Leaving out of Port Canaveral….

[MinnieMouse64]

We are leaving out of Port Canaveral in November. In the past we have always flew in the day before and stayed at the Hyatt at the Orlando Airport. This year my daughter and son-in-law are going with us and I am trying to help save them money since they have a baby and four year going with them. I called Disney Cruise Line today and asked about pricing. The ground transfer is $70 per person except for our grand baby that will be 9 months when we leave, he is free. So there will be 5 of us paying the $70. So I am interested in hearing what other people have done such as, rent a van, get a limo? If you have done the limo or rented a car how did you get back rent another van or limo? The price for the Hyatt will cost us $225 per room so we need 2. Is it cheaper to stay at a Disney Resort? Our flight would not get there until 6 pm. So I would LOVE to hear how everyone has done to help save money. If we rented a car we could go over to Cocoa Beach are the night before as well. We could also fly in the day of the cruise to save on hotel cost but we would have to get up and leave our house at 2 am…grrrrrr…LOL.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are leaving out of Port Canaveral in November. In the past we have always flew in the day before and stayed at the Hyatt at the Orlando Airport. This year my daughter and son-in-law are going with us and I am trying to help save them money since they have a baby and four year going with them. I called Disney Cruise Line today and asked about pricing. The ground transfer is $70 per person except for our grand baby that will be 9 months when we leave, he is free. So there will be 5 of us paying the $70. So I am interested in hearing what other people have done such as, rent a van, get a limo? If you have done the limo or rented a car how did you get back rent another van or limo? The price for the Hyatt will cost us $225 per room so we need 2. Is it cheaper to stay at a Disney Resort? Our flight would not get there until 6 pm. So I would LOVE to hear how everyone has done to help save money. If we rented a car we could go over to Cocoa Beach are the night before as well. We could also fly in the day of the cruise to save on hotel cost but we would have to get up and leave our house at 2 am…grrrrrr…LOL.

I doubt that it would be cheaper to stay at a WDW resort over the Hyatt MCO. And, getting in at 6pm, by the time you get to a WDW resort it'll probably be at least 8:00.

With the number of people you have you'd probably do best booking a private car, or, maybe, getting a rental car. You can do two one way rentals or rent and park the car at the port, you need to juggle the numbers to see which works out best.

I wouldn't suggest the red eye flight with a 9 month old. Just my experience.

 

[MinnieMouse64]

I wouldn't suggest the red eye flight with a 9 month old. Just my experience.

Heck with the 9 month old, I was thinking about this old lady…LOL

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Heck with the 9 month old, I was thinking about this old lady…LOL

Yeah, well, that too.

 

[Malestrom Troll]

We have rented a car once and will never do it again. We thought we could beat the resort transportation to the port. We waited for over two hours to get a shuttle from the rental lot to the port and missed our #2 boarding group. We got there when they were boarding #17. Needless to say it definitely got our trip off to a bad start.

 

[FigmentSpark]

You could look around for hotels near MCO that have shuttles. Don't forget if you take a rental or a limo, you may have to request and possibly rent car seats, unless your daughter is bringing some with her.

You could also look at hotels at Port Canaveral that have Fly and Cruise rates, where they will pick you up.

 

[MinnieMouse64]

Well after doing much research… we have decided to rent a Large SUV and just drive it, with 4 drivers it won't be that hatefully. Yes, it will take us around 15 hours to get there and then stay at Cocoa Beach the day before our cruise. After figuring out the flights, ground transfer, and hotels for all of us, we will save close to a $1000 by driving. That is a no brainer. But thanks for everyones input.

 

[steves100]

We have rented a car once and will never do it again. We thought we could beat the resort transportation to the port. We waited for over two hours to get a shuttle from the rental lot to the port and missed our #2 boarding group. We got there when they were boarding #17. Needless to say it definitely got our trip off to a bad start.

Who in the world did you rent with????

MOST of the big rental cars are all at the terminal! Most people would never to MCO same day and rent a car, we are talking getting in the day before....

 

[BigredNole]

Smarter idea to rent and drive in. This way you can control what you do. 4 drivers, 15 hours is not bad at all. I always drive the 10 hours myself. If it wasn't for all of the "I have to go to the bathroom!" stops, it would be easier. Some of the big SUVs come with entertainment centers to keep everyone occupied as well.

