Orlando to Port Canaveral

[GamblinNan]

We're thinking of taking a cruise out of Port Canaveral and flying to Fl a day early. What is the best way to get to the Port from Orlando and are there any hotels there with transportation to the ship? We've always cruised out of the same city that we flew into . Thanks for any help.

[alwalaska]

We're thinking of taking a cruise out of Port Canaveral and flying to Fl a day early. What is the best way to get to the Port from Orlando and are there any hotels there with transportation to the ship? We've always cruised out of the same city that we flew into . Thanks for any help.

 

The two most common options are shuttle/limo services or renting a car and returning it in Canaveral.

 

The Country Inn and Suites as well as the Radisson at the port have packages that include transportation to the port. There is wonderful information on this thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=436720

[mamaza]

We're thinking of taking a cruise out of Port Canaveral and flying to Fl a day early. What is the best way to get to the Port from Orlando and are there any hotels there with transportation to the ship? We've always cruised out of the same city that we flew into . Thanks for any help.

Go to:

North American Homeports > East Coast Departures > Florida Departures I work in Port Canaveral!

 

Just skim it or search it and you'll have answers to questions to you didn't even know you had. The beginning pages and end pages always seem to have the most.

[collegecruiser346]

Hi, I've stayed at the Comfort inn in Cocoa Beach several times en route to a cruise. I'm doing it again this upcoming weekend for a cruise and they have specials deals offering round trip transportation between orlando international airport to the hotel, then from the hotel to the cruise terminal, then after your cruise back to the airport or back to the hotel depending on your plans. Its a very nice hotel, right in the middle of cocoa beach. I highly recommed it. I think I've stayed there 5 or 6 times already.

[GamblinNan]

Thanks everyone for the info. I appreciate all of your help.

[beachchick]

No Orlando hotels have free shuttles to Canaveral because it's 50 miles away. We did rental cars (two 1-way rentals), which worked out beautifully (and wasn't too expensive).

 

beachchick

[LouisvilleDon]

We have rented a car at the airport and drove over to PC. Budget is right at the airport and has a office in PC. They will shuttle you to the ship and pick you up at the pier and take to their office when your cruise is over. It is nice to have a car to drive around Cocoa Beach if you get in early enough.

[silentbob007]

I've also had good experiences with Budget in Cocoa Beach ... a 1-way car is usually the most cost effective choice and it's a fairly easy drive.

[DonnaK]

Renting a car (2 one-way rentals) is usually the best, most-cost effective way to go, especially if you are staying in a hotel pre-cruise/post-cruise, so you'll have use of the vehicle during your stay.

 

We recommend either Budget or Avis because they are located inside Orlando airport, and they have locations within a mile or two of the port with free shuttle. (The Budget office is listed as Cape Canaveral (CC5 is the code on their website) and the Avis office is listed as Cocoa Beach).

 

The Country Inn and Suites and the Residence Inn by Marriott are closest to the port. These are very new, all-suite hotels. We've stayed in the Residence Inn and highly recommend it - it has spacious, spotlessly clean rooms, and very friendly employees. The Radisson is one block further away, and comes recommended on Cruise Critic too.

 

There's a Publix supermarket about a mile south on A1A, so you can pick up beverages/snacks for your hotel room, and any last minute items to take on the cruise with you.

 

I'd like to recommend a wonderful, inexpensive Italian family-style restaurant on Rt 520 and A1A, on the diagonal corner from Ron Jon's surf shop. It's called A New York Pizza House. We were directed there by the staff at the Residence Inn, who said it was a favorite of the locals, rather than a touristy place. We eat there every night we are in the area - it's that good!!!

[Jenner9]

We rented a car and drove to Port Canaveral. We chose to stay overnight in Orlando and went to Disney's Magic Kingdom and then drove to Port the next day. We used Thrifty with no trouble. It was very inexpensive.

