Getting From Port Canaveral Cruise Terminal to Orlando Airport (MCO) -- Help?

[Greenpea2]

My head is spinning (and I wish it was from frozen drinks on a cruise). I have been googling everything from Uber to GoPort to "how to get from Port Canaveral cruise terminal to MCO" and I am getting a headache. I can't seem to find any definitive info. Part of the problem, I guess, is that we just need transportation from the terminal to the airport, not round trip. I have read everything from  "Uber doesn't have that many drivers in Port Canaveral, so you can't rely on pick-up from there a certain time" to vague references as to when a more public shuttle would actually LEAVE the Port since they "wait until every last passenger has disembarked", to going through the "pretend booking" process for GoPort and cab companies that stall at the "can't find my ship" point (Prima does not come up). Ugh.

 

Our flight from Orlando MCO airport leaves at 12:30 pm. Waiting until the ship is fully disembarked does not sound like a good option.

 

Can someone help me figure out who/what to book? As long as I can have it set in advance, I don't really care who/how. I would prefer a non-shared ride just due to logistics and wanting to be sure we get to the airport on time for our departure. I don't want to book something the morning we arrive back at the port and just assume we can get a ride in a timely manner.

 

I know Uber does not prebook a pick-up at an airport. But can I prebook a ride from the port TO the airport? And how the heck will I know when exactly I will be able to be outside waiting? I have to say, nothing much about cruising to/from Port Canaveral has made logistics easy...but where the Prima sails from is where I want to be this time!

 

I need a frozen drink.

Edited December 4, 2022 by Greenpea2
Typos

[zqvol]

NCL will have a number of buses that go to MCO. They leave as they fill up, they don't all wait until disembarkation is complete.

[hallux]

Why don't you call NCL and take their shuttles from the cruise port to the airport?  They won't wait until all passengers are off the ship to have any bus depart, once a bus is full it will leave.  You can even do it through your reservation on the website, filling in your airline info.  By doing that they will know when you need to be at the airport and schedule you for disembarkation based on that, to be sure you're in an early group so you can be at the airport early enough.

 

I'm sailing in March, I'm planning the only SWA direct flight home from MCO, that flight leaves at 1:00 and NCL will sell me the post-cruise shuttle at $40 per passenger.

[dbrown84]

Cortrans leaves from the port at 8:30, 9:30. and 10:30, for $30.  They don't wait until the buses fill up.  they pre-book, so when everyone for that departure shows up, they leave.  These are 15 passenger buses, not the big "greyhound" type buses.  I use them for all my MCO departures.  It's a nice husband/wife owned company.  I'm not sure if we're allowed to post links here.  Just google Cortans Orlando, and their site will be at the top of the results

[debenson0723]

The Florida departures forum will answer a lot of your questions:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/

 

My personal experience from leaving Port Canaveral in February was to take the NCL shuttle. We were on the first bus out at 9am and arrived at MCO at 9:45. Our flights weren't until early evening but we were renting a car for the day (none available at PC). We were off the shuttle and in the rental car by 10:30.  It's very easy and no reason to stress. As @halluxmentioned, NCL will make sure your luggage tags are appropriate for your scheduled bus and make sure you are on one of the first buses if you have a 12:30 flight.

[Greenpea2]

52 minutes ago, hallux said:

Why don't you call NCL and take their shuttles from the cruise port to the airport?  They won't wait until all passengers are off the ship to have any bus depart, once a bus is full it will leave.  You can even do it through your reservation on the website, filling in your airline info.  By doing that they will know when you need to be at the airport and schedule you for disembarkation based on that, to be sure you're in an early group so you can be at the airport early enough.

 

I'm sailing in March, I'm planning the only SWA direct flight home from MCO, that flight leaves at 1:00 and NCL will sell me the post-cruise shuttle at $40 per passenger.

This sounds good. I actually started with NCL but can't get to where I can book a shuttle until I can check in, which is not until 21 days before. So maybe I will just cool my own jets and wait until then. 

[Greenpea2]

18 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

Cortrans leaves from the port at 8:30, 9:30. and 10:30, for $30.  They don't wait until the buses fill up.  they pre-book, so when everyone for that departure shows up, they leave.  These are 15 passenger buses, not the big "greyhound" type buses.  I use them for all my MCO departures.  It's a nice husband/wife owned company.  I'm not sure if we're allowed to post links here.  Just google Cortans Orlando, and their site will be at the top of the results

Oh that's great to know. Thanks so much!

[Greenpea2]

11 minutes ago, debenson0723 said:

The Florida departures forum will answer a lot of your questions:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/

 

My personal experience from leaving Port Canaveral in February was to take the NCL shuttle. We were on the first bus out at 9am and arrived at MCO at 9:45. Our flights weren't until early evening but we were renting a car for the day (none available at PC). We were off the shuttle and in the rental car by 10:30.  It's very easy and no reason to stress. As @halluxmentioned, NCL will make sure your luggage tags are appropriate for your scheduled bus and make sure you are on one of the first buses if you have a 12:30 flight.

