Another Transportation Question

[kellymonster23]

We have booked our first Disney cruise on the Fantasy in January. I know we have lots of time to figure out transportation from MCO to Port to MCO but we would like to start looking at all of our options. I have read many reviews but I'm still unsure of what would be the best option.

 

We are planning to fly in the night before. There will be 5 adults so that leaves our rental car option to a mini-van or larger. Budget is giving me a price of almost $180 for a one-way rental. I have read a few reviews about Orlando hotels that have a transportation package to Port. Are the Hyatt Place NW and Wingate by Wyndham the only hotels to offer this package? What hotels are located near the Port? We didn't realize how expensive it would be to get to Port and have somewhere to sleep the night before the cruise.

 

Any help/suggestions/guidance would be VERY appreciated!!!

[moki'smommy]

First don't ever book Budget without a discount coupon. You can get these in various travel magazines, hotel loyalty memberships, discountcodes.com, etc. You can save anywhere from 20-50% with these codes. $180 is crazy. I paid $39 one way and $93 the other way on one trip for a mini van. The difference was that I had a great code but it was only good in one month and our cruise crossed into the next month.

 

Hotels that DID have transportation--Hyatt Place NW, Wyndham, Hampton Inn (MCO area). I have used Hyatt Place and Wyndham. Hyatt Place was better--more organized, knew what they were doing. NOTE that the rate offered by the hotel is for ROUND TRIP transportation. They will pick you up after the cruise and take you to either the hotel or MCO. Downside--they run one vehicle each way. They tell you the departure times; you don't get to choose.

 

Shuttle options--Happy Limo, FL tours, RJ Tours, Cocoa Beach Shuttle, etc. RJ is currently showing $100 for a 5-9 passenger van. Cocoa Beach Shuttle will get you from MCO to a Cocoa Beach hotel (near port). BUT you would need a shuttle to the cruise terminal the next day--either free or paid.

 

Hotels near the port are Country Inn and Suites, Residence Inn, and then a whole long list. The above 2 are the closest and among the most pleasant. They include a complimentary breakfast and have a shuttle service (verify whether it is complimentary). There is a Radisson very nearby too--I haven't stayed there since the latest renovations. It needed them the last time I was there. You can look up hotels in CAPE Canaveral (not Port as there are no hotels in the port) and Cocoa Beach. Personal point--I'd avoid the Best Western Inn and Suites Cocoa Beach. We spent one night in the Suites section only because the more nearby hotels did not have a suite and I needed to get space for 6....yeah, it was OK for one night, but I wouldn't have stayed beyond that.

 

It has been my experience that hotels near the airport cost less, if that matters to you. All of the 2.5* and nicer hotels in the MCO area have a complimentary shuttle to the hotel. You can fly in, use their shuttle to get to the hotel, and then have a limo service pick you up at the hotel if you choose that option to get to the port.

 

I feel like I'm giving you too many options here and it might be difficult for you to sort out. Please ask if you have more questions.

 

You are not likely to see Budget discount codes available this early for next January.

Edited March 1, 2015 by moki'smommy

[kellymonster23]

Does the transportation from the Hyatt or Wyndham stop at other hotels? Is the transportation provided by the hotel or contracted through another shuttle company? If so, do you know which one? I understand we only get one pick up time option but I'm wondering if we will be sitting in a van for extra time because of stops at other hotels. Thanks for all the info you have already provided!!!

[moki'smommy]

When we did it from the Hyatt Place NW, we were to only hotel. Empty vehicle came to the hotel, picked up those of us who booked the package, and took us directly to the terminal. We made NO other stops. We were given the departure time and asked to be in the lobby 15 minutes before that time. We actually departed a few minutes early as everyone was there and loaded.

 

This would be a very good question to ask the hotel (call the local one, not the nationwide number) because things DO change. In fact, I read that they were discontinuing this program as of Jan 1, but can confirm that it still exists.

 

Also, the on line rate (look under specials) is transportation for 2 people. Their hotel rooms will hold 4 or 6 depending on what you book. You will need to call the local number to add additional people to the transportation. Call them first (before you book) to be sure they have space to add the 1 or 3 additional people.

[kellymonster23]

Thank you so much for the information. I think that we have actually decided to bite the bullet and use Disney transportation round trip MCO-PC. We will find a cheap hotel near MCO for the night before departure. I like the idea of not having to mess with luggage once we get checked into Disney transportation. Are there several bus departure times from MCO the morning of the cruise or will we be assigned a time? Same question for our return to MCO, will we need to be the first people off the ship to get the Disney bus back to the bus or do we get and assigned bus time?? Thanks again for all the info!!

