WDW before Royal Cruise; need help coordinating MCO & Port Canaveral

[Jessie2013]

We are cruising (Royal Caribbean) in December. It will be myself, hubby, 4 year old son, and my in-laws. My in-laws have never cruised before. It's our first time cruising out of Port Canaveral. We live out of state, but have a vacation home 3 miles from Disney World. We would like to extend our cruise vacation by adding on a few days before/after at our vacation home (in-laws would enjoy time at WDW & a longer trip).

 

Ship leaves on Sunday, December 14. We would fly in on the 10th, get a rental car from MCO & drive to the house. I was thinking we could then drop off the rental car on the 14th in the a.m. at the cruise port rental agency (is this possible? How far away is this?) and board the ship.

 

When we dock on the 21st, how easy will it be to get a rental car for a day/few hours & then drop that back off at MCO before our flight that evening? I haven't booked flights yet- would it be better to just try to book a early flight? I'm trying to avoid a long day of waiting for our flight with nothing to do (and a young child). So far, there are really early flights & later afternoon flights...nothing at the ideal 12:00 time or so that I would love :)

 

What would you do? Any advice would be really helpful!

[Capt_BJ]

your rental car plan is doable .. many folks do this basic thing - two one way rentals

 

here are your company choices and their locations around the port area

 

[JohninDC]

Listen to the CAPT! ;) All of the major rental agencies are close to the port and their shuttles make continuous loops between the port and rental location. 5 in a car with a car seat and bags sounds like a squeeze - you'll likely need a van or two standard rentals.

 

With a rental car after the cruise you can take your time leaving the ship and get some lunch someplace before catching an early afternoon flight home -- noon is about as early as I would try for with the delays of picking up the car, a 45-60 minute drive, gas, turn in etc. Good luck! :)

[sjcruiser]

We've done it also when flying into MCO to visit family before going to PC, and upon the return. Its very convenient, and the price is comparable to the roundtrip shuttle for two, and you'll have the freedom to get around Orlando. We used National/Alamo, and the shuttles ran frequently. We're not using for this cruise because we have more going in our group, and different flight times.