Flying into Orlando for a port Canaveral cruise

[jperry2011]

We will be flying down the night before our cruise on the Mardi Gras. What is the best option for price and piece of mind regarding transportation and hotel? 

Should we get a package deal from goportcanaveral.com and stay in Orlando or Uber/taxi closer to the cruise terminal that night?

[BoozinCroozin]

GoPort stole our money. I would never use them. They are probably still taking people's money and they are not even in operation. Its up to you if you want to risk them.

 

My advice is first, how much do you want to spend for hotel and shuttle? Hotels in PC are about $200/nt. The price of the shuttle won't change really. Well, I stand to correct myself. MCO hotels have even gone up in price to $100-$150. Bid sites don't work much, but I am sure you could search for better deals. If the price isn't too different, going to the Port is not a big deal. For me, I use points for a free stay near MCO. No hotels in Port to use points.

• If you arrive before 8PM and have to be at the port, then by all means go for it.
• If you arrive after 8PM, there's not much point in going out there that late. 

Edited July 7, 2021 by BoozinCroozin

[JohninDC]

As mentioned above, when you arrive into MCO and your preferences will impact where you decide to stay.  We prefer to stay in Orlando, where there are 1000's of hotels in every price range.  One way car rentals are an option once cruising gets back up to speed.  I would also check with Cocoa Beach Shuttle and Cortrans for shared shuttle options between MCO and PC.

[Noxequifans]

Cortrans has been mentioned here a number of times. Suggest checking them out.

[Ashland]

Our flight arrives into MCO at 4:00pm we were going to use Cruise Control to get to Cape Canaveral but since we're coming in two days early we've decided to rent two cars for our group of 6.

Cruise Control has been very helpful and will use them for our return to MCO.

 

Lot's of hotel options in Port Canaveral we opted for Home2Suites after a bit of research.

[Pyrate13]

If it was me I would stay at one of the hotels that are very close to MCO and take the Cortrans shuttle in the morning. Cortrans has very good, reliable service and is well liked on these boards. They have increased their price by $5 per person from $20 to $25 but still worth it. You can set up a round trip and have them pick you up at the ship for return to MCO at the end of your cruise.

[Marie51]

I just booked with Cortrans for $40 per person round-trip. I was told the price on the website of $50 per person is for customers who book after September 2021.

[EngIceDave]

I live here, based on my local observations, you can book a rental car, but that doesn't mean there will be one here when you arrive. This has been an ongoing issue.

 

I would book a hotel of your choosing.

Then use some kind of ride share like uber, lyft

 

One I like but rarely spoken of is Blacklane, they're international and I have used all over. It is like a premium luxury Uber you can book in advance. It is a few more dollars, but it's a clean nice luxury vehicle.

Best it, it's booked in advance and they're waiting for you when you land or dock

[Pyrate13]

17 hours ago, Marie51 said:

I just booked with Cortrans for $40 per person round-trip. I was told the price on the website of $50 per person is for customers who book after September 2021.

Yes, the price I gave was one way so $50 round trip, per their website. Great that you were still able to get the $40 rate!

[jperry2011]

We ended up booking with Go Port Canaveral. 

Roughly $210 dollars for transportation to the hotel night before from the airport. A hotel room at a hotel with free breakfast. Transportation to the port day of. Transportation to the airport after the cruise. 

 

For the price I couldn't say no. I'll be sure to post my experience for others to save money if it's decent enough.

 

[Ashland]

10 minutes ago, jperry2011 said:

We ended up booking with Go Port Canaveral. 

Roughly $210 dollars for transportation to the hotel night before from the airport. A hotel room at a hotel with free breakfast. Transportation to the port day of. Transportation to the airport after the cruise. 

 

For the price I couldn't say no. I'll be sure to post my experience for others to save money if it's decent enough.

 

See post #2...I hope this company works out for you....there are actually many that posted on here that had problems. Best of luck !!

[jperry2011]

28 minutes ago, Ashland said:

See post #2...I hope this company works out for you....there are actually many that posted on here that had problems. Best of luck !!

I read a ton of reviews online and most are good. I think it's more or less the case of people booked with them and they didn't get refunded after the cruise was cancelled.. I'll take my chances on $210.

[jperry2011]

1 hour ago, jperry2011 said:

We ended up booking with Go Port Canaveral. 

Roughly $210 dollars for transportation to the hotel night before from the airport. A hotel room at a hotel with free breakfast. Transportation to the port day of. Transportation to the airport after the cruise. 

 

For the price I couldn't say no. I'll be sure to post my experience for others to save money if it's decent enough.

 

I did call the hotel to confirm just now and it is booked through go port.  good to go.

[BoozinCroozin]

14 hours ago, jperry2011 said:

We ended up booking with Go Port Canaveral. 

Roughly $210 dollars for transportation to the hotel night before from the airport. A hotel room at a hotel with free breakfast. Transportation to the port day of. Transportation to the airport after the cruise. 

 

For the price I couldn't say no. I'll be sure to post my experience for others to save money if it's decent enough.

 

Just be prepared for a backup plan. GoPort is not even operating.

[jperry2011]

10 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

Just be prepared for a backup plan. GoPort is not even operating.

They must be operating something cause they booked my hotel. They probably laid everyone off since there was no cruise ships to transport people back and forth too. 