Thank you! I am going to see if my PCC can help with this. You peeps are great, I already feel better!

[debenson0723]

4 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

Thank you! I am going to see if my PCC can help with this. You peeps are great, I already feel better!

Your PCC can certainly help you. But if not, we just booked ours onboard 2 days before disembarkation.

[julig22]

9 minutes ago, debenson0723 said:

Your PCC can certainly help you. But if not, we just booked ours onboard 2 days before disembarkation.

Shuttles do sell out, best to book ahead if you know that's what you want. You can call NCL or your pcc - there used to be a cutoff time but I'm not finding it, seems like it was 2 weeks.

[Shidah]

We used Ace Luxury transportation.  You could do one way, we did round trip.  They really went above and beyond when weather caused havoc with our plans, so for that reason alone we will always use them in the future.

[Greenpea2]

25 minutes ago, debenson0723 said:

Your PCC can certainly help you. But if not, we just booked ours onboard 2 days before disembarkation.

Really good to know! Thank you. 

[Greenpea2]

10 minutes ago, Shidah said:

We used Ace Luxury transportation.  You could do one way, we did round trip.  They really went above and beyond when weather caused havoc with our plans, so for that reason alone we will always use them in the future.

This is good to know, too. Thanks!

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, dbrown84 said:

These are 15 passenger buses, not the big "greyhound" type buses.

Are these those big vans where if you're not in the second row you have to do acrobatic things to squeeze into the other rows?

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, Greenpea2 said:

This sounds good. I actually started with NCL but can't get to where I can book a shuttle until I can check in, which is not until 21 days before. So maybe I will just cool my own jets and wait until then. 

I believe that you are mistaken.  Your on-line trip summary should give you the option to book transfers well before check in.

[hallux]

1 hour ago, Greenpea2 said:

I actually started with NCL but can't get to where I can book a shuttle until I can check in, which is not until 21 days before.

I agree with @ChiefMateJRK you can absolutely schedule the NCL shuttle now.  I don't sail until March (so I haven't checked in yet) and the option to add it to my trip is already available (see screenshot).  I'm debating staying near the airport and using the NCL shuttle from the airport as I've done in LA before, but that would require using a random flight into MCO to book the transfer against or I call NCL to book it.

[Greenpea2]

1 minute ago, hallux said:

I agree with @ChiefMateJRK you can absolutely schedule the NCL shuttle now.  I don't sail until March (so I haven't checked in yet) and the option to add it to my trip is already available (see screenshot).  I'm debating staying near the airport and using the NCL shuttle from the airport as I've done in LA before, but that would require using a random flight into MCO to book the transfer against or I call NCL to book it.

Oh great! Thank you,  and thank you  @ChiefMateJRK I will look into this. 

[dbrown84]

28 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Are these those big vans where if you're not in the second row you have to do acrobatic things to squeeze into the other rows?

no.  they are bigger than those vans.  There is an isle to walk down with rows of seats on both sides.

 

[Greenpea2]

I booked us on the NCL shuttle. Yay. Thank you all so much.:-)

[GTO-Girl]

On 12/4/2022 at 4:25 PM, Greenpea2 said:

My head is spinning (and I wish it was from frozen drinks on a cruise). I have been googling everything from Uber to GoPort to "how to get from Port Canaveral cruise terminal to MCO" and I am getting a headache. I can't seem to find any definitive info. Part of the problem, I guess, is that we just need transportation from the terminal to the airport, not round trip. I have read everything from  "Uber doesn't have that many drivers in Port Canaveral, so you can't rely on pick-up from there a certain time" to vague references as to when a more public shuttle would actually LEAVE the Port since they "wait until every last passenger has disembarked", to going through the "pretend booking" process for GoPort and cab companies that stall at the "can't find my ship" point (Prima does not come up). Ugh.

 

Our flight from Orlando MCO airport leaves at 12:30 pm. Waiting until the ship is fully disembarked does not sound like a good option.

 

Can someone help me figure out who/what to book? As long as I can have it set in advance, I don't really care who/how. I would prefer a non-shared ride just due to logistics and wanting to be sure we get to the airport on time for our departure. I don't want to book something the morning we arrive back at the port and just assume we can get a ride in a timely manner.

 

I know Uber does not prebook a pick-up at an airport. But can I prebook a ride from the port TO the airport? And how the heck will I know when exactly I will be able to be outside waiting? I have to say, nothing much about cruising to/from Port Canaveral has made logistics easy...but where the Prima sails from is where I want to be this time!

 

I need a frozen drink.

*Cortans Shuttle

*Cocoa Beach Shuttle 

*Cruise Control Transportation 

*GoPort

 

 Be sure to pre-book!!!!!

[ChiefMateJRK]

On 12/4/2022 at 5:21 PM, dbrown84 said:

no.  they are bigger than those vans.  There is an isle to walk down with rows of seats on both sides.

 

Yep, that would work! 😎

[PG_traveller]

I like the look of that van. Not too big, not too small. I will look into them. Thanks for the recommendation.