Port Canaveral

This review is for my experience in the port's Disney Cruise Line (DCL) area. I have set sail from here before on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and this time, the experience was excellent. DCL has its area in the port, and of course, it is Disney-branded. The check-in process was smooth, and the signs were clear. When you first arrive, you wait outside until your boarding time shows up in the queue. The outdoor waiting area is shaded, so that's good. After you pass security, you will go up to the indoor waiting area, which is big and decorated with all Disney things. There are restrooms and some photo ops around. Here you will go through the iconic Mickey-shaped tunnel, and after that, it is a short walk to the cruise ship. Overall, I had a good experience. The only thing that caught me off guard and that I wasn't prepared for was tipping the names of the guys who checked your bags. They are a third-party vendor. So make sure you have cash with you otherwise you would end up tipping way too much because you had no smaller bills. So , the process here is you drive into the port, drop off your bags first and then you head to the parking garage. Tip: park on the 3rd floor for direct access to the terminal.

Not that we have been to many ports like this time since we went on to cruise for the first time that departed from here. Other ports we have been was a quick stop for us. Our experience here was just okay. Long wait and a little disorganized embankment but that may be due to the cruise line issue. There was a restroom near and that was clean for a public restroom too. We reached here quickly but then stayed at port for 2 hours around. Not the most appealing port overall.

This is my second time cruising from this Port. I took my very first Cruise back in the 90's from this Cruise Terminal and it was much smaller then, they really have come a long way. They have a variety of Cruise Ships deporting from this Terminal. And the Staff is very friendly and the Boarding process is very fast and efficient.

I used the Mardi Gras terminal for this cruise. I arrived right at my checkin time, the staff had us line up in front of our time slot, checked our documents, and reminded us to keep our documents handy. The line moved quickly and once inside the terminal they will direct you to an available staff member to check you in , take your picture and send you on your way to security. My only issue with this terminal is the sound quality and disembarkation staff. The sound quality Is horrible, you can't hear what's being said over the intercoms, and they didn't utilize the screens for boarding. I'm not even sure if those were screens for showcasing boarding/general info or TVs but they were useless. As for disembarkation staff, a lot of confusion and yelling. I was told I could stand in one spot by a staff member only to be yelled at by another saying I couldn't and " he don't run this, I do". Communication amongst staff was an issue, or perhaps he was on a power trip, but either way, I didn't appreciate his tone. I like Port Canaveral because it is cheaper to fly to and was easy to navigate for me and my mom, but the staff can be rude.

Our ship was in terminal 1 so we parked the car in the parking garage attached to that terminal. Make sure you know where your ship is at before you park because this place can get crazy. We arrived as the parking garage was opening for our cruise but another cruise ship worth of people were getting in their vehicles and leaving the garage. Got a spot and headed in with tons of people coming and going from the port. As we were doing an earlier arrival on the ship (11am - almost the earliest you can check in) the security lines and customs weren't too busy. Again, when we got back from our cruise, we got off the ship as early as possible and got out of the garage early so as not to have to deal with the traffic and congestion on the freeway when mass amounts of people are leaving port!

This review may come off a tad biased considering I'm only two hours away from this port. My family and I have had zero issues and will always make this the default port of travel. The few positives I can point out is how smooth the check in process is. I've been on a few cruises throughout the year and not once have we been held up for any reason. When going through security, if there's anything that can't go onboard , the bag and tag procedure is handled in less than 5 minutes. Considering how many people are trying to check in and get onboard, this is perfect execution. We've purchased offsite parking so I can't speak on the parking on the port itself. In that, when returning back from sea, there's no more than a 10 minute wait to get back to our vehicles. All of the staff is patient and helpful; needing help with your luggage to receiving directions to your destined area. This year has been a pleasant and enjoyable one due to the number of cruises I've been blessed to take. One thing that eases my mind is knowing all of the essentials are taken care of, here, at Port Canaveral.

