cobra614

I just tell them there right!  I don't need another person competing with me for a cabin that I want.?

Have not done this yet, put this is my plan for my Harmony cruise in October, followed @WAAAYTOOO directions and have everything booked.

In my old age I have learned a few things. One of them is that there are always going to be negative people who don't have a good / nice thing to say about anything or anyone.
They always complain, always find something "wrong" with stuff, and are the first to focus on the negative.
They don't bog me down because I ignore them.
I don't need that kind of negativity in my life.

If they mention getting sick from the food... ask them where they last went out to eat at. (then look at them with a very judgmental look)
If the mention getting stranded... tell them, you would much rather get stranded on a luxury cruise ship than stuck on the Tarmac of an airport. 
If they mention people missing... tell them happens everyday on the city streets. Rarely on cruises. 
If they mention crime and sickness... same as walking into a Walmart. 
Stuck in a storm.... Cruise ships will avoid storms... they have something called navigation. lol
 
Finally... ask them how many cruises they have been on. Then stare at them in judgement again. :-)

Check your Cruise Compass for when/where the Friends Of Matt H. meetings are held. They can help you deal with your addiction.

6 days into our first ever cruise and we have booked our next with plans for 2 more before we go on that one. 
 
Addicted!!
 
Thanks to everybody for helping us make this leap!
 
Nikkoo

I do have a negative recommendation.  I just cruised out of Canaveral and we stayed at Radisson at the Port.  The room was fine, but we were on the second floor and there was only one elevator servicing several buildings.  In addition, the breezeways are open air (and rain, etc) which made for a very long walk rolling luggage over uneven surfaces.  It was very hot.  Also, we rented a car at the airport that we returned the next morning and took the rental car shuttle.  Quick and easy.  There was a huge, less than organized crowd in the hotel lobby as were checking out waiting for the shuttle.  We were very glad not to be in that mess.
We found a fabulous Italian place a few miles down the road.  It was slightly farther down from and on the other side of the road from Ron's Surf Shop. It was called Brano's Italian grill.  Really great food and huge servings!

We have cruised out of Port Canaveral 3 times (not with Royal though).  Each time we have stayed at the Hyatt Regency inside of Orlando airport.  I could go on and on about how much I love the convenience of that hotel.  Not only is it in good condition (and they recently remodeled it so it looks even better now) but it is so wonderful to get off the plane, pick up your bags, and then head up the elevator to your room.  No cab or ride share needed.  I've always looked at Cocoa Beach and then decided against it because many of the properties there seem a bit more run down.  And you would still need to go around and get dinner/maybe breakfast.
To add to the convenience, the restaurant there, McCoy's, is really good for a hotel restaurant.  Prices are fair and the food quality is superb.  It's not fancy in that you have to dress up after a plane ride to go there but it is not a grease pit either, like some hotel restaurants can be.  The food is fresh and flavourful.  If that is not to your liking, then there are tons of fast food options plus Starbucks in the terminal below.  None of it requiring you to leave at all. 
In the morning, simply grab your luggage and head down to baggage claim.  From there you can rent a car, grab a cab/ride share, catch a shuttle to the port. 
We'll be booking here again for our cruise on Harmony in 2020.  I have also been in contact with Cortran's (they have almost perfect reviews on Trip Advisor) and they will actually pick up at the hotel, so we don't even need to head down to baggage claim this time.

When we cruise out of Port Canaveral and arrive a day ahead we do the following:
1.  Rental a car at the airport from Hertz for a one-way rental to be turned in at Cape Canaveral.  There is no one-way surcharge for a one-way car rental.  
2.  Stay at the Residence Inn 8959 Astronaut Blvd, CC  321-323-1100.  The cost was $195 plus tax
The reason to rent with Hertz is b/c the Hertz car rental office shares a parking lot with the Residence Inn.  You are able to use your rental car all day to do whatever you want to do - go sight seeing - visit Kennedy Space Center - eat lunch, dinner whatever you want.  Then you can return the car after hours, leave the keys in their late night drop box and walk a few steps over to the Residence Inn for the night.
The Residence Inn has a shuttle to the port the next day.

