Magellan321

Also....if Port Canaveral hotel rates are really high and you won't have a chance to explore our area....there are a bunch of really nice hotels just outside of the Orlando airport on Semaron Blvd. You could stay there and still shuttle over with Cortrans in the morning.

Thanks 20pp each way from the airport sounds good to me. We will be there mid-Dec (high season) arriving at night, a family of 3. Should I reserve it ahead of time or can I get the shuttle bus tickets right at the airport?

 

I guess we will then Uber to the cruise port. Is that what most people do these days?

 

After cruise we will rent a car and stay in Orlando for few days. I remember some rental car companies have shuttle buses at the cruise port but it can be a bit chaotic. Do most people also Uber to rental car companies (from Port Canaveral) these days?

 

Thanks again!

I would go to cortrans website to reserve. Just google Cortrans Port Canaveral. Depending on your hotel you can shuttle into the port or Uber. The rental companies do have shuttle service at the port so you can take their ride or try and beat the rush and cab or uber over to pick up your car.

I will say this...once you make it to the coast our Uber is very efficient and inexpensive in the port area.

Is there a shuttle bus? Uber? I've been told it's about 45 minutes away but renting a car for only 1 day seems a lot of work.

Your advise is very much appreciated! :)

There are several shuttle options....Cortrans being the most popular at 20pp each way. Rental car one way is the other. When are you in the area? Keep in mind peak times = peak rental rates.

Wow. A wealth of information. Thank you both sooo much.

Very welcome! Keep in mind...Grills is at the the end of Flounder St where it turns into Glenn Cheek Dr....just look for cruise terminal one. If you are on the patio of Grill's you would be sitting looking at the Royal Caribbean cruise terminal to east of the patio....and I mean right next to!

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I had originally thought about walking to Grill's; maybe, maybe not depending on weather.

You are very welcome! We do have a pretty good Uber group if you feel like dinner at Grill's. You could walk over and Uber back. I have a hard time recommending seafood spots at the port....seeing how i was born where you are! Grill's does have some really good music and some unique island fish entrees that are pretty darn good.

If prices in FLL in March are out of budget...check Sunrise FL just west of FL turnpike. I've stayed at the Doubletree for business and was very happy. As for parking in Miami....personally I port park.

Poohb-

Just a heads up...If you check the Country Inn and Suites website it will list the restaurants at the port(Grills, Rusty's, Fishlips) as being a half mile.....it is wrong! Plan on over a mile. No idea what service they used to come up with their estimates.

Magellan, if you please, do you know what restaurants are in walking distance of Country Inn/Suites, our pre-cruise hotel. TIA

Right next door is Burger King if you are looking for a fast food fix. A little less than a half mile walk is Zachary's Family Rest(think Greek dinner) and McDonalds. Go just slightly over a half mile and there is Kelsey's Pizzeria(way more than just pizza) and Thai Thai Restaurant and Sushi. All of these places are to the right of your hotel. Burger King, Zachary's, and Kelsey's are on the same side as your hotel. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the review! Feeling much better about my January cruise:).

We are sailing out of Port Canaveral in January. We will fly into Melbourne because it's much cheaper than Orlando, at least for us, and only approx. 47 miles from PC. We are staying at the Hilton Rialto in Melbourne, they have a free airport shuttle. Then we will do a one-way rental car to PC. We have a late flight home so we are doing another one-way rental car so we can see Kennedy Space Center before flying home. Hope that helps. :D

Melbourne airport is a great and much under used option....enjoy your stay!

Magellan 321, are you familiar with the Comfort Inn Suites Cocoa Beach? Is that hotel ok to stay?

It's an ok hotel for the night. It is almost next door to Ron Jons and across the street from Mcdonald's and Walgreens if you need to pick anything up. It could use a bit of updating...but if you are only there for the night and the price is right.

Good information!

 

Just another minor "correction"...

 

When cruise ships dock at Terminal 3, Jetty Park opens a "Pedestrian" Gate - meaning you DO NOT detour to the main entrance (which would make for a much longer walk). And entrance is FREE.

 

Please zoom in on the map link below and look at Jetty Park. You can see the special walkway shown in green from Terminal 3 to the beach (only open when ships are docked at terminal 3).

 

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en_US&mid=1kUqV-SksGfy8RZniAggbw3RAIQ4

 

The map also shows the SCAT route (it runs anti-clockwise, important!)

I was so bummed that the pedestrian gate was locked next to the boat ramp...but thankfully a minor detour thru the front gate. Oh, and the fish sandwich at the Fishlips snack bar was worth my little walk to get my new pass.

thanks for the reply magellan321, I just wanted someone with some familiarity with the area to confirm my hotel choice for being in a nice, safe area. I appreciate the input and will check out Ron Jon's if we get a chance. Good to know there are restaurants close by, although we're getting in somewhat late, we may need to pick up something for dinner or late night snack.

 

Thanks,

You are very welcome! To the North of your hotel you will find everything from Taco Bell, Subway to sushi and sit down Italian food.

Hey ShakerFamily,

 

Not trying to be a jerk, and realize you are trying to be helpful to the OP, but in the interest of accuracy, I'm afraid it is YOU who are incorrect. :D

 

Let's look at these two statements you posted separately:

 

1) The "local" beach is NOT free. They charge per person ($3-$5).

 

I live right next to Jetty Park, and walk there all the time. We never have to pay. The sidewalk does not even have a gate. The road does. There is no admission fee for those on foot or on bicycle.

