Did you know that you can cruise to theme parks? And it’s not just an option for Disney cruisers.
Normally, Port Canaveral in Florida is an embarkation port for cruises, but occasionally, ships will visit there as a port of call after departing from someplace else. Given that Port Canaveral is the port for Orlando, and Orlando is the theme park capital of the world, it’s only logical that cruisers might want to head to Disney World or Universal Orlando during a day visit.
That was the case for me on a recent Royal Caribbean cruise on board Odyssey of the Seas. The third day of the eight-day voyage featured a call on Port Canaveral on the way to the Bahamas, following the vessel’s departure from Bayonne, New Jersey.
Here are answers to common questions you might have about whether traveling between Port Canaveral and Orlando is feasible during a port call. (Note: Passengers departing from Port Canaveral should plan to travel to the area at least a day or two early if they want to experience one or more of Orlando’s theme parks; there isn’t time on embarkation day.)
How far is Orlando from Port Canaveral, and do I have time to visit during a cruise?
Port Canaveral is the closest cruise port to Orlando, but it’s still about an hour away by car, depending on traffic. The port is roughly 60 miles from both Universal’s CityWalk and Disney Springs, the free-to-enter areas at both resorts that serve as jumping-off points to the parks.
Depending on how long you have in port, you can absolutely make it to Orlando and back in one day. However, you’ll need at least six to seven hours in port to make the trip worth your while because you’ll spend at least two hours in transit. Even with that much time, you’ll only be able to visit one park at one resort, and you won’t have a full day to play.
How much does it cost to go from Port Canaveral to Orlando theme parks?
Taxi: Taxis from Port Canaveral to the Orlando theme parks run about $200 each way and are the most expensive option.
Uber and Lyft: Uber and Lyft prices each way between Orlando and Port Canaveral can fluctuate based on the time of day, but when I checked at about 6 p.m. for a ride from Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando back to the port, rates started from $87 for Uber and $136 for Lyft. It’s a risky option because prices fluctuate, but if you’re traveling with a large group, it can be more economical than booking the cruise line’s transfer.
Brightline: Brightline, the intercity train that runs up and down the east coast of Florida, doesn’t yet have a station in the immediate Port Canaveral area. However, it does have a station in Orlando, and it’s working on expanding service to Cocoa, just 8 miles from the port, in the future. That would allow passengers to take an inexpensive cab, Uber or Lyft to the station and hop on an affordable train to and back from Orlando. (The Orlando station is about a 25-minute drive from both Disney World and Universal.)
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Although exact pricing isn’t yet available, a round-trip train ride between Miami and West Palm Beach — two destinations that are, like Port Canaveral and Orlando, about an hour away from one another by car — costs less than $60 per person. The only drawback is that you’d have to allow time to get from the port to the train station and the station to the park you’re visiting; you’d also be beholden to the train’s schedule, which could eat into your park time.
Car rental: Car rentals for the ride between Port Canaveral and Orlando are cumbersome. You’d have to find a ride to the rental location, pick up your car and then drive yourself. Several searches on Expedia indicate that prices for the rental start at about $67 for one day if you pick up and drop off at the same location with a full tank of gas, not including taxes and fees. That also doesn’t include prices for parking in Orlando, which run $30 a day at Disney and $32 a day at Universal for the cheapest rates available.
Cruise line excursions: The most economical option I found, by quite a bit, was booking transportation via an excursion through the cruise line. Most, if not all, lines that call on Port Canaveral provide for-fee coach bus rides to the parks and back again. On my sailing, a bus transfer that dropped me off and picked me up at the entrance to Universal Orlando set me back just $44 for the full round trip.
Tickets to the park weren’t included, so I had to purchase those separately on my own. (After a quick search, it doesn’t look like any cruise line — not even Disney Cruise Line — offers theme park tickets as a shore excursion inclusion, likely because there are so many park options.)
How I did a theme park day on a cruise
Originally, I planned to spend the day at Disney World’s Epcot since my sailing coincided with the park’s annual International Food and Wine Festival. However, by the time I got around to booking the cruise line transfer, the Disney bus was already full.
