First cruise, and I'm completely lost!

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

My wife finally talked me into taking a Disney Cruise after 7 trips to the parks since 2013 (I had never been prior to that and had no interest in going). But I caved and went in 2013 and have been 7 times since. Now we just finished paying off our first cruise last night. That's the good part. The rest I have no idea about.

Right now we've only got the cruise booked, however, we don't fly home until 4 days after the cruise gets back to port. It's a cruise out of Port Canaveral, and we're thinking about going to the parks for a couple of days after we return. That's why we booked our flight several days later. If we can't add a Magic Your Package, then we want to do the Halloween Party one night, hang at Downtown Disney another night and then just maybe hang around Orlando one full day (visit the Outlets, maybe the Space Center, whatever).

Some of the things I'm confused/concerned about:
Do we fly in that morning or the night before? If it's a day of flight, how early do the buses run to the port from the airport? If we fly in the night before and we decide to take Disney transportation to the port, how will that work? We've talked about renting a car for the entire trip. But if we DO NOT rent a car, can we take Disney transportation back to the airport and then the Magical Express to the Disney World?

What time would we be back in port and off the ship when we return? We're trying to plan out that return day to port/arrival day at the parks. The time thing says 7:45. Is that when we'll be off the boat? Or will we be back to port then? If so, how long does it take to get off the boat, get our luggage, etc?

What are excursions? Is that getting off the boat in another port (our stop is at Nassau, Bahamas). Is getting off the boat considered an excursion? Or what does that mean? We're on a 4-day/3-night cruise (Friday-Monday). It doesn't seem like we have much time on the boat as we've got a stop each day (Depart Friday, Bahamas on Saturday, Castaway Key on Sunday and return to port on Monday).


Just so many questions. Those are a few I have right now. I'm sure I'll have more the closer we get. Mostly I'm just excited, albeit lost as to what to do next. Been to the World many times and really know our way around that. But not the cruises. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My wife finally talked me into taking a Disney Cruise after 7 trips to the parks since 2013 (I had never been prior to that and had no interest in going). But I caved and went in 2013 and have been 7 times since. Now we just finished paying off our first cruise last night. That's the good part. The rest I have no idea about.

Right now we've only got the cruise booked, however, we don't fly home until 4 days after the cruise gets back to port. It's a cruise out of Port Canaveral, and we're thinking about going to the parks for a couple of days after we return. That's why we booked our flight several days later. If we can't add a Magic Your Package, then we want to do the Halloween Party one night, hang at Downtown Disney another night and then just maybe hang around Orlando one full day (visit the Outlets, maybe the Space Center, whatever).

Some of the things I'm confused/concerned about:
Do we fly in that morning or the night before? If it's a day of flight, how early do the buses run to the port from the airport? If we fly in the night before and we decide to take Disney transportation to the port, how will that work? We've talked about renting a car for the entire trip. But if we DO NOT rent a car, can we take Disney transportation back to the airport and then the Magical Express to the Disney World?

What time would we be back in port and off the ship when we return? We're trying to plan out that return day to port/arrival day at the parks. The time thing says 7:45. Is that when we'll be off the boat? Or will we be back to port then? If so, how long does it take to get off the boat, get our luggage, etc?

What are excursions? Is that getting off the boat in another port (our stop is at Nassau, Bahamas). Is getting off the boat considered an excursion? Or what does that mean? We're on a 4-day/3-night cruise (Friday-Monday). It doesn't seem like we have much time on the boat as we've got a stop each day (Depart Friday, Bahamas on Saturday, Castaway Key on Sunday and return to port on Monday).


Just so many questions. Those are a few I have right now. I'm sure I'll have more the closer we get. Mostly I'm just excited, albeit lost as to what to do next. Been to the World many times and really know our way around that. But not the cruises. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Most people like to fly in the day before, to allow for any possible flight mishaps (you don't want to be late for the departure). That said, some people do fly in the day of the cruise, as long as it's not inclement weather, and a flight that gets you into MCO fairly early in the day (again, to avoid any possible delays getting to the ship).

