Our Favorite Departure Port
We’re living in a time of unknowns. When will we get to travel again? What will be different when we’re allowed to return to cruise ships, theme parks, beaches, etc.? No one knows the answers to those questions right now, sadly. Right now, all we can do is share about our past experiences and hope that we can at least provide entertainment for the time being.
We have sailed from four different departure ports, today we will be comparing three of them. We’ll talk about the layout, the ease of the boarding process, and which we prefer.
Port Canaveral
Number of Sailing from this Port: 3
Parking: A parking lot and parking garage is located onsite. The terminal is accessible via a footbridge on level 3 and using the crosswalk to cross on the ground level.
Luggage Drop-Off: Luggage with cruise line luggage tags can be dropped off with porters before proceeding to the parking garage, or after you have parked before entering the terminal. Luggage drop off is between the parking garage and the terminal, and only on the ground level.
Reservation Confirmation: Before being allowed to enter the terminal area guests must have their reservation verified.
Security: The security checkpoint is located on the ground floor – those coming from the footbridge and the ground level use the same checkpoint.
Check-In and Waiting Area: After security guests go up one level to where the check in, waiting area, and character meet and greet are located.
Boarding: Once boarding begins group numbers are called in a timely manner, and boarding is efficient. The distance from the waiting area to the ship is fairly short. After passing through the giant Mickey head guests have their Key to the World Cards scanned before they can move on to the pre-boarding family photo (we pass on the photo), and then make their way to the gangway and board the ship.
Disembarking: When your cruise is over and it’s time to disembark guests proceed to the ground floor to retrieve their luggage, and be cleared for entry to the county by Customs and Border Patrol. Bags are sorted by luggage tag color. And the line to get through customs moves quickly.
Disney Cruise Line Ships that sail from Port Canaveral: Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy
When Does Disney sail from Port Canaveral: Year Round.
Our thoughts on this port: Parking is close to the terminal, and it has a great Disney feel to it since it is their terminal. However, security can take a while since there is a limited amount of lines to go through. Once you get through security it can be a bit overwhelming since everything is in the same space. Boarding is quick and easy at Port Canaveral, once it begins, and sailing on the Dream and the Fantasy is a lot of fun.
Galveston
Number of Sailing from this Port: 3
Parking: The port parking lot is located onsite, there is also additional parking lots that are not owned by the Port across the street. The terminal is accessible via drop off or by using the shuttle from the parking lot.
Luggage Drop-Off: Luggage drop-off is located on the right side of the terminal area and is accessible by car before parking, or you can take your luggage on the parking lot shuttle with you and drop it off once you arrive at the terminal, and before proceeding to the terminal entrance.
Reservation Confirmation: It has been a few years since we sailed from Galveston (the last time was December 2017), but at that time your cruise confirmation was checked as you entered into the terminal and before proceeding through security.
Security: The security checkpoint is located on the ground floor.
Check-In and Waiting Area: After security guests go make their way to the check-in area where they will be directed to a line and then proceed to check-in when a Cast Member become available. After checking in guests make their way upstairs to the waiting area.
Boarding: Once boarding begins group numbers are called in a timely manner, and boarding is efficient. The distance from the waiting area to the ship is fairly short. Before entering the path to the ship guests’ Key to the World Cards are scanned.
Disembarking: When your cruise is over and it’s time to disembark guests proceed to the ground floor to retrieve their luggage, and be cleared for entry to the county by Customs and Border Patrol. Bags are sorted by luggage tag color. And the line to get through customs moves quickly. The walk from the ship to the luggage area is a bit long, though.
Disney Cruise Line ships that sail from Galveston: Disney Wonder
When Does Disney Sail from Galveston: November, December, and January.
Our thoughts on this port: Parking isn’t too far from the terminal, and the shuttle ride is short. Although Disney does not own the terminal, they do a great job of making it have a Disney vibe to it. I personally like this terminal the best of the four that we have sailed from. Since the check-in and waiting areas are not combined it doesn’t feel as crowded, and it makes boarding the ship easier.
New Orleans
Number of Sailing from this Port: 1
Parking: The port parking lot is located onsite, there is also additional parking lots that are not owned by the Port across the street. The terminal is accessible via drop off or by parking in the terminal parking garage and taking the elevator down to the ground floor.
Luggage Drop-Off: Luggage drop-off is located near the terminal entrance. However, if you are parking in the terminal parking garage you can also drop your luggage off with a porter in the garage shortly after entering.
Reservation Confirmation: Our reservation information was checked when we handed over our luggage.