[Shmoo here]

Thank you so much for the information. I think that we have actually decided to bite the bullet and use Disney transportation round trip MCO-PC. We will find a cheap hotel near MCO for the night before departure. I like the idea of not having to mess with luggage once we get checked into Disney transportation. Are there several bus departure times from MCO the morning of the cruise or will we be assigned a time? Same question for our return to MCO, will we need to be the first people off the ship to get the Disney bus back to the bus or do we get and assigned bus time?? Thanks again for all the info!!

 

The DCL transfer desk (located in the same area as the Magical Express) opens at 9:00 am (sometimes a little earlier). Seating onboard the busses is first come-first served. The busses leave every 20 minutes or when full, whichever occurs first. I believe they run until around 12:00 (may closer to 1:00).

 

From port to MCO, when you leave the terminal (after getting off the ship), you show your KTTW card to the CM manning the desk for people using transfers. You will be directed to the bus for the airport. When it's full it leaves. You don't want to be on the last bus, as it will wait (and wait) until given the all clear that everyone is off the ship and accounted for before leaving for the airport.

[kellymonster23]

Do we need to collect our luggage prior to heading to the bus when leaving Port Canaveral or is there an online airline checkin we can use and then Disney takes care of our luggage?

[ubish00]

Do we need to collect our luggage prior to heading to the bus when leaving Port Canaveral or is there an online airline checkin we can use and then Disney takes care of our luggage?

 

Yes, you collect your luggage, go through customs and then get on the bus. It's very simple and straightforward. Should you want a porter, there are plenty there waiting to help.

[Shmoo here]

Do we need to collect our luggage prior to heading to the bus when leaving Port Canaveral or is there an online airline checkin we can use and then Disney takes care of our luggage?

 

If you're on a domestic flight after 11:30 am the morning of departure on a participating airline, you can register for Onboard Airline CheckIn. DCL will check you in, deliver your boarding passes and luggage tags to your room onboard. Then, when you set your bags out the last night (with the luggage tags affixed), the next time you'll see your bags will be at your home airport.

 

Here's the information from our cruise last September regarding this:

 

ONBOARD AIRLINE CHECKIN

From Port Canaveral: (from cruise documents 8/9/2014)

The requirements are below

• You must have purchased DCL Air and/or DCL Ground Transfers

• Your flight has to leave from Orlando International Airport after 11:30 am on the same day your cruise vacation ends.

• Your flight must be on a participating airline:

AirTran Airways

Alaska Airlines

American Airlines

Delta Air Lines

JetBlue Airways

United Airlines

US Airways

• Your final destination must be within the U.S. (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands)

• Each luggage piece can weigh no more than fifty (50) pounds.

• Airline specific baggage fees may apply and can vary by airline. Please check with your specific carrier for more details.

• Applicable airline baggage fees will be posted directly to your shipboard account.

• Some Guests may be selected to check in at the airport and may not be able to use this service.

 

If you are not on qualifying flight, you will claim your bags in the terminal, carry them through customs and hand them off to the bus driver to be transported underneath your bus to the airport. Then get them at the airport to check in for your flight.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Shmoo here

[moki'smommy]

Do we need to collect our luggage prior to heading to the bus when leaving Port Canaveral or is there an online airline checkin we can use and then Disney takes care of our luggage?

It depends. If you are on a participating airline and using DCL transfers, you can do on board airline check in. You need to sign up for this in advance. You will get your luggage tags and boarding passes in your cabin the day before. You pack your bags, apply the luggage tags, and put them outside your cabin the last night. You will next see them at your HOME airport. No need to collect them in the terminal, etc. You will do Customs with just your carry on bags, take the bus to the airport, and go directly to your gate (since you already have boarding passes.)

 

If you are NOT on a participating airline, you will need to either take your bags off yourself or claim them in the terminal and take them to the DCL bus with you. Southwest is NOT a participating airline.

[kellymonster23]

Great!!! Thank you all so much for all the information, you have been huge helps in clearing things up for me!!!!!

[snoopy5386]

When we cruised as a party of 6 we rented two compacts and drove those vs a van. It was about $40 per car.

