Stay In Orlando or Port Canaveral Night Before Cruise?

[Nikkoli110]

Hello Everyone,

We're leaving on Glory April 15, 2006, but are flying into Orlando April 14, 2006. We were thinking of staying in Orlando, but then thought maybe staying in Port Canaveral would be better. This will be our first cruise, and we are unfamiliar with the area. Are there any nice hotels in the area? We thought maybe we could check out the Space Center before we go. The ship departs at 4. Any suggestions? Thanks alot! :)

[Beth]

We love staying at the Radisson at the port and being able to see our ship first thing in the morning. Also love to eat at the Grille at the pier the night before our cruise.

[mojean]

I second the Radisson, great pool area. Great Sunday brunch, if you're interested.

[Bookbug53]

I vote for Canaveral. Sleep later, no traffic to speak of and the beach! Space Center is terrific and would make a great start to a vacation.

 

Radisson at the Port: 321-784-0000 -cruise parking

Best Western – Cocoa Beach: 321-783-7621 –cruise parking

[kujobie]

The Radisson is right next to the port, but is not on or near any beaches. For the same $$, you can get a hotel right on Cocoa Beach. I think we paid $149 for a king suite with a jacuzzi in the room at the Courtyard Cocoa Beach a couple years ago. Cocoa Beach is 5-10 minutes to the port. All of the hotels there offer free shuttle to the port, and many of them will let you leave your car there for the week free of charge, which is what we did cuz we drove in from Tampa. It is a beautiful beach and really gets you in the mood for cruising. The Courtyard was a short walk to the Ron Jon Surf Shop, which is a must see, and literally dozens of restaraunts. I would not hesitate to stay on the beach again.

[GroupCruiser]

We stayed at the Radisson last March, and had a great time. Very friendly people, Tiki bar at the pool, entertainment there until dark, (then he went inside in the evening), good restaurant, free transportation to the pier, and you can see the Glory from the hotel on Saturday morning. There's a new hotel going up next to them that blocks some of the view. There are other good restaurants up and down the street too. Check out their website, http://www.radisson.com/capecanaveralfl or their webcam at http://www.opusad.com/radissonwebcam/ and you can see whatever ship happens to be there. You can control the camera as well.

 

On Friday RCCL's Sovereign of the Seas is at the dock, and if you go to Grills on the waterfront for dinner you get a great view of it sailing out to sea around 4:30 or 5 pm on Friday. Check out http://www.visitgrills.com for their menu and photos. You can walk there, took us about 30 minutes, then we took a cab back to the Radisson.

 

Enjoy your cruise, wish I was going with you.

[brickiemom]

We also stayed at the Raddisson. As stated above nice pool area, buffet,and free shuttle. We ordered pizza from next door and enjoyed it by the pool. Have fun.

[campdaan]

We rented a mini-van (5 people) at the airport. Budget, Online less than $70. King jacuzzi suite at the Radisson. Package that included breakfast buffet. Booked right through their website. Room was really nice, living area with large TV, desk table etc. King size bed next to a huge jacuzzi. Walk in shower that was big. nice bathroom. Another big TV by the bed.

 

Used the van to go down to a nice place to eat. Forget the name. But it was on the beach. Also drove to Dillards because I left my suit hanging in the laundry room. Got into a nice sport coat for $39. Really nice salesclerk. Picked up plastic 20oz. Lite beers from the package store. They went into checked luggage for later...

 

Drove the van to the Port. Dropped luggage and most of our group right at the ship. Port Canaveral is very nice to navigate. Returned van to Budget by the Radisson and hopped their shuttle back to the ship. 20 minutes. Also did not exceed 150 mile limit on van.

 

Had the Cruise of a lifetime on the Glory. Doing Port Everglades that way this year.

 

Enjoy your Cruise

[CTMak]

We stayed in Orlando. Obviosuly a lot more to do -- and a lot more restaurants.

 

The drive in the morning to Canveral is very easy.

 

I vote for Orlando.

 

Book a later flight on the return and see the Space Center at the back end of your trip.

[Iamthesea]

Where in Orlando? The last two trips, we have stayed at Disney. We need a nice place near the airport this time.

[LizaMM]

Where in Orlando? The last two trips, we have stayed at Disney. We need a nice place near the airport this time.

 

 

We opted to stay in Orlando for our upcoming cruise (2 more sleeps!! WOO HOO :D ) . We will be staying at the Hyatt which is right in the airport. The plan is to catch a shuttle from the airport to the pier in the morning. We did not research other hotels by the airport because we are using Hyatt points for this. I will be writing a review when I return and will include hotel info.

 

Before making our final decision about this I did a lot of reading over on the Hotel Pre/Post Cruise Board. You can find a lot of info over there. I will post the hotel portion of my review over there as well