Note: If you park in the parking garage you will take the elevator down to the ground floor, and then proceed outside to enter the correct side of the terminal, at least if you get there before the starts to move. We had the first port arrival time and waited outside for about twenty minutes before being allowed to end.
Security: The security checkpoint is located on the second floor. It is a lot like airport security. We needed to remove jackets, get rid of water from water bottles, and removed large electronics (tablets and laptop) from our bag.
Check-In and Waiting Area: After security guests go make their way to the check-in area where they will be directed to a line and then proceed to check-in when a Cast Member become available. The check-in area is at the very back of the room. The rest of the room is the waiting area and the character meet and great area.
Boarding: We were on the first sailing for Disney Cruise Line from this port, so things were not as smooth as they could have been. Boarding started with the family of the day, and the guests sailing concierge. After the boarding groups began to be called there was a lengthy break between groups one and two, and two and three. We were group three, so we don’t know how things went after we boarded the ship. The distance to the shop from where they checked our boarding group card was pretty far. We boarded the ship on deck 4 and our Key to the World cards were scanned once we stepped onto the deck of the ship before we entered into the main area and were announced in front of D Lounge.
Disembarking: When your cruise is over and it’s time to disembark guests proceed to the ground floor to retrieve their luggage, and be cleared for entry to the county by Customs and Border Patrol. We carried our bags off the ships, so we did not experience claiming our luggage at this port. Since we had all of our bags, we were directed to bypass the luggage room and go straight to Customs. The walk from the ship to the luggage area is a bit long, though.
Disney Cruise Line ships that sail from New Orleans: Disney Wonder
When Does Disney Sail from Galveston: The end of January through February.
Our thoughts on this port: Parking in the parking garage made it so that we were right at the terminal. There was a lot of up and down, and because we were on the first sailing from New Orleans things were not as smooth as they could have been. The waiting area seemed a bit crowded, and boarding took a while, but these things could have even been smoothed out by the next week. We enjoyed sailing on the Mississippi River, and the Wonder is our favorite ship. We enjoyed being on the first Disney Cruise Line sailing from New Orleans and we can’t wait to sail from New Orleans again!
Do you have a favorite port to sail from? Let us know!
The current situation in the world will eventually come to an end, and when it does, and you’re ready to travel again I’d be happy to help you plan and book your next magical vacation. For your FREE quote and to get started contact me at miriyawhitaker@worldofmagictravel.com. For more Disney and travel information follow me on Facebook!
We have sailed from four different departure ports, today we will be comparing three of them. We’ll talk about the layout, the ease of the boarding process, and which we prefer.
Port Canaveral
Number of Sailing from this Port: 3
Parking: A parking lot and parking garage is located onsite. The terminal is accessible via a footbridge on level 3 and using the crosswalk to cross on the ground level.
Luggage Drop-Off: Luggage with cruise line luggage tags can be dropped off with porters before proceeding to the parking garage, or after you have parked before entering the terminal. Luggage drop off is between the parking garage and the terminal, and only on the ground level.
Reservation Confirmation: Before being allowed to enter the terminal area guests must have their reservation verified.
Security: The security checkpoint is located on the ground floor – those coming from the footbridge and the ground level use the same checkpoint.
Check-In and Waiting Area: After security guests go up one level to where the check in, waiting area, and character meet and greet are located.
Boarding: Once boarding begins group numbers are called in a timely manner, and boarding is efficient. The distance from the waiting area to the ship is fairly short. After passing through the giant Mickey head guests have their Key to the World Cards scanned before they can move on to the pre-boarding family photo (we pass on the photo), and then make their way to the gangway and board the ship.
Disembarking: When your cruise is over and it’s time to disembark guests proceed to the ground floor to retrieve their luggage, and be cleared for entry to the county by Customs and Border Patrol. Bags are sorted by luggage tag color. And the line to get through customs moves quickly.
Disney Cruise Line Ships that sail from Port Canaveral: Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy
When Does Disney sail from Port Canaveral: Year Round.
Our thoughts on this port: Parking is close to the terminal, and it has a great Disney feel to it since it is their terminal. However, security can take a while since there is a limited amount of lines to go through. Once you get through security it can be a bit overwhelming since everything is in the same space. Boarding is quick and easy at Port Canaveral, once it begins, and sailing on the Dream and the Fantasy is a lot of fun.
Galveston
Number of Sailing from this Port: 3
Parking: The port parking lot is located onsite, there is also additional parking lots that are not owned by the Port across the street. The terminal is accessible via drop off or by using the shuttle from the parking lot.
