"Day Before" Ground Transportation

I've been trying to find this information and have been unsuccessful so far. Say you have to arrive at the embarkation port a day early due to flights, will DCL offer ground transportation that day anywhere or are you on your own totally?

I've been trying to find this information and have been unsuccessful so far. Say you have to arrive at the embarkation port a day early due to flights, will DCL offer ground transportation that day anywhere or are you on your own totally?

Unfortunately not. The DCL buses only run on days when the ships are in port, and only go from MCO or certain WDW resorts for pick ups directly to Port Canaveral.

If you arrive a day early, you are on your own to provide transportation to wherever you want to get to. (The Magical Express from MCO to the parks and resorts is FOC however I believe)

ex techie

You are on your own...but you have several options.

We often stay in the MCO area--we typically fly in late in the afternoon or early in the evening the day before and really just want dinner and a place to sleep. Most of the MCO area hotels offer complimentary transportation to/from the airport...so you can take free transportation to the hotel and return to the airport in the morning to catch the DCL bus if desired.

You can stay at a WDW hotel and take Magical Express to the hotel and DCL transportation to the port--single departure near noon.

Alternatively you can rent a car (way cheaper than DCL transportation if more than 2 people) or use a private towncar/limo service. In that case, the service will happily pick you up at the hotel of your choice. Several MCO area hotels also offer cruise line transportation, but it is typically a single departure time.

Finally, you can use a towncar, rental car, or Cocoa Beach shuttle to to the port area and take a shuttle to the terminal in the morning.

SO, lots of choices depending on your desires, where you want to stay, etc.

Don't forget about uber. They have Uber Select (nicer cars) for $104 one way.

The other benefit is its cashless plus you leave on your schedule.

If you have never used Uber you can use a link for a FREE Uber ride (up to $20). Here is my personal link, https://www.uber.com/invite/ud1jb

They even offer Sedans (black sedan cars - usually limo drivers or SUVs) with car seats.

Do remember that if you stay in the Cocoa Beach area, you'll need a way to get to the terminal in the morning--taxi, Uber, hotel shuttle, shuttle from car return place, Cocoa Beach Shuttle, etc. Some cost, some are included with another service.

You can also take Uber from an MCO area hotel the morning of the cruise. We find that hotels in the airport area are typically a little cheaper than in the terminal area...but you can't get up early and see the ship come in.

Since the terminal doesn't open until 10:30, you have plenty of time in the morning for the 45 minute drive from MCO to cruise terminal.

I've been trying to find this information and have been unsuccessful so far. Say you have to arrive at the embarkation port a day early due to flights, will DCL offer ground transportation that day anywhere or are you on your own totally?

When we left from Port Canaveral we used something call "goportcanaveral.com". This picks you up from the hotel and takes you to the port, it then picks you up from the ship and takes you back to the airport. It also included a hotel for one night. We stayed at the holiday inn express and they had free transportation from the airport to the hotel

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I second goportcanaveral.com. We are using it in two weeks. Actually spoke to the owner when I called in and he was extremely nice, friendly, and helpful. We are staying in cocoa beach the night before.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Don't forget about uber. They have Uber Select (nicer cars) for $104 one way.

The other benefit is its cashless plus you leave on your schedule.

 

If you have never used Uber you can use a link for a FREE Uber ride (up to $20). Here is my personal link, https://www.uber.com/invite/ud1jb

Wouldn't Uber prices fluctuate depending on the demand, time of day and what day though?

ex techie

I've been trying to find this information and have been unsuccessful so far. Say you have to arrive at the embarkation port a day early due to flights, will DCL offer ground transportation that day anywhere or are you on your own totally?

Where are you embarking? DCL doesn't take you anywhere, but if you are staying at the hotel that they use for ground transportation to the cruise, they will pick you up at the airport and deliver you to the hotel, you also have to arrange the room with DCL. I know I did it when I went to Alaska. That was in 2012.

