Radisson at the Port: Port canaveral

[grannynurse]

Hi,
Has anyone stayed at the radisson at the port in Port Canaveral? Also, since we are flying in 2 days early, is it wise to rent a car? Hertz has an office about a mile from the port I've heard, but since the radisson has a free shuttle and there are shuttles from Orlando, is a rental advisable? Thanks in advance.
Grannynurse

[stillfrantic]

I've stayed there. If you are going to stay there 2 nights, you will want a car. There isn't really anything much around the Radisoon. It isn't on the beach, or even particularly close to the beach. There are 2 restaurants, one on each side, where you could eat, and a McDonalds across the street. That said, not much else right around this property.

If you get the rental car, take everyone to the port, along with all their luggage in the car, then have only one person without luggage return the car and take the Avis shuttle back to the port. It is a lot easier to return on the shuttle as one single person than a whole family with luggage.

You can rent the car at the Orlando Airport and return it to the port with no additional fee.

[grannynurse]

Thank you, I did not know that airport rentals could be returned at the port.
Would you mind commenting on the hotel itself?
Th ads look great, and the few reviews that I've seen look complimentary.
Thanks again,
GN

[cruisingator2]

I haved stayed at this location twice and both time was very disappointed in the condition of the rooms. Not clean and had a musty smell. I like the Marriott Courtyard much more. A little further down the road from the port but no by much.

[stillfrantic]

The hotel was fine, but not a destination itself. It isn't a resort, but more a place just to spend the night. If you are staying 2, I'd look towards something at the beach, I think. Our room was clean, with really very nice bath ammenities. We had a large glass shower, really nice bath products, and plenty of towels. We booked one of the suites which was great for our family of 5. It had a separate bedroom with a king bed and a spa in the room(it can be reserved with 2 kings in the bedroom, I believe) The outer room had 2 queen sofa beds(the one with 2 beds in the bedroom only has 1, I believe.) There was a kitchen area with table and chairs also.

The room was clean. The hotel seems to be huge, but there is parking convenient to all sections of the property. It seemed to have a nice pool area, but we only peeked and didn't hve the time to swim. The lobby was pretty standard and definatley not fancy at all. They offered a breakfast buffet but we went to Zachary's next door.

The hotel was near the port and from our room we could see our ship in the distance, but it is truly not really near anything. I thought it kind of an industrial looking area. If you are looking for a 2 night mini vacation before the trip, I'd look further. Try this site: www.dcltribute.com (http://www.dcltribute.com/) It is for Disney Cruise information, but I believe there is information on rental cars from MCO as well as a lot of information about the hotels in the Cocoa/Canaveral area.

If you have other questions, just ask!:)

[stillfrantic]

I just checked the dcltribute site to make sure it still had good information, and it even has more now.:) There is a column on the left with a link for Transportation and one for Lodging. Lots of hotel descriptions and rental car information.:)

[trustee55]

Hi!
Richard and I stayed there last January prior to our cruise on the Zaandam. Even though it had advertised a special, there were none of the special rooms available to us. We decided to stay there anyway so we could leave the car there. However, when our credit card bill arrived, it had cost us almost $160 Canadian for the one-night stay.
In retrospect, if we ever sail from there again, we would park our car at the dock and find a cheaper place to stay.
The Radisson is really nothing special; we have had much nicer rooms at the Days Inn.
The restaurant is VERY expensive. However, there is any number of restaurants on the strip where you can eat.
Hope this helps,

Best regards and happy sailing,

Carol Ann

[michmike]

We stayed at the Cocoa Beach Hilton in January and it was a dump!! In need of a major rehab. Have heard good things about the doubletree and generally Courtyard can be counted on to be ok.

[jazzsea]

We had a group sail on Zaandam last January and many of our people wanted to drive and park their car. Some used the Radisson (as did we) and others opted for really cheap and stayed at the Comfort Inn and Suites.

There are some nicer properties but they are much more expensive. (The Inn at Cocoa Beach.) The Hilton really is a dump but the Marriott Courtyard is nice. There is a new Holiday Inn Express that is nice, too.

Most of my clients stayed at the Orlando Airport Marriott that we booked through the cruise line. HAL transferred them to the ship from the hotel as part of the hotel cost.

I think I would rather stay in Orlando than in Cape Canaveral. Cocoa Beach is fun if you can find a hotel that is close to the beach. They even have a hotel called "Falty Towers". Cute place and the rooms looked nice.

[debsea]

Hi Granny:

We're at the Doubletree at Cocoa Beach. We're planning to book a shuttle from Orlando, and I believe the hotel has a very inexpensive shuttle to the pier.

Does anyone else have experience at the Doubletree? It's a bit pricey, but we wanted to get our cruise vacation started off on the right foot.