 

Jetty Park website confirms this pretty clearly:

 

http://www.jettyparkbeachandcampground.com/camp_rules

"There is no entrance charge for visitors entering on foot or bicycle."

 

2) You can NOT walk to local areas as the cruise ships load on the opposite side of the jetty. It would literally take over an hour on highway roads.

The ship in the foreground in this picture I posted is Grandeur of the Seas. She is berthed at Terminal 3, as this is the Port's designated dock for ships making a "port call", or day visit. The blue box immediately adjacent to Grandeur of the Seas is Jetty Park.

 

Only the new public boat ramp (which you can see in the picture) divides the park from the terminal. Four of the other five cruise ships in the background are, as you say, too far for many people to walk comfortably. But, Jetty Park is right next to the berth Grandeur typically uses.

 

Here you can see a map from the Port Authority I annotated that shows the relationship of the Victory Casino ship and the "transient" berth (Terminal 3) for "port calls". The blue box I put in the location of the car / camper gate. Pedestrians and those on bicycles enter next to that gate, but do not have to check in or pay.

 

Hope this clarifies the information I previously provided.

 

Regards,

 

Johncn

Correct! I literally just walked into Jetty Park this weekend from the boat ramp just in front of the where the dock is. Took me ten minutes and no fee to enter on foot. I needed to renew my car pass and walked over while the guys loaded the boat onto the trailer.

Trying this again, does anyone have any experience or opinions for the Hampton Inn Cocoa Beach? Just wondering if I have booked a decent hotel for a 1 night stay and is it in a nice area of town.

 

Thanks,

Hampton Inn Cocoa Beach is nice...and a great location if you want to visit Ron Jon's surf shop and plenty of restaurants.

just asking a question about he MLB and the port. how far is the port from the airport

About 40 minutes from Melbourne International to Port Canaveral...so same as Port to Orlando.

I wouldn't risk it going thru TSA in the international concourse at Orlando. You can check flights out of Melbourne to get home. Most will have a connection in Atlanta or Charlotte.

Just off Oasis, Family room with the bunk bed. We have stayed in similar rooms in the past, and they always made up the kids' bunk beds with sheets, blankets and 2 pillows.

 

This time, the bunk bed berths only had a bottom sheet, 1 pillow, and a folded blanket on top. The blanket was not even covering the bed. We needed to call housekeeping before the kids' bed time to request a top sheet and we made the beds ourselves.

 

Thinking it was just an oversight by the stateroom attendant, we spoke to him in the morning. He said it is our responsibility to make up the bunk beds, and that no top sheet is generally provided - the bunk beds are only provided with a bottom sheet and a folded blanket. This is our 4th time staying in a stateroom with a bunk bed, and that has never been our experience. When we asked to speak with the head housekeeper, he begrudgingly said he would make up the beds properly.

 

Has anyone else had this experience? Is it unreasonable to expect the beds be made and a top sheet provided??

Oh no! I go on vacation to have the week off as the family housekeeper....not to pay a big bill to make beds

Would you do this? Intermediate car rental BUDGET thru Costo:

11/9 - 11/12: = $234 (2 days, 20 hours) (renting from MLB, dropping off at PC)

 

OR

 

11/9 1:30PM to 11/10 10am = $80 (rent at MLB, return to PC)

11/10 10am to 11/12 10am = $80 (renting at PC, renturn to PC)

 

Essentially you would drop the car off and re-rent at the same time in order to save about $70. I realize it takes a little bit of time, but for the savings, is this ever done? Any suggestions?

Check with Enterprise outside of the Melbourne airport...they may have a better rate and they are about 3 miles from the airport. The location will either show as US 1 Melbourne, Fl or as Harbor City Blvd Melbourne, Fl( same place)

Umm...that Dec 3/4 weekend is the start of Pop Warner at WDW, so there will be a fair number of 'energetic' teens invading then.

Yes they are....but they also spend the majority of their time at their competitions at Disney's Wide World of Sports and ESPN venues.

Actually, between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one of the slowest times of the year.

Very true....it's our favorite time to go! Easiest time to blow thru multiple parks in one day with minimal lines. And we can usually snag an awesome hotel deal.

Thank you so much!

You are very welcome.

Thank you for all of this wonderful information. We will be on the NCL Gem in July 2017. How can I find out which dock terminal? Is it way to early to find out that information?

Thanks again

Port Canaveral issues there dock schedule on a fiscal year schedule of Oct to Oct. So, in theory you should be able to see it by mid Oct online. Use this link to check when the new schedule is posted...but keep in mind it does change sometimes to allow for extra ship traffic. Currently they have been using dock 5 for this calendar year.

https://www.portcanaveral.com/cruise/cruise-lines-schedules

OASIS replaces FREEDOM

 

and EPIC arrives

 

this fall

 

if I remember correctly

 

I think it was just yesterday that Florida Today reported the port told the Art Festival to find a new home because they fear the increased pass' load of these two BIG ships means the port can not accommodate the art festival at the same time. The festival typically occurs Thanksgiving weekend as I recall.

 

"Organizers of the Space Coast Art Festival, a two-day event that draws up to 40,000 people, plus artists from all the United States, are scrambling for a host site after Port Canaveral officials told them it wouldn't work out at the port this year.

 

The festival, scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 26-27, coincides with two "mega ships" cruising out of Port Canaveral — the 4,100-passenger Norwegian Cruise Line Epic and the 6,000-passenger Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Oasis of the Seas."

Yup, same info I saw. I sure wish Princess would port something up here.