Luggage Drop-Off: Luggage drop-off is located on the right side of the terminal area and is accessible by car before parking, or you can take your luggage on the parking lot shuttle with you and drop it off once you arrive at the terminal, and before proceeding to the terminal entrance.
Reservation Confirmation: It has been a few years since we sailed from Galveston (the last time was December 2017), but at that time your cruise confirmation was checked as you entered into the terminal and before proceeding through security.
Security: The security checkpoint is located on the ground floor.
Check-In and Waiting Area: After security guests go make their way to the check-in area where they will be directed to a line and then proceed to check-in when a Cast Member become available. After checking in guests make their way upstairs to the waiting area.
Boarding: Once boarding begins group numbers are called in a timely manner, and boarding is efficient. The distance from the waiting area to the ship is fairly short. Before entering the path to the ship guests’ Key to the World Cards are scanned.
Disembarking: When your cruise is over and it’s time to disembark guests proceed to the ground floor to retrieve their luggage, and be cleared for entry to the county by Customs and Border Patrol. Bags are sorted by luggage tag color. And the line to get through customs moves quickly. The walk from the ship to the luggage area is a bit long, though.
Disney Cruise Line ships that sail from Galveston: Disney Wonder
When Does Disney Sail from Galveston: November, December, and January.
Our thoughts on this port: Parking isn’t too far from the terminal, and the shuttle ride is short. Although Disney does not own the terminal, they do a great job of making it have a Disney vibe to it. I personally like this terminal the best of the four that we have sailed from. Since the check-in and waiting areas are not combined it doesn’t feel as crowded, and it makes boarding the ship easier.
New Orleans
Number of Sailing from this Port: 1
Parking: The port parking lot is located onsite, there is also additional parking lots that are not owned by the Port across the street. The terminal is accessible via drop off or by parking in the terminal parking garage and taking the elevator down to the ground floor.
Luggage Drop-Off: Luggage drop-off is located near the terminal entrance. However, if you are parking in the terminal parking garage you can also drop your luggage off with a porter in the garage shortly after entering.
Reservation Confirmation: Our reservation information was checked when we handed over our luggage.
Note: If you park in the parking garage you will take the elevator down to the ground floor, and then proceed outside to enter the correct side of the terminal, at least if you get there before the starts to move. We had the first port arrival time and waited outside for about twenty minutes before being allowed to end.
Security: The security checkpoint is located on the second floor. It is a lot like airport security. We needed to remove jackets, get rid of water from water bottles, and removed large electronics (tablets and laptop) from our bag.
Check-In and Waiting Area: After security guests go make their way to the check-in area where they will be directed to a line and then proceed to check-in when a Cast Member become available. The check-in area is at the very back of the room. The rest of the room is the waiting area and the character meet and great area.
Boarding: We were on the first sailing for Disney Cruise Line from this port, so things were not as smooth as they could have been. Boarding started with the family of the day, and the guests sailing concierge. After the boarding groups began to be called there was a lengthy break between groups one and two, and two and three. We were group three, so we don’t know how things went after we boarded the ship. The distance to the shop from where they checked our boarding group card was pretty far. We boarded the ship on deck 4 and our Key to the World cards were scanned once we stepped onto the deck of the ship before we entered into the main area and were announced in front of D Lounge.
Disembarking: When your cruise is over and it’s time to disembark guests proceed to the ground floor to retrieve their luggage, and be cleared for entry to the county by Customs and Border Patrol. We carried our bags off the ships, so we did not experience claiming our luggage at this port. Since we had all of our bags, we were directed to bypass the luggage room and go straight to Customs. The walk from the ship to the luggage area is a bit long, though.
Disney Cruise Line ships that sail from New Orleans: Disney Wonder
When Does Disney Sail from Galveston: The end of January through February.
Our thoughts on this port: Parking in the parking garage made it so that we were right at the terminal. There was a lot of up and down, and because we were on the first sailing from New Orleans things were not as smooth as they could have been. The waiting area seemed a bit crowded, and boarding took a while, but these things could have even been smoothed out by the next week. We enjoyed sailing on the Mississippi River, and the Wonder is our favorite ship. We enjoyed being on the first Disney Cruise Line sailing from New Orleans and we can’t wait to sail from New Orleans again!
Do you have a favorite port to sail from? Let us know!
The current situation in the world will eventually come to an end, and when it does, and you’re ready to travel again I’d be happy to help you plan and book your next magical vacation. For your FREE quote and to get started contact me at miriyawhitaker@worldofmagictravel.com. For more Disney and travel information follow me on Facebook!
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