Today is Sunday, November 24th. We flew to Orlando early yesterday morning for our 7 day cruise on wonder of the seas. We always fly in a day ahead for the cruise. Our hotel last night was Townplace Marriott in Cape Canavera near the cruise portl. I used a delta stay credit to pay for most of the hotel cost.
We took lyft from the airport from the hotel. Cape canaveral is a 45 minutes from the cruise port. We arrived to the hotel around noon. Fortunately they had a room ready to check in early. After dropping off our bags, we took a lyft to a cute speakeasy cafe in the Cocoa beach area called Cloud Parlor. I discovered this gem from You tube and some of the blogs i watched ahead of the cruise.
The cafe is at the end of a small shopping center. You enter into a waiting room lounge area and then are directed to push a button on the wall. This opens up the secret door behind the bookcase to enter the cafe. Everything is digital in the cafe. There are barcodes at every table and spot at the bar for easy ordering and pay by phone options. If you scan a barcode on the wall, it automatically joins the wifi for you without having to enter a passcode.
The cafe has a coffee shop vibe in the morning and the coffees looked outstanding with many choices (both vegan and non-vegan). They also had popular brunch items like Avocado toast.
We ordered 2 beers and the ribeye sliders to start. They were great. We also tried the meatballs. This was a great spot. I really enjoyed it! If I had been staying in cocoa beach, I may have gone back for coffee today.
Next we visited the Carib Brewery which is in walking distance to our hotel. We have been to this brewery before, but it was Florida Brewing company when we came last before the pandemic. The bartender told us Carib brewery bought them out. The brewer remained so he still has kept some of the similiar beers Florida brewing company used to produce in addition to bringing in additional beers from the Carib brandy. They offer tours and free popcorn.
Next we decided to try out Ocean distillery which we walked to from the brewery. I tried the special cocktail the the bartender came up with. She won a recent competition with the drink at kennedy space center.
The area around the brewery and distillery looked a lot diffeent than last time we came and several new hotels are new or opening up right around the port area. There are increasing options to stay if you want to come to the cape canaveral area the day before your cruise. Another option is staying near the Orlando airport area and then taking a shuttle or uber directly to the cruise ship the next day. We will be taking a shuttle back to the airport at the end of the cruise that I already have scheduled through Cruise control https://www.cruisecontrol-transportation.com.
I like the hotel. They room has a kitchen and full refrigerator, a small balcony and is pretty spacious. It also has a great pool and hot tub. It was a little cold in florida this weekend so I decided not to swim. They also had breakfast which I though was good for a free hotel breakfast. I was mostly interested in the coffee! My only complaint about the hotel was that they did not have any luggage racks. My husband used the sofa and Ottaman, but it was hard to find a second place to open a suitcase. they had a great closet with a mirror, shelving and a great light. It would have been ideal if there were a built in luggage rack in there or at least a portable luggage rack.
Our last stop of the day yesterday was Rising Tide Tap and table to grab some dinner. This restaurant is down in the port area. It is not directly on the water like Fish Lips and Grills, but we still saw a few cruise ships sail out and repositions. We also saw the sunset!
We board Wonder of the seas this morning. We will likely leave for the port around 10:30. The hotel offers a shuttle for $10 per person to the cruise port. We usually prefer to get our own transportation to the cruise port and lyft is generally cheaper for 2 people.
We are excited about this cruise. Wonder of the seas has been on our bucket list and this ship was a good deal this week. It is the 3rd newest RCL ship now so Utopia and Icon are more expensive. I am excited becuase the ship is new enough that there are more modern outlets and plugs including with options by the bed. We cruise a lot and are use to this, but the outlets are generally more limited on older ships. We have traveled with a small USB outlet for years so that we have the availability to plug in more devices.
Follow along for updates this week on our trip!