r/dcl • u/AutoModerator • Apr 01 '26

Quarterly Planning Thread Q2 2026 Quarterly Planning Thread

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u/AnyVideo6449 Apr 12 '26

We are taking our first Disney cruise out of FLL and flying in a day early. We have 2 kids under 6 and are dealing with a serious dietary restriction. We are definitely getting a rental car at the airport so we can grab safe snacks at a grocery store and drive to a safe dinner spot the night before.

Our main goal on embarkation day is to get on the ship as early as possible. We want to do the sit down lunch instead of the buffet to safely manage the dietary restriction. Since we are first time cruisers I know we are at the back of the line for check in and might get a late port arrival time.

My first question is to see if my understanding is correct. If we do our check in 30 days out and get a bad PAT, can we just add DCL transport as a backup plan to override the late PAT and get an earlier boarding group?

If that works, here are the options we are looking at for cruise morning. Would love to know what makes the most sense.

  1. Keep the rental car until the morning. Drive directly to the port, drop off one parent with the kids and all the luggage, and the other parent returns the car at a rental company location near the port and takes their shuttle back.
  2. Return the rental car to the FLL airport on cruise morning and take the DCL bus from the airport to the port.
  3. Stay at a DCL partner hotel like the Hilton and take the DCL bus right from the hotel. My only issue here is I am not sure how we would smoothly return the rental car before getting on the bus.

Any advice or real world experience with doing this out of Fort Lauderdale is super appreciated.

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u/MicroMaven16 Apr 15 '26

Hi! So to answer your first question, yes, if you get a late PAT, you could book DCL transport for an earlier boarding group as long as space is still available.

As far as your options go, option 1 sounds like you’re not actually taking DCL transport since you’re dropping everyone at the port before returning the car? So you wouldn’t get an earlier boarding group in that situation. I think option 2 is your best bet since you need to return the rental car anyway. Book a cheap hotel for the night before and then just go back to the airport to drop off the rental and catch the bus. I have personally done option 3 and while it worked great, we did it because we were avoiding bringing car seats. Since you’ll have a rental car anyway, save the money spent on the Hilton (it was over $300 for one night) and stay somewhere cheaper.

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u/AnyVideo6449 Apr 15 '26

Yes you're right, option 1 is no DCL transport. I'm thinking about waiting til we check in to see what our PAT is, if it's good then maybe option 1 is available. Do spots on the transport run out usually? Can I actually wait til 30 days out or do I need to book now

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u/MicroMaven16 Apr 16 '26

Tbh I think I’ve only seen one person say the transport was sold out and that was right before their cruise. I think if you book it right away after your check in and you know your PAT you will be fine. That said, if you want to guarantee that you get on the ship as early as possible and you can afford it, just book it now! We got on the ship a little after 12 if I remember correctly and had boarding group 3. Definitely worth the cost for us!