Why I Tell Florida Families To Add A Cruise Out Of Port Canaveral

Port Canaveral sits about an hour east of the Orlando parks, and that is the whole reason this pairing works.

The drive from an Orlando hotel to the Port Canaveral terminal takes less time than it takes to get from Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom on a bad traffic day, Adam, Gavin, Jake, Avilene and me have made that same drive on our own family trips, and it always catches people off guard how close it actually is.

That is the pitch I make to almost every Orlando family booking with me now. You already flew to Florida. You already paid for the flights. The ship is sitting an hour away loaded with the same characters your kids just spent four days chasing around a theme park, and most families never think to ask about it.

Disney sails three ships out of Port Canaveral, the Dream, the Fantasy and the Wish, mostly on three and four night runs to Nassau and Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island in the Bahamas. A three night cruise tacked onto a five night park stay gives you eight days of vacation without a second flight, a second security line, or a second round of unpacking.

Castaway Cay is the real argument for doing this. It is a private island with a swim beach for families and a separate adults beach if you need forty five minutes of a book and quiet, plus a kids’ area, water trampolines, and paid excursions like a bike ride around the island or a dolphin encounter at a nearby marine habitat. After four days on concrete in ninety degree heat, four days on a boat where housekeeping makes your room twice a day and dinner appears without a single line, is not a small thing to a parent.

The character experience is different on the ship than it is in the parks too. You get more time with fewer people around, character breakfasts, a full stage show at night, a splash zone with a slide, and rotational dining where you eat at three different restaurants across the cruise while the same servers follow you table to table and learn your kids by name. Kids often like that part more than they like most of the actual rides, and it catches parents off guard.

Pack lighter than you think for the ship part. You do not need a formal outfit for every night, one nice outfit for the single dressier dinner covers it. Bring a case of water and snacks in your checked luggage since a cart meets you right at the terminal and takes it straight to your room, a trick most first time cruisers do not know until someone tells them.

The money part is where families get it wrong most. A cheap Bahamas run booked as a stand alone trip and the same run tacked onto an existing Florida flight are two completely different values, because you are only paying for the extra days rather than the whole trip fresh. If Orlando is already on the calendar, price the cruise add on before you assume it is out of reach.

Universal and Orlando is the single largest thing I book, and pairing it with a Port Canaveral sailing is one of the questions I get asked about most once a family sees what a cruise looks like next to a park week. The full Florida breakdown, six different trips inside one state, hurricane season timing, and where a cruise add on fits, is on my Florida guide.