So, after discovering that my travel companion — who is a big Harry Potter fan — had never been to Universal Orlando, we opted to head there instead and spend the day in Islands of Adventure, where the park’s replica of Hogsmeade is located. (That was just fine by me since single-day Disney tickets were more expensive than single-day Universal ones.)
I bought two tickets for Royal Caribbean’s Universal Orlando bus and then set out to find the best price for park tickets.
I started by checking the Universal website. A single adult one-park nonresident ticket for Nov. 19 — the day I wanted to visit — was $142.71. Hoping to find a lower price, I checked out Undercover Tourist to see if there were any discounts. There weren’t, and in fact, tickets ended up being about $3.50 more expensive there ($146.28) after taxes and the site’s fees were added.
Then I wondered if I could redeem airline miles for tickets. Since my preferred airline is United, and I have a significant stash of miles, I checked if I could redeem them for gift cards on the MileagePlus X portal, thereby avoiding spending any additional money. I figured I could then use the gift cards to purchase tickets. Unfortunately, although the portal offers Disney gift cards, none were available for Universal.
Plus, the redemption values are generally awful. (When I checked, $200 in Disney gift cards would have cost me 66,666 miles, equal to a staggering $900, according to TPG’s valuations.)
Finally, I turned to credit card points to see if I could make the purchase through American Express’ travel portal. When that didn’t seem to be an option, I checked both Universal’s website and Undercover Tourist to see if I could redeem Amex points through PayPal during checkout. PayPal wasn’t available for payment on Universal’s site; the cost to pay with points via PayPal on Undercover Tourist was 20,897. According to TPG’s valuations at the time, 20,897 points was worth about $418 — nearly three times what it would have cost me to buy the tickets through Universal.
Ultimately, booking through Universal ended up being the cheapest option.
After everything was booked and paid for, the rest was easy. We boarded the cruise, and two tickets for the transfer were sent to our cabin in an envelope, telling us where and what time to meet on the day we docked in Port Canaveral. We left the ship in a group and headed to the bus where we met our guide and gave him the tickets.
When we boarded the bus, we found wristbands and boarding passes that would allow us back onto the bus at the end of the day, along with explicit instructions about where the bus would drop us off and pick us up and when we needed to be back. On the hourlong drive, our guide offered fun facts about Port Canaveral and the Orlando area.
The park itself was enjoyable, but the experience was a bit rushed. Our ship arrived in port a little before noon that day. By the time we boarded the bus and arrived at Universal’s CityWalk, it was after 1:30 p.m. We had to be back on the bus by 6, meaning we had only about 4 hours at the park since it took at least 15 minutes to walk between where the bus dropped us off and the Islands of Adventure entrance.
We managed to explore Hogsmeade, grab some butterbeer, tour the Hogwarts castle and take in a performance by the Frog Choir. We grabbed a quick snack and drink but didn’t sit down for a meal. Because it was a Tuesday when most kids were in school, we experienced relatively short lines and thin crowds and were able to ride four rides (Skull Island: Reign of Kong, Jurassic World VelociCoaster, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey) without an Express Pass.
The money we spent — $186.71 per person for the park ticket and cruise line bus transfer — was worth it for the great time we had. However, if we had been there on a weekend or a day when lines were longer, it wouldn’t have been worth the cost.
Bottom line
It is absolutely possible to visit one of the Orlando theme parks, such as Universal Orlando or Walt Disney World, during a cruise visit to Port Canaveral. You’ll just need to make sure you’ve got enough time in port and an affordable way to make the roughly one-hour journey from Port Canaveral to Orlando and back. Often, the most economical option is to book bus transport through your cruise line.
Additionally, you’ll want to make sure you’re snagging the best deal possible since one-day park prices are much more expensive than multiday ones on a per-day basis. You can do this by shopping for gift cards, redeeming points or miles, or scanning discount sites for any promotions or specials that might be available. (Think Florida resident discounts, military discounts and discounts through groups like AAA and AARP.)
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