DCL transport day before the cruise

[Choppygirl]

We have our first sailing booked for the Wish staying concierge. We will be staying on Disney property as we have DVC. Does the DCL bus service get you to port in time to enjoy early entry to the ship or are we better off travelling to Port Canaveral the day before and staying nearby?

Could we use Disney transport the day before the cruise or only on the day of sailing?

I want to take full advantage of the concierge benefits and don’t want to get to the port late. Can you still skip the line if you arrive later or do you have to queue with everyone else?

 

[erionm]

There is DCL Ground Transportation available from the WDW Resorts to Port Canaveral. The buses leave (I believe) around 9 am the morning of. At PC, Concierge Leve has it's own dedicated check in line and you are automatically assigned boarding group 1. Once boarding begins, you can board the ship at anytime once your boarding group has been called.

 

[lanejudy]

Above is correct. As a note, boarding doesn't typically begin until about 11:15/11:30ish. So arriving any earlier just means waiting in the terminal.

And just to add -- no you cannot take DCL transfers the day prior to your cruise. Only on embarkation day.

 

[jimmymc]

DCL transportation from the resorts usually gets you there before boarding groups are called. Once you arrive, regardless of the time, concierge gets an exclusive check-in line and boarding group 1. I believe the embarkation day lunch goes until 1, so you would almost definitely have time to enjoy it by taking DCL transportation the day of.

 

[mmouse37]

We recently sailed on the Treasure (January 11th) and our DCL transfers were delayed until 10:00 am due to a Run Disney event (many roads within WDW were closed). I only mention this because even with not leaving Coronado Springs until 10:00 we still arrived at the port before boarding began. This, of course, was an isolated incident due to the Run Disney event so if your transfer leaves its regular time you should be at the port well before boarding begins. I was worried as we are Pearl and had boarding group #2 so I wanted to be there before boarding began.

MJ

 

[Choppygirl]

Great thank you. I was worried we would arrive when everyone else was boarding and be at the back of the queue!