice? Disney Port Orleans then off to Disney cruise!

[Justin91]

This June my family and I will be a flying to Disneyworld and staying at POFQ for 5 nights. We then will be heading off to Port Canaveral for a cruise on the Fantasy. It has been three years since our first trip to Disneywold and this will be our first time on any cruise ever! I have scoured the boards and found most answers to any questions we had, however I still have a few questions about our upcoming trip.

1. Once arriving at the airport, do we have to pick up our luggage at baggage claim if we are using magic express and the luggage tags? Or do we head straight to the magic express? I can not remember from our last trip.

2. I have transfers scheduled from POFQ to Port Canaveral. Is this advisable? We would like to get on the fantasy as early as possible to explore, so I was wondering if it would be better to schedule a Mears transport instead of using Disney transportation.

Also, is there any general advice anyone can give who has done a land and cruise? Maybe something you wish others would have told you before you go?

Thanks in advance!

Justin

 

[TinkLoverSam]

1. You don't need to get your bags just head to DME and your bags will follow (unless you have not cleared customs-if necessary- at your home airport or you arrive after 10pm)

2. You can arrive much earlier at the port by arranging a private transfer or doing a one way rental to be dropped off at the port

3. It's smart you're doing the parks first as that is the go go go part or the trip and then you can relax on the cruise

Any other cruise tips will probably be found on the cruise section of the boards

 

[Justin91]

Thanks for the reply Tink!!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

1) If you are flying from a US airport and arrive before 10 pm (unless the time changed), they will transfer your bags for you if you put the big yellow tags on them. If you arrive after 10, you need to claim them yourself.
2) The cruise transfers are certainly very convenient (checked baggage transfers) and have that added Disney touch (bus with porthole windows, etc.), but if you have more than two people, you are often better just renting a car or having a town car pick you up, especially if you want to get on board early; Disney transfers usually don't arrive to port until about one or so. Also, you don't find out your pick up time until the night before, which I found a bit stressful.

A land and sea vacation is definitely a great time! Enjoy!

 

[Justin91]

Thanks my little buttercup! We are a party of 3, will we actually be gaining anything by arriving early?

 

[TinkLoverSam]

It lets you sign up for onboard activities like tastings, A&E m&gs and have a more relaxing lunch (we prefer the sit down restaurant to cabanas it's a little more relaxing) and have more pool and exploration time before muster drill

 

[Praying Colonel]

We've done 2 DCL cruises and used DCL transfers from WDW both times (once from POFQ). Both times we left WDW around noon and arrived around 1:30-1:45. So it's nice to be in the Disney bubble the whole way and it's nice to have someone else managing your luggage from your hotel room to your stateroom, but you lose some ship time. You have to decide which is more important to you.

 

[Justin91]

Thanks everyone for the advice, we have a little bit of decision making to do.

 

[richmo]

It is nice getting on the ship a little early, having a nice lunch and exploring a bit before it gets more crowded. The kids and I, for example, liked playing a little basketball on the top deck after lunch.

What we wound up doing in a similar situation was skipping Magic Express altogether and renting a car for the entire trip, including the cruise. While in some ways that sounds like it doesn't make sense, it actually worked out cost-wise for us and had a couple nice side benefits. For one, renting the car for a MCO to MCO rental was less than picking one up at WDW, driving to Port Canaveral, then doing the reverse (or just to MCO) at the end of the cruise. Because we were at WDW just 3 nights and 4 nights on the cruise, we fit nicely into car rental weekly rates, so that may have helped. That might not work out for you since you have 5 nights at WDW. Since we had the car, we could get to the port whenever we wanted, so pretty early on the ship. Another nice thing of having the car, is that we could leave some of our stuff (i.e., dirty laundry) in the car and not bring it on the ship. With 3 of you in the stateroom, its nice having a little extra space. Another nice perk was that on departure day, we were off the ship about 9 in the morning and our flight wasn't until 7:30 at night. We went back to Disney property, hung around what was then Downtown Disney, had some lunch and played some miniature golf before heading back to MCO. You're also close to NASA at Port Canaveral, so that's another thing you can do if you have time to kill.

If you're looking at doing something like this from a $ perspective, check out rental car rates MCO to MCO for the entire trip, but add in gas, tolls, parking at the port...then check out two one way rentals...and also check out the transfer route - one from WDW to PC and PC to MCO. Your results can vary depending upon car rental rates and all that. For us the car rental worked out great, but it might not for you. Just another option to consider...

 

[Justin91]

Thanks for the info Richmo! I am not sure renting a car is for us this trip.

I think we may consider getting Mears transportation to Port Canaveral from POFQ the morning of the cruise. It would be nice to get on the Fantasy a little early to explore and maybe swim and eat while we are waiting for our room. Does anyone recommend Mears, or is there another company who would have good service?

Thanks again!