[cruiselover10]

Last September we went on the Mariner of the Seas out of Port Canaveral. We used Standard Transportation out of Orlando.

http://www.standardtransportation.com When we arrived at Orlando Airport, Pete picked us up in a private van, it was only the four of us. When we got off the Mariner a week later he was waiting for us to bring us to the hotel in Orlando, where we stayed for a couple of extra days to extend our vacation. It is about an hour drive from Orlando to Port Canaveral. Some of the other shuttle services will send a large van and will wait sometimes as long as two hours until the van fulls before leaving Orlando so you can be sitting there on the van waiting to leave. We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites which is one of the closer hotels to the pier. It is a fairly new hotel, which was quite nice and very reasonable. They have hot chocolate chip cookies in the lobby and a very nice breakfast which is included in the price. You can see the ships from the hotel. There is a great restaurant called Fish Lips located at the Pier which is not too far from the hotel, you will need to take a cab there. If you go there for dinner, ask to sit outside on the deck. It is a great place, really fun. They had a Jimmy Buffet type guy singing the night we were there. It seems like a lot of locals eat here or just stop in for drinks and appetizers. You can see lots of ships going by. We HIGHLY recommend this place. The seafood is really good and coming from New England, we know good seafood. Have a great time.

[jman_in_minnesota]

We rented a car and drove to Port Canaveral. We chose to stay overnight in Orlando and went to Disney's Magic Kingdom and then drove to Port the next day. We used Thrifty with no trouble. It was very inexpensive.

 

Thrifty has a free shuttle to/from the port in Canaveral

[DonnaK]

Thrifty has a free shuttle to/from the port in Canaveral

 

 

Yes, it's just not located inside the airport, so you have to take their free shuttle to/from the airport to their location on the outskirts.

[DCdoc]

We're thinking of taking a cruise out of Port Canaveral and flying to Fl a day early. What is the best way to get to the Port from Orlando and are there any hotels there with transportation to the ship? We've always cruised out of the same city that we flew into . Thanks for any help.

Just to add some information to your question. We are doing this for the Mariner on 8/31/08 and are renting two one-way rentals from Budget. If you google Budget and online coupons you will come up with a 25% Walmart discount code. Our rentals cost $57.03 (fullsize) from Orlando (MCO) to Port Canaveral and $61.93 going back the other way with a intermediate SUV. I also asked them what hold they placed on the credit card and they said that $200 is placed on it and if you pay cash for the rental when you drop it off they will immediately credit the money back onto the credit card. We are booked at the Radisson at the Port for $143.19 (includes tax) which includes free shuttle to the port, if you call in advance and book it, and a hot breakfast for two. We have used Mapquest and according to them the drop off point for the car rental is less than a mile to the hotel. We were advised on the way back to take the car rental shuttle to Budget with your luggage when they open at 8:00 AM. Have a great trip!

[ru_thespian]

We just returned for 8/10/08 Mariner out of Port Canaveral. We flew in the day before and picked up a Ford Focus from Avis at the airport. I had made a reservation using one of the discount codes from the I Work in Port Canaveral thread.

 

The drive to Port Canaveral was less than 45 minutes with one $1.25 toll. As we drove in, we were able to see a Carnival ship in port. We headed down to Cocoa Beach. We stayed at the La Quinta Cocoa Beach. It was very nice but definitely farther from restaurants etc than some of the others. That didn't matter since we had a car. We chose it because it was cheaper.

 

We got settled in the hotel and headed out to Wal-Mart for a few last minute items. We also went to the Cocoa Beach Pier, Ron Jon Surf Shop, Merritt Square Mall, etc. It was really nice to have the car.

 

On Sunday morning, we drove to the port and dropped off our luggage then brought the car back to Avis. We had to wait outside for about 10 minutes for a shuttle to port. We were able to sneak onto an almost full shuttle sice we had no luggage.

 

On the way back, we used RCI bus transfer. Also easy and painless but it did get us to the airport much earlier than necessary. Better early than late though.