Where are you embarking? DCL doesn't take you anywhere, but if you are staying at the hotel that they use for ground transportation to the cruise, they will pick you up at the airport and deliver you to the hotel, you also have to arrange the room with DCL. I know I did it when I went to Alaska. That was in 2012.

True. All of the earlier responses focused on Port Canaveral. In PC, your hotel choices booked thru DCL are the Hyatt MCO (you walk to the hotel as it is inside the airport) or a hotel at WDW (take Magical Express). You do get a small discount at the Hyatt MCO when booked thru DCL, but there are better codes available!

At ports other than Canaveral, IF you book your hotel thru DCL, your transportation will be arranged both to the hotel and in the morning. But be careful--in Europe we learned that it was much more costly to book THE SAME hotel thru DCL than booking on your own. If you booked on your own at that hotel, you would use the hotel's transportation to get there; if you booked thru DCL, you would use transportation arranged by DCL. They also use some of the most expensive hotels possible--like $500 per night! In Barcelona, we paid $81 per night at the same hotel that DCL used for their crew. This hotel had complimentary transportation from the airport and cost $12 per person for transportation to the cruise terminal (DCL ran a crew bus as well). The hotel that DCL used for guests who booked thru them was over $500 per night, but that did include transportation both days.

Other cruise lines do this as well. On Princess, the charge was $600 PER PERSON for the hotel that they used in Tokyo. We paid $178 for the room for 2 people + $35 per person for transportation on a public bus rather than a bus arranged thru Princess. Yes, it is possible that the cruise line booked a fancier room...we booked what would be a standard room in the US--2 queen beds, bath, etc. This was a very nice hotel with US sized rooms. We had priced hotel thru Princess and decided that there was no way we'd pay that. We were quite surprised to see the Princess group meeting their bus in the morning!

Wouldn't Uber prices fluctuate depending on the demand, time of day and what day though?

 

ex techie

It depends.

Uber is switching to a known fare before you request the car. They take in account all of the above.

I just checked the quoted rate above and it is a known fare before the ride vs sliding scale. The only exception is if you (not driver) change your routing by adding a stop or changing the destination.

From Uber's website:

Upfront fares are calculated using the expected time and distance of the trip and local traffic, as well as how many riders and nearby drivers are using Uber at that moment. And when fares go up due to increased demand, instead of surge lightning bolts and pop-up screens, riders are given the actual fare before they request their ride. There’s no complicated math and no surprises: passengers can just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Sorry, just returning to the thread. I should have specified, we'll be leaving from Vancouver for Alaska. Staying at the Pan Pacific, and I know there is a super easy metro that one can take, but with a 6 and 4 year old pulling their own little carry on's and us with probably large wheelies, I'm not excited about the metro. The whole booster seat issue rises as well. I just with there was a nice large Disney bus. :)

Sorry, just returning to the thread. I should have specified, we'll be leaving from Vancouver for Alaska. Staying at the Pan Pacific, and I know there is a super easy metro that one can take, but with a 6 and 4 year old pulling their own little carry on's and us with probably large wheelies, I'm not excited about the metro. The whole booster seat issue rises as well. I just with there was a nice large Disney bus. :)

Yes! That was a VITAL piece of information you forgot to mention! :mad:

Book a cab in advance and request booster/child seats.

ex techie

Sorry, just returning to the thread. I should have specified, we'll be leaving from Vancouver for Alaska. Staying at the Pan Pacific, and I know there is a super easy metro that one can take, but with a 6 and 4 year old pulling their own little carry on's and us with probably large wheelies, I'm not excited about the metro. The whole booster seat issue rises as well. I just with there was a nice large Disney bus. :)

Vancouver is beautiful. They have a really nice aquarium. As I said before, you have to arrange the room with DCL and they will deal with transportation. I would suggest that if you can arrange transport with the hotel, inquire about how much it costs and see if it is doable. I am sure someone knows how much a cab costs from the airport to the hotel. See which options would work best for you.