We have been here several times for cruise vacations, and it's usually a 4 star experience. Part of the problem is the flow of traffic, which is to be expected with so many cruises leaving and entering this port. It's frustrating sitting in long car lines to get into the drop off area and parking area. As cruisers are coming in, they are also leaving. The parking fee is also a little higher than off site with shuttle lots ($145 for 8 days), but it is onsite and appears secure. Since we hadn't been here in over 10 years, we were unfamiliar with where to drop off luggage, so we parked in the parking structure and took it with us on the elevator to the ground floor. We were pleasantly surprised by porters waiting outside the elevator doors. After giving them our luggage, we walked around to the entrance of the terminal for our cruise. That was a little frustrating as inside lines were not clearly and plainly marked. And so many people! The best part of this port is the staff. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Whenever we didn't know where to go, someone appeared to help us.

Easy in & easy out port with excellent signage. Too bad it's on the Atlantic Ocean side of the state. From St Petersburg it's a solid 3 hour drive no matter which route you take. Worth it to get to cruise destinations not offered by the ships that dock at Port of Tampa

Second Cruise on Disney Fantasy from Port Canaveral. Entering and exiting was very smooth. All Disney staff, Customs staff etc were excellent. Can't wait for my next trip.

Boarded a ship to the Bahamas from this port; had a bit of time navigating where we were supposed to park at first, but after that, we were good. Lots of walking of course, but the services are very accommodating. Every person/staff we came into contact with was nice, and we certainly appreciated that. They all seemed to be happy, except for the young man who took our luggage, lol! But we just assumed he was having a bad day; we extended him some grace and gave him a good tip anyway. :o)

Port Canaveral is one of my favorite ports to catch cruises from. It's easy to get in and out of and there are plenty of places to park either here on site or close by with shuttles running back and forth. We have been coming here for years and prefer it to some of the busier ports in the state. The only issue I have is that I live on the other side of the state and gate driving through Orlando.

I'm used to the Port of Miami which is a lot bigger. This is a small port, and once you're parked, everything was very easy to get onboard and everyone was extremely friendly which is nice. The only reason I am not giving 5 stars is because there could definitely be more signs about what cruise ships are at what terminals, that was a bit confusing.

Before I begin this review let me start off by saying that this review is based solely on my opinion and my opinion alone so with that being said let's go!. Can I say that this is my favorite port to sail out of when we cruise with Carnival Cruise Lines from Florida and I we have been to the port in Miami and one other (I believe it's in Tampa but don't quote me on it because it's been a few years since)! But as I was saying this port is always clean and well maintained and ran very well (not ever hectic when we embarked from here). So if you're looking for a port to cruise out of then I suggest you fly to Orlando international airport and they'll provide a shuttle to the port ( this is included with your cruise package)or if you live close by then take a drive to the port. Trust me you won't regret it!

Had a great experience here when departing on a Disney Cruise recently. The port is quite large, but is well-signed as you're coming in so you know where you're going. The Disney terminal (which was re-done during COVID) is great as well. We dropped off luggage, the porters took it right away and gave us directions to return the rental car. Getting to the rental car return is a bit away from the terminal, but also well-signed. Getting a shuttle back to the terminal was super easy; we walked right on one that was about to depart and were back to the terminal before we knew it! Check-in at the terminal, which is more under Disney's control than the port's, also went very smoothly. The worst part was waiting in the terminal for our boarding group to be called (but we were there a little earlier than planned due to everything going so smoothly!) We were on the sailing that came back into port right after Hurricane Ian went through (right after the port reopened), so when I heard there were 6 ships in port that morning I was worried it would be chaos. Not so, our debarkation was pretty seamless, as was our experience getting the shuttle to pick up our rental car (we did have to wait a bit for the shuttle to come, but again, that's probably because we got off the ship so early.

I've been here a couple of times to leave for and return from cruises. If you follow the signs it's fairly self-explanatory. I think the parking rates are fairly reasonable when you leave your car for your trip ($17 a day at last check).

