Last Minute Cruise ... Never Done Before :)

[cncDisney4]

Okay, normally when I plan ANYTHING Disney I start atleast 11 months out (yes, I am a DVC member hence the 11 months out). My DH and I are just really in the mood to go on a cruise on the Dream. We have one scheduled already in April on the Fantasy.

My questions:
1) We have never cruised in October and are worried about hurricanes. The cruise I am looking at is October 24th. Do you like cruising in October?
2) We would be driving and I've already checked all the DVC resorts ... no availability for one night. So my question is what is a good hotel to stay at near the port. I read there are hotels that participate in the parking voucher program which gives 40% off total parking fee. Recommendation for any of those.
3) Is there any covered parking available. When I looked on the website it didn't show covered/non-covered pricing.

Sorry for all the questions, but this is a big decision to make at the last minute. I know it is still a month away, but for us this is LAST MINUTE.

Thanks in advance y'all!

 

[dcassetta]

Okay, normally when I plan ANYTHING Disney I start atleast 11 months out (yes, I am a DVC member hence the 11 months out). My DH and I are just really in the mood to go on a cruise on the Dream. We have one scheduled already in April on the Fantasy.

My questions:
1) We have never cruised in October and are worried about hurricanes. The cruise I am looking at is October 24th. Do you like cruising in October?
2) We would be driving and I've already checked all the DVC resorts ... no availability for one night. So my question is what is a good hotel to stay at near the port. I read there are hotels that participate in the parking voucher program which gives 40% off total parking fee. Recommendation for any of those.
3) Is there any covered parking available. When I looked on the website it didn't show covered/non-covered pricing.

Sorry for all the questions, but this is a big decision to make at the last minute. I know it is still a month away, but for us this is LAST MINUTE.

Thanks in advance y'all!

1. Hurricanes are possible, but they are rare. I like October because the water and air temperatures are still warm, but not so brutally hot like they are in the summer. Also, cruises rates tend to be lower.
2. Link to hotels https://www.portcanaveral.com/PortCanaveral/media/Cruise-Assets/Parking-Voucher-Program_3.pdf
3. The vast majority of parking at the cruise terminal is covered. I recommend choosing the third floor so that you can take the sky bridge over to the terminal itself.

 

[Bishoparc]

3) Is there any covered parking available. When I looked on the website it didn't show covered/non-covered pricing.

The majority of the parking is a parking garage. There is a "preferred" parking lot that is available a little bit closer to the terminal but it is not covered. (When I say a little bit, I literally mean a little bit as in 100 feet.) Most everyone uses the parking garage, there is a covered walkway that crosses the road in front of the terminal building from the garage to the terminal. Pricing for the garage is here - https://www.portcanaveral.com/Cruise/Directions-Parking. The preferred lot is about $5 more per night.

1) We have never cruised in October and are worried about hurricanes. The cruise I am looking at is October 24th. Do you like cruising in October?

There's no way to tell whether or not you're going to be impacted with a hurricane or weather. July on through November are prone for pop up thunderstorms and hurricanes. We've cruised in September twice, last year our first night was very stormy with 62MPH winds so the ship moved around a little more but was by no means uncomfortable. This one we just got off of Friday, we had some showers when we boarded which caused us to have to have the Sailing Away party inside the lobby atrium instead but other than that the weather was perfect. I was concerned about the hurricane out in the Atlantic but it stayed away. It's always a risk this time of year but it's not stopped us.

 

[cncDisney4]

Thank y'all so much for your responses. Just checking out one more thing and then I think we are going to book this! I love planning a trip long range, but really excited about it being right around the corner.

 

[mathgeek]

Enjoy it! I am also a DVC member and start planning at least 11 months out (and have a tentative 5 year plan in the back of my mind). But in May I ended up booking a 3-night Dream cruise for June (as you said - a month out, but last minute for me!), and then a week later ended up booking the 4-night right after it to make it a B2B. Loved every minute of it - partly b/c I hadn't been planning for it for so long!

 

[disneyholic family]

we sailed in october a few years ago (whenever hurricane sandy was)..

yes, we got hit by a hurricane (the aforementioned sandy)..

and yes it impacted our cruise...

would i do it all over again? YES YES YES YES YES!!!

hurricane sandy was about as bad as they get and we survived!! and we had a great time!!!

my only advice, go on the aquaduck the moment you board that ship, because it may be your only opportunity..
i didn't think of that, and by the time we decided to try it, it was closed for the rest of the cruise due to weather (duh)..

but again...even with that mighty hurricane we had a spectacular time and i'm totally jealous of you being able to just go on a cruise at the drop of a hat..
we live on the other side of the atlantic, so no way for us to just jump in the car and sailaway! i wish!!!!!

 

[cncDisney4]

Enjoy it! I am also a DVC member and start planning at least 11 months out (and have a tentative 5 year plan in the back of my mind). But in May I ended up booking a 3-night Dream cruise for June (as you said - a month out, but last minute for me!), and then a week later ended up booking the 4-night right after it to make it a B2B. Loved every minute of it - partly b/c I hadn't been planning for it for so long!

Glad to see I'm not alone in this!

