Warning - Port Canaveral Saturday's disaster

[scottysje]

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:

[BoDidly]

PC does this all the time. I think they plan the disaster beforehand :D

[jc4me]

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:

 

We were on Carnival Magic those same dates. It was very crowded, but considering the number of ships in port I felt that things went pretty smoothly. Our shuttle driver told us that there had been a fatality accident and that was causing the backups on the trip to the ship. We had to wait for a shuttle leaving as well, but it was not more than a 30-minute wait, but ours was going back to our hotel. You do need to pack your patience when you are going to a port with 15,000+ other people! Glad you had a great cruise.

[RuthlessBoss]

Canaveral is usually an easy port. I noticed NCL Epic was next to a Disney ship yesterday, that was likely the problem. I've seen Epic at the port, but it was further down the channel.

[us2swingu]

Been there many time and have never had any issues..

[cruizinisthebest]

Not usual for Port Canaveral. Have sailed out of there for the majority of my cruises. It's over and done with now.

 

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[The4Cruisers]

Something unique must have happened for PC not to operate as smoothly as usual. We've never had issues there with multiple ships in port.

[Anyislandwilldo]

We sailed out of Port Canaveral and had no issues. Our return to Orlando was flawless.

[CarolSW]

Whew! When I read the title of the OP, i immediately worried that something tragic had happened. So glad it was not the tragedy I imagined when I read "disaster". I guess I am accostumed to the word 'disaster' in reference to an awful event like this:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster

 

Sorry your cruise began and ended roughly, but so happy the cruise itself was what it should be!

[Nilbog]

Nothing like someone cruising on another line trying to stir the pot on the Carnival message boards. What was the real point behind this post?

[Ace5614]

We've sailed out of Port Canaveral twice and really like this port. Sorry you had a mess.

[SmoothFlying]

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:

 

Something along a collision between TWO objects, when the term 'disaster' is being used ( along the Costa episode. :( Something, I HOPE never again happens, in my life time.

 

Mac

[easyboy]

Just a usual day with more ships at port.

 

 

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[Magellan321]

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 was at the port on the 3rd picking up friends....you are right it was a mess. A couple my friends had met on the cruise ended up in my suv to make it to the airport. They couldn't get a cab and the car rental agencies shuttle was a joke trying to catch. The opted to just not pick up their rental and go with us rather than risking getting stuck in security at MCO.

Edited December 11, 2016 by Magellan321

[Tapi]

I don't think it's a "Port Canaveral" thing, but a "major port with lots of ships" thing. I've had the same experience when sailing from places like Miami and Ft Lauderdale when several ships are in town on the same day. Last time we sailed out of Miami, there were 5 ships in port. Our rental car drop off and then trying to make it to the port made the OP's story sound like a walk on a breezy meadow.

 

 

 

 

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[Capt_BJ]

PC has successfully increased their business by getting more ships and larger ships. Passenger counts are WAY up.

 

AND they have begun to realize that some parts of the infrastructure, not all of which are under their control, are not up to the task. In the past there were occasional 4 ship days, right now it is a routine event, 5 ship days happen and even SIX. AND as compared to just a few years ago most ships have significantly increased their pass' count as newer bigger ships replaced older smaller .....

 

This is why the port has cancelled local events that previously had been held at the port, a VERY popular art festival over Thanksgiving was cancelled at the last minute with the port stating specifically that they feared things would get TOO crowded; ditto a seafood festival ....

 

Let's not forget the newly built container terminal operating at a small fraction of capacity. If/when this gets rolling you can add a BUNCH of truck traffic to the mix ala Miami and Lauderdale.

 

This is still a very easy port to get around - on a one ship day ..... but a 4+ ship day and our local car rental offices and mom&pop airport shuttles and taxi companies .... forgetaboutit .... I see too that the popular off site parking places have increased their rates by a couple of dollars a day and are full to the point of overflow ..... One can only suspect that room rates will go up accordingly ....

 

As a local that used to frequent the port side restaurants I've pretty much scratched them off my list for the weekends at least and I'm not alone .... and the owners have commented on the traffic change in the press ....

 

I don't have a solution, just putting out some facts ....

[Viv0828]

I'm sorry you and the other thousands of cruiser were inconvenienced but it was hardly a disaster - irritation, annoyance, PITA, etc., but hardly a disaster.

 

 

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