My first time dropping someone off at the port for a cruise. Similar to the airport, the Im highway has signs that tell you which terminal to head to depending on your ship name. We pulled into a parking spot and a worker was there to open our car doors and help grab all the bags that needed to go on the ship. The cruise guest simply needed to exit our vehicle and walk up to the line to enter the ship. From our perspective, super easy drop off experience and they were getting cars in and out very quickly.

This really is a "port". There was freight being loaded and unloaded and we were there for boarding a cruise ship. There are multiple terminals so be aware, if you drive and park near your departure terminal, you may need transportation back to that location upon your return. Royal Caribbean was offering a free shuttle to people who needed to get back to parking or were lucky enough to be continuing on to another cruise. The terminal was clean and bright wlith plenty of Royal Caribbean staff to keep things moving. Boarding flowed quickly with no waiting in line. Also, disembarkation went smoothly. Inside this terminal, there are stainless steel tables where you pick up your luggage. This allows you to easily open your suitcase to add an item to your suitcase that might not be allowed in your carry-on. Customs was a breeze. Just be aware, that this port is about an hour from Orlando International Airport. Traffic backs up at boarding terminals so allow enough time.

One star for the ridiculous parking rates at the DCL garage. It's triple airport parking rates.

Horrible port!!! Horrible service. Waited for hours because they can't get their act together and provide transportation to and from parking. We definitely will not cruise out of this port again. Would highly recommend using off site parking if possible. This place is a joke.

We live close to the port so am a little biased but love to go down and have a nice meal, fish or lay on the beach at Jetty Park (also good for rocket launches), or go up the tower. We also cruise quite often from this port, so may be a different experience for us since we don't drive down or take the bus. Can be hectic for sure, but I have never cruised when it wasn't.

UPDATED - After several phone calls they refunded my Lyft ride. It took some doing but they finally owned up to their mistake. Change from 1 star to 3 star Arrived to Terminal 1 - told to drop luggage and park at Terminal 10 - No staff had the same answer - They put me on bus to Terminal 1 where I was told I parked in the wrong place. I only parked there because Port staff told me to. Before and during the cruise I kept asking - How will I get back to my car after the cruise? NO ANSWERS... On arrival back to port a week later no shuttle available - and had to take an Uber - Parking person was rude and said supervisor was not working on a Saturday. Yeah right - employees working with no supervisor. Now I had to pay $20 for a ride because of their mistake. Pay up port--- your mistake should not cost me money.

My husband and I always prepare for the unexpected. So when we found out there was RV parking we decided to take our RV motorhome and get on our way. Our cruise was scheduled for Monday. We arrived in our RV Sunday night. Of course, now we know RV parking wasn't on site, but the website doesn't tell you this. So here we are sitting in the RV til security rolls up and tells us where we can park, which is basically the Uber lot because Jetty Park (which is an RV park closest to the port) is the only place where you can sleep in an RV near the port. So then in the morning, we come back at 7:00 AM like the security guard told us when we were able to park in the RV lot. Nope, now another security moves is to another lot, because parking doesn't open until 9:30. Basically, no one person has the same answer, and the ports website doesn't have all the details one would need either. The port needs to get all employees on the same page and get their website updated with more details.

As Ports goes this is probably the prettiest of all the Ports in Florida. Had not been here in nine years and from than to now it didn't change much. The only addition was a restaurant right next to the cruise terminal. They say the locals go there late in the day to watch the ships sail away. As for me I am not a local nor did I need to eat and drink so unfortunately did not get to try it. Maybe next visit if time allows. So the biggest improvement here over many other smaller Ports is the state of the art parking garages. I mean who doesn't want their car safely locked up while on vacation as well as covered. The terminals here are very clean and the staff are friendly who wouldn't want to sail on a cruise ship out of here! They warmly greet you from the time your car enters the Port. Definitely would come back here again as it was a pleasure.