DCL transfers from the airport open at 9:00 am. With the first bus departing when full, and subsequent buses every 20 minutes (or when full, whichever is first).

If you fly in the night before, you can stay at the airport hotel and just head for the DCL transfer desk in the morning. Or stay at an off-site hotel with a shuttle back to the airport to catch DCL transfers. Or rent a car. Or stay at a WDW resort (free shuttle from airport to resort, DCL transfers from resort to port). DCL transfers also run from port to WDW resorts, or the airport. No need to take the DCL transfer to airport then Magical Express to resort, it just makes the trip longer.

Typically the ship is cleared for debarkation around 7:30, and you can get off at any time after that. The trip from port to WDW is about an hour.

Just getting off the ship to walk around is not considered an "excursion". An excursion is a paid for tour while in port. You can book these through DCL, or through an independent operator.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Some of the things I'm confused/concerned about:
Do we fly in that morning or the night before? If it's a day of flight, how early do the buses run to the port from the airport? If we fly in the night before and we decide to take Disney transportation to the port, how will that work? We've talked about renting a car for the entire trip. But if we DO NOT rent a car, can we take Disney transportation back to the airport and then the Magical Express to the Disney World?

What time would we be back in port and off the ship when we return? We're trying to plan out that return day to port/arrival day at the parks. The time thing says 7:45. Is that when we'll be off the boat? Or will we be back to port then? If so, how long does it take to get off the boat, get our luggage, etc?

What are excursions? Is that getting off the boat in another port (our stop is at Nassau, Bahamas). Is getting off the boat considered an excursion? Or what does that mean? We're on a 4-day/3-night cruise (Friday-Monday). It doesn't seem like we have much time on the boat as we've got a stop each day (Depart Friday, Bahamas on Saturday, Castaway Key on Sunday and return to port on Monday).

Fly in the day before. You don't want to take a chance of missing your cruise due to a flight delay, and there are just too many things that can cause a flight delay. I wouldn't even recommend waiting until the night before. Plan to fly in earlier in the day the day before your cruise. Our very first cruise, we experienced multiple flight delays due to mechanical issues and weather. We were supposed to get to MCO around 7:00pm. We didn't get there until midnight and it was after 1:00am before we got to the hotel. We were exhausted and it was just not a great start to the trip. If I'd booked a flight earlier in the day, even if we still had several flight delays, we would likely have gotten there early enough to get a good night's sleep before the cruise.

If you do fly in the morning of, the buses start running at 9:00am. If you fly in the night before and still want to take the DCL transfers to port, you could stay at the Hyatt MCO (extremely convenient as it is there in the airport). Or you could stay at another hotel near the airport. Most hotels near the airport offer a free shuttle to/from the airport so you could shuttle to the hotel, stay, then shuttle back to MCO in the morning. Or you could book a night at a WDW hotel and take the DCL transfers from your WDW resort to the port. If you do not rent a car, then yes, you can book the DCL transfers to the airport and then take Magical Express to your WDW hotel, but it would be more convenient to just book the DCL transfers from the port to your WDW resort.

The ship usually is cleared for the express walk-off passengers to disembark around 7:30-7:45. Or you can forgo the express walk off and be off the ship by 9:00am. If you book DCL transfers from the port to a WDW resort, my understanding is those buses usually don't leave port until around 9:00am. Buses to MCO start as soon as a bus is full so there would likely be a bus to MCO leaving by 8:00 or so. How long it takes to disembark can vary a lot. I've been able to disembark, get my luggage, through customs and on a bus to MCO in less than 20 minutes. Or I've had it take 45 minutes.

Excursions, also called port adventures by DCL, are activities in the ports you stop at. You can book those through DCL, or you can research activities and book on your own outside of DCL. Or you can book nothing and just get off the boat and wander around on your own. Or you can stay on the boat. I wouldn't call just getting off the boat an excursion. I'd say an excursion is when you book an activity with a company and that company will transport you to/from said activity.

 

[DisMike]

Agree totally with the previous posters. DON'T fly in the day of. Too many things can go wrong. If you miss the boat you are totally and completely screwed. You will have to pay to fly to catch up with the ship. Very expensive. If you think the ship won't do that think again. I've seen it happen.