[slightlysilly]

Just to clarify about Hyatt NW, we took the shuttle and if I ever get my review written, I'll go into more detail. When we got on the shuttle at the hotel, it was almost full of people, so they must have made a few stops before us. (I know you made other arrangements, just wanted to clarify)

[moki'smommy]

Just to clarify about Hyatt NW, we took the shuttle and if I ever get my review written, I'll go into more detail. When we got on the shuttle at the hotel, it was almost full of people, so they must have made a few stops before us. (I know you made other arrangements, just wanted to clarify)

 

Interesting. It makes me wonder if they changed their system rather than discontinuing this option. At one point they had said that the transportation service was available only until the end of 2014, but then surprisingly it has continued into 2015. How many people did your vehicle hold?

 

Just curious because when we did it, it was Hyatt NW to cruise terminal. Now what they DID do was drop at multiple cruise lines if there were multiple ships departing that day. I know it went to Carnival after dropping us at DCL.

[slightlysilly]

Interesting. It makes me wonder if they changed their system rather than discontinuing this option. At one point they had said that the transportation service was available only until the end of 2014' date=' but then surprisingly it has continued into 2015. How many people did your vehicle hold?

 

Just curious because when we did it, it was Hyatt NW to cruise terminal. Now what they DID do was drop at multiple cruise lines if there were multiple ships departing that day. I know it went to Carnival after dropping us at DCL.[/quote']

 

Moki - Do you mean that it was a Hyatt van that took you to the Port? This was a private company that came and picked us up. We received a phone call the morning we were to leave telling us to bring our luggage down to the lobby at x time and that a white van-truck-shuttle whatever you want to call it would pick us up. This person was calling from her home as her car wouldn't start or something like that.

 

So we waited. 15 or 20 minutes later a van showed up and a man came out and asked for Valerie and Marco... I am not Valerie and my husband is not Marco. I told the guy that we were waiting for a van that fit the description of his van. He made some phone calls and spoke only Spanish. Then he went and spoke with the hotel people. This went on for about 20 minutes. Finally, he took our bags and let us on the shuttle where we were horrified to find that there were about 10 people on the shuttle waiting for us! (The shuttle probably held 16 or so people). I felt terrible about this and apologized profusely. No one was outwardly mad at us. I'm assuming they tamped down their rage in the prior 20 minutes or something.

 

After the cruise was over, my instructions were to call a number and tell them we were outside the port terminal and that I should wait near #4 (I'm bad with details so it might have been a letter). A good half hour or so after the phone call, a van showed up with the exact same 10 people on it. (these people all went on other cruise lines)... we chatted about our cruises and had a nice ride back to the airport.

 

That all said, and I get that there was a problem or switch or something with our reservation. Hyatt NW was a comfortable stay and they were really nice about the shuttle dilemma (if you want to call it that, it was just a weird mix up in our reservation). Next time, we will stay at the Hyatt MCO only because our flight landed at around 1:30am and we were about ready to kill each other by the time we got to the hotel pick up area to get the shuttle to the Hyatt NW. I saw the signs for the Hyatt MCO and thought "well that's stupid, we should just stay here and take the Disney transport to the port." But I was beat and crazy because my plane was so delayed. (But that has nothing to do with the shuttle thing... I was just saying... )

[moki'smommy]

Very odd and interesting at the same time.

 

We were picked up in a similar big white vehicle that I would say held 12-16 people. No, not a Hyatt vehicle. But we had been told at the time of our check in at the Hyatt Place NW to be in the lobby at 9:45 with our luggage for a 10:00 departure. When we got to the lobby at the appointed time, there were about 10 people there, so we brought it up to 12 (might have been 14...not necessarily accurate count). The vehicle pulled up about 2 minutes later and we all boarded. Someone from the Hyatt had a list and "took attendance" and we actually departed a few minutes early since we were all on board.

 

We went directly to the DCL terminal where those of us going on DCL got off. We were reminded to be sure that we had identified ALL our luggage, which the porter took. There were people on board going to the Carnival terminal after we were dropped off.

 

For the return, we were not given a choice of time. We were told that he would pick us up at the shuttle space at 9:00 or something like that. It wasn't super early--it was either 9 or 9:15. We did have a phone number "just in case." Again, dude was there on time and we rode to airport.