Contact the hotel and ask them about the best way to do it....but give them all the info the first time--ages of kids, etc. You might specifically ask about the regulations concerning booster seats. The hotel MIGHT have transportation. If not, they certainly know the easiest way to do it as this is a huge pre-cruise hotel.

Just went on the Norwegian Epic last month, and Port Canaveral is a different beast of a port. Takes about an hour drive from MCO and a lot more with traffic. Ever since the 2 megaships came in the traffic has been insane, it took between 2-3 hours just to board.

I highly suggest coming in a day early, way too much money spent for the vacation already to risk the chance of missing the boat because of a flight delay or traffic. We booked a fly snooze cruise with Go Port Canaveral, third time using them, and we won't sail from that port without their services. Theyve also got standalone transportation deals too, look them up! Best of luck

We sailed out of Vancouver last fall and stayed at the Sutton Place Hotel. We just took a cab to the port. Distance isn't a problem since most of the hotels people stay at prior to the cruise are right near the port.

I believe the post is connected to the Pan Pacific hotel, so getting from hotel to port is a simple elevator ride. Getting from airport to hotel the day before, however, would be public transportation, cab or Uber.

^No Uber in Vancouver. It's being discussed, in terms of getting legislation in place to allow Uber/Lyft type services, but the wheels of government grind slowly... cabs are fixed-rate from YVR though, so for OPs family it's a relative bargain to do that rather than transit for the door-to-door convenience.

Cabs are CAD$35 to the Pan Pacific (credit cards accepted, and usually USD cash as well but at a worse-than-official exchange rate). It's possible one of the newer and slightly bigger Prius models might fit your family and your luggage OP (especially if it's just 2 big cases for the adults and the kids only have their little wheelies) - but if not, minivan cabs charge exactly the same price and will definitely handle you all, the only downside is the lower fleet numbers so you may wait an extra 5 minutes.

Kids 5-13 get Concession fares on SkyTrain - but still face the same $5pp airport inbound surcharge, so for four of you it would cost CAD$33.50 to ride transit into town. $28 if it's a weekend or evening when the extra Zone fares don't apply, but still a minimal saving over a cabs so I'd definitely do a cab inbound. Oh - if your 4 yr old is still 4 at time of sailing, that's a free transit ride knocking the price down to $25.75/$22.25 offpeak.

If you're on an RT, getting BACK to the airport has no transit surcharge - so deduct $5pp from the above numbers. This may be enticing to you, especially with cabs not being fixed-rate TO the airport (metered fare will likely be $35-40 depending on traffic). The Canada Line is fully RORO, floors level with all platforms, seats have tons of legroom and underseat storage fits big bags. Since they're driverless, if you sit up front there's no cab - just a nice picture window and you can pretend to drive the train! Or you could let your kids do that;-)

When we went, we saved a lot flying into Seattle and driving up to Vancouver.

We had 10 people and the flight was $200 cheaper each way. Also there was no direct flight from the DC area.

We also went out a few days earlier to go to Olympic National park and let our bodies adjust to West coast time.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

It is very easy to fly into Seattle and take the train to Vancouver--and as noted, we've always found it to be significantly less costly. But I sort of figured OP had already worked out that part of the trip since they were asking about hotel to the cruise terminal arrangements.

Since you are staying at Pan Pacific, there is a small shopping mall through the tunnel going across the street to the Fairmont Hotel. Horton's donuts and McDonalds there.

It is very easy to fly into Seattle and take the train to Vancouver--and as noted' date=' we've always found it to be significantly less costly. But I sort of figured OP had already worked out that part of the trip since they were asking about hotel to the cruise terminal arrangements.[/quote']

 

I remember years ago--can't recall the circumstances--having to bus from Vancouver to take a flight home from Seattle.

Wasn't aware there was train service, though (Amtrak?) I'd been curious about Hawaiian cruises that currently only go one-way Vancouver<->Hawaii and wondered about travel options.

Take the Skytrain from YVR to downtown!! It's easy, clean, and the kids will think it's cool! Oh, and it is the least expensive option, there are no issues with traffic and no concerns about car seats :)