On or Off Site Night Before Disney Cruise

[Kaertos]

We are thinking about doing this. Did you use the Disney Transportation for your trip to Port and back to Airport? I think its around $78/person round trip

We did! It was simplest for us, and the one time we did pay for an outside company to transport us, it was almost the same price and a much, much worse experience.

 

[Terk-1]

Its personal preference. For us, we like staying at Country Inn Suites at the port, the day before, relaxing there, having dinner at Fishlips or Grills, and watching the ships leave the night before. Our room usually overlooks the port so the first thing we see is the DCL ship were traveling on. Were on the first on one of the first busses to the port.

UBER Lyft or other transport options are available to get you to PC from MCO.

As others have said MCO is an option where you fly in and take DCLs bus to the port.

Realistically yould need to figure out what's most important and most economical way to get there.

Flying in and out of MCO. Doing WDW for the week prior to the cruise day. I would definitely check the large luggage bags and just keep my small rolling Mickey FUL bag with me with a change of clothes and personal items.

 

[remlap]

I can't imagine why you would stay at WDW unless you wanted to be at WDW. That said, we normally fly in the day prior from the West Coast and watch the fireworks from the Contemporary. Stay off property and then leisurely drive to the port via a one-way car rental.
That said, what kind of cruise? If it's a 7 night, I'm not as rushed to get on-board right at 12, a 1:30 arrival, going direct to your stateroom to drop off your bags and then get lunch. If it's a short cruise, you might want to maximize every minute on board the shop, so you want to arrive closer to 11. If you're trying to get Palo brunch on-board or request dining changes, again, get there earlier.
While I'm not a fan of DCL transit just due to cost, I know many folks are. If you wanted to take Disney to/from the port, staying overnight at the Hyatt MCO seems like a no hassle start to your vacation. (Have not personally done that) Plus you can get an earlier bus to the port than from the resorts.

 

[bakerworld]

Optimally, we like to arrive the day before, enjoy a relaxing night at the resort, hit the hotel store the day before for a 6-pack of beer and a few Smartwaters and let Disney do the driving. I'm not a swimmer so arriving around 1p is not a problem. The staterooms are never ready so we travel to the top of the ship for a session at the adult bar before trying to find the room. It's no use eating because before you know it it's 'drill' time followed by dinner, plus I don't like carrying my bag of beverages around the buffet or the sit-down.

I am trying to convince DH to fly in the day of the cruise and leave from MCO but so far I have not been successful. He keeps saying, what if the plane is delayed - not sure I have an answer for that.

 

[jlynch924]

We like to start the magic early and stay on property. We've rented a car and drove ourselves to port and we've gone the Magical Express route. I think I preferred the car rental more.

 

[truck1]

Flying in and out of MCO. Doing WDW for the week prior to the cruise day. I would definitely check the large luggage bags and just keep my small rolling Mickey FUL bag with me with a change of clothes and personal items.

Gotcha. That's typically what we do also from CIS. Luggage gets loaded onto the bus or trailer, and handed off to the porters at the port. We keep personal backpacks with personal and important items with us and meet the rest in the cabin after lunch. But we have the advantage we live in the state and drive to our hotel.

And again it all depends on how many people are in your party and what your trying to accomplish. If it were my wife and I, with our family, staying at WDW, (5 of us total) and wanted to be at the port early, Id look into a rental car. Alamo and 1 or 2 others are on property and will come get you to rent the vehicle. Id say 2-3 hours at most, (probably closer to 2) from the time you said come get me,to rent a car, if its not done online prior to, to the time you were standing in the port waiting to board. Yould spend a lot of time moving from point A to B to get to C. relying on Disneys transfers.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We’ve rented a car and stayed at Vero Beach, then driven up the coast in the morning, we’ve also taken the DCL bus from a dvc resort. I like both. If you rent a car make sure to drop off everyone else and bags before you drop off the car. The shuttles from the rental car places are always full with kids and bags but they can usually fit one person with no bags on.

Also we are platinum so we get on in number 1 group. We take our carryons for swim suits and books. But we don’t haul them around st all. We find a table and just leave them. We get lunch and bring it outside anyway because why be stuck indoors. And If we go to the cove, while the kids do their own thing, we just leave our carryons in a corner while we hang by the pool. We also love to do the slides which generally open by 12 before they get crowded.

 

[kiford]

A few PPs have mentioned lugging a lot of baggage around the ship when they arrive early. Apparently some people don't like to give the porters their bags, because really, all you need to carry onboard is one shoulder bag with short-term necessities.

