Hotels/Port Shuttles

[tinkerbellmamma]

Any hotels suggestions for families - coming into MCO the day before the cruise out of Port Canaveral and trying to see where to stay. Our travel agent suggests taking a free airport shuttle to a "airport" hotel and then taking the free shuttle back to the airport to pick up the Royal Caribbean shuttle to the port. That just seems like a lot of back and forth or is that normal? We are just trying to avoid renting a car.

Looking to see which hotel you liked and which was close to food possibilities within walking distance to the hotel.

 

[OKW Lover]

Your TA has made a good suggestion. But there are other options to also consider.

What time will your flight be getting in? Late? In that case you'll just want to grab a hotel either at the airport itself or nearby. The Hyatt in the airport would be the easiest as there is no shuttle required. There are also many hotels nearby including all the major hotel brands. They all offer a free shuttle to/from the airport. From there you can then take the RCL transportation to the ship.

OTOH, if you are getting into MCO early in the day you could get a car service to go over to Cocoa Beach and stay at a hotel near the port. Again there are several good options there and many offer a rate that includes transportation to the ship the next morning.

 

[tinkerbellmamma]

Thanks!!

 

[Krisshay13]

We just went 2 weeks ago. Rented a car...and stayed in Cape Canaveral at Country Inn & Suites. We got a great room & could see some of the ships from our window. Hotel wasn't fancy but, was great for a night before the cruise. Also had a basic breakfast.
The hotel & car rental places are very close to the port.
There are several chain hotels around there.
personally, I would not want to swap shuttles like that. You can but, that's alot of time wasted. MCO is like 45 min away.
Have fun!!!

 

[sam_gordon]

We have done the rental car thing (rent at MCO, drive to Cape Canaveral, hotel there, w, turn car in day of cruise then shuttle to port) then one day rental after cruise (flight was following day).
We have left from Disney and had Tony Hinds (aobh607@gmail.com) pick us up at Pop, take us to the cruise, then pick us up after the cruise to take us to Daytona to catch our flight.

In July we are getting a hotel near MCO, so we'll use the hotel shuttle from the airport to the hotel, then we have arranged for Tony again to get us from that hotel to the port and from the port back to MCO after the cruise. Round trip is $210 (there are six of us).

 

[oakleycat]

We have stayed at both the Country Inn & Suites and Radisson Resort at the Port and both were great for one night with shuttle to the port the next morning. We have done Uber/Lyft, rental car dropped at port and rental car left at the hotel for a week depending on which was most cost efficient at the time and all worked out well.

 

[tinkerbellmamma]

We have stayed at both the Country Inn & Suites and Radisson Resort at the Port and both were great for one night with shuttle to the port the next morning. We have done Uber/Lyft, rental car dropped at port and rental car left at the hotel for a week depending on which was most cost efficient at the time and all worked out well.

How did you get from the airport to the hotel? and thank you

 

[tinkerbellmamma]

We just went 2 weeks ago. Rented a car...and stayed in Cape Canaveral at Country Inn & Suites. We got a great room & could see some of the ships from our window. Hotel wasn't fancy but, was great for a night before the cruise. Also had a basic breakfast.
The hotel & car rental places are very close to the port.
There are several chain hotels around there.
personally, I would not want to swap shuttles like that. You can but, that's alot of time wasted. MCO is like 45 min away.
Have fun!!!

Thank you - How did you get from the hotel to the port? Do they have a shuttle?

 

[MississippiMom]

We have some similar questions as the original poster. Rental car prices are ridiculously high in June, so a shuttle might be the way for us to get to Port Canaveral. I did notice above that a driver's name was mentioned. I guess I'll do a search for him and see what kind of services he offers.

 

[sam_gordon]

How did you get from the airport to the hotel? and thank you

Speaking pre-pandemic:

* Some (most?) hotels offered a shuttle to the pier.
* Some hotels charged for the service, some were included in the room rate (look online at the hotel site and see if they have a "cruise package")
* Some hotels you could reserve the shuttle at the time of booking.
* Some hotels you could reserve the shuttle at checkin.
* Some hotels you could be "first come, first served" the morning of the cruise.

 

[sam_gordon]

We have some similar questions as the original poster. Rental car prices are ridiculously high in June, so a shuttle might be the way for us to get to Port Canaveral. I did notice above that a driver's name was mentioned. I guess I'll do a search for him and see what kind of services he offers.

I mentioned the driver (Tony Hinds). He doesn't have a website that I can find (I think he had one when we first used him in 2016). He did great for us, and gets lots of good reviews on the boards. I think he has town car(s) and 15 passenger vans. Obviously depends on how many are in the travelling party. I suggest emailing him for a quote and the above address. If your trip is a while out, you may need to ping him again in a week or so if you haven't heard back from him.

I'm pretty sure he can supply (mulitple?) car seats if necessary.

 

[oakleycat]

How did you get from the airport to the hotel? and thank you

Took a Lyft from the airport to the hotel. I scheduled both this and the ride from hotel to port in advance through the app.

 

[LadyBeBop]

I've never done this (we've always drove to Port Canaveral), but have you ever tried goport.com? They offer transportation from MCO to a hotel (either by the airport or the port), transportation from your hotel to your ship and transportation to your ship back to MCO.

 

[Krisshay13]

Thank you - How did you get from the hotel to the port? Do they have a shuttle?

We had rented a car so, we took a shuttle from the car rental office...which was about a mile from the hotel.....and from the port. I did see the hotel had a shuttle but, I don't have any info for it.

 

[tinkerbellmamma]

Thanks for your suggestions!