AI Cruise GrannyCruise with confidence

Home › Port guides › Port Canaveral

Port Canaveral

Parking sits beside every terminal, so there is no shuttle to catch. But the gates do not open before 10am, and there is no cash accepted anywhere.

Sailing out of Port Canaveral past the jetty and the beach, late afternoon sun on the water
Photo: Cruise Granny, 20 November 2025, sailing out of Port Canaveral on Adventure of the Seas. The long jetty on the left is the channel wall; Jetty Park is just beyond it.
Facts checked against official sources on 24 September 2026
OperatorCanaveral Port Authority, 445 Challenger Road, Suite 300, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920. Parking and transport questions: 321-783-7831.
TerminalsSeven: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10
Parking$20 per day plus tax on the port's parking pages. The passenger FAQ shows $17 per day plus tax for long-term. Both are published; see below.
Orlando International (MCO)About 45 minutes west, via S.R. 528 East to Exit 54A or 54B
Orlando Sanford (SFB)About 1 hour northwest
Melbourne (MLB)About 25 miles, 40 minutes south

Terminals

The port publishes every terminal address but, unusually, publishes no cruise line assignments at all. Only two lines publish their own.

Royal CaribbeanTerminals 1, 5 and 6. Terminal 1 at 9050 Discovery Road, Terminal 5 at 9245 Charles M Rowland Dr, Terminal 6 at 9241 Charles M Rowland Dr.
Disney Cruise LineTerminals 8 and 10. Terminal 8 at 9155 Charles M. Rowland Drive, Terminal 10 at 9005 Charles M. Rowland Drive.
Carnival, MSC, Norwegian, Princess, CelebrityAll sail from Port Canaveral. Neither the port nor the lines publish which terminal, so check your cruise documents.
Terminals 2 and 3180 and 220 Christopher Columbus Dr. No line published.
Small conflict: the port's terminal guide gives Terminal 1 as 9050 Discovery Rd. and its directions page gives 9500 Discovery Rd. Royal Caribbean independently publishes 9050, which is the one to trust until the port fixes its own page.

Parking at the port

This is Port Canaveral's real advantage: the port states that garages and surface lots sit adjacent to each cruise terminal, with "no shuttles needed." If you have limited walking range, that is worth more than any price difference.

The published rate is $20.00 per day plus tax for vehicles and RVs alike, including the day you arrive and the day you get back. There is no separate oversized rate: the port states oversize parking is available at every terminal at the same rate.

Two published rates, and the port does not explain the difference. Three port pages say $20.00 per day plus tax. The passenger FAQ says $17.00 per day plus tax for long-term cruise parking, in otherwise identical wording. Nothing published states what triggers the lower rate. Call 321-783-7831 if the difference matters to your budget.

The port is cashless. No cash at all, only American Express, Visa, MasterCard and Discover. And you pay on entry, before you sail, so the whole cruise-length charge lands on your card on day one. Parking garages and surface lots do not open before 10am on embarkation days, and Disney publishes 10:15am at Terminals 8 and 10. Arriving at 8am gains you nothing.

Free parking if you qualify, and Canaveral is more generous than Miami

The parking fee is waived for vehicles displaying any one of the following: specialised equipment such as ramps, lifts, or foot or hand controls; a Florida Toll Exemption Permit; or a Florida Disabled Veteran licence plate. The Toll Exemption Permit route is the one people miss. It is a Florida permit for drivers who cannot operate a self-serve toll device because of disability, and it covers your parking for the whole cruise.

Note that all three qualifying items are Florida-specific. An out-of-state disabled placard is neither listed nor excluded, so ask before you rely on it.

Parking off the port

Canaveral is one of the few ports where private operators publish real prices on their own sites.

Port Canaveral Cruise Parking Publishes "$8.95 per day" on its home page, and packages from $95.00. The accessibility standout: they advertise four 22-passenger shuttles with lifts, holding up to two wheelchairs, and call themselves the only off-site parking that is wheelchair friendly. Their address and distance to the port are not published, and their own advertising shows $12.95 a day elsewhere, so confirm the rate when you book.
Park N Cruise 1700 Sea Ray Dr, Merritt Island. $15.95 a day for same-day parking, from $12.95 with a promo code. Two miles out, a two-minute ride. Air-conditioned shuttles every 60 minutes, and the last shuttle leaves at 2:00pm sharp. No accessibility provision published; they point Florida disabled veterans to the port's free parking instead.
Port Canaveral Parking 3050 N Courtenay Pkwy, Merritt Island. From $12.95 a day. Spaces are 20 feet long; a longer vehicle books a second space under the same name, with no premium rate. Shuttle for up to five passengers, five-minute ride, last shuttle 1:15pm sharp, and shuttles waiting when you disembark. No accessibility provision published.

Park-and-cruise hotels

Radisson Resort at the Port 8701 Astronaut Blvd, a mile from the port. Publishes real package prices: $339 a night for the 3-4 night package (one night's room, parking up to 4 nights, round-trip shuttle for up to 4 guests) and $374 a night for the 5-8 night package. Extra vehicle parking $12.95 plus tax a day. Accessible rooms available in queen and king.
Country Inn & Suites Port Canaveral 9009 Astronaut Blvd, about a mile out. Stay-Park-Cruise packages with up to three days' parking, and a 6-10 night version. The shuttle is not free: $9.00 plus tax per person each way, booked up to 14 days ahead. Publishes strong accessibility detail: mobility and hearing accessible rooms, roll-in shower, visual alarm alert, 32-inch clear door widths, lowered closet rod, Braille room numbers.

Getting there without a car

The port names Cocoa Beach Express as its official ground transportation concessionaire, running vans, shuttles and buses on demand. Their own site publishes one-way service from Orlando International to Port Canaveral and area hotels from as low as $28 per person, and lists "handicap accessible" among their services without giving vehicle detail. Uber and Lyft operate at the port. Some hotels run shuttles, and some cruise lines sell airport and theme park transfers.

Accessibility, honestly

Port Canaveral's accessibility page is an ADA compliance and grievance page, not a traveller resource. It gives an ADA Coordinator at [email protected] and a grievance form, and publishes nothing about accessible parking, wheelchair assistance, accessible drop-off or accessible transport.

The only physical accessibility provision the port publishes anywhere is the disabled parking fee waiver above, and it appears on the parking pages rather than the accessibility page. For an accessible shuttle, the only operator publishing one is Port Canaveral Cruise Parking, with its lift-equipped buses.

Two things worth knowing

Port Canaveral runs a Space Operations division and publishes a launch schedule, because launches affect port waters. And the port lists Victory Casino Cruises among its cruise lines, a day casino boat sailing from the port itself.

Not published anywhere official: which line uses which terminal (for anyone but Royal Caribbean and Disney), what triggers the $17 rate, which terminals have a garage rather than a lot, whether any parking is covered, prepay or reservation options, all-aboard times, terminal opening times, wheelchair assistance at the terminals, accessible drop-off locations, and whether out-of-state disabled placards qualify for the fee waiver.
Does your body have opinions about this trip?

Stairs, gangways, tenders, long piers, a cane on bad days. All of that lives on our sister site, where it gets the room it deserves instead of a paragraph at the bottom of a page.

Go to SailsAnyway.com

About the "I" on this page. AI Cruise Granny is the AI twin of Cruise Granny, a real human being who actually sails. Every experience written here in the first person is hers. The AI twin is what writes it up, checks the facts against official sources and keeps it current. We tell you that openly on every page, because you should know who is talking to you. More about how this works.