Second, it might be too late, but I HIGHLY recommend doing the parks before the cruise. I don't know about you but I'm toast after a few days in the parks. Doing them before allows me to recuperate on the ship and go home relaxed instead of hammered.

The word "excursion" is just a fancy way of saying "paying for someone to take you to do something on shore". Very few are inexpensive. It's not an excursion if you do stuff on your own in port. Excursion = pay. My DW and I have gone on about 7 cruises or so. We've done some of the "must do" things at certain ports (like the sting rays in Grand Cayman). Now, we mostly walk around town soaking up the local flavor. Much less expensive. Much more interesting. Also, we prefer to patronize local businesses.

If it were me I'd do Disney Transportation. You have a much greater chance that the ship won't leave without you. Also, they take care of everything with the luggage, etc. Way less stress.

The ship will dock in port either late the night prior to disembarkation or early the morning of. Either way they will start allowing people off around 7:00 or 8:00 am. I highly recommend NOT leaving your luggage out the night before on disembarkation. It's way faster to just take your luggage off with you. You'll know where to go for that. You go to deck 3 in the morning and you'll see the long line of people with their bags.

Relax. Enjoy. You're in for a wonderful time.

 

[Quellman]

For simple transport: Take the Paid Disney shuttle from the MCO Airport to the ship, and then again from the ship directly to the Disney hotel of your choice. No need to involve Disney's Magical Express until you go from your Disney Resort back to the airport (which is free).

Getting off the boat you have a few options.
1. Some people do express walkoff which is around 7-730am. You basically keep all of your luggage nad leave the ship first thing in the morning. If you are not doing express walk off you put all your luggage out the night before and Disney will transport it to the customs area for you to claim it (keep an overnight bag with fresh clothes, etc. I've seen people in their pajamas who forgot to keep out day wear!)
2. Go to breakfast either in the main dining room or cabanas. If you choose the main dining room your breakfast time is linked to your dinner time, so if you have second seating, you get to sleep in the last morning. After breakfast you get off and your luggage (minus what you hand carry) will be at the customs claim area.

You can run the financial numbers yourself to see if you want to rent a car round trip (add in tolls and port parking), rent it one way to the port and rent it again one way to the airport after your resort stay (add in tolls and disney resort parking), or if you want to pay for the disney bus or private car hire.

Exiting the boat isn't too terrible, customs lines can be a grab bag. Obviously the sooner you get off the less people there will be in front of you.

 

[kiford]

Note that at Castaway Cay, "excursions" are basically activities you can do on the island; there isn't really anywhere to go as it's quite small. And for no cost, you can go to the beaches (family or adult-only) and get yourself a lounger, walk the pathways, go for lunch (this is included - no cost except for alcohol) at either the family or adult-only locations. You can rent snokel equipment and bicycles (you will find these under Port Adventures) or you can book more extensive Port Adventures such as parasailing, kayaking, jet skis, etc. There are also some shops.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Thanks everyone for the tips. We have booked our flight home on Sept. 19. But we haven't book an outbound flight to Orlando. We also rented a car, but we just booked it. We can always cancel. We're now trying to figure out if it's cheapest/best to stay at the MCO airport or offsite and then just shuttle back to the airport on cruise departure day. It would be about $100 cheaper to stay outside the airport. There's also an option of staying at a Disney World resort the night before we depart on our cruise. That leads me to the post-cruise portion.

We have to take the parks part on the backside of the cruise. It's how our vacation worked out. So we're getting back to port on Sept. 16 (Monday). We'll have 3 days until our flight home. We haven't booked that portion of the trip yet, although we have bought tickets to the Not So Scary Halloween Party on Tuesday. We're talking about just going to Downtown Disney on Monday night, sleeping in on Tuesday then doing the Halloween part and then maybe doing another park on Wednesday (possibly MK or Epcot) before flying home on Thursday. But again, we're trying to figure out if it'll be best to stay off property or on since we're only doing basically 1 day in the park. Might try a Downtown Disney area hotel. Not really sure, but we still have more than two months before this has to be decided.

