Hotel to stay in night before Port Canaveral cruise

FSU Girl

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 20, 2016
I'm thinking about booking a one night stay the night before my Fantasy cruise out of Port Canaveral next January. It's a three hour drive from my house, so it's doable to just drive up day of. If we do that we'll either have to wake up crazy early to get there early or not arrive until early afternoon depending on traffic. Since it's for our honeymoon I feel like going up the night before will elevate stress and allow us quicker access to the port in the morning without being sleep deprived.

I've only done one cruise out of Port Canaveral before and we stayed at Disney before hand. Should we do this again? We'd only be able to go up the night before so it would really be only a place to sleep. Are there nice hotels near the port? I'm not really familiar with that area. We normally stay in a Deluxe hotel at Disney, so I'd like something comparable if possible.
 
If you stay at a Disney resort, you won't be at the port in the morning. They don't start picking up at the resorts until late morning/early afternoon I believe. I haven't stayed at a Disney resort before a cruise, just going by what I've read on here from others. We fly in the day before and have used Goportcanaveral.com for our hotel and transportation. They also offer park and stay options since you will have a car. They work with lots of different hotels and even if you don't use them, the site will give you an idea of some of the different hotels in the area. We used them last year and are using them again in March.
 
If you stay at a Disney resort, you won't be at the port in the morning. They don't start picking up at the resorts until late morning/early afternoon I believe. I haven't stayed at a Disney resort before a cruise, just going by what I've read on here from others. We fly in the day before and have used Goportcanaveral.com for our hotel and transportation. They also offer park and stay options since you will have a car. They work with lots of different hotels and even if you don't use them, the site will give you an idea of some of the different hotels in the area. We used them last year and are using them again in March.
Thanks I'll check that link out. If we did a Disney hotel we'd drive to the port, not take Disney transportation so we could arrive early. We did it last time and got to the port around 10:30am. Just not sure that its worth it since we won't have park time and will still need to drive about an hour across the state.
 


We drive also. I like to stay at all star movie (we like the pool) the night before and then drive to port. I've never stayed by the port though.
 
I should have realized you wouldn't need Disney's transport since you'll have a car, guess I'm used to most people on here using Disney transport after staying at the resorts. At least you'll save a lot of money by not using their transport. We'll be staying at Hampton Inn Gateway, haven't stayed there before, but have gotten good reports from others on here about it. Last time we stayed in Orlando. My dh and I went on a Disney cruise for our honeymoon nearly 17 yrs ago, we'll be at CC on our anniversary in March. We had to get up super early and fly to Florida the morning of our cruise 17 yrs ago, I was so tired I didn't even care about going to the sail away party. If I were you, I'd drive to PC the day before, you won't have to rush the morning of your cruise and you won't be tired. Plus you'll have extra time to go to any stores if you find you forgot to pack something.
 
Thanks I'll check that link out. If we did a Disney hotel we'd drive to the port, not take Disney transportation so we could arrive early. We did it last time and got to the port around 10:30am. Just not sure that its worth it since we won't have park time and will still need to drive about an hour across the state

My 2 cents...it's a honeymoon, splash out and stay at the nicest resort your budget can stand and drive to the Port. It's you honeymoon and the GF, Boardwalk Garden suites or POFQ would all make a nice place to lay your head for a night. Get a nice room, bring some champagne (or spirit of choice), eat at y'alls favorite restaurant...if you're like most of us you'll be so excited in the am the drive will fly by!
 


My 2 cents...it's a honeymoon, splash out and stay at the nicest resort your budget can stand and drive to the Port. It's you honeymoon and the GF, Boardwalk Garden suites or POFQ would all make a nice place to lay your head for a night. Get a nice room, bring some champagne (or spirit of choice), eat at y'alls favorite restaurant...if you're like most of us you'll be so excited in the am the drive will fly by!
This totally sounds like me lol. I feel like my fiance will want to save money. We are going all out for the cruise, doing concierge so that part is going to be fantastic. When I started thinking about this my first thought actually was to do club level at the Grand Floridian, I've always wanted to go up to those higher floors in the main building. Budgeting is very hard for me.
 
We stayed at Homewood Suites for one pre-night before our last cruise. It's the newest hotel in PC, has a pool and free breakfast. It's very close to the port and the port-area restaurants. It wasn't great though. IMHO, PC itself is kind of depressing and we decided to stay at YC one-night before our cruise in March (we aren't doing any parks, just the pool, dinner and the Boardwalk).

You really don't need to be at the port at 10:30 am. Do I recall from one of your other threads that you are staying CL on the ship? If you are, you can show up at any time and just board the ship. If not, you could still just arrive around 1 pm and simply walk on the boat. So, you could even start driving at 9 am - 10 am and still get there in time.

