We are excited to be traveling March 20 on the Mariner! (anyone else?) This is our first cruise - we have children ages 18-12. We would like to stay in the area the night before at a nice hotel and easy transportation the next day. Also, would love hints on check-in - do you get prefernce depending on deck # and/or type of room?
We are excited to be traveling March 20 on the Mariner! (anyone else?) This is our first cruise - we have children ages 18-12. We would like to stay in the area the night before at a nice hotel and easy transportation the next day. Also, would love hints on check-in - do you get prefernce depending on deck # and/or type of room?
Jennifer, how did you book your cruise? If you used a travel agent, then ask him or her about the hotel. There are quite a few in the Ft. Lauderdale area, some of which offer shuttles to the port, and to/from the airport, for their guests. There is a wide variety of hotels, from very nice (Embassy Suites) to basic (Comfort Inns) with a variety of price ranges too. Best to book soon, as March is spring break for a lot of folks, and can be quite busy.
Jennifer:
Our family drove to Port Canaveral last June for a cruise on Mariner. We stayed at the Best Western, which was fair, but we may have been in an older part and it served the purpose. I'm not sure if all rooms are of the same quality or not. If you search for "Port Canaveral" on the internet, you can lead to hotels or accommodations, then some of them offer "cruise and sail" packages, and they advertise "free parking" during your cruise. The place where they offered "free parking" was not right on the same plot of land that our hotel room was, it was across the street from their office, by another business (real estate?). Anyway, we decided to bring our rental van to the parking deck for $70, for the convenience of having it immediately after we got off the ship, plusl we had a lot of luggage and the Best Western did not offer shuttles, therefore we'd have to send some of us via taxi (trip is not far).
I believe another hotel we noticed that had a shuttle van taking people to the Port was a Radisson. It is advertised on the web site as well. I think it is about $139 for a room which includes parking there advertised on the internet.
If you choose not to leave your car at the hotel, I think there is the potential to tell the cruise line you are needing to disbark early, for a drive back home. We had a long drive back after our cruise, and did not know about this capability. We were last to disbark, and it was late before we got home.
Also, another alternative might be to stay in Orlando the night before, for cheaper rates, then drive or shuttle straight ot the Port.
I think we headed to the ship around 10:30-11:30, and were able to unload and get on the ship immediately. If I'm not mistaken, our rooms were available before 1:00 p.m. We were eating in the Windjammer and roaming around the ship in the meantime. It was a fantastic vacation, one we will never forget.
My husband and I are scheduled to go again on Mariner Jan. 30 to Western Caribbean, unless we come across some unforeseen $$ and can afford airline tickets to fly out of San Juan!!! Have a great trip. Hope this helps. You can write me any time for other questions. We had three kids 14-20, and they loved it!!
Sorry! Guess I had the wrong port here. Anyway, looks like you got some good advice from kandl. If you stay in the Orlando area, you can also book a transfer through Mears Transportation - they run the bulk of the buses (and some vans) from Orlando Airport.
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