My husband and I drove from NY to Port Canaveral to celebrate his 50th birthday. We arrived in Port Canaveral 2 days before sailing and stayed at the Radisson at the Port. It's conveniently located to everything and they offer long term parking for $40 for the week and shuttle service to and from the port for $6 per person.

Embarkment:

This had to be the most unorganized embarkment EVER! We always book through the Casino's at Sea department, which has its own line. Our check-in reservation was 10:30. In other ports, as soon as we get our sign and sail cards we are allowed to board the ship. Unfortunately, the cruise before us was a 3 day rave. This resulted in up to 50 arrests for drugs and the ship being completely trashed. As well as some cruisers refusing to disembark. All of this caused a 2 hour delay for embarkment. The port had to be closed. If you can imagine 2,000 people crushed into a room that no longer has any available seating and a line of approximately 1,000 at the entrance whom have been stopped from entering....this was the sight. Finally at 12:30 they began allowing passengers on the ship by #. This was a joke! They called boarding group 1-10 and basically anyone with a number just got on the line. People with higher boarding numbers would just dump their group card on a chair and get on the line. Read more