 

[cncDisney4]

we sailed in october a few years ago (whenever hurricane sandy was)..

yes, we got hit by a hurricane (the aforementioned sandy)..

and yes it impacted our cruise...

would i do it all over again? YES YES YES YES YES!!!

hurricane sandy was about as bad as they get and we survived!! and we had a great time!!!

my only advice, go on the aquaduck the moment you board that ship, because it may be your only opportunity..
i didn't think of that, and by the time we decided to try it, it was closed for the rest of the cruise due to weather (duh)..

but again...even with that mighty hurricane we had a spectacular time and i'm totally jealous of you being able to just go on a cruise at the drop of a hat..
we live on the other side of the atlantic, so no way for us to just jump in the car and sailaway! i wish!!!!!

Awesome to hear that y'all had a fantastic time ... even with the weather. We are definitely looking forward to it!

 

[cncDisney4]

I have been busy ... booked the cruise and it will be finalized tomorrow. I'll start filling out paperwork then .. wow how strange is that! Already pre-paid our parking at the port since we were incredibly lucky to get a room at Saratoga Springs last night. Now I' know it was meant to be since they were all full earlier in the day! Booked our hotel reservations for driving down since it will take us two days to get there.

We are on the Dream for the first time ... does it leave from the same terminal as the Fantasy? We have only been on the Fantasy. I know we will have a later boarding time since we just booked it. I'm used to getting there early, but I'll just be happy with whatever time we get (especially since we'll probably get there a bit earlier than we need to be).

Happy sailing everyone!
Cheryl

 

[mathgeek]

Now I' know it was meant to be since they were all full earlier in the day!

We are on the Dream for the first time ... does it leave from the same terminal as the Fantasy? We have only been on the Fantasy.

It's funny how those little things take on so much meaning - I knew my last minute cruises were meant to be b/c my favorite stateroom was still available for both of them!

The Dream and Fantasy both leave from the same terminal. I feel like I've spent most of my cruising time on the Dream - 4 out my 8 cruises have been on the Dream. Have fun!

 

[Disney_Princess83]

We cruised from October 25th in 2013. It was wonderful weather, very warm and humid. We were very uncomfortable on Castaway and returned to the ship by midday. All cruises in October are Halloween themed. It's not that intrusive, aside from decorations and character meet and greets.

Have a great cruise!

 

[hubbard53]

we've only cruised later in the year not b/c it's cheaper but b/c it just works better for us - we do a hot, sunny, beach vacation each spring break so we cruise later later to enjoy the festivities whether it's halloween or christmas. We've only been impacted once (The Fantasy Hurricane Sandy Adventure) but as others said, we survived.

 

[andrews_dad]

Booked my last cruise 3 days before departure. A Halloween one last year. They said they would overnight the luggage tags and cruise docs, but they arrived at my house after we had left for the cruise docks. Was not a big deal as I had done everything online.

Some minor bumps in the road. I had no assigned stateroom at all. When they took my luggage they assigned me a room and put my color coded luggage tags on. When we made it to the counter inside the terminal, that room had been assigned to another family. Ended up getting a veranda as it was the only rooms left, even though I booked an inside gty. Boom! But, my luggage was lost on the ship for the better part of the first day. I knocked on the door of the first room assigned. That family had it taken away knowing it was not theirs. A few staff members helped to look all over in different areas. I ended up walking the ship floor by floor near dinner time and found it parked outside of some rooms on a completely different floor.

Didn't have time to book all the excursions on my own as I usually do, but that was OK.

Had late seating for the first day, until the head waiter guy was able to find a family that was not eating in the dining rooms for the duration of the cruise and we took their seats on first seating.

 

[jrabbit]

Thank y'all so much for your responses. Just checking out one more thing and then I think we are going to book this! I love planning a trip long range, but really excited about it being right around the corner.

BEST .... CRUISE .... EVER

No worrying, over planning and WAITING (FORever!!) You might really like cruising this way without overthinking the entire process (like I do)

 

[linzjane88]

Just curious, is there a perk to waiting until the last minute to book? I know other lines will drop super cheap to fill the empty rooms, does Disney do this?

I've never cruised before but I would love to try one.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Just curious, is there a perk to waiting until the last minute to book? I know other lines will drop super cheap to fill the empty rooms, does Disney do this?

I've never cruised before but I would love to try one.

DCL sometimes offers what they call restricted fares for those cruises that they deem as not selling well. While the price for these bookings is generally lower than the prevailing price for the same category room, it's usually not lower than the original price for that category on the release day for that cruise.

And there are several restrictions. Among them - you must pay in full at booking; no name changes; and you can only select a type of room (Interior, Oceanview, or Verandah), no requests for specific categories or locations. And absolutely no refunds.

 

[linzjane88]

DCL sometimes offers what they call restricted fares for those cruises that they deem as not selling well. While the price for these bookings is generally lower than the prevailing price for the same category room, it's usually not lower than the original price for that category on the release day for that cruise.

And there are several restrictions. Among them - you must pay in full at booking; no name changes; and you can only select a type of room (Interior, Oceanview, or Verandah), no requests for specific categories or locations. And absolutely no refunds.

Thanks for the info. Being a WDW vet is of no help when you start getting into the world of cruising. Nothing translates!