Capt_BJ

double check the location of "Days Inn by Wyndham Cocoa Cruiseport west I95/524." you are far from the port and pretty much anything else ... this is a truck driver stop . . .

these places usually have a drop box for the keys for an an after hours return ..... then you can taxi/uber back to the ship . . . .

yes you can .... at least you could the last time I went ... note that the falls are just part of the national park at Dunns River. Technically climbing the falls is 'free' .... included when you pay for a full day's admission to the park. The guides work for tips and are not required altho if you've never climbed the falls b4, not a terrible idea. the guide wil keep you on the 'tourist path' I don't use guides - been many times since 1986 .... we go up the middle see the folks on left side? They are a cruise ship tour following a guide .... ditto the hand holding queue behind us ...

I agree with Corby 110% IF you must drive your own vehicle and park I suggest one of the AIRPORT extended parking off sites ... taking their transport to the airport and a transfer to the cruise port from there. It will be more steps but probably cost less and there are long standing off site parking places at the airport while I can NOT recommend any near the cruise port. <p.s. I worked in downtown Miami for years .... and at the port for more time .... and I cruise from there somewhat routinely. If between a rock and a hard place I park at the PORT and not at a 'port off site' altho I use such a place in Canaveral with NO WORRIES ..... different places and circumstances>

a MAJOR factor impacting how good/bad the rental car experience is at PC is the port load for the day. If not aware, PC has surpassed Miami as the port moving the most passengers. Sadly some of the 'support functions' have not kept up with the port's growth. Even the port admits they have parking issues (and no longer poo-poo the off site parking establishments which they could NOT do without.) rental car offices are right there with something that has NOT kept up .... <a BUNCH of new hotels have recently opened or are under construction> You would be wise to go to the port's web site portcanaveral.com .... then the cruise tab then the schedule tab .... there you can check the port schedule for the day (I'll not hang the link as this would send you to the list they have posted TODAY and may not be the most current. They built it ..... not me!)\\Some days see 1 or 2 ships and this the rental places handle easily. Other days can see 5 turning around PLUS a port call ship with 3 of these BIG ONES .... on these days stand by for a mess at the rental places and on the shuttles!!!!!

night movies (but we were sailing land of midnight sun so it only kinda sorta had the mood) dancing under the stars .... as above midnight sun kinda got in the way and they had a camera set up so you could watch the Blue Nose folks take their polar dip . . .

took this picture last week showing the pier work still underway. Viking Saturn was at the pier facing "into the port" or southwest. Am MSC ship was anchored and tendering. I'd mention that not only is the distance to the land off the left side (port) in this picture not too far .... a dredge was working the area the entire time we were there.

if you want covered your best bet is the port's lots .... most likely you are in a multi-story garage. Not 100% but most likely. +++++++++++++ in all the times I've parked at PnC they have NEVER kept my keys.

IMO the only dif' is PnC is gravel and PPC is paved Which is nearest depends on terminal in question Which is lowest cost changes routinely but with adv res' usually very close in price. I usually use PnC because it is first one I pass

Not only distance. Port 'sides' are apart by a drawbridge closed to foot traffic. No sidewalks

POM is in the middle of down town. I worked down town. There is NO low cost parking. I tied a cruise off site in Miami once ... Big mistake ... Never again. Park at the port

There's A place where you can rent a Slingshot for guided or DIY beach cruising

Star link versus traditional maritime satellite Is the difference between a moving set of small satellites versus a geostationary satellite. The ONLY place a geostationary orbit can be achieved is ruffly 23,000 miles above the equator. A position that becomes hard to see above 75 north and complicated by mountains in the line of sight. (At this height and in an equatorial orbit in same direction as rotation of earth the speed the bird needs to stay UP matches earth rotational speed and satellite appears to be stationary in the sky) The low earth satellites as your map shows are moving but always in an orbit on a plane which passes thru the center of the earth (physics). Elon has minimal coverage (orbits) covering the low population poles. Nor does he yet carry tv! Note GPS is also A network of low earth orbit satellites. This network is 'complete' including polar orbits and usually at least 3 satellites are within sight and used to determine A 3 dimensional position

Wrt connectivity .... Comments about high latitude don't apply as rather than traditional maritime satellite this ship is using SpaceX Starlink which is low earth orbit network of satellites. I've checked my access at least once a day and it has never exceeded 10mbps, usually well below. Elon ain't convinced me he's got a winner yet. Maybe after a few hundred more of his satellites cloud the sky 🤔

Dunno about ipass but with Florida systems you can temporarily add the rental car tag# to the account which provides backup if the transponder is not read. A good idea. My sun pass even allows setting automatic delete for same information.

