DCL transport to the port, worth it for the experience?

[SL6827]

I am now rethinking taking the DCL bus from Disney to the port with our cruise. With it being what $40 a head, it will be more of an expense, but would it be worth it? The experience of the DCL bus just going to the port? Pros, cons?

 

[soniam]

It's just an OK experience. I wouldn't do it if it cost more. How else would you get to the port? There's a decent amount of waiting around that could be better spent. The buses are shared with other hotels, so you have to wait for it to arrive and then wait at all of the other hotels.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I am now rethinking taking the DCL bus from Disney to the port with our cruise. With it being what $40 a head, it will be more of an expense, but would it be worth it? The experience of the DCL bus just going to the port? Pros, cons?

If it’s your first cruise, I highly recommend it. It really added to the experience for us. We did it our first 2 cruises and haven’t since then.

 

[jdb in AZ]

I am now rethinking taking the DCL bus from Disney to the port with our cruise. With it being what $40 a head, it will be more of an expense, but would it be worth it? The experience of the DCL bus just going to the port? Pros, cons?

How many people are in your group, and ages of the kids? The bus is o.k. and they play a DCL video, but it's still a bus. with windows that look like port holes on a ship. Personally, I had more fun arriving in a limo.

 

[SL6827]

Kids are grown and teens. Third cruise. What time does the DCL bus generally arrive at the port?

 

[jdb in AZ]

Kids are grown and teens. Third cruise. What time does the DCL bus generally arrive at the port?

It varies according to how many hotels it has to stop at and pick up people. Some buses don't get to the port til 1:30. Some passengers are fine with that because there won't be any check-in lines by then and your room will be ready -- no waiting to drop off your carry-on luggage. Other passengers want to be the first ones to board so they wait (and wait) at the terminal then haul their carry-ons into lunch, or to the pool.

 

[SL6827]

I am kinda getting the feeling the DCL transfers would just be easier even though I might could come out better elsewhere, I am not real sure how much better. A lot of places will only allow one bag per person and I know our group of 5, maybe 6 will have 7-8 bags. And I really would want to be there sooner than 1:30 for lunch. Well I have plenty of time to figure this out.

 

[tankin]

@SL6827 Our family has 5 in it and our general rule of thumb is to get a private transfer to the ship (every company I've ever used asks for people and bags to set the size of the vehicle ... some of them will tow a luggage trailer if needed) and use DCL from ship to airport so we can check our bags in on the ship. Private transfers have always been cheaper than DCL.

 

[MomOTwins]

We did a private transfer for the first time on our most recent trip and I realized the resort-to-port bus was something I much preferred. For the bus, I liked the videos to get me excited for the cruise, liked the baggage pickup in my room, liked avoiding the crowd in the terminal by arriving a bit later (gosh that crowd was insane, and downright dangerous; nowhere to sit so my kids sat on the floor and we saw one kid get stepped on and another hit with luggage, and when our group was called we could hardly move through the crowd to get there). It was nice to get to Cabanas earlier, but not nice enough to outweigh the minuses.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Depending on how many in your group and length of cruise, renting a car and parking at the port could be a less expensive and much more flexible option. I do like riding on the bus, but if I want to go anywhere after I get off (or before the cruise) I like having the car. We tend to like to have lunch at AKL before we fly out so it works for us. But the LESS people you have the more economical the transport is.

 

[Cruise Diva]

We are platinum Disney cruisers and we enjoy taking the bus from the airport to the port. It is as if your cruise experience starts as soon as you board the bus and we like to enjoy every minute of it.

 

[MrMichaelJames]

We are going on our first cruise and coming from Art of Animation to the port so we signed up for the bus. My kids like riding the bus from airport to resort so figured they would like it from resort to port. It is expensive though.

 

[mevelandry]

I am now rethinking taking the DCL bus from Disney to the port with our cruise. With it being what $40 a head, it will be more of an expense, but would it be worth it? The experience of the DCL bus just going to the port? Pros, cons?

Yes and no. I've done both. We decided that the little video presentation and the nice colors on the exterior of the bus were not worth paying double the price of a shuttle (with let's say, Go Port Canaveral) to go to and from the port.

But for a first time... Maybe.

+1 on the limo. I tried that too and it was the best experience out of the 3.

 

[DCLDVC1]

We prefer to use a car service so we can set our own schedule. We've never taken the DCL bus to the port mainly because of the late pickup times from WDW. I'd rather be on the ship enjoying myself instead of impatiently waiting for the bus at the resort. If the busses left WDW at an earlier time (9:30-10am), we'd likely use it for the convenience.

We have used DCL transportation a few times to get from the port to MCO and it worked well.

 

[DCLDVC1]

Kids are grown and teens. Third cruise. What time does the DCL bus generally arrive at the port?

Some of the people in my last cruise group weren't being picked up from their WDW resort until 1:30.

 

[Carolwoodpr]

We are a family of three and always do the Disney transfers. We now go from the airport because it gets us to the ship earlier, but the collective ahhhs when everyone sees the ship always is a highlight of the trip.

 

[SL6827]

Some of the people in my last cruise group weren't being picked up from their WDW resort until 1:30.

May think twice now.

 

[MomOTwins]

May think twice now.

That is from my understanding, the very latest pickup time. The latest DCL transportation pickup we had was I think either 11:30 or noon—I can’t recall the exact pickup time, but I do remember we had checked in and were on board the ship by 1:30pm because we were at cabanas when they made the 1:30 announcement that rooms were ready.

 

[NAB]

Well we have used DCL transportation lots of times and never got that late of a pick up time. Was always there around 1:00.

We are Platinum and go on the ship 2nd. Twice we got on the ship and had to wait 15 minutes for the restaurants to open.

So nice to get on the ship and go to your room or a less busy Cabanas for lunch after the first rush.

We have done the town car as well for 4 of us but went back to the bus, so easy.

 

[SL6827]

If this was a 7-night cruise I wouldn't fret about not getting on the ship till 1-2 pm. But it is a 4-night so I really would like to be on there no later than 12:30 and I don't want to have to spend money for lunch on that day. Good thing is I have plenty of time to research this, which I will probably need to do a lot. It just seems as though the DCL transport is the easiest way in which to go.