Port Canaveral - Transportation

[jtanner]

First time cruisers heading out on Sensation in June. Wife and I are looking at transportation and have a couple of questions, hope someone could help.

1. Book air through Carnival or on our own? (looking at on our own)
2. Suggestion for transportation from Orlando to Port Canaveral, about how much will it cost?
3. Thinking about coming in a day early on Saturday with departure on Sunday, should we stay in Orlando and get transp. Sunday morning or go ahead and get transp. to Canaveral area and just taxi to terminal next morning? Anything to do in teh Canaveral between Sat./Sun ?

Thanks for the help!

[scubapete]

We are first time cruisers also. We are driving down, and staying at the Raddison Resort, the closest hotel to the port. They have cruise packages where you leave your car during the vacation. Anyway, they have shuttles to the ships. Several other hotels/motels offer the same service. So you might want to get there, relax, sleep in, and get to the ship early enough to beat the crowds.

[Kamloops Cruiser]

Originally Posted by jtanner

First time cruisers heading out on Sensation in June. Wife and I are looking at transportation and have a couple of questions, hope someone could help.

1. Book air through Carnival or on our own? (looking at on our own)
Book your air. Get better routing and times.
2. Suggestion for transportation from Orlando to Port Canaveral, about how much will it cost?
A shuttle costs about 90USD p/p round trip . You can rent a car at MCO for a lot less.
3. Thinking about coming in a day early on Saturday with departure on Sunday, should we stay in Orlando and get transp. Sunday morning or go ahead and get transp. to Canaveral area and just taxi to terminal next morning? Anything to do in teh Canaveral between Sat./Sun ?

Thanks for the help!

We did Mariner in Jan 08 . We flew in on Friday night , stayed in Orlando , drove to Port Canavarl on Sat , stayed overnight and boarded on Sun. The rental company(Budget) has a free shuttle to the Port.

[CA Cruiser]

I would suggest coming in a day early on Saturday, rent a car from Budget, drive down to Cocoa Beach/Port Canaveral to your hotel. You never know what could happen so we always stay near the port. I recommend staying at the Hampton Inn on A1A. Ask for a room on the 8th floor closest to the ocean and you have a great view on both sides. They also have a walkway to the beach, a nice pool and free breakfast. In the morning after breakfast drive towards the port to Budget after getting gas and drop the car off then hop on their free port shuttle to the ship. Or you can stay at the Radisson at the Port where there will be a lot of other cruisers. Saturday night go to dinner early around 4pm at Grills which is at the port and watch the other ships leave. We watched 3 other ships and it was a wonderful site. Grills has indoor/outdoor dining and live music. If you plan to drive back to the airport, be sure to researve your car when you drop it off or you can take the ship's transfer. The Mariner is a huge ship so be sure to see it all. She is coming to LA in 2009 and we are thinking about cruising on her again. Have a great time.

[Sammy1954]

If you are not using carnvail air I would be sure to go a day early.
that way if there are any problems you have that extra day to get
to florida.
Alot of the hotels when you are looking for one, check they have
several that will pick you up at the air port take you to the hotel
and take you to the ship the next day..
That way you dont have to rent a car for a day and dont have to
worry about getting to the ship.


Sammy 1954

[CA Cruiser]

Sammy1954,
Port Canaveral is approximately 60 miles from the airport. The hotels around the airport have airport shuttles to and from their hotels but there are none that will take you an hour away to the ship.

I also recommend booking your own air. You can get it for less and pick the times that work best for you.

[jtanner]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I think we'll plan on booking our own flight now and going down a day early. But just for comparison sake... how bad is it to fly in the morning of the cruise and take the Carnival Transport service? Any upside to just going the Carnival route?

[CA Cruiser]

To me it would be too stressful and tiring. You have to worry about the chance of mechanical problems or weather. Many people do but I would never do it. You could get a hotel in Orlando the night before then go back to the airport and catch the cruise shuttle. The drive to Cocoa Beach is less than an hour and a just down the BLine, very easy. Have fun planning.

[Sammy1954]

Originally Posted by CA Cruiser

Sammy1954,
Port Canaveral is approximately 60 miles from the airport. The hotels around the airport have airport shuttles to and from their hotels but there are none that will take you an hour away to the ship.

I also recommend booking your own air. You can get it for less and pick the times that work best for you.

lol
Forgot port canaveral is so far away. We try to always cruise out of
Lauderdale.
Did stay some where in Orlando a few years back the day before and
cant think off hand how we did get to the port. Think we bought transfers
with carnival and had our hotel take us back to the airport the next day
to take the bus.???

I always book my own air so that I can get it cheaper and be there a
day or two ahead of the cruise.

thanks sammy

[RobandCynda]

We just did the same cruise in November. We too, flew in a day early and used the "Florida Town Car Service" to get from the airport to the hotel. They were recommended by the Radisson Resort by the Port where we stayed. We loved the hotel - great beds and very accomodating. After the cruise, we took the Radisson shuttle back to the Radisson and they stored our bags for the afternoon until the car service picked us up for the airport. We had a 4:00 flight so we took a cab down to Cocoa Beach for 3-4 hours and had lunch and let my daughter play in the sand. All recommended by the car service. It was 100.00 each way for 5 people. WELL WORTH IT!!