Hotels near port with shuttle service

[candeeapril]

We are thinking of staying at a hotel in cape canaveral area the night before our cruise. Do any of the local hotels offer shuttle service to the port. We were going to rent a van one way from mco to Cape Canaveral, but I thought we could return it and take a shuttle to the port. Thanks

 

[Calantha]

We stayed at the Homewood Suites at Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach. The shuttle to the port in the morning was $5/person and left at like 2 or 3 different times. I think there might be others that do it too.

 

[auntlynne]

depending on your airport arrival /car pickup time, you could keep the car overnight at the hotel and use rental company to transport you to the port. I haven’t been there for a few years, but both Hertz and Avis offered free shuttles.

you can even drop off the family and luggage with the rental and meet them in the terminal after car return.

 

[KVH]

The Radisson has a free shuttle.

 

[4forWDW]

We decided to Uber from SFB to a hotel at Cocoa Beach. It was a Best Western and we paid appx $7 for the shuttle for each of us and they offered different pick up times. Since you mentioned renting a van, you might have to get two Ubers. I thought that was easier than picking up a rental at the airport and then returning it to the rental office at the cape the next morning. Just a thought and enjoy your cruise

 

[lanejudy]

We were going to rent a van one way from mco to Cape Canaveral, but I thought we could return it and take a shuttle to the port.

If you mean return the rental van in PC, the car rentals all have free shuttles. You can return the car rental in the morning and shuttle to the port.

 

[lovedisneycruise]

Not to be a naysayer, but I want to throw my experience out there. After reading this suggestion on these boards for many years, about five years ago we tried exactly this. We stayed at the Marriott closest to the port, and returned our rental car about a half mile away from our hotel at around 10 am. It was mass chaos at the car rental place – we were forced to wait almost 1-1/2+ hours outside in a long line in the heat for a shuttle to come and take us to the port, and I vowed we would never do it again and we haven’t.
I don’t know if this is an anomaly, because I read about this recommendation all the time but I wanted to share our experience In case it helps. In theory it sounds great, but in practice for us it was awful. We've stayed at Disney World and taken their shuttle since then.

 

[pjacobi]

I've stayed at the beach on the night before the cruise, but there was no time to enjoy *anything* at the beach because we got in late and wanted to get to the ship as soon as possible the next morning.

The next trip, we found it easier to simply stay at the Orlando airport hotel for the night.

If you can stay TWO nights before the cruise, it might be worth it to stay at the breach.


-Paul

 

[Mitura]

We have stayed at the Coco Beach Country Inn and Suites. We have been hit or miss with them. The hotel has a sail and park package.

What we have found greater success with is staying there, and parking at the port for the week. But we drive to CC from Pa. So we have a car and are not renting one.

 

[candeeapril]

depending on your airport arrival /car pickup time, you could keep the car overnight at the hotel and use rental company to transport you to the port. I haven’t been there for a few years, but both Hertz and Avis offered free shuttles.

you can even drop off the family and luggage with the rental and meet them in the terminal after car return.

We have done that before, but this time we are a party of seven. I guess it would make more sense to have him drop us off with luggage. We could wait inside and get pictures with characters while we wait

 

[belle032]

We stayed with a large group at the Radisson Resort at the Port. Large hotel, fantastic pool area and they offered a shuttle the next morning, which you could sign up for. If you didn't want to wait for a shuttle, Uber would be a very easy option.

We also used Happy Hour shuttle to get us there from MCO the night before. Definitely recommend. Would use them again!

 

[candeeapril]

We stayed with a large group at the Radisson Resort at the Port. Large hotel, fantastic pool area and they offered a shuttle the next morning, which you could sign up for. If you didn't want to wait for a shuttle, Uber would be a very easy option.

We also used Happy Hour shuttle to get us there from MCO the night before. Definitely recommend. Would use them again!

can you do a stop with happy hour shuttle so we can get water, wine, etc?

 

[ajo]

We have done that before, but this time we are a party of seven. I guess it would make more sense to have him drop us off with luggage. We could wait inside and get pictures with characters while we wait

We had a group with three families and stayed for two nights in Cocoa Beach. We had 3 cars and each one dropped off the family at the port, had the driver return the cars, and then took the rental shuttle back to the port. Worked great.

 

[belle032]

can you do a stop with happy hour shuttle so we can get water, wine, etc?

I don’t know for sure but that’s definitely something to ask!

 

[Spiffy MacSpiff]

We stayed with a large group at the Radisson Resort at the Port. Large hotel, fantastic pool area and they offered a shuttle the next morning, which you could sign up for. If you didn't want to wait for a shuttle, Uber would be a very easy option.

We also used Happy Hour shuttle to get us there from MCO the night before. Definitely recommend. Would use them again!

One word of caution: Our last experience at the Radisson wasn't very family-friendly. This is just my own experience and it may have been bad timing on our part, but the place was packed out with liquored up booze cruisers. The pool area was crowded with mostly adults. There was a lot of profanity and a lot of skin on display (we didn't mind about the skin, but other people might), and one drunk guy nearby with a pornographic tattoo across his chest that had me not knowing where to look... and we're not prudes. I'm not talking about a tasteful nude here that would only have the pearl-clutchers gasping; I'm talking hardcore fetish stuff that most people wouldn't want their young children to see. If we were single twenty-somethings, or if we were traveling without our children, the adult party vibe might have been fun -- Mr. MacSpiff and I were joking that somewhere in PC there was a ship that was going to have a lot of incredibly hungover people boarding the next day -- but with our kids in tow it just felt wrong. We haven't been back, we stay closer to the port now.

That said, YMMV. It's been a few years and we may just have had bad luck. The Radisson is a big, attractive place and the pool area IS incredible. Our suite was very nice, and clean, the grounds were well-kept, and the staff was super-friendly and helpful. Now that our kids are older I might be willing to give it another try the next time we sail out of PC.