 

As noted, we did have people for other cruise lines, but not from other hotels. I DO know that the Hyatt limits the number of people on the transportation deal (probably based on space in the vehicle). And I do wonder if your experience with other hotels represents a recent change. We read at the Hyatt Place NW web site that the transportation service was being discontinued as of 12/15, but now it is obviously continuing. I wonder if they changed the system and/or company rather than discontinuing it altogether.

 

Frankly, your description sounds a lot more like what they Wyndham was--quite disorganized and involved other hotels. We liked the Hyatt Place NW much better.

 

Note your comment about Hyatt MCO--it is definitely the easiest place to stay/way to go. However, it is also the most costly. BUT the Hyatt Place price for the transportation deal have increased significantly since we did it, so prices are getting a lot more competitive! If you come in late, Hyatt MCO is definitely the way to go!

[slightlysilly]

Very odd and interesting at the same time.

 

We were picked up in a similar big white vehicle that I would say held 12-16 people. No' date=' not a Hyatt vehicle. But we had been told at the time of our check in at the Hyatt Place NW to be in the lobby at 9:45 with our luggage for a 10:00 departure. When we got to the lobby at the appointed time, there were about 10 people there, so we brought it up to 12 (might have been 14...not necessarily accurate count). The vehicle pulled up about 2 minutes later and we all boarded. Someone from the Hyatt had a list and "took attendance" and we actually departed a few minutes early since we were all on board.

 

We went directly to the DCL terminal where those of us going on DCL got off. We were reminded to be sure that we had identified ALL our luggage, which the porter took. There were people on board going to the Carnival terminal after we were dropped off.

 

For the return, we were not given a choice of time. We were told that he would pick us up at the shuttle space at 9:00 or something like that. It wasn't super early--it was either 9 or 9:15. We did have a phone number "just in case." Again, dude was there on time and we rode to airport.

 

As noted, we did have people for other cruise lines, but not from other hotels. I DO know that the Hyatt limits the number of people on the transportation deal (probably based on space in the vehicle). And I do wonder if your experience with other hotels represents a recent change. We read at the Hyatt Place NW web site that the transportation service was being discontinued as of 12/15, but now it is obviously continuing. I wonder if they changed the system and/or company rather than discontinuing it altogether.

 

Frankly, your description sounds a lot more like what they Wyndham was--quite disorganized and involved other hotels. We liked the Hyatt Place NW much better.

 

Note your comment about Hyatt MCO--it is definitely the easiest place to stay/way to go. However, it is also the most costly. BUT the Hyatt Place price for the transportation deal have increased significantly since we did it, so prices are getting a lot more competitive! If you come in late, Hyatt MCO is definitely the way to go![/quote']

 

It did seem like our experience was not the norm as the Hyatt people apologized profusely for the mix up (I forgot to mention that).

 

As to the Hyatt MCO, by the time we got off that ULTRA late, turbulence ridden flight, I was all about convenience. Since we tend to get a day's work in before leaving on our trips, late flights are going to be the norm. It'll be nice to just walk off the plane and into the hotel. My husband is hooked on Disney now, so our next trip is out of Miami but we will probably end up at Port Canaveral again at some point.

[caroltovt]

Thank you so much for the information. I think that we have actually decided to bite the bullet and use Disney transportation round trip MCO-PC. We will find a cheap hotel near MCO for the night before departure. I like the idea of not having to mess with luggage once we get checked into Disney transportation. Are there several bus departure times from MCO the morning of the cruise or will we be assigned a time? Same question for our return to MCO, will we need to be the first people off the ship to get the Disney bus back to the bus or do we get and assigned bus time?? Thanks again for all the info!!

 

Check with Disney

If you stay at the Hyatt at the airport the night before they give you free transport. Might be worth comparing

[Shmoo here]

Check with Disney

If you stay at the Hyatt at the airport the night before they give you free transport. Might be worth comparing

 

Free transport to the port? I don't think that's true. If you stay at the Hyatt MCO, you can take DCL transfers, but it's not free.

[moki'smommy]

Check with Disney

If you stay at the Hyatt at the airport the night before they give you free transport. Might be worth comparing

 

Sorry, but no they don't. There is transportation available from the Hyatt MCO. You walk down to the Welcome Center at the airport and get on the DCL bus for $35 per person each way. Your luggage will be taken from your room at the Hyatt to the luggage truck and ultimately to your cabin on the ship.

 

Free? No. Never has been.

 

If you book a package that includes air thru DCL and fly in the night before, they incorporate the cost of the transfers into the price quoted for the air. Again, not free, just not shown as a separate line item.