 

[Angeejoe]

Thanks everyone for the tips. We have booked our flight home on Sept. 19. But we haven't book an outbound flight to Orlando. We also rented a car, but we just booked it. We can always cancel. We're now trying to figure out if it's cheapest/best to stay at the MCO airport or offsite and then just shuttle back to the airport on cruise departure day. It would be about $100 cheaper to stay outside the airport. There's also an option of staying at a Disney World resort the night before we depart on our cruise. That leads me to the post-cruise portion.

We have to take the parks part on the backside of the cruise. It's how our vacation worked out. So we're getting back to port on Sept. 16 (Monday). We'll have 3 days until our flight home. We haven't booked that portion of the trip yet, although we have bought tickets to the Not So Scary Halloween Party on Tuesday. We're talking about just going to Downtown Disney on Monday night, sleeping in on Tuesday then doing the Halloween part and then maybe doing another park on Wednesday (possibly MK or Epcot) before flying home on Thursday. But again, we're trying to figure out if it'll be best to stay off property or on since we're only doing basically 1 day in the park. Might try a Downtown Disney area hotel. Not really sure, but we still have more than two months before this has to be decided.

Just a FYI- if you drive to the port in the rental car & plan to kept it while you’re on the cruise, you have to pay for parking at the port which is pricy. It may be worth the parking you want to leave right after the cruise to head into Orlando as parking at the port is convenient.

 

[fredandkell]

I usually do two one-way car rentals to and from the port. Usually about $75 each way. Lots of flexibility and you can stop for snacks, beer, etc. before cruise. Shuttles are right outside the ship and it's very easy to do both coming and going.

 

[diznymom]

We like to fly in the day before and stay on WDW property (All Star Sports), take the DCL bus over to the ship. We get there a little later, but there are no crowds in the terminal.

 

[Travel60]

What we do:
*Fly in day before...earlier the better.
*Stay either in airport area or rent one-way car and drive to Port area. There is stuff to do there...Cape Canaveral, beaches, etc . If you stay in airport area, rent one way car to port for morning of cruise.
*Stay on ship in Bahamas unless there is something you just really want to do. With such a short cruise, you won't have much time to explore the ship.
* Enjoy the day on Castaway Cay...snorkel, kayak, bike, bask in sun.
* Rent another one-way car back to WDW. Renting two one-ways avoids parking fees and paying firdays you are not using. Probably cheaper than Disney transportation.

Above all, relax....planning for a cruise is NOTHING like the massive hustle visiting WDW has become. Almost everything is included. Daily schedule has lots of stuff to do (or not) and for most, no reservations fast passes, etc. required. The only advance planning I ever do is decide whether we want to do Palo. Again, for a short cruise, I'd pass on that to see all the main dining rooms.

Enjoy.

 

[deliela999]

What we do:
*Fly in day before...earlier the better.
*Stay either in airport area or rent one-way car and drive to Port area. There is stuff to do there...Cape Canaveral, beaches, etc . If you stay in airport area, rent one way car to port for morning of cruise.
*Stay on ship in Bahamas unless there is something you just really want to do. With such a short cruise, you won't have much time to explore the ship.
* Enjoy the day on Castaway Cay...snorkel, kayak, bike, bask in sun.
* Rent another one-way car back to WDW. Renting two one-ways avoids parking fees and paying firdays you are not using. Probably cheaper than Disney transportation.

Above all, relax....planning for a cruise is NOTHING like the massive hustle visiting WDW has become. Almost everything is included. Daily schedule has lots of stuff to do (or not) and for most, no reservations fast passes, etc. required. The only advance planning I ever do is decide whether we want to do Palo. Again, for a short cruise, I'd pass on that to see all the main dining rooms.

Enjoy.

I think that's what we loved the most, very little advanced planning or schedule to keep. There's tons of stuff going on all the time but we can just decide what sounds good in the moment, or not do anything at all. The only things we had scheduled were the princess and frozen gatherings and the BBB, 6 year old princess.