I disembarked at Port Canaveral recently while on a Royal Caribbean cruise. The staff working the port do a good job guiding people through the lines and directing them out of the port. Everyone working the port were friendly, too. If you are on a cruise and this is one of your ports of call, know that there really isn't anything to do in the nearby vicinity. You'll only be docking if you have an excursion booked. During our most recent cruise, my husband and I went to the Kennedy Space Center. So after we left the ship and went through the port, there were buses already waiting for passengers right by the exit doors. There wasn't a long trek or much confusion on where to go at Port Canaveral.

Being whisked away from a Disneyworld vacation and taking an air conditioned luxury bus to Port Canaveral is nothing less than magical. There is no need to worry about luggage. Heck no! Disney sends you tags that you put on your luggage. The bus driver loads them on the bus and you magically see them later on in your stateroom. Disney Magic! What impressed me the most about Port Canaveral was the check in process. Picture a beautiful, Florida sunny day. You don't have any luggage with you and your taken upstairs to a semi circle of agents ready to check you in. Somehow there are no lines, just go with me. Its Disney and nothing bad happens. The truly magical part, your up high and have this gorgeous view of the Atlantic ocean and the Disney Cruise ship. Now, we no longer go on Disney Cruises. My sons shave and ask me for gas money. I remember a time when I pushed them in a double stroller.. It goes fast folks, enjoy them when they are little!

This is the first port that I have ever been to for my Disney Cruise. I expected to go through a little stress with customs and all, but it was actually a pretty simple process to get in and out. Also, very friendly staff and guards here! Security only took about 10 minutes to go through, helpful guides to give us everything we needed for the cruise, too. Getting back out took a bit, but for an obvious reason with everyone getting off the ship at the same time. They also had the bag pickup areas themed by Disney character, which made it easy for us to find our bags. A lot of big-named cruises go through here, so I wouldn't mind at all having to come through here again!

Really pretty place, last time I was here was in 2012 but some random priest was talking about fate and my watch wasn't working. looking forward to visiting again soon!

A terrific modern port with easy access, great service, and efficiency at its best. Both check in and check out were processed in less than 10 minutes and staff was friendly and helpful. Highly recommended if you are looking to cruise! Plenty of hotel, transport, and local tourism to see in the vicinity also! Check it out!!!!

I have been on numerous cruises but this was my very first time that I docked at Port Canaveral. Getting on and off the ship was fast and easy as the Terminal itself is quite spacious and there was just another ship in port (NCL). In order to get to anywhere interesting in the area, one do needs to either take a taxi, rent a car or get on one of the organized tour. It is really close to Kennedy Space Centre so it can be a good experience if you are interested in space and science. Highly recommended! And it is great for older kids and even teenagers too. We ended up going on a shuttle which has 3 stops that took us to the Historic Village, Cocoa Bay Beach and Florida Beer Company. Great for a beach day and have some local beers afterward! So Port Canaveral is not bad as a port of call itself. And of course it is also great to stay on the Ship and enjoy the amenities too!

Holy ship! First time to cruise out of Port Canaveral. I was really dreading embarking and disembarking because we normally cruise out of Galveston and they were BAD experiences, but Port Canaveral couldn't have gone smoother! Even going through customs didn't take too long. Very impressed. I wish Galveston would take some pointers from them.

This is the 2nd time I've cruised. If I had to compare this port to Miami, this one wins HANDS DOWN. Easy to get into and a dream to get out of, this would be the choice I'd make every time. Disney, Royal Caribbean and Carnival are all housed here so it is a very port terminal. Parking is available, but it is expensive. Do like I did and park off site. I paid $40 for 5 days.

