Pre Hotel Pt. Canaveral

[Halfpint012]

Thank you, HalfPint and AnyIsland! I appreciate the welcome and the answers.

 

I've been reading reviews like mad and making copious notes. It's fun, but I feel a little bit of pressure, too, because I want to make it the best possible experience without going bankrupt, lol.

 

I think the planning is lots of fun. I love the researching & trying to find the best deal! My last thing to do planning wise was book hotel & transportation. I finally did that on Wednesday or Thursday & now I've got all this extra time on my hands & don't know what to do with myself.

 

Good luck!

[rlmorrow13]

Originally posted by SteerageJoe, The best views (by far) are from the top floor north facing rooms (especially on the north-west corner) at the Holiday Inn Club. These rooms have balconies so you can watch the ships come and go very close to you! I was told by the Front Desk you do not have to be a club member to book a pre-cruise stay.

 

 

 

SteerageJoe, we have four 2-bedroom ocean units booked here for 2 nights pre-cruise for our son's embarkation wedding in October. We booked with owner points from other Florida affiliates, but have not visited this property since its recent acquisition. We rented a couple of 12-passenger vans to transport everyone (and all the wedding/cruise luggage :eek:). Any advice/tips, other than requesting the top floor ocean-facing rooms? (Already did, upon booking.)

 

Did you use the restaurant on site? If so, how was it? We are 16 immediate family members, majority 21-33, four in the "young" 50's ;), one teen and one toddler (all traveling on the cruise as well). I would like to plan dinner on the Friday night precruise (typically the rehearsal dinner night) somewhere fun and casual. Did you use the onsite restaurant and if so, would you recommend it? Or please recommend a nearby restaurant instead? We have the vans so we could travel off property with no issue.

 

Also, were you able to see any ships arriving/departing? Rocket launches? ( I will check websites closer to travel dates.) Did you visit Jetty Park? If so, did you see any manatees? Was it a nice park and is there a beach area? Worth a visit? We visited Cocoa Beach when our kids were much younger (day trip while visiting Orlando) about 10-12 years ago but just remember the Ron Jon's Surf shop and typical beach. Worth a new look? We will basically have most of the afternoon/evening on Thursday and all day Friday for activities. Love the Space Center, and some might want to go there if they haven't been before. Or maybe we will just relax by the resort pool! Who knows! So many decisions/choices!

 

Sorry for all the questions! Can you tell I'm excited? Thanks for any advice/recommendations/must do's and must see's! :cool:

Edited May 9, 2015 by rlmorrow13

[dreday3]

I've stayed at both the Residence Inn - Marriott & Country Inn & Suites (both are in the same parking lot, closest to the port). My vote, HANDS DOWN! would be for the Residence Inn - Marriott. Their rooms are more updated, larger and the inclusive hot breakfast is definitely a few steps above the one that is served at the Country Inn.

 

Happy to read this. We chose Residence Inn for our pre-cruise stay, (two nights due to travel plans). :)

[kruise runner]

Hi

We have stayed at the Radisson for 2 of cruises. We have totally enjoyed our stays and never had any problems. The Hotel Staff is very friendly and help full ,service is good ,most important for DW room is clean . The pool area is very nice and Dinning room was very good. The hotel is a great stay to start your cruise. We usually take a taxi to the ship there is a shuttle . Make sure you book that early fills up fast. I believe there is a hotel shuttle that goes around the port and back to hotel. Hope this helps and happy cruising. Enjoy:)

LOOKING TO CRUISE

kruise runner:cool:

[Camdenscott4]

3. Yes and no. I chose a hotel in Cocoa Beach that has a shuttle that leaves at 9:30 so I'll be there no later than 10 for sure. Most hotels have shuttles that leave between 10-12.

 

Halfpint - do you mind sharing which hotel that is? We purchased the FTTF package from Carnival for our August cruise. That means we will be boarded early. I hate to waste time on a shuttle knowing we could be one of the first ones on the ship!

 

Thanks!

[Halfpint012]

Halfpint - do you mind sharing which hotel that is? We purchased the FTTF package from Carnival for our August cruise. That means we will be boarded early. I hate to waste time on a shuttle knowing we could be one of the first ones on the ship!

 

Thanks!

 

Best Western Cocoa Inn. It's not the nicest area but the room was very clean & we felt safe.

[Capt_BJ]

OP does sound snooty but

 

If you want to move up a notch head a bit south

 

http://www.hiltonmelbournebeach.com/

 

or even http://www.windemereinn.com/

 

[RocketMan275]

Hampton or Doubletree have southeastern balconies.

