I had posted this in the cruise section, but that one doesn’t seem to get much traffic, so I thought I would post here in hopes that some had experience with this.
So I’m trying to figure out our best options for transport. We’re staying at POR before the cruise (room only, no parks) and trying to figure out the best options. 1)rent a car…but we love ME, and then is there a car rental place there at port, so we wouldn’t have to pay parking? Seems silly to me.
2) DCL bus from POR to port, but we wouldn’t arrive until later in the afternoon
3) private transport…but they all seem to be from the airport and not from the resorts.
Also, on our return trip, we’re staying the night before returning home. Can I use a dummy flight number so we can take DCL back to MCO and then go to the hotel?
I’m interested to hear the responses to this. We are going on a short cruise after our 7 days at the parks, also staying at POR.
We’ve booked the Disney Transportation to the port, but I wonder if it’s worth splurging to go on our own to get there earlier? I’ve never done a cruise of any kind before…
Hi guys, the cruise forum doesn’t get much traffic, true, but the old information is still good. If you search the forum for transportation, a number of posts will come up. If you’ve already booked the Disney bus to the port, I don’t know if that’s refundable, but you could try. You can certainly take a towncar to the port and book them as early as you like. If you rent a car, just return it to the car rental place closest to the port, and take their shuttle to the port, no need to for parking! If you take the DCL bus, you won’t be arriving in the afternoon. You’ll get a message from them at your Disney hotel to let you know what time in the morning to meet the bus.
On your return from the cruise, if you’re taking the DCL bus and you’re staying at another Disney hotel, you don’t need to take the bus to the airport! Just tell them where you’re going, DCL buses go to WDW.
I recommend you do some more research on the Disney cruise site too, a lot of the bus transportation questions can be answered there, and you can also call to clarify your questions.
I responded to your other post, and willijen’s response here is good too.
On our last cruise though, we were staying at Pop Century and the DCL bus was to pick us up at noon, so definitely an afternoon arrival to the ship. Then, there were problems with the bus and I don’t think we left the hotel until about 1:00 and it was very chaotic and disorganized. We were really disappointed and that’s why we are renting a car as I described in the other response. And it will still be cheaper to rent a car twice than to pay $35 per person each way, even with only two people.
I would say it totally depends on you. The ME can get pricey , I think $35 per person, per way, but the convenience is great. You never deal with luggage. It leaves your hotel at the resort and will show up on the ship. From my understanding most people do private transfer because it is cheaper with a large group or family. Don’t think you can go wrong. It’s a matter of preference. If you want to get to the port early or make quick stops, the rental or private is the way to go.
We are doing something similar in November. I’ve booked a car service to take us from our Disney resort to the Port and pick us up after the cruise (as we are going to do a few days post-cruise too). Car services aren’t limited to the airport. We ended up booking FLTours after reading a variety of reviews. But there are a few popular ones that people use.