Saturn (on now) has a c port in the bedside tables. Most of the other standard USB are low power so a tablet or more (even a kindle fire) needs an adapter of one sort or another.

I'm a Canaveral local who cruises a lot ... last one was out of FLL/Port Everglades. Your transport options are more than LIMITED .... unless you drive they are virtually non-existent! But you've figured that out. You are ATLGIRL? Meaning Atlanta? If so, I-95 probably does not scare you .... the drive is EASY if you are comfortable on I-95. Straight north ~ 2 hours Renting a car IS the best option. At the Canaveral end your choices are (not all agencies have offices here). NATIONAL / ALAMO / ENTERPRISE has a shared office on the port property ..... shared shuttle Budget is next nearest to the port - just a few minutes away but gets reports of being the most hectic when things get busy (more on this at the end) Dollar / Thrifty share a site (and shuttle) a bit further away and AVIS is across the street ... 10 minutes away .... +++++++++++ Port Can' has recently taken over the ranking as 'busiest cruise port' .... not all of the support services have kept up with this growth. The port has acknowledged need for more parking garages and on a BUSY day the rental places get swamped. How do you know if yours is a busy day? Go to the red link then click the orange block .... this will bring up a spreadsheet of a 6 month window of the cruise port schedule (I can' post the link directly cuz when they update it changes ......you would get OLD info) Some days see one or two cruise ships and small ones at that ... NO WORRIES Other days see FIVE even SIX and some of those the BIG ONES .... then all I can say is plan ahead and manage your expectations . . .

p.s. I noted messages on the airport web site several times of late warning of parking garages FULL even the out lying extended parking lots! in fact ... right now .....

'right now' Terminal 1 to SW UberX $85 XL $120 Port to SW over 50 miles MCO to SW about 10 miles

I live an hour away and typically do two one way car rentals for that long of a trip or longer. Doing so starting next week. Yes it takes a lil time to get and return the car but only costing me $50 each end

in round numbers I'd figure travel time of an hour .... it is doable but probably won't be stress free. depending on the ships in PE that day Ft Lau' can be as crazy if not more so then MIA

with regard to waiting for a shuttle etc a BIG factor is the number of ships on the day in question. PC has become the busiest cruise port and frankly some of the services have some catching up to do. If you go here: https://www.portcanaveral.com/Cruise/Cruise-Lines-Schedules and click where it says: CLICK HERE to view cruise schedule you can get the port schedule for about 6 months at a time .. check and see how many ships are due. It could be ONE and then no problems .... and it could be SIX and several of those BIG ONES .... then things get a lil crazy ..... even the port is scrambling announcing construction of two additional parking garages (not yet begun) manage your expectations ....

note that the drink package(s) price will probably change a few times before your cruise ... this is normal (assuming your a few months out). AND note that the price they will show is PLUS 18% gratuity of that daily price. The only good part of this is if you buy and the price goes down you can cancel for a full refund and rebuy at the lower price. On our last RCCL cruise the price I eventually paid was $62/person/day plus grat' and frankly I don't think we got our money's worth but it avoided seeing a bar bill at the cruise end. Pre COVID I never bought until price was below $45. The price changes can be very short lived and for weeks leading up to a cruise I check the price every morning! <btw I'm leaving on a different line next week and their booze package is $25/person/day and includes the gratuity ..... the cruise costs more to be sure {small ship} but it is one of those things I look at for total cost of the cruise>

the accident ......

incident was captured on webcams .... I've linked a youtube copy as a sailor I see a big booboo and even have a theory as to why/how . . . short answer ..... NEVER <try to> cut across the bow of a larger vessel. That ain't in the 'rules of the road' it is just common sense . . . if things go bad the bigger boat always wins.