Ever been shut out parking at Port Canaveral for a DCL cruise?

My family and I will be sailing with DCL in 2017 out of Port Canaveral. We plan on parking at the port.

I am wondering, has anyone ever experienced driving to the port on the day your cruise departs, expecting to park by your DCL ship, and find that there was no parking left? Is it possible to be shut out of parking at the port?

Never happened personally, never read of it.

The only time I am aware of there being a problem, there was an issue with the ship arriving and ultimately disembarking from the previous cruise. Until the passengers had disembarked, there wasn't sufficient parking for all the new cruisers. However, they weren't being allowed into the terminal either, so it didn't matter that they couldn't park AT the terminal.

That is/was a very rare event. If such a thing happens, DCL will attempt to contact you with information as to when you can go to the terminal. Either stay at the hotel or go to an area restaurant until you can enter the terminal area and park.

Thank you, moki'smommy!

Do you know, is it possible for there to be more than one Disney cruise ship in port (Port Canaveral). I'm thinking no. I've not seen this in the 5 previous DCL cruised we've been on.

Do you know, is it possible for there to be more than one Disney cruise ship in port (Port Canaveral). I'm thinking no. I've not seen this in the 5 previous DCL cruised we've been on.

Only in an emergency situation. In that case, only one will be at the DCL terminal (usually the scheduled one). Yes, it has happened, but rarely.

Only in an emergency situation. In that case' date=' only one will be at the DCL terminal (usually the scheduled one). Yes, it has happened, but rarely.[/quote']

 

 

 

Thank you (again)!

 

Based on this, would you agree, there really is no advantage to making a reservation and pre-paying to park at the port? If we stay at a hotel the night before that offers a discount to park at the port provided we pay when we arrive at the port, there should be little to no concern about getting a parking spot it seems.

 

 

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I would agree totally. We have parked at the port several times (before we had the HA hangtag) and never had a problem finding parking. I see no benefit to making an advance reservation at the cruise terminal for parking.

In contrast, if you plan to park off site, our favorite private location gives a discount for advance reservations and DOES fill up...so if planning to park there, always make a reservation. The safe, secure private lots have increased in price, making them quite comparable to terminal parking with the discount coupon.

Now with the HA issues, parking at the terminal is worth the extra money. Saving hassle is more important to us than saving a few dollars. And with the 40% coupon, the difference is a lot more reasonable. Our question now is "fly vs. drive." If the answer is "drive," it is park at the terminal. And that is a change from a few years ago when I objected to the terminal costs.

If you are worried about not getting into port to park, prepay would work: not sure if it's any cheaper to prepay to park at the terminal.

The other option, if you take a rental car to near the terminal (my wife and I did this out of Orlando for our honeymoon cruise), you can drop it off near the port - (Alamo, enterprise, and national share a building about 10 min away)

When we were comparing costs of the Disney bus to a rental,, it is a little bit cheaper for the 2 of us to get a rental car... they have complimentary shuttle busses from all the rental places nearby

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If you are worried about not getting into port to park, prepay would work: not sure if it's any cheaper to prepay to park at the terminal.

 

The other option, if you take a rental car to near the terminal (my wife and I did this out of Orlando for our honeymoon cruise), you can drop it off near the port - (Alamo, enterprise, and national share a building about 10 min away)

 

When we were comparing costs of the Disney bus to a rental,, it is a little bit cheaper for the 2 of us to get a rental car... they have complimentary shuttle busses from all the rental places nearby

 

 

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If I'm reading the post correctly, OP plans to drive from New Jersey to the port...so no rental involved. They also are planning to stay at a hotel that gives the coupon for 40% off terminal parking with an overnight hotel stay; the discount is not available on pre-paid parking. So yes, prepay is 40% MORE than drive up with the discount coupon.

You are right--for 2 of us, a one way car rental + gas + tolls is slightly less costly than the use of DCL transfers. But again, it is a little more effort as you must claim your luggage, take it to the car pick up point (on airport property), return the car and shuttle back to the terminal. For more than 2 people, a car rental becomes more of a savings.

Thank you chaserdog53. Moki'smommy is correct. We will be driving down from NJ in our own car, so renting a car is not an options. But thanks for the suggestion!

What I was really trying to determine was how big of a risk will it be not to prepay and reserve parking in advance so that we can leverage the 40% saving by staying in a participating area hotel the night before (which we will be doing any way). It seems to me from what I'm reading here and elsewhere that there should be little chance of not finding a spot to park when we arrive.

Still, I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone reading this thread who may have encountered this problem - no spots available for parking at the port when they arrived for their cruise. If anyone had this happen to them, what were the circumstances?

Thank you chaserdog53. Moki'smommy is correct. We will be driving down from NJ in our own car, so renting a car is not an options. But thanks for the suggestion!

 

What I was really trying to determine was how big of a risk will it be not to prepay and reserve parking in advance so that we can leverage the 40% saving by staying in a participating area hotel the night before (which we will be doing any way). It seems to me from what I'm reading here and elsewhere that there should be little chance of not finding a spot to park when we arrive.

 

Still, I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone reading this thread who may have encountered this problem - no spots available for parking at the port when they arrived for their cruise. If anyone had this happen to them, what were the circumstances?

Live near the port, visit often, multiple Disney and other cruises....parking is not an issue you need to worry about. Plenty of it at the Disney terminal, they even built a new parking garage a couple years ago. I personally park outside next to it. Of all the things to worry about, parking at the pier is not one of them.

Live near the port, visit often, multiple Disney and other cruises....parking is not an issue you need to worry about. Plenty of it at the Disney terminal, they even built a new parking garage a couple years ago. I personally park outside next to it. Of all the things to worry about, parking at the pier is not one of them.

Thanks!

OP you might want to call hotel or port about the 40% off deal. I read it has ended, or will soon.

YIKES!! I hope not!

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OP you might want to call hotel or port about the 40% off deal. I read it has ended, or will soon.

Port Canaveral 40% parking discount ending Feb 28 2017

 

over50visits

DIS Veteran

Joined:Jan 16, 2004

Messages:2,764

 

Title says it all. This is based on the manager of one of the hotels that offers the discount coupon, who had it "in writing." The desk clerks I spoke with today knew of it coming. They didn't know for sure if this was for all hotels, but believed so, since it was based on notification from the Port Canaveral office.

 

I guess I'm not surprised...with their unreasonably high parking rates, it appears they are looking to squeeze as much money out of an almost captive audience, and the discount (even if subsidized partly by the hotels) was doing nothing but reducing their bottom line. Be interesting to see if this drives people to use the hotel parking/shuttle program, or perhaps other offsite parking companies.

This was what I read on the DIS.

ex techie

OP you might want to call hotel or port about the 40% off deal. I read it has ended, or will soon.

They started it when the private lots were charging $5.99. Not sure what effect it will have now that the private places have almost doubled in cost. Time will tell, I guess.