That was then.... I go a long way back between myself and this port. I've docked here from various cruise ships with Carnival, Holland America, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean. Getting on and off the ship was a smooth process here. Catching a taxi at this port to and from Cocoa Beach via the A1A was flawless. This is now.... We docked here via the Royal Caribbean Anthem Of The Seas. We were actually docked in a new facility. We walked through the long corridors in order to get to the ground transportation area. Everything appeared to be bright and clean, and friendly security guards pointed us to areas where we were suppose to be at for ground departure. Speaking of which, they had areas for those who wanted to take taxis to Cocoa Beach or anywhere else that tourists desired. Those who had shore excursions were told meet in another area where various coach buses were standing by for those to board. Speaking of shore excursions, this was where we boarded an air-conditioned, comfortable coach bus to Epcot. We were also dropped off in this same area when we came back. When we came back, we had to go through security in order to get back on board. The process was easy and the security personnel were friendly. Once we were through security, we were able to get back on board. Overall, this serves the purpose of making passengers embark and disembark cruise ships, having those board buses for their shore excursions, and providing taxis to those who want to go somewhere else in Florida for their day in port.

This was my first time taking a cruise out of Port Canaveral. We sailed out on the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas from this very new looking facility. RC offers a shuttle service on nice buses back and forth from the airport for a small fee to the port. They have this down to a science. Easy to get through security to board and returning back through customs. Plenty of helpful staff around. The building is large, clean, air conditioned and handled our luggage pickup after we debarked without any problems. Nothing like a Caribbean vacation when it's smooth sailing in and out of the port!

Most of these reviews are for the cruise line employees, not for the port experience with port employees. My experience with the cruise line was great but the experience with the porters and port staff was the opposite. The port staff was very rude and really just there to get their government paycheck. Whoever they gave the fat government contract out to or whoever their government hiring director is, is doing a terrible job. Another example of oversight failure and misallocation of public funds.

This is the second time at Port Canaveral. This time I was on the Royal Caribbean Anthem of the seas. The port was easy to get in and of , And the port is very large and easy to maneuver.

We just recently left this port on a Royal Caribbean cruise. Parking was very easy and accessible to the main terminal. The staff was more than helpful. We got through check-in in under 30 minutes. If you have a lot of luggage make sure to drive down and drop it off at the terminal entrance and then go and park your car. The staff was extremely helpful and made the whole experience very enjoyable and painless

There is not much that I can about Port Canaveral since my ship came in, tied up, and I got out and went into a bus to go to Disney. I did like the view of the Space Center from my room balcony and the boarding center was very big, bright, modern and easy to navigate through to get back on to my ship.

Getting in and out of port Canaveral is a breeze! Remember to book parking at one of the lots right when you book your cruise to ensure you get the best prices! The staff here are always very diligent and get you on your cruise as fast as possible

Visited June 7 and returned June 11th. I've visited several Cruise terminals but this one is far my favorite. It is always clean and is packed with retires whom gives top notch customer service and I can appreciate that. The Boarding process was as smooth as it gets especially traveling with my Husband and children. I always complete the check-in process for us online and I know it adds to the smoothness of the boarding process.

Out of the way from airports, a little hard to navigate (our driver ended up on the whole other side of the entrance).. miami port is way better and more efficiently set up.

We arrived for a day on a Royal Caribbean Cruise Anthem of the seas. The Port was easy in and easy out. It's right next to the Kennedy Space center on Floridas Space Coast.

Driving to Port Canaveral from Tampa will take approx 2 hours. Orlando (MCO) would be the closest airport and is about 45 min away. This port is home to Disney, Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise lines. They do have parking at each cruise terminal at the current rate of $15 per day. There are several off site parking areas that will cost less, plus there are several hotels that offer park and cruise packages. The exact address for GPS directions are as follows: Cruise Terminal #2 - 180 Christopher Columbus Drive Cruise Terminal #3 - 220 Christopher Columbus Drive Cruise Terminal #4 - 240 Christopher Columbus Drive Cruise Terminal #5 - 9245 Charles Rowland Drive Cruise Terminal #6-9241 Charles Rowland Drive Cruise Terminal #8 - 9155 Charles Rowland Drive Cruise Terminal #10 - 9005 Charles Rowland Drive From MCO, Take the North Exit from the Airport, staying to the right, to S.R. 528 (Beachline Expressway) East. Take S.R. 528 directly to Port Canaveral. Port Canaveral is pretty centrally located and easy to find and isn't nearly as crowded as Port of Miami.

