Parking at port vs. taking free shuttle - which is easier?

[dunnhorn]

Hi DISboarders...

We are going on a 4 day cruise in May. We are driving down, so we will have a car. We are trying to decide on our Saturday night plans. We have developer points to burn, so we are trying to decide whether it would be EASIER to (a) stay at Saratoga Saturday night and drive to the port and park there and get in early, or (b) stay at the Radisson ($130) and have free breakfast and take the free shuttle over.

If we used the shuttle, we'd save $40 - but is it really easier? I'm envisioning getting off the ship, standing in line for the shuttle, waiting for the shuttle, shlepping luggage onto the shuttle, taking the shuttle back to the Rad, then shlepping luggage off the shuttle and walking it to our car - wouldn't it just be easier to park at the port?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[poohj80]

We went through the same dilemma for our cruise last week and opted to park at the port. Our biggest concern was having to wait around for a Shuttle when we got off the ship especially if lots of other people were using it since enetrtaining oru 3yr old may not have been easy while keep tabs of all the luggage. We were glad we made this decision as it was SO easy when we disembarked. We came down the escalator where a luggage assistant followed us to get our luggage, then followed us to our vehicle and loaded it for us. A $10 tip later, we were on our way.

 

[kcashner]

When we got off the ship in Feb. we watched the Radisson shuttle drive off as we walked over to it. Another one showed up less than 10 minutes later.

$130 for the Radisson sounds high. Check the Quality Suites (same owner). You'll still park at the Radisson and ride their shuttle.

The shuttle is not a huge inconvenience. It is a minor inconvenience, and will take a few extra minutes on the way home. Only you can decide how much savings it takes to make up for this. The carrying your bags to the shuttle is totally the same as taking them to your car. You can do it or you can get a porter to help (we stick to one rolling case per person, so we do it ourselves.) At the Radisson, the driver took us all the way to our car so no real luggage issues.

 

[lbgraves]

We prefer to park at the port. The porters are wonderful and have always packed our luggage into the back of the van while we got the kids buckled up and ready to head out on the road for home. It is well worth the $20 tip [$2 per bag]. The porter has always insisted on taking our carryons as well even though we always have at least 8 suitcases so that we could focus on the kids, especially when heading out into the parking lot.