Concierge sailing and transportation to port

[CoCoMo]

I have a question about sailing concierge and transportation to the port. One of the benefits of staying concierge that appealed to me was having priority boarding for our 3 night cruise. So with that said, we are arriving in Orlando about 10 pm the night before and staying at a hotel near the airport (not the Hyatt, using points at a Hilton). What would the best means of transportation be and what time do I want to arrive at the port to take advantage of our priority boarding? I did get a quote from a transfer service and they said they can't even guarantee we would leave Orlando until 10-10:30 which seems late to me. Renting a car is our last choice. Not sure if it would be worth while to go back to the airport and take Disney's port transfers? I've heard they leave 9-9:30?? Thanks for your input, the information is greatly appreciated!

 

[lanejudy]

Passengers arriving on the first DCL bus from MCO are most likely to be the first allowed into the terminal at the port. So returning to MCO and taking DCL transfers is definitely a good option for early arrival. If your hotel offers an airport shuttle, it should be no problem and no extra cost for you to return to MCO, but you would need to schlep your bags back and forth.

Private car service is another option. Depending on your party size it may cost less than DCL transfers. You should be able to indicate pick-up time, possibly a stop en-route (grocery store, liquor store, etc.) and arrive in time for concierge boarding. In the past boarding has begun around 11:45am, with the port officially opening at 11:00am (often opening the doors earlier). However, now with the new 10:30-10:45am earliest PATs presumably the port will be open at 10:30am but not sure if boarding will start any earlier. Possibly that new terminal opening has not made it's way to the private car services yet as it's quite new (about a week ago).

Third option, which could be your most economical but might be more hassle for you, is a car rental.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[bumbershoot]

In your shoes I would either:

*rent a car to be returned at the Port. But that involves taking the car to the rental place and shuttling back to the ship, which doesn't seem all that fun to me.

*hire a car service with an actual pickup time early enough to get you to the port when you can enter the building.

*get yourself back to MCO and take the DCL transfers...they start leaving around 9. Those are $35 per person each way, so they aren't budget, but the bus was pretty neat.



Oh, and our first Disney cruise was in concierge, and we took the DCL buses from our WDW resort...those didn't even leave until nearing noon, which was immensely frustrating for us!

 

[Weedy]

At this time they do not start boarding the ship until 11:30-11:45. If the car service can pick you up by 10:00 you will be at the port by 10:45-11:00.

Concierge has a special check in and waiting area. So once you have checked in you will still have about 30 minutes to spare.

The only thing that might change Disney has just changed the earliest port arrival time (PAT) from 11:00 to 10:30. So it remains to be seen if they will start boarding the ship earlier. No one has reported back since this started.

You may want to try a few other car services if you want to go that route or as you said go back to the airport and take the Disney shuttle.

 

[KLK622]

I have a question about sailing concierge and transportation to the port. One of the benefits of staying concierge that appealed to me was having priority boarding for our 3 night cruise. So with that said, we are arriving in Orlando about 10 pm the night before and staying at a hotel near the airport (not the Hyatt, using points at a Hilton). What would the best means of transportation be and what time do I want to arrive at the port to take advantage of our priority boarding? I did get a quote from a transfer service and they said they can't even guarantee we would leave Orlando until 10-10:30 which seems late to me. Renting a car is our last choice. Not sure if it would be worth while to go back to the airport and take Disney's port transfers? I've heard they leave 9-9:30?? Thanks for your input, the information is greatly appreciated!

Our car service gave us an early pick up time from WDW to get us to the port by 11 am, but then was late. I spoke with the driver and he said they usually do pick ups from the cruise ships and then they pick up people going back to the cruise ships after. I would guess most transport companies operate this way and that might be the reason for your later pick up time. That said, we were concierge also and we arrived at the terminal around 11:30 and we were on the ship at noon so even if you do decide to go with the private transport I would still think you will be on the ship pretty close to boarding time.

 

[DisneyHelen]

We hired a private car to Port and were there in plenty of time for concierge boarding.

 

[Pumpkin meme]

Speaking of Dcl transfers, we are concierge on the dream and staying at BWV the week before....does anyone know what time the bus leaves from boardwalk?? I have tried looking for times from resorts but can't seem to find any info. TIA

 

[bumbershoot]

Speaking of Dcl transfers, we are concierge on the dream and staying at BWV the week before....does anyone know what time the bus leaves from boardwalk?? I have tried looking for times from resorts but can't seem to find any info. TIA

Just assume you will leave bw around noon and be there about 1.

Out next dcl cruise will be concierge. We will not be taking dcl transport from wdw. It was very frustrating for me to get there so late (on our first dcl cruise which was also concierge) when I could have been on the ship earlier. We will go from the airport (since those buses start leaving at around 9) or take a differentiate of transportation.