 

[KVH]

 

[VTNuke]

Thanks everyone for the tips. We have booked our flight home on Sept. 19. But we haven't book an outbound flight to Orlando. We also rented a car, but we just booked it. We can always cancel. We're now trying to figure out if it's cheapest/best to stay at the MCO airport or offsite and then just shuttle back to the airport on cruise departure day. It would be about $100 cheaper to stay outside the airport. There's also an option of staying at a Disney World resort the night before we depart on our cruise. That leads me to the post-cruise portion.

We have to take the parks part on the backside of the cruise. It's how our vacation worked out. So we're getting back to port on Sept. 16 (Monday). We'll have 3 days until our flight home. We haven't booked that portion of the trip yet, although we have bought tickets to the Not So Scary Halloween Party on Tuesday. We're talking about just going to Downtown Disney on Monday night, sleeping in on Tuesday then doing the Halloween part and then maybe doing another park on Wednesday (possibly MK or Epcot) before flying home on Thursday. But again, we're trying to figure out if it'll be best to stay off property or on since we're only doing basically 1 day in the park. Might try a Downtown Disney area hotel. Not really sure, but we still have more than two months before this has to be decided.

If you've done 7 trips since 2013, you may want to look at your next few vacations. A one day ticket isn't cheap. You may want to look at getting an annual pass if you are doing 1 or 2 more trips over the next year. The year starts the day you first enter the park with it, so it might work for you if you're planning multiple trips.

You may also want to look into DVC on the resale market if you're going every year. We purchased a Boardwalk contract on the resale market in 2006 and it's been well worth it. A stay at the DVC resorts is very different than the All-Star level, not that there's anything wrong with the All-Stars if that's your thing.

 

[smmco]

There is Contrans shuttles that picks up at MCO airport hotels and drops off at the port. It's cheaper than the Disney shuttles. Lyft and Uber can also take you to port. The Hyatt at the airport is pricey, but you can't beat the convenience if you're taking DCL transportation.

 

[ProgressCity]

We have to take the parks part on the backside of the cruise. It's how our vacation worked out. So we're getting back to port on Sept. 16 (Monday). We'll have 3 days until our flight home. We haven't booked that portion of the trip yet, although we have bought tickets to the Not So Scary Halloween Party on Tuesday. We're talking about just going to Downtown Disney on Monday night, sleeping in on Tuesday then doing the Halloween part and then maybe doing another park on Wednesday (possibly MK or Epcot) before flying home on Thursday.

That sounds like a great plan.

 

[hcox31]

I haven't read the whole thread, but if you're looking at staying at MCO the night before, call Disney and see if you can get their special rate instead of paying the Hyatt's rate. It is significantly cheaper.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

Just an update. We just booked 2 1-way car rentals for less than the price it was to take the bus from the airport to the port and then to Disney. So we fly in the 12th, rent a car and drive to the port to cruise out on the 13th. Get back in, rent a car to drive to Disney and return on the 17th. That will give us flexibility to go to the store and buy whatever we need. Also, we want to check out one of the Disney character warehouses. We've never done that before.

Now we just need to find decent outbound airfare to Disney. So far the cheapest has been about $165 each person one way. We booked the return leg back to Dallas for $90/person. So we're looking for that. But it's been tough.

We also have to decide where we're going to stay on the night of the 12th (arrival night). Not sure if we want to stay in Orlando, near the port, near WDW (spend time at Disney Springs) or what.

 

[Mom24Princesses]

I predict that on Monday morning, more than anything in the world, you will wish your cruise had been longer. 7 nights is never enough. Our first ever cruise was on DCL and we did 7 nights. That’s the greatest problem with DCL- you have to get off!! OT sorry

 

[bearette]

I think you will need to base your first night hotel based on the flight times. If you come in early maybe stay nearer to the port, it is fun to wake up and catch a glimpse of the ship. If a late flight in, then stay by the airport. I wouldn't bother with the resort area since you are doing it precruise. If you come in the afternoon, I would recommend a hotel with a nice pool to spend the day after your flight or near the port because of the beaches.