I stayed in Cocoa Beach at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront property.  I scheduled an extra day in Cocoa pre-cruise to buffer my trip and to just check things out like Kennedy Space Center.  Rented a car one way from MCO to Cocoa and dropped it off at the local Hertz counter.  They have a free shuttle to the port.
The Hilton was nice.  Right on the beach with a fun outdoor bar that has live music nightly.  It's a short (under 15 minute) drive from there to the car drop off in Cape Canaveral.

I just realized you were asking for hotel accommodations and not so much about hotel and transportation to the port...hopefully the information is helpful, but sorry for not directly answering your question.

We just got off the Harmony last week. We did the goport.com package and it worked out wonderfully. You can pick from quite a few different hotel choices when booking. As long as you don't mind riding on a bus with other people I would highly recommend this company. The ride back to the airport went smoothly as well. The cruise we did the prior year on Oasis we used Cortrans because we flew in the morning of the cruise, but I believe they have some shuttle options from hotels as well. I would use either of these companies again.

I booked our first cruise ever for this past July last December,  watched the cruise planner almost every day and bought the key for $19.99 and the deluxe beverage package for $49 plus gratuities on Symphony.  I just booked a May 2020 cruise today on harmony today (thanks Stehpanie from MEI) and the key is $37.99 and the deluxe beverage package is $65 before gratuities.  No way I'll pay those prices, so I will be stalking the cruise planner for sure.

Another thing to note that once you do get your cabin number-which is very up in the air when that happens such as some get it very close to their cruise or I got our FOTS assignment already for Jan 5 2020 cruise-you can (if there is availability) ask to switch to a different cabin in the same class per some advice I had seen here.  We think we will enjoy where we ended up but wanted to pass that along.

I’d say if you can find Symphony at a decent price go for it. Unfortunately most of the time there’s a large difference between Harmony and Symphony. I’d refer to what @matt always says, something to the effect of “Harmony is the original movie, it’s great, Symphony is a great sequel but still a sequel”
Harmony= Godfather
Symphony= Godfather 2 

The $55 price is the discounted price.  On the cruise planner it states "price shown reflects your discount". 
Whatever price is shown on the cruise planner is what the price will be per day, per person,  before gratuities are added.  I just ignore all their percentages and BOGO hoopla and just look at that price.  If you already got it for $46, keep it.

Matt, thank you for all you do.

Based of my personally drinking habit *especially on vacation* I think the drink package will definitely save me some money!
I hypothetically planned out my day from morning with a few mimosas, afternoon in the sun with some fruit mixed drinks, dinner with a glass of wine or two, and late night with some hard liquor! 
Sprinkle in some water bottles, coffee, and juices here and there daily and you'll be ahead of the game.

Thanks to you both.
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Out of respect I'll defer your experience, but I'm pretty sure I saw that on my recent sailing on Symphony. 
 
Either way, we are accustomed to bringing cash. Just thought there might be a credit card points exploit,  lol.

I thought that I saw an option to take credits out as a room charge whenever I swiped my see pass card. I do remember talking to a fellow gambler that mentioned that her husband was upset on how much she kept "downloading "to their room account.  Like I said, we brought cash, so I never tried it. 

TJ!, please refer to Waytoo. He,(or she) is WAY more versed in this subject than I!!

If you gamble regularly (since you mentioned being to LV a hundred times or so), you might make prime status during your first cruise. We live on the east coast, so if we are lucky we go out to LV twice  a year. That being said we are fully comped at the golden nugget (love that place, old Vegas FTW), and we made prime by our last night in the cruise.  If you gamble enough you could make prime early on your cruise and enjoy free drinks for the remainder from what I've read. 
A great resource I've found is a Facebook page dedicated to casino royale. Check it out.
 
BTW. I asked on there and they did confirm that a slot download for cash is treated like a purchase,  not a cash advance!!

You can bet your bottom dollar I’m going to more than break even on the deal on my cruise. ?

Are we to also do away with first class airfare and suite class benefits?