Marriott Hotel Rec for night before

[eyenerd]

Our family is going to stay the night before our Eastern Fantasy cruise in Jan and we have a free night at any Marriott. My kids are 4 and 2.

I would love input on where to stay (there are so many Marriotts). We hope to fly in early on Friday so we will have a good portion of the day left. We don't want to pay any money for park passes etc. However, i wouldn't mind walking around DTD or something that was close by.

I don't know how we are going to get to the terminal yet. I will figure that out once i see the options to stay at.

Thanks for any suggestions or input!!!

 

[Pooh93]

I also have a free night's stay and we are actually staying and have stayed previously the night before our cruise at the Courtyard by Marriott in Cocoa Beach...the 3435 North Atlantic Ave address. It is about 6 miles from Port, but there is a Travelynx service that will shuttle you for $6/pp rt. There is beach access and walking distance to restaurants, shops like Ron Jon surf shop.

We normally use Tiffany Towcar service to get us from Orlando Airport to there.

Hope that helps.

 

[OKW Lover]

Like Pooh93 above, we've used the Courtyard before a DCL cruise (twice) and were very happy with their service.

We had booked a park and sail package that included transfers to the port and allowed us to leave our rental car there while gone. Since you're using a free stay coupon the park and sail package may not be an option for you. It probably wouldn't work anyway since you have to figure out how to get from the airport to the port the day before.

You may want to rent a car for one day, picking it up at MCO and returning it at the port. Several of the major car rental companies have facilities nearby and will shuttle you to the port when you drop off your car the morning of the cruise.

 

[SailingScout]

We used a free night to stay at the Residence Inn in Cocoa Beach. There were a lot of other cruise families there, so the atmosphere was perfect. They are right next door to a Hertz, so we dropped our car off and hopped on the shuttle with no hassle (which was perfect because we had a baby). Have fun!

 

[magrudersmakes3]

We also like the residence inn. We will be staying there for our next 2 cruises. We rent a car and leave it at the park-n-cruise next to the terminal.

 

[eyenerd]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I will definitely have to check out that Marriott.

What do you guys do the day you arrive? Do you just chill by the pool? Go into the town? Space Center?

 

[OKW Lover]

We usually just relax in the room or the hotel bar.

 

[Pooh93]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I will definitely have to check out that Marriott.

What do you guys do the day you arrive? Do you just chill by the pool? Go into the town? Space Center?

We fly in early and I am hoping to be on the beach by 10:30 am! We will hang out there and by the pool and then towards evening walk some place to eat and then browse through some of the shops and then come back and hang around the hotel and chill til the next morning when it is time to head to port.

 

[hoff41]

We stayed at the Airport Renaissance after we flew in the night before. Free shuttle back and forth from the airport. We were able to get a crib for our daughter, and it was a nice room for one night. Because of my status we also got breakfast the next morning in the main restaurant.

Next morning we went back to the airport with the free shuttle and took the Disney Transfer to port.

Hope this helps!

 

[ldymcbth]

We used Marriott points for our hotel night before the cruise, and actually stayed in Celebration at the Bohemian Hotel (it's a Marriott). What a neat hotel! The kids had fun looking at all the wildlife (alligators! turtles!) and it was so close to DTD that we went there for dinner and to walk around. The room was very nice as well. We did not use the pool but it looked fantastic!