I've been to Port Canaveral on several occasions. This time we went to see the Galeon Andalucia. This is a Spanish replica naval vessel from the 1600s. All made out of wood. Port Canaveral is one of the busiest ports in the nation. While we were there we saw four cruise ships leave the port. Disney, Royal Caribbean, and two ships from Carnaval. It was absolutely amazing to see how gargantuan these ships are compared to the 170 foot Spanish tall ship. The port also has several restaurants which were full to capacity on a Sunday for all of the NFL football games. The port is also home to commercial fisherman and several marinas where you can dock your boat or yacht.. It is definitely a hopping place.

What a horrific place!! We drove over to pick up my son and his family from his cruise ship for the day. I've been on several cruises and every stop had something you could do right off the ship, like local artisans selling their wares, or someone wanting to do your hair or even cab drivers that would drive you around the city. Something you could do other than an expensive excursion. What do you get in lovely Port Canaveral? Concrete!! That's it. Not a cab, vendor, or musician in sight. Just awful. And to make matters worse, no signs to get you to the ship. There were 4 ships docked there and hell if we knew how to get to our sons. Not a person in sight to ask either. But we trudged on and by process of elimination we finally got to their ship. We parked in the parking lot across the street and waited for our precious cargo. Hugs and kisses done we started to leave. Then we couldn't get out of the parking lot because vans picking people up decided to block the whole exit. I mean rows of them. Luckily hubby found a space just wide enough for our vehicle to get through that was blocked by all the drivers. He went for it, I closed my eyes, and success, he did it. We could finally leave this hell hole !!!!!

Where we embarked and disembarked our cruise ship, the Norwegian Epic. Very large port. We were told we would be turned away if we tried to drop off bags/board before our assigned time slot. Therefore, we Uber'ed from the airport to a lunch spot, then on to the terminal at the port. Our driver knew just where to go, and dropped us off perfectly. Left our luggage there and proceeded into the terminal. Our terminal was basic and blah. No shops, nothing decorative about the building in any way (like some photos I saw). Took us a bit to get through the various registration steps, but nothing horrendous. I didn't see anything within walking distance from our terminal, if this was to be simply a stop on a cruise itinerary. Although, plenty of cabs, etc. leaving was more chaotic, and masses of smokers were all around us as we waited and waited for our driver to arrive. Seems he was stuck in a bottleneck. So, leave plenty of time if you need to get to the airport. We used an Uber, which was comparable to a cruise line arranged transfer on a decent looking touring type bus (I think with bathroom). We were all surprised that they didn't check in our bags...but I guess they just send all through a scanner these days.

I can't say that I spent a whole lot of time here... but the process of getting on and off a cruise here went really well. Everything was clean and bright and relatively easy to understand with relation to finding my way around etc.

This port was cool! This was our first port of call on our 7 day cruise on the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore. We went through Carnival security to debarkation at this port and it was seamless in exiting from the port (It took a total of 10 minutes). Upon exiting from the port, there were taxis available and rental car shuttles available (we made a reservation at Payless rental car prior to our cruise). The drive to and from the port to the rental car place was around 15 minutes. The port staff were pleasant and helpful to folks in need of directions. Don't mind coming here again in the future.

Port Canaveral is most noted for being home to several cruise lines: Carnival, Disney and Royal Caribbean. I've only seen a handful of ports but I think this a beautiful port -- and also very busy port. If you are heading over to catch a cruiseship, I think that it is worth going a little earlier (and hanging around afterwards) to do a quick drive around the area and get an eye full of the beautiful sights.

I must admit, after being at the Port of Miami two months ago, this port is a dream come true. It's much easier to get in and out of, but Carnival still has a lot of work to do getting people on the ship in a timely manner, but that's not the Port of Canaveral's fault, that's the cruise line's fault. It's only a two hour drive, compared to 4.5 to FLL or MIA and it's a straight shot from TPA.