A hotel room is $200 anyways so if they aren't there at 930am to pick me up in the morning I'll hop in a taxi and make a few calls about fraud on my way to port Canaveral.

[maryandmarge]

On 7/21/2021 at 4:31 PM, jperry2011 said:

They must be operating something cause they booked my hotel. They probably laid everyone off since there was no cruise ships to transport people back and forth too. 

A hotel room is $200 anyways so if they aren't there at 930am to pick me up in the morning I'll hop in a taxi and make a few calls about fraud on my way to port Canaveral.

I too am one of the people that booked last year thru Go Port with the Hampton Hotel in Orlando and the shuttle service from hotel to pier in Port Canaveral and then back to airport after the cruise.   There were 3 of us booked and we are still out $279 and waiting for our refund that they promised they are going to refund to us after the cruises start up again.    We had booked them because of their great reviews prior to covid.    Hopefully they will stand by their word and process refunds when the cruising begins.   

[jperry2011]

57 minutes ago, maryandmarge said:

I too am one of the people that booked last year thru Go Port with the Hampton Hotel in Orlando and the shuttle service from hotel to pier in Port Canaveral and then back to airport after the cruise.   There were 3 of us booked and we are still out $279 and waiting for our refund that they promised they are going to refund to us after the cruises start up again.    We had booked them because of their great reviews prior to covid.    Hopefully they will stand by their word and process refunds when the cruising begins.   

I would imagine they will if they want any credibility in the future. I'm sure they were put in a tough spot having hotels booked already and having people on the payroll once cruises stopped all the sudden they couldn't get that money back to refund people. I'll give them a chance like I said if they don't show up morning of a Uber will bring us to the port.

[Barba21885]

We go to Orlando/Cocoa Beach whenevere we cruise (usually).  We have either rented a car and left it at the car rental in Cocoa Beach, or have used Cocoa Beach Shuttle.  In a couple of weeks we are going to spend one night at the Days Inn (very cheap, no frills, but one night only) after being dropped off by Cocoa Beach Shuttle. Cost for the two of us from MCO is $65 for the two of us.  We have always had very good luck with them.  They also will shuttle us for $6 a piece the next day to the port.  Because we are going to stay in Cocoa Beach (our happy place) for several days post-cruise, we will shuttle from port to car rental by the car rental company.  We always contact them prior to cruising but they seem to always have a shuttle bus at port on disembarking day.  We rent a car for a few days, then have CCBS take us to the airport  We have been hit with high fees in leaving a rental car in a different location...so be aware of that.  In short,  from seveal experiences, we have found CCBS very helpful.  We have stayed at several locations at Cocoa Beach and this year we are again going to stay at Beachsides....not super fancy but we only need a place to crash after spending the day the beach.

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by Barba21885

[Eli_6]

I am doing this exact same thing.  Arriving at MCO at 6 pm the night before. Board the Mardi Gras at 1 pm the next day.  I just want a clean bed, somewhere I can grab dinner, and reliable transportation. Preferably a place with either free shuttle from the airport to the hotel -OR- free shuttle from the hotel to the port.  I tried to book the Cortrans online and they just said they would email me. I don't want to book anywhere, though, until I know I can get the shuttle.

[JohninDC]

12 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

I am doing this exact same thing.  Arriving at MCO at 6 pm the night before. Board the Mardi Gras at 1 pm the next day.  I just want a clean bed, somewhere I can grab dinner, and reliable transportation. Preferably a place with either free shuttle from the airport to the hotel -OR- free shuttle from the hotel to the port.  I tried to book the Cortrans online and they just said they would email me. I don't want to book anywhere, though, until I know I can get the shuttle.

Lots of Hotels near MCO with free shuttles and nearby dining.  Besides Cortrans I would also reach out to Cocoa Beach Shuttle and Cruise Connection. Worst case you can always use the cruise line bus.

 

Have a great cruise! 😎

[EngIceDave]

I live here, and we even have a rental place in Cape Canaveral, but if I was flying into MCO, I would stay near MCO or on I-Drive (International Drive) and get some of the Disney/Universal magic in. Even a few things to do like mini golf and super stupid high ferris wheel thing

[Pyrate13]

Have to agree about the "ferris wheel thing", we had free tickets and did it, but it's really not that interesting a view.

[Ashland]

Cruise Control....(888) 416-8830...Corey will answer and is extremely helpful.

[Eli_6]

8 hours ago, JohninDC said:

Lots of Hotels near MCO with free shuttles and nearby dining.  Besides Cortrans I would also reach out to Cocoa Beach Shuttle and Cruise Connection. Worst case you can always use the cruise line bus.

 

Have a great cruise! 😎

Thanks!  I ended up getting a hotel near the cruise terminal because I was super paranoid about having to come from so far away. Now I am trying to figure out how to get from MCO to the hotel. I guess uber is always an option.

[EngIceDave]

Plenty of Uber's and such

 

I have recommended a few times (no affiliation), I travel(ed) a lot a I can't deal with hoping and waiting there's an uber available or one that isn't funky.

 

I am OCD when traveling. I want everything booked in advance and waiting, and you can do that with Blacklane. You can reserve in advance, they'll be waiting for you with a sign and help with your luggage....lot more than some Uber 

 

Why I use Blacklane, same idea, but with full service and larger luxury vehicles. Lux vans and SUV's to lux cars like Mercedes and BMW

 

I have used all them over the world.

More expensive, but worth the peace of mind and vacation luxury