 

We stayed at the Hampton in 2013 for our very first cruise on Freedom. We did sit on the balcony and enjoyed a bottle of wine. I do believe all the rooms face the beach. Kind of funny arrangement. When you exit the elevator, you walk along a covered walkway which is open on one side with all the rooms along the other side. This allows almost all the rooms to face the beach. We found this to be a very good hotel. We were fortunate in that we had a very high floor. You could see the ships from the walkway on our floor but they were very distant, maybe five miles?

[John&LaLa]

We stayed at the Hampton in 2013 for our very first cruise on Freedom. We did sit on the balcony and enjoyed a bottle of wine. I do believe all the rooms face the beach. Kind of funny arrangement. When you exit the elevator, you walk along a covered walkway which is open on one side with all the rooms along the other side. This allows almost all the rooms to face the beach. We found this to be a very good hotel. We were fortunate in that we had a very high floor. You could see the ships from the walkway on our floor but they were very distant, maybe five miles?

Our condo is about half mile south of there. Same view. You do get to see the ships sail by about 20 - 30 minutes after they leave their docks

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[RocketMan275]

(This is my first post on CC; I hope I'm correct in guessing that my questions are a good fit for this existing thread rather than starting a new thread. If not, please forgive the newbie.)

 

I'm interested in the question of hotels near Port Canaveral as well as the general issue of transportation if one flies into Orlando. I haven't cruised before and was surprised to see cruises listed as leaving from Orlando. Reading the details, I saw that they meant Port Canaveral. So, questions:

 

Sounds like you're flying in. Recommend you search this forum for rental cars. You should find several threads on this. You'll find you can get some very good one-way rates to/from Orlando. We paid IIRC around $40 one way. We flew in to Orlando the day before the cruise. Picked up our rental car and drove to Port Canaveral. We kept the car and used it for dinner. Drove to the rental agency the next day, dropped the car, and they drove us to the port (complementary). Got off the ship, got on the rental car shuttle, picked up a car, and drove to the airport. Worked very well.

 

Almost forgot. You could prepay for gas at the rental company. Wasn't the usual rip-off. As long as you drove less than IIRC 70 miles, it was like $15. It's like 45 miles from the airport to the cruise port so that allowed some flexibility for dinner, etc. Sure, you could pump yourself, but it's not easy finding a gas station near the airport. Easy in Port Canaveral.

[John&LaLa]

Sounds like you're flying in. Recommend you search this forum for rental cars. You should find several threads on this. You'll find you can get some very good one-way rates to/from Orlando. We paid IIRC around $40 one way. We flew in to Orlando the day before the cruise. Picked up our rental car and drove to Port Canaveral. We kept the car and used it for dinner. Drove to the rental agency the next day, dropped the car, and they drove us to the port (complementary). Got off the ship, got on the rental car shuttle, picked up a car, and drove to the airport. Worked very well.

 

Almost forgot. You could prepay for gas at the rental company. Wasn't the usual rip-off. As long as you drove less than IIRC 70 miles, it was like $15. It's like 45 miles from the airport to the cruise port so that allowed some flexibility for dinner, etc. Sure, you could pump yourself, but it's not easy finding a gas station near the airport. Easy in Port Canaveral.

 

Gas near airport is over $5 a gallon. Shameful

[RocketMan275]

Our condo is about half mile south of there. Same view. You do get to see the ships sail by about 20 - 30 minutes after they leave their docks

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

We drove to Fish Lips for dinner and to watch the ships leave from their so we didn't get to see them from the HI. Thinking about either the Residence Inn or the new Homewood Suites for when we book our Oasis Port Canaveral cruise. That will be Oct/Nov 2017. We've got three cruises booked out of FLL before then. Some of our FLL cruises have gone up 50% so there's no way we cancel any of them.

 

BTW, we lived in Madison too from 1996 to 2006.

[Eng23]

does the Radisson have balcony to sit and watch the ships or just windows. ould love a hotel where we could sit outside and sip wine with a view.

The Radisson doesn't have any views like you describe.

[Eng23]

Happy to read this. We chose Residence Inn for our pre-cruise stay, (two nights due to travel plans). :)

You made a good choice!

[John&LaLa]

We drove to Fish Lips for dinner and to watch the ships leave from their so we didn't get to see them from the HI. Thinking about either the Residence Inn or the new Homewood Suites for when we book our Oasis Port Canaveral cruise. That will be Oct/Nov 2017. We've got three cruises booked out of FLL before then. Some of our FLL cruises have gone up 50% so there's no way we cancel any of them.

 

BTW, we lived in Madison too from 1996 to 2006.

 

We did Milikens yesterday. Just two ships. :(

There may be a new hotel in the Cove by Fall 2017 if you can believe the port authority. Walk to Fish Lips or the others.

