Pre-Cruise Whatnots

[Mainsail Minnie]

We are going on our first cruise in February!! Super excited but slightly overwhelmed at the myriad of choices for pre-cruise transportation and lodging. We are flying into MCO on Saturday (2/1) for our 4 night Bahama cruise, starting on Monday (2/3). I’ve been compiling a list of transportation and hotel options, but am curious about everyone’s favorites/suggestions.

Thanks!!

When flying in the night before, we liked the airport Hyatt. You can book it via DCL, it's a very nice hotel, and in the morning you can just walk over to the transport buses to the post. You can arrange for them to get your luggage to the port if you want.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

Without reading anyone else's posts this is what we usually do. Get there a day before the cruise. Nothing worse than getting to the airport to find your plane has gone mechanical and flight is cancelled or driving and there's an accident and you are delayed. Our hotel of choice is Country Inn and Suites but be have also stayed at La Quinta Cocoa Beach because of the whole Nasa thing LOL. For Country Inn we go to Kelsey's for pizza, we detour to PC to go there even if we don't have a cruise holiday. If at La Quinta, the breakfast area isn't as big so we go next door to Ihop.
We like to rent the car to go there. You have lots of time especially getting there a day before, go shopping. Most rentals are 24 hours. You drop the family off in the morning with all the luggage, take the car back and go back to the port alone. Much easier to hop on a shuttle alone.
Coming home I recommend the bus. We have done the car rental and the bus and will probably never do a car rental again to go back. So convenient, already paid, hop off the ship and on the bus close your eyes and you are at the airport
If you have an extra day try getting a room at the Hyatt. We've had friends overlooking the concourse and we were on the outside wing, it's like a garden with lots of greenery, places to sit and the balcony was massive and in the morning for your flight you are already there.

 

[mousefan73]

If you have more than one adult in your party you are making it way harder than needed. Just have one person (sans luggage) pick up the car then bring it to the hotel to pack up. The other parent can finish getting the kids ready, etc. When you arrive at the port, drop off everyone and the luggage at the port, then have one persson (now luggage free) return the rental car.

As a tip leave the boarding papers and IDs for those staying at the terminal with them and keep your own on yourself. This way they can actually enter the terminal and wait for you in a nice air-conditioned building. On my last cruise this poor lady had dropped her family off first and it took forever to get back to the terminal from the Alamo station. The wait forever for a shuttle and the traffic back up was just crazy I believe they were outside for about an hour and a half in the sun , curbside just waiting as she had all the paperwork.

 

[mousefan73]

As @fredandkell mentioned there are many options. I’ll start more general and give the 10,000 foot view. Some of this can depend where you might be flying from/arrival times as well as personal perferences.

- Airport stay - if your flight arrives later on Saturday or you have a long travel day you could just get the Airport Hyatt or other nearby hotel. Crash that night, relax and prep on Sunday and depart fresh and ready for your cruise on Monday

- Beach day - if you want a beach day before the cruise you could just head over to the coast after arriving on Saturday. Most places have shuttles to the port. You can do the beach, space complex or have dinner and watch ships sail out before the cruise. (Bonus if you can make the Saturday afternoon sail away as the Fantasy departs that day)

- Disney day - stay on property or nearby and do a day at the parks or Disney Springs, (or dare I say it - Universal). Sure it would only be a day but why not squeeze in a few rides, characters, a dole whip, turkey leg or whatever your WDW favorite might be.

Once you pick from one of those three, it will be easier to plan and work out your logistics.

Exactly! firstdecide what you wanna do for that day and a half pre-cruise. From a cost point of you how many people are you? This can make or break Disney transportation to the Port and back. If you decide to stay at Disney keep in mind the transfer from MCO to the resort is free. You just need to get to the port. 3 options either take the DCL shuttle, car rental pickup at disney and drive or private shuttle.

If you decide to stay in Cape Canaveral, the beach your only option is a car rental. Pick ups and drop offs are all available everywhere at the airport at Disney and a cape Canaveral.

Since you were doing a short cruise I would recommend utilize as much ship time as possible this means unfortunately from Walt Disney World to the port, the Disney transfers usually get you to the port rather late between 12 and 2 PM. If you drive you can be one of first on board around 12.

It really depends on what you wanna do. Unless you are an annual passholder one day at Walt Disney World for a family is very pricey. For one day you could do a lot more by going to Cape Canaveral maybe visiting the space center doing the beach enjoying a few restaurants etc.