Where to stay before Disney Cruise?

[CustardTart]

Hi all! DH and I have booked to go on the DCL Western departing 22/09/07. We're flying into MCO the day before and I'm undecided what to do about the overnight stay and where to park at Port Canaveral. What have others done?

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Probably a bit of a strange response, but whenever we have had a long drive the next day we have always stayed at the Hyatt MCO, it's a great hotel, restaurants at the airport, you can relax on the 1st night and do not have to unpack etc.

 

[CustardTart]

Thanks Johnny! It doesn't sound strange at all - TBH it was our first thought and it looks really cool on the website...

 

[Miffy2003]

I was going to stay at the Raddisson last time (never did as we didn't do the cruise in the end), but it came with good reviews so I thought it was as good as any

http://www.radisson.com/capecanaveralfl

Johnny's got a good point though - if you arrive on a late flight,tired it may be good to stay at MCO and travel the next morning (you'll be up early with jetlag probably) but this is going to depend on how early your flight arrives.

 

[Miffy2003]

Posted at the same time as you Karen., sorry!

 

[Boo Boo Too]

Hi, how long is your cruise? To be honest, is is probably cheaper to either:
- not hire a car when you get to MCO (take a transfer from the airport to the port), or
- hire a car, hand it back to the car hire people at Port Canaveral, then pick up a car when you return.

I just can't see that hiring a car (for the days that you are on the cruise) AND paying for parking at the port could work out cheaper...

Pre-cruise from Port Canaveral, we have stayed at the MCO Hyatt. It is a bit different from your "average" resort hotel. But it is a nice hotel and I like the it. We then go cruiseline transfers (from Disney) to take us from the Hyatt to the ship. After the cruise, just book a hire car from a local car hire company at Port Canaveral: pick up the car and get on with your holiday...

Other hotel choice include a couple at Port Canaveral: the Radisson seems to get good reviews and have heard some very good things about the new Residence Inn (a Marriott hotel - http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/MLBRI). You could either hire a car and drive there (dropping the hire car off in the morning of your cruise and getting the car hire company free shuttle to the ship) or get a taxi/transfer service to take you from the airport direct to the Port Canaveral hotel...

Alternatively you could spend the night at Disney. Personally I think this is a bit of a waste (too much hassle for one night - when you are likely to be tired and not appreciate it anyway - and quite costly probably). Again you could hire a car or get some transfers.

We used to do one night pre-cruise. However, now we try to arrive at least a couple of days before the cruise. This is after a bad experience with British Airways last January (they didn't load our luggage on a direct flight to the USA even though we had checked in, Business Class, 3 hours before departure... The luggage took a week to catch up with us!). That trip wasn't a cruise, but it did show us that you really can't depend on your luggage turning up... If you are going on a cruise the day after your flight, then you really don't have much opportunity to buy replacement clothes for the cruise (and I don't believe that the airline will manage to get your luggage to you until after the cruise - it would be just too hard for them to get it to you...). I also divide clothes equally between suitcases (formal and casual clothes, swimwear, underwear, shoes - for both husband and I - equally divided between two cases): so if one of the two suitcases doesn't turn up, we both still have a good selection of clothes... Ok, so I have a "belt and braces" approach to travel...

Boo