Safe to rely on Uber/Lyft for Port Canaveral?

[sethschroeder]

We will get in a day early and like get a hotel in the area so not worried there but on the way back to MCO would I need to be worried about not having any option to get back? Should I also be worried about trying to get from MCO over there the evening before or even morning of?

 

[HiStitch626]

You do hear reports that Ubers and Lyfts are harder to find than they were in the past. For peace of mind you might want to look at booking an actual car service ahead of time or using the Disney transfers.

 

[RedHead0186]

You do hear reports that Ubers and Lyfts are harder to find than they were in the past. For peace of mind you might want to look at booking an actual car service ahead of time or using the Disney transfers.

That's the experience I had. I've taken a few trips to Orlando recently, and had a much tougher time than I did pre-COVID getting a rideshare. Wait times to get assigned a ride/have the driver arrive are much longer, and prices are also higher. I've had a couple situations where they couldn't find me a driver or the driver cancelled on me so I had to start over and hope for the best (and that's both Uber and Lyft). For a longer trip like that I think availability could be limited. It depends on when your cruise is and who knows if/when things will right themselves, but that's been my recent experience so I'd be a little leery of relying on rideshare for something as important as a cruise.

 

[jrabbit]

There's Go Port Canaveral (or at least used to be), where they would pick you up from MCO, take you to the coast and drop you off at your hotel, then the next morning pick you and and take you to the port.

Shared van (they were towing a trailer for all of the luggage)
Lots of options of hotels
Shuttle bus / van to the cruise

Our experience:
To Cocoa Beach / Titusville
When we arrived at MCO we were there are just the wrong time ... missed one shuttle, and they had a scheduling snafu so we waited for about an hour and a half, then there were 3 or four shuttles all at once!

To the Cruise
our shuttle was again a little late (15 minutes), but other people's shuttles were there on time and would not take us!! We had a couple of stops before the port to pick up other parties (this was more of a bus than a van- 25 to 30 people)
At one of the stops (hotel) there was a HUGE line and we filled up the bus and were on our way. There were 2 other ships in port that day and of course DCL was the last stop. But we arrived at a great time, got though security, checked in, and had only about a 30 minute wait for boarding (Platinum).

We had post cruise plans so we did not use the service back to MCO after the cruise.

So the whole process was not as smooth as we would have liked ... especially for the MCO to Cocoa Beach leg.
Would we do this again ... yes, probably especially if it's just the two of us and if we don't need a car.

Regarding the shuttle to the port ... pick a hotel "farther away" from the port than the other hotels in the program, because it's kinda like the lifts on the ship, once they are full, no one else can get on. Our hotel was south of Ron Jon's, but within easy walking distance. There were options for eating within walking distance. We did find the Sandbar Sports Grill for dinner - which had great live music while we were there, and awesome food and fun friendly staff.

 

[Dug720]

There's Go Port Canaveral (or at least used to be), where they would pick you up from MCO, take you to the coast and drop you off at your hotel, then the next morning pick you and and take you to the port.

Use caution with this one. Especially if it's in conjunction with an airport-area hotel. A couple of years ago when my parents were able to get on the WBPC at CM friends and family rates, they did the snooze and cruise package and the shuttle never showed up. The hotel desk agents were calling like crazy and finally THEY covered an Uber for my parents to the port. They made it, but just. I think they were just about the last passengers on board!

They just booked the Dream over my dad's birthday and were looking at options for staying the night before and mentioned that package and I said "Isn't that what you had when you almost missed the ship?" They're staying at that airport area hotel, but NOT doing the package.