If you really want to do a pre-night, I would probably either look for a discount at a deluxe or pick a nice mod and enjoy the resort the day before. Since PC is only an hour away, at least you will get a day of staying at a nice resort and having a nice dinner. Again, I just though PC was a bit down-trodden and depressing.
 
This totally sounds like me lol. I feel like my fiance will want to save money. We are going all out for the cruise, doing concierge so that part is going to be fantastic. When I started thinking about this my first thought actually was to do club level at the Grand Floridian, I've always wanted to go up to those higher floors in the main building. Budgeting is very hard for me.

Since you are staying CL, there is no need to show up at the port prior to when they start boarding the ship as you'll just be sitting around the port.
 
This totally sounds like me lol. I feel like my fiance will want to save money. We are going all out for the cruise, doing concierge so that part is going to be fantastic. When I started thinking about this my first thought actually was to do club level at the Grand Floridian, I've always wanted to go up to those higher floors in the main building. Budgeting is very hard for me.

I hear you and am the same :o Fortunately I manage the vacation budget (using the term loosely) and have pretty creative accounting to find ways to support my tastes:rolleyes1
 
I hear you and am the same :o Fortunately I manage the vacation budget (using the term loosely) and have pretty creative accounting to find ways to support my tastes:rolleyes1
My fiance said I'm in charge of our vacation plans too, I'll have to learn that too so I can keep booking like I like now lol
 
There are nice hotels in Port Canaveral. Someone else mentioned goportcanaveral, which is a great place to start. You can also check trip advisor or AAA for their list of hotels.

I don't know how far it is from the port, but have you thought of a day at Disney's Vero Beach resort? It's different than going to a park hotel, but maybe different is nice for a honeymoon.

https://verobeach.disney.go.com/?CMP=OKC-wdw_lodging_gmap_23
 
We live in the same area, 3 hours south of Port Canaveral. We usually stay at The Residence Inn when we go straight to the port the day before.
But we have also spent the night before in a Disney resort. Personally, with the car I prefer being at Disney the night before, then we leave the hotel around 9/9:30 am and get to the port about 10:30ish.
Disney hotels= either some park time or just a good dinner at Disney Springs, thats a win-win!
 
We live in the same area, 3 hours south of Port Canaveral. We usually stay at The Residence Inn when we go straight to the port the day before.
But we have also spent the night before in a Disney resort. Personally, with the car I prefer being at Disney the night before, then we leave the hotel around 9/9:30 am and get to the port about 10:30ish.
Disney hotels= either some park time or just a good dinner at Disney Springs, thats a win-win!
I love Disney so that's always my first choice lol. Unless there's extra magic hours at night we probably won't get there in time to go to a park. We normally get to Disney between 7pm/8pm if we leave after work. A deluxe resort might be nice since we can go to a lounge and relax when we get there.

When does Disney allow booking for January? I tried to look at the day I'd need, but it won't let me go past 12/31, although I could stay into January if my day started then.
 
I love Disney so that's always my first choice lol. Unless there's extra magic hours at night we probably won't get there in time to go to a park. We normally get to Disney between 7pm/8pm if we leave after work. A deluxe resort might be nice since we can go to a lounge and relax when we get there.

When does Disney allow booking for January? I tried to look at the day I'd need, but it won't let me go past 12/31, although I could stay into January if my day started then.

I'm not really sure when they extend past Dec. 2018. We are sailing the Panama in Feb. 2019 from Port Canaveral so we will have to rent a car to get there since we end in San Diego. Definitely want to spend the evening before in Disney Springs and try a new hotel we haven't stayed at yet.
 
We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites at the Port many times and left our car parked there as it was cheaper than the port. The shuttle was very timely both arriving and departing the cruise. I would highly recommend this location!
 
We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites at the Port many times and left our car parked there as it was cheaper than the port. The shuttle was very timely both arriving and departing the cruise. I would highly recommend this location!
That sounds good, especially the parking. It is really expensive to park at the port.
 
That sounds good, especially the parking. It is really expensive to park at the port.
Be sure to compare all their rates as their Park+Stay rates are sometimes more expensive than just booking a discounted rate (like AAA) and paying their flat fee to park.
 
Hi, We're taking our first Disney Cruise in 17 years this September, last sailed DCL in 2001. We are driving down from South Jersey a couple of days before and staying at the Port. We have no actual experience with hotels in Port Canaveral but the money and/or DVC points we are saving is worth it to us to not stay on WDW property for that one night. Our plan is to stay in a DVC villa after the cruise for a few days.

We also have read that the traffic trying to get to the Port on embarkation day is brutal, so by staying at the Port we don't have to worry about that potential problem. Also, we LOVE watching the ships sail out of PC via PTZtv webcam, so we are planning on dinner at Fishlips the evening before we sail. This restaurant is where the webcam is located. Right now we have reservations at the Radisson in Port Canaveral, reviews seem to be good for the most part.
 

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