 

[Flossbolna]

Who in the world did you rent with????

MOST of the big rental cars are all at the terminal! Most people would never to MCO same day and rent a car, we are talking getting in the day before....

They were talking about the shuttle to the port.

OP, I would say if you want to save money, look at hotels in the vicinity of the airport for that first night. Lots of hotels offer free shuttles to and from the airport. A rental car would most likely be the cheapest option to get to the port. And you are right, looking at the prices for 5 people, a towncar might even be cheaper than Disney transportation.

For the rental car: you can do two oneway rentals. You can always have the driver drop off everyone else and all the luggage at the port and then return the car. On the way to the airport after the cruise, have the driver disembark earlier, go and get the rental car and then come to the port to pick up everyone else. In case there is a lack of suttles like the previous person experienced, you could always have the phone number for taxis in Port Canaveral handy and just call a taxi. There are taxis in the area, when we dropped our rental car off on our last cruise, they had a backlog with people wanting to get on the shuttle, so they even called a taxi for us and paid for it.

You can also rent the car for the whole time and just park it at the terminal. This will be more expensive than the two oneway rentals. But it will be much easier as nobody needs to go and drop of the car.

There are hotels in the Port Canaveral area as well. When I researched them, I found prices to be equivalent to the airport area hotels, but we ended staying at Vero Beach with our DVC points anyway, so I have no personal experience. I think there is a programm where some hotels offer a cheaper parking rate at the port when you stay with them and some hotels offer offsite parking, but then you have the shuttle problem again. It kind of comes down to the question if it would be better for your group to get to a hotel room as quickly as possible after the flight, or if you would prefer to have a little time in the morning before your cruise to walk along the beach.

 

[steves100]

Who in the world did you rent with????

MOST of the big rental cars are all at the terminal! Most people would never to MCO same day and rent a car, we are talking getting in the day before....

Sorry misread the post. Who did you rent w that you waited that long? Most time I ever waited was 1/2 hour, that didnt make me very happy

 

[Kimber1963]

Well after doing much research… we have decided to rent a Large SUV and just drive it, with 4 drivers it won't be that hatefully. Yes, it will take us around 15 hours to get there and then stay at Cocoa Beach the day before our cruise. After figuring out the flights, ground transfer, and hotels for all of us, we will save close to a $1000 by driving. That is a no brainer. But thanks for everyones input.

Make sure you're adding in the cost for the extra drivers. I think it runs between $10-$13 per day for each extra driver. A friend of mine hadn't figured that cost in when they decided to drive from Illinois.

 

[Malestrom Troll]

Sorry misread the post. Who did you rent w that you waited that long? Most time I ever waited was 1/2 hour, that didnt make me very happy

I don't remember for sure, I don't want to say the wrong company. There were 4 ships in port so that made it really bad. There was a line out the door of people picking up cars. For people trying to drop off cars, nobody was directing people around. The lot was filling up with cars being dropped off. People were cutting in line for the shuttle. Eventually they got shuttles from the other rental lots to pick up people at this particular lot.

 

[Donna M]

As pp stated, I too won't rent one way rentals again because of the mess at trying to get on a shuttle to get back to the rental company to pick up a car. We rent a car at the airport and park in the garage next to the ship. Easy peasy, just costs a little extra.

 

[rhinodadz]

This might also be a decent option from MCO to the Port Canaveral: http://www.mearstransportation.com/fleet/shuttle-vans/

 

[MinnieMouse64]

Smarter idea to rent and drive in. This way you can control what you do. 4 drivers, 15 hours is not bad at all. I always drive the 10 hours myself. If it wasn't for all of the "I have to go to the bathroom!" stops, it would be easier. Some of the big SUVs come with entertainment centers to keep everyone occupied as well.

Yeah, we figured it wouldn't be that bad with 4 drivers. Just hope the kids sleep most of the drive down there, since we are driving during the night.

 

[MinnieMouse64]

Make sure you're adding in the cost for the extra drivers. I think it runs between $10-$13 per day for each extra driver. A friend of mine hadn't figured that cost in when they decided to drive from Illinois.

We have never been charged for extra drivers as long as we list who they are and they are over the age of 25. Guess we have been lucky