We lived off of Wal-Triana just south of 71. Moved to Atlanta in 2000

[RocketMan275]

We did Milikens yesterday. Just two ships. :(

There may be a new hotel in the Cove by Fall 2017 if you can believe the port authority. Walk to Fish Lips or the others.

We lived off of Wal-Triana just south of 71. Moved to Atlanta in 2000

 

I'm not familiar with Port Canaveral. Our only visit was Freedom in 2013. What's the Cove? I'm assuming that's in addition to the Homewood Suites construction?

 

BTW, we lived in Stallion Run about 1/4 mile south of 72 off Wall Triana, just before you got to Gooch.

[John&LaLa]

I'm not familiar with Port Canaveral. Our only visit was Freedom in 2013. What's the Cove? I'm assuming that's in addition to the Homewood Suites construction?

 

BTW, we lived in Stallion Run about 1/4 mile south of 72 off Wall Triana, just before you got to Gooch.

 

The Cove is the area where Fish Lips and the other restaurants are located. Royal sails out of there from the new Terminal 1. Plans are to add more nightlife and a hotel.

 

I probably meant 72, my bad. I think we were in Kensington. Our street was Radisson Lane. We have been back a few times to get BBQ from Thomas's

[RocketMan275]

The Cove is the area where Fish Lips and the other restaurants are located. Royal sails out of there from the new Terminal 1. Plans are to add more nightlife and a hotel.

 

I probably meant 72, my bad. I think we were in Kensington. Our street was Radisson Lane. We have been back a few times to get BBQ from Thomas's

 

Thanks for the information on the Cove. I'm a compulsive planner and I've already started the planning for an Oasis cruise in 2017. The one issue we had on our previous trip to PC was the fact that we had to drive everywhere.

 

Any word on who will operated the new hotel? I would guess with the new Homewood Suites under construction, it won't be a Hilton property.

 

One reason why we like FLL is that we can park at Embassy Suites and pretty much walk everywhere. Being able to walk within the Cove would be very attractive. I'll make a note of that on my planning spread sheet.

 

Small world. We lived about half a mile away.

Edited July 27, 2015 by RocketMan275

[John&LaLa]

Thanks for the information on the Cove. I'm a compulsive planner and I've already started the planning for an Oasis cruise in 2017. The one issue we had on our previous trip to PC was the fact that we had to drive everywhere.

 

Any word on who will operated the new hotel? I would guess with the new Homewood Suites under construction, it won't be a Hilton property.

 

One reason why we like FLL is that we can park at Embassy Suites and pretty much walk everywhere. Being able to walk within the Cove would be very attractive. I'll make a note of that on my planning spread sheet.

 

Small world. We lived about half a mile away.

 

Have not seen any news lately on new hotel. They are working on storm drains around the tower. Also doing something next to T1 bus parking. I'm surprised they haven't secured any leases for the retail areas to the west of T1. All I have seen so far is a very tiny Ron Jon

[RocketMan275]

Have not seen any news lately on new hotel. They are working on storm drains around the tower. Also doing something next to T1 bus parking. I'm surprised they haven't secured any leases for the retail areas to the west of T1. All I have seen so far is a very tiny Ron Jon

 

I understand they've started construction on the Homewood Suites across from the Radisson. Someone else said the construction you can see in the google maps street view is this new hotel.

[John&LaLa]

I understand they've started construction on the Homewood Suites across from the Radisson. Someone else said the construction you can see in the google maps street view is this new hotel.

 

Maybe, it is right across from RaceTrac. Pretty good size. The PC website refers to an upscale hotel in the Cove. No details though

[RocketMan275]

Maybe, it is right across from RaceTrac. Pretty good size. The PC website refers to an upscale hotel in the Cove. No details though

 

Have you seen this thread on Homewood?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2229660&highlight=homewood+canaveral

[John&LaLa]

Have you seen this thread on Homewood?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2229660&highlight=homewood+canaveral

 

I'm the last post. :p

[Eng23]

Thanks for the information on the Cove. I'm a compulsive planner and I've already started the planning for an Oasis cruise in 2017. The one issue we had on our previous trip to PC was the fact that we had to drive everywhere.

 

Any word on who will operated the new hotel? I would guess with the new Homewood Suites under construction, it won't be a Hilton property.

 

One reason why we like FLL is that we can park at Embassy Suites and pretty much walk everywhere. Being able to walk within the Cove would be very attractive. I'll make a note of that on my planning spread sheet.

 

Small world. We lived about half a mile away.

 

Homewood Suites is a Hilton Hotel brand.

[John&LaLa]

Homewood Suites is a Hilton Hotel brand.

 

We were discussing a different hotel which is probably why he thinks it won't be a Hilton