Warning - Port Canaveral Saturday's disaster

Ahh, the big red Boat with the Loonie tunes characters. I bet not too many on here remember them. That was before DCL.

Ahh, the big red Boat with the Loonie tunes characters. I bet not too many on here remember them. That was before DCL.

Premier was our first cruise experience, Starship Majestic, remember it well.:D

Just a couple of notes--we have also learned that with a mobility impaired family member, we typically have to pay a little more for the needed convenience matters. It just makes life easier for everyone.

The free parking at Port Canaveral is only for vehicles that have been modified for HA use--a hang tag or plates alone do not get you free parking. A vehicle with hand controls, ramp for loading chair, etc. does qualify.

We usually find that there is a LONG line for kid registration in the terminal. It is much more efficient to wait and do it on the ship, which can happen any time prior to the first time they want to use the kid programming. Obviously, if you are in the terminal early and have nothing to do while waiting for your boarding number to be called, waiting in that long terminal line is not a big deal...but if you arrived at your PAT and are on a smooth course toward boarding the ship, do not delay for that line! You made the right choice.

Ahh, the big red Boat with the Loonie tunes characters. I bet not too many on here remember them. That was before DCL.

Ahhhh ... that's even a lil late .....

Disney cruising began with Disney partnering with Premier and BIG RED BOAT in the 80's. Having discovered a good market, Disney then set off on building their own ships. I lived in Canaveral thru this early time and know the BRB days well. The guy who WAS Premier Cruises is a local hero in the Canaveral business world.

When Disney Cruise Line came into existence, PREMIER and BRB needed something to replace the Disney connection and tried Warner Brothers. My family and I sailed MAGIC in its first year and docked in Nassau across from a BRB boat with the WB theme ..... it was kinda sad ..... you could see the kids looking up at the DCL ship and almost hear their voices asking 'why aren't we over there' .....

Actually, Premier partnered with Warner Brothers and had Looney Tunes characters on board several years before DCL launched the Magic. The contract between Disney and Premier expired and Disney chose to not renew it...it can be debated all day whether this was because they were unhappy with the way things were run on Premier or whether they were already in the planning stages for DCL or possibly both. I do know that there were Looney Tunes characters on Premier in 1994; can't say how much earlier.

We were on the July 1998 maiden voyage of the Magic and cruised several times in the next few years. You are totally right--when I'd wear a Disney themed shirt while in port, people would actually stop me with, "Are you REALLY on the Disney ship? What's it like?" You could practically see the envy.

I was on the Disney Fantasy On Dec 3rd to 10. Embarkation was awful. 4 Cruise ships took off on a Saturday from Port Canaveral (2 Carnival, 1 NCL, 1 DCL). This is TOO MUCH. They are NOT organized to receive that much of a traffic. Everything was delayed. Long waiting lines of car. A Lot of angry people.

Took 2 hours to get to the ship from the rental car to the ship. Not only the Rental car cie (Budget).

On the return, same issues. Took 2 hours to get to the rental car (Avis this time). Want to take a taxi, all the taxis were gone.

Disney representatives on the ground were NOT very helpful and haven’t provide the correct information. Not enough shuttle bus by the rental car companies (this is what I call a NON-Service). It worst than ever (this was my 15th cruises)

At least, the cruise itself was very nice.

For your information…:mad:

I agree that PC can be a mess. It sounds like your issues are with Budget and Avis? I say that because we normally had good luck with Budget but the last two times there both have really been a MAJOR FAIL with Budget and Avis!. They are woefully understaffed and not large enough for the number of people flowing through there.

Not enough staff, not enough room, not enough shuttles. Last time on NCL we waited close to two hours for 1, yes 1 shuttle to show up from Avis to get back to rental place. Then rental place was packed then their computers went down.

Just a couple of notes--we have also learned that with a mobility impaired family member' date=' we typically have to pay a little more for the needed convenience matters. It just makes life easier for everyone.

 

The free parking at Port Canaveral is only for vehicles that have been modified for HA use--a hang tag or plates alone do not get you free parking. A vehicle with hand controls, ramp for loading chair, etc. does qualify.

 

We usually find that there is a LONG line for kid registration in the terminal. It is much more efficient to wait and do it on the ship, which can happen any time prior to the first time they want to use the kid programming. Obviously, if you are in the terminal early and have nothing to do while waiting for your boarding number to be called, waiting in that long terminal line is not a big deal...but if you arrived at your PAT and are on a smooth course toward boarding the ship, do not delay for that line! You made the right choice.[/quote']

 

yes, it's only free if you have a modified vehicle....

we just have a handicapped tag (that blue thing that hangs from the rearview mirror)..

but anyway, that's why i always keep the rental car and park in the lot when we're on a short cruise....it's just a lot easier when you have a person with physical issues to have the car available and not have to wait around for someone to go pick up a rental and come back...

 

the cost of parking and holding onto the rental car is marginal compared to the cost of a short cruise ...

 

as far as 7 day cruises go - i've only cruised out of fort lauderdale on our longer florida cruise...in that case i did give up the rental car and re-rented at the end..

it wasn't too bad as the rental agency was located at the nearby airport....(and there's no drop off charge between orlando and fort lauderdale airports)...

 

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My last cruise out of PC was this same way. 2 Carnival, 1 DCL, 1 Norwegian and 1 RCL. It didn't matter what transportation you were using, getting to the port in either direction from off of 528 was backed up, bumper to bumper onto 528. I'm not sure if any of the boats had arrived later or not that cause the delay - it was just the worst I have personally experienced there. We were driving our personal vehicle and parking at the port - we used to always use off site lots but now that they have all raised their rates, we just park at the port.

Although getting to the parking garage took forever, it was super quick walking off boat, getting to car and leaving.

We had the same situation of ships leaving PC last month and getting there and leaving was fine. We took Uber there with no traffic and a bus we booked through the cruise line to the airport.

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A crowd is not a disaster. Having to wait longer than expected for a vacation that costs more than some people could ever afford is not a tragedy. I think you need to put this into perspective. You were inconvenienced not assaulted.