Transportation to/from Airport

[newmansjg]

Hi All,

We booked our air transportation independent of the cruise and I was wondering if transportation to and from the ship was included in our cruise price or if we need to make arrangements for that. I saw that it was about an hour's ride from the airport and I don't want to pay that type of cab fare!

TIA!!

Gena

 

[erionm]

DCL charges $35 per person each way between the airport and the port. Depending on how many people in your group, a third party transportation service may end up being less expensive.

 

[kcashner]

Include? You are very funny.

As above, DCL transfers are $35 per person each way. Your other options are a one way car rental (pick up at airport, drop off at Cape Canaveral or Cocoa Beach) or a private shuttle/towncar/limo service. A one way rental is easy an costs about $50. Add a bit or gas and tolls, and you are about equal to transfers for 2. A limo service is usually about the price of transfers for 4 people.

There are also hotels that offer a stay, breakfast, and round trip transportation to/from the cruise terminal. In the MCO area, these include the Hyatt Place NW and the Wyngate. Hyatt Place is cheaper and has better service.

 

[anniemck]

Yes, you must book your transportation to get you to the port. Call your travel agent about cost for the bus. Last I checked it was $70 per person round trip for this service.
Depending on how many people you have going, it may actually be cost effective and I would think more fun to have a chauffered town car or limo. 4 people in a town car would be $115 each way with some companies, traveling just your family quiet comfort... with Disney would be $140 each way for 4 and you would be with 50-60 other people, not so quiet and I can't imagine to comfortable.

 

[bumbershoot]

Your other options are a one way car rental (pick up at airport, drop off at Cape Canaveral or Cocoa Beach)...

As an add-on question (it would help the OP, too), how do you get from the rental agencies (for my hypothetical situation, we would be looking at National to be specific), after dropping off the car, over to the ship?

 

[kcashner]

All of the car rental agencies in Cape Canaveral (and as far as I know, in Cocoa Beach) include a courtesy van to take you to the cruise terminal after dropping the car.

You can choose to drop the luggage and passengers at the terminal on the way past, or drive the whole gang to the car return place. They are easy to find, most along one road. There is a RaceTrac gas station with decent prices right next to Budget (it makes a good landmark as well as a place to fill up).

The two closest car agencies are Hertz and Budget--they are about a block apart. Thrifty/Dollar and Avis are a few miles down the road.

On the way home--again, they operate a shuttle. One hint--if the shuttle comes and does not have room for the family and luggage, but has a seat left, have the driver get on, get the rental car, and come back to the terminal for the family. It will save time! Budget normally operates 2 shuttles on cruise days as they know they will be busy.

We usually use Budget, but have used others when prices were better. There is not a lot of difference, but we like the fact that Budget is closer and runs 2 shuttles. That makes their turn around time quicker.

Discounts for all companies are available at rentalcodes.com and mousesavers.com.

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks for the answer, kcashner! I really appreciate it. We're in flux in deciding our to-cruise transportation options, and I'm finding myself looking at options I hadn't thought of before.