Cons to Pricelining hotel at the port?

[idontknow]

I saw that the Radisson has a pretty good rate the night before we leave on our cruise in Jan. But, it is still pretty high for just one night for just a place to stay. I was wondering about priceline and port hotels. I know they will not be at the port, but in Cocoa Beach. It isn't that much farther to the port and we will have a car. I've been checking biddingfortravel and see that some of the hotels are coming up around $40, that would sure beat $80+ for a regular reservation thru the hotel. We are not really picky, so any of the hotels that would come up should be fine. I was wondering if anyone has used priceline for the night before and if they felt it was worth it.

 

[Michelemouse]

Haven't used Priceline in the Port Canaveral area but have had nothing but good luck with them in other areas.

Just one thing to keep in mind though...The Radisson offers parking for the length of your cruise at no additional cost. (You mention you will have a car.) If you stay further away I think you will find that those properties do not offer shuttle service to the terminal and you will have to pay for parking there. This is the main reason we chose the Radisson over other places.

Just something to consider.

 

[inkkognito]

We use Priceline all the time to get a night-before-the-cruise hotel near MCO. The only thing I have noticed consistently is that we usually end up in an adjoining room. However, we have never had a noise problem because of that. I absolutely love Priceline...we've gotten some great deals, including the MCO Renaissance for $28. Other than the adjoining rooms, we've never been treated any differently than the full-price customers. We did get a kind of icky property once (one of the two airport area LaQuinatas...one of them is fine, but the other one is kinda icky), but we avoid that now by bidding on a higher star level. If we were ever planning to stay near the port, I would definitely gamble on Priceline. Bid obnoxiously low, and ignore the warning message that will come up...they will say you don't have much of a change of the price being accepted, but most of the time (at least for us) it is accepted anyway.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[leslieh]

I was looking into the Radisson when i called they said the rate to leave at car for four days is 89.00 with hotel room. When you call ask for the visit florida rate, some people have gotten it for 59.00 including the parking. I ended up reserving the fairfield 535 / I-4 from downtown disney for 59.00 with tax. we needed two rooms, traveling with 6 college/high school kids so with the free breakfast i thought it was worth it. SO even when i pay 8.00 per day for parking its comes to about the same$$$. Plus we will have two cars also. I looked into priceline, i have had very good results, the only two properties in cocoa beach were the hilton, cant remember the other, still would be close to 50.00 with fees and tax but no breakfast.

 

[mcnuss]

If you are not picky then Priceline or Hotwire will work well for you. If you are picky (like me, I admit...), then you won't like not knowing what you are reserving ahead of time. I use hotels.com and expedia.com and spend a little more but it's worth it to me to make the informed choice.

 

[idontknow]

Thanks for all of your remarks on Priceline at the port. We've used PL before for our Grand Canyon vacation ealier this year and had wonderful results! Since we have only used PL for Arizona, I think I am just looking for some encouragement. Your posts really helped me decide to give PL a try and save some money for that 1 night. (we can pretty much weather any room for one night.) We will rent a car from Avis for the day that we arrive until the next day when we depart on the ship, so we will not need a place to park it while we are on the cruise. But, that is a VERY good point to make when using PL. Not all hotels will let you park there while you are on the cruise. After paying to get your car out of hock at the pier, it might be cheaper to just book a room conventionally if it includes parking. Thanks again for the encouragement!