Radisson Resort at the Port: Great Choice for a Pre-Cruise Stay
Written: Jul 22 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: price, free parking during cruise, free shuttle, comfortable room, beautifully themed pool
Cons: smokers/drinkers in the pool, uncomfortable Select Comfort Sleep Number beds
The Bottom Line: The Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral is a great choice for a pre-cruise stay in this area.
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| jdhauer's Full Review: Radisson Resort at the Port |
Growing up in a Navy family, you learn at a very young age that you should arrive places early. If your ship is going on a six month cruise to the Phillippines, you've got yourself some 'splaining to do should you be five minutes late. The last thing I wanted to do was to miss our cruise on the Disney Wonder that we'd be taking with my parents and with my brother's family. Based upon past experiences where it has taken us 8 hours to get out of Virginia (no kidding), we factored in plenty of time to arrive a day early and stay at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
We chose this hotel based upon their park 'n cruise package which included a room for the night, parking for the duration of our cruise and breakfast for two. When you add up the cost of parking at Port Canaveral, our room ended up only costing us an additional $30. The stay was a no brainer.
Don't be put off at arrival by the appearance of the hotel, as it has multiple wings of rooms built around an interior pool and garden area with parking lots surrounding the exterior. Check in was efficient and friendly with no problems. Just remember that if you wish to take the shuttle to the port you must make reservations as soon as you arrive or preferably when booking the hotel. We were able to easily reserve the exact time we wanted when booking our rooms directly with the hotel, which in our case turned out to be less expensive than using the Internet.
Our room was a standard room with two double beds. Unfortunately, this hotel uses Select Comfort Sleep Number beds and none of our traveling companions were able to truly adjust them to be comfortable for the evening. There was plenty of room for four of us and our belongings. The bathroom was a bit small but met our needs for one evening - especially since the sink was located outside of the bathroom proper (as was the coffeemaker!). Free high speed Internet is available. The room is decorated in a "Caribbean" style and definitely met my criteria for cleanliness - no visible dirt, hairs, mold, need for maintenance. The only issue we had was with a neglected room service tray from a prior guest left outside our door when we checked in. Later that evening, it was still there and covered in ants. I moved the tray closer to housekeeping and it had disappeared the next time I walked past that way.
There is a restaurant, Flamingo's, on site where they serve a quite nice breakfast buffet with made to order omelettes, waffles, cereals, cold items and fresh fruit. We enjoyed the buffet before catching the shuttle to the cruise terminal and aside from one service issue (unable to get our bill for the extra child's meal we purchased), had no complaints. The restaurant is also open for lunch and dinner or you can eat at the lounge or through room service. For dinner, we crossed the parking lot to Zachary's for a very nice authentic Greek meal. Saganaki, anyone?
The kids loved getting to use the expansive pool area after spending so many hours in the car. The wading pool area was somewhat larger than expected, although it was a simple round pool. The regular pool offered waterfalls and rock formations. My kids both liked the pool but I definitely had to be in the water with them to watch out as there was a very large and rowdy group of adults who were drinking and smoking in the pool. There were multiple posted signs stating that neither activity was permitted in the pool but staff seemed to be aware and letting it go. We just swam for a little while and then called it a night, going to dinner. It was really uncomfortable trying to avoid lit cigarettes in the pool and making sure my kids didn't splash into the open drinks or that they didn't get splashed by the drinkers having chicken fights.
Finally, we had no issues whatsoever with the shuttle to the port. When we made our reservation, we were asked which cruise line and we were three of four families on the first shuttle to the Disney terminal at Port Canaveral. All of our bags were carried in a trailer attached to an air conditioned, modern, mini-bus. Coming back, we had planned to just send three drivers back to the hotel and they'd return to Port Canaveral to pick up the rest of our party. There was plenty of room for all of us and our belongings with no wait to return to the hotel. I believe two other groups joined us on the shuttle.
Should we take another cruise out of Port Canaveral (and my eldest child has been on a begging campaign to do so ever since we returned), I would definitely consider staying at the Radisson resort at the Port again. In the meantime, I do hope they will return to standard mattresses!
Recommended:
Yes
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jdhauer
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