My carry on bag is significantly larger than a shoulder bag. It's a soft sided backpack, not meant to be treated like a suitcase so I'd never give it to a porter since I've seen the luggage piles. I think when people are referring to lugging baggage this is what they're referring. In fact, you can only bring on bags that can fit through a standard screener, i.e., a carry on sized bag, not normal luggage-sized bags. And if you have children, you're likely to end up carrying theirs as well. Even if my bag was something that I could give to a porter, I wouldn't. I'm always concerned that my luggage may not make it to me or may make it very late and I need at least a change of clothing for the next day or so plus my iPad, cables and extra batteries, medication, etc. It's not always practical - for me at least - to be minimalist enough to use just a small shoulder bag. Hence the reason I prefer to arrive later otherwise I will be lugging bags around.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

Our preference is to stay in Port Canaveral the night before and be there bright and early. We like to spend time at Downtown Disney shopping and going to the outlet mall and shopping then followed by a trip to Walgreens to do some shopping and usually finishing it off at Wal Mart to do some last minute shopping. When we get to PC we will usually end up at Publix just in case we forgot something while we were shopping.
LOL please take the lighter side of this post. We have stayed in Orlando pre cruise once due to a light flight arrival and our car was only booked for the next morning but the cruise was the day after. We consider all our hotel stays part of the holiday so we find something to do. I am more concerned with getting a morning flight from home the day of the cruise than being in Orlando and I will always arrive a day early. I do this for a living. I can put a brand new airplane on the gate and just when they are about to push back there's a hydraulic leak. I have been on the bad news side telling the crew I have to ground their aircraft and seen the looks on everyone's faces as they deplane and it's no fun. There's a million reasons why a flight can be cancelled or delayed. If you want the Disney magic to start early it is fun to stay on site and use the ME and have your luggage transferred. Even if you choose to lounge around the pool instead of going to the parks you are still on vacation

 

[Weedy]

Stay as close to the port as possible and get there early
I love arriving early. The terminal can be crazy busy but it’s all part of the fun.
While you’re waiting
You can go outside on the balcony and get pictures of the ship. Doors to the outside are to the right of the yellow Mickey Ear entrance.
The only Disney Cruise pressed penny machine is in the Port Canaveral terminal. To the left of the yellow Mickey Ear entrance There are 6 different designs .51 each. Bring change.
The characters will come out for photos

Typical first day at Port Canaveral:
9:30-9:45 Parking garage/drop off opens. You will wait outside until the terminal opens
10:30 Terminal opens. When you arrive and check in you will be given a boarding number. The earlier your Port Arrival Time the lower your boarding number.
You pick your PAT when your booking window opens. For first time cruisers it’s 75 days prior to your cruise. The earliest PAT at Port Canaveral is 10:30-10:45
11:15-11:30 boarding begins. Concierge and Platinum board first. Then they start with everyone else. They call the next number(s) every 4-5 minutes.
11:45-12:00 all pools, slides, restaurants and bars open
1:30 cabins available.
Luggage may not be delivered until 4-5:00
3:30 all pools and restaurants close to get ready for the lifeboat drill.
4:00 lifeboat drill
4:30 quick service restaurants reopen
4:30 sail away party

 

[hnthomps]

We usually fly in the evening before and stay at the MCO hotel. We do this even when going to WDW, because the per-night cost is lower when all you need is a bed (lower than where we were staying). Then we take Disney transportation to the port in the morning. We have found this to be extremely convenient and restful. Disney will take care of your checked bags from the airport hotel room to the stateroom on board.

This spring we're doing 2 days at WDW before the cruise, so we're staying there first. But I'd never pay for Disney resort prices + the added transportation just for a bed .

 

[Kaertos]

We usually fly in the evening before and stay at the MCO hotel. We do this even when going to WDW, because the per-night cost is lower when all you need is a bed (lower than where we were staying). Then we take Disney transportation to the port in the morning. We have found this to be extremely convenient and restful. Disney will take care of your checked bags from the airport hotel room to the stateroom on board.

This spring we're doing 2 days at WDW before the cruise, so we're staying there first. But I'd never pay for Disney resort prices + the added transportation just for a bed .

You can get the Disney transportation from the MCO hotel? That's potentially game-changing for our planning...

 

[over50visits]

We always stay at WDW the night before. It begins our transition to vacation mode. We'll eat in a Disney restaurant and often spend time in Disney Springs. Immersed in Disney gets us charged up.

Plus, we drive ourselves, so the drive to Port Canaveral is an absolute pleasure. It takes about an hour; we get past the airport in about 15 minutes, and almost immediately we are in the pastoral countryside of central Florida with few signs of civilization. During the drive we play DCL trivia (what's the best hidden place to relax, how many locations sell popcorn, what new will be in the Castaway Cay geocache).

Then we pop over the last bridge and our ship dominates the view. How exciting.

 

[amberwc]

To me, it was more relaxing staying near the port (in Cocoa Beach) for our last cruise, than when we stayed on property before our cruise.

Where did you stay in Cocoa Beach?

 

[dprincessmom]

Where did you stay in Cocoa Beach?

We did Hampton Inn Cocoa Beach - it was clean and efficient. We were there for the one night. We will likely stay there again.

 

[bbn1122]

We have done PC, WDW and VB before cruise. WDW and VB are not as close as staying in the PC area, but they are not that far away that you would miss the ship. Just don’t fly in the day of your cruise, especially in the winter months from areas that have snow.