Hotel recommendations - Cocoa Beach / Cape Canaveral

[moki'smommy]

 

We took Disney buses back to MCO after the cruise and were at the airport within 40 minutes. They showed cartoons and DCL promo videos on the way and it was a comfy bus. We ended up having our bags checked from the ship all the way to our home airport which did cost but was very convenient as we had a lot of bags!

 

!

 

To be clear on the above, there is no additional charge for the on line check in process which allows you to place bags outside your room on the last night and claim them at your home airport. However, you must be on a participating airline (Southwest is NOT one) and have a flight within the specified time frame. You DO pay any luggage charges imposed by your airline. If you have some sort of status/card that gives you free luggage on the airline, take it to GS a day or more in advance and you will not incur luggage charges.

 

The on board check in is included in the cost of DCL transfers provided you meet all the conditions.

[RobertLasVegas]

We just got back yesterday off the Disney Fantasy. We flew into MCO Friday afternoon and stayed at the Hilton Oceanfront in Cocoa Beach. Looks like it was recently renovated. I was exceptionally impressed with cleanliness, but the service was even better! I would say we got 5 star service. $5 shuttle to the ship Saturday and done!

Highly recommend Hilton Oceanfront.

[nzOdy]

Hello! My family and I will be taking first cruise ever on the Disney Dream n June. We are coming in a day early and will be renting a car. Can anyone recommend a good and clean hotel in the Cocoa Beach / Cape Canaveral area? The hotel doesn't need to be fancy, but cleanliness is a must. Thanks in advance!

 

Sorry for being late to the thread, but I wanted to correct something said above, someone mentioned Budget being near the Country Inn & Suites Hotel, we stayed there just a few weeks ago and it is a Hertz office that is off to the side of the hotel driveway. We arrived a day early to Port Canaveral to do a trip to the Kennedy Space Center, we had written to our Congress woman and gotten free tickets for the center, and it was well worth the 5 1/2 hours we spent there. After we returned from KSC, we just dropped our Hertz rental car at the office, and I took the minute walk back to the hotel. The next morning we used the free hotel shuttle service to get to the port and had the cruise of a lifetime.

 

Family friends who had driven in from PA, left their minivan parked at the Country Inn for the duration of the cruise and then used the same hotel shuttle to get back after debarkation.

 

It's not the flashiest of hotels, but we had a nice room, the breakfast was good, the pool and hot tub were good. Being able to see the Cruise terminal from the room window was also cool - we could see our ship come in the morning of our departure and it got everyone excited!

 

If we were cruising from Port Canaveral again, I would have no issue with staying at the Country Inn and Suites again.

Edited May 19, 2014 by nzOdy

[alligator3]

Thanks for all of the great tips, everyone! I am also waiting to hear on free tix from my congresswoman for the Space Center. If we don't get them, we will likely hit the beach instead. So excited for our trip!!!

[lilchief27]

Off topic here....For those of you who got free tickets to Space Center, did you email or snailmail a letter requesting them? What exactly did you say & how far out from your trip did you contact them?

I would love to do get free tickets! Kennedy Space Center isn't cheap!

[alligator3]

I emailed and called. Today I received a message that all free tickets are gone for 2014. Requests for 2015 can be made starting on July 1. We are going to hit the beach instead.

[ducklite]

We went to KSC on Mothers Day, no crowds, it was great. We haven't been in probably 15 years and it has changed so very much. We had a wonderful, wonderful day, lunch with an astronaut was a hoot, but the Atlantis was by far the highlight. Just breathtaking. Frankly I would go, even if it means paying for tickets. I can't wait to go back.

Edited May 22, 2014 by ducklite

[Vacationdreamer<><]

Off topic here....For those of you who got free tickets to Space Center, did you email or snailmail a letter requesting them? What exactly did you say & how far out from your trip did you contact them?

I would love to do get free tickets! Kennedy Space Center isn't cheap!

 

We were there on May 9th after disembarking Magic. My email requests in the fall had gotten no responses so I did a letter and mailed it. I got an immediate response confirming my request; a call after she contacted KSC & they told her to call 12/1; a call 12/2 to say she'd secured our tix; and a call mid-April to give confirmation info. She emailed me after each call as well.

 

The center wasn't busy on 5/9, but I am SO grateful we didn't pay out if pocket. We needed to pay admission for one child - age 3. It was $43. (Two of my kids were included with my mom & sister's household, two with DH & I, one is a baby - so that left one I needed to pay for.)

I can not fathom paying $43 for a 3 year old for KSC.

 

I hadn't been there in 14 years. It had more to do and see than before, but I doubt I'll ever return, free or not. Lunch cost a fortune and was not great even for theme park standards.

 

The only thing they did great with was dirt-cheap stroller rentals! :)

 

 

 

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[Vacationdreamer<><]

We just got back yesterday off the Disney Fantasy. We flew into MCO Friday afternoon and stayed at the Hilton Oceanfront in Cocoa Beach. Looks like it was recently renovated. I was exceptionally impressed with cleanliness, but the service was even better! I would say we got 5 star service. $5 shuttle to the ship Saturday and done!

 

Highly recommend Hilton Oceanfront.

 

 

 

How did you get from MCO to Hilton?

 

 

 

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[near the beach]

If you don’t need to be on the beach the Radisson in Cape Canaveral is a good place to stay. Weather you drove to the port or fly. They have a cruise parking and shuttles to the port. Rustys at the port is very good for sea food also.