Couple questions about boarding

[Pwrmaster7]

I just wondered what time to get to the dock to avoid waiting in line for long periods. We are leaving on the Epic on April 13th. Staying at a hotel the night before. We were going to use Cortrans but they wont be able to take us until 10 or 11am pickup. Should we Uber it instead if we need to be there earlier? Thanks!

[BirdTravels]

19 minutes ago, Pwrmaster7 said:

I just wondered what time to get to the dock to avoid waiting in line for long periods. We are leaving on the Epic on April 13th. Staying at a hotel the night before. We were going to use Cortrans but they wont be able to take us until 10 or 11am pickup. Should we Uber it instead if we need to be there earlier? Thanks!

Priority boarding starts around 11:00 am. General boarding starts between 11:15 and 11:30. 

 

We show up at the port around 10:15 to avoid lines at security and check-in.

 

The Buffet and O'Sheehan's open at 11:30 for lunch. The Taste Main Dining Room opens at noon. 

 

We usually stay at a hotel near the port and take a taxi over in the morning. On our next trip, we are actually renting a car and staying out at Downtown Disney and driving the port in the morning (car rental dropoff near the port). 

[sanger727]

On our last ncl cruise I believe we took the 10:30 shuttle. Got to the pier around 10:45. Barely any lines. Embarkation began at 11 and since we had a prior cruise with NCL we were in an early boarding group and were onboard by 11:30. This was out of Tampa.

Edited March 19, 2019 by sanger727

[roger001]

9 hours ago, Pwrmaster7 said:

I just wondered what time to get to the dock to avoid waiting in line for long periods. We are leaving on the Epic on April 13th. Staying at a hotel the night before. We were going to use Cortrans but they wont be able to take us until 10 or 11am pickup. Should we Uber it instead if we need to be there earlier? Thanks!

I used to take shuttles.  However, we've begun to Uber it frequently now.   Going to the port with Uber is easy (although the last Uber guy was not very familiar with the Miami port off loading process).  Going back to the airport after a cruise, with the huge crowds waiting, Uber finding you can get complicated, depending on the port I guess.  Have used Uber but took a shuttle last time at Miami.   We try to arrive at the ports around 10 or 10:30.   Quicker check in and then a short wait to begin boarding.  

[rmurray847]

We usually leave our hotel at around 10 and arrive at port between 10:15 & 10:30.  That would always be my goal, and then I would figure out the transportation needed to make it work.  We've done shuttles from hotels, we've done Uber, we did Super Shuttle when there was a big group of us.  We even drover ourselves and parked once (never again!).  For us, timing is more important than method.  BUT, you'll get a wide variety of opinions.

 

(In our early cruising days, we got there around 2, because we wanted to spend more time in our origin cities [Rome & Barcelona].  But I've realised [and my wife is now onboard...pun intended] that on the day of boarding, I'm just too excited and really want to squeeze every minute I can out of the time on the ship.)

[Pwrmaster7]

Ok think I'm going to uber it from our hotel near Orlando Airport around 915ish to get to Port by 1015, then shuttle it to the airport on the way back as we have tons of time. Thanks all

[nolatravelgirl]

Port Canaveral is about 45 miles from the MCO airport. You may want to consider staying at a hotel closer to the port and then leaving yourself only a short commute on embarkation date. Also, some Uber drivers may cancel on you when they find that they are going that far.

[Pwrmaster7]

1 hour ago, nolatravelgirl said:

Port Canaveral is about 45 miles from the MCO airport. You may want to consider staying at a hotel closer to the port and then leaving yourself only a short commute on embarkation date. Also, some Uber drivers may cancel on you when they find that they are going that far.

We don't arrive until after midnight so we are staying near the airport. I can deal if an uber doesn't want a good ride lol. Also the hotels by the airport were much more expensive. B

Edited March 19, 2019 by Pwrmaster7