25+
DCL cruises and counting, most returning to Port Canaveral.
3 times, we encountered serious Customs delays. In those 3 cases, there were lines and it was a mess. The rest of the time, there tends to be a short line of people wanting to get off the ship "right away." OP has NO need to be in this bunch. Another line tends to form about 8:45 as all the people wanting to wait till the last minute finally decide that it has to end. We have encountered no line or less than a 5 minute wait any time we tried to exit between 7:50 and 8:30 with the exception of the 3 times there were Customs delays and no one could get off. On the Fantasy, we encountered NO delay at all. We had late breakfast and walked right off the ship after we'd finished eating.
There are a couple of different luggage systems...If you have onboard check in (OP does not), you will place your luggage outside your room on the last night and see it at your HOME airport. YUP..Magic.
If you do not have onboard check in, you can choose to place your lugggage outside the cabin the night before and reclaim it in the terminal upon arrival...and take it to your transportation OR you can just keep it with you and roll it off yourself in the morning (self-disembarkation). Guests doing the self disembarkation can get off at any time, but they do have a priority time before other guests are allowed to get off while the luggage from the night before is being placed in the terminal. Since they don't have to claim luggage, they can walk off the ship and thru Customs.
The luggage system is easy--you are given tags with a color and character on them and your bags will be arranged by sections identified with those colors/characters. WIthin the section, they start off in numerical order, but that doesn't last too long as other guests paw thru them...porters are there to help you.
Reality--when I was a mom with little one, it was by far the easiest to put the luggage out the night before . Now that the "little one" is bigger than I am and I limit our luggage to one rolling case per person, it is easier to take it off ourselves. We've done this on the last 2 cruises. It only saves 5-10 minutes, but it is nice to avoid the luggage hunt.
Some other lines do a system where you are assigned to a group and wait till your group is called before you can exit. Honestly, I like DCL's system EXCEPT when Customs delays the ship clearing. Then it is a pain.
OP, I'd schedule your pick up at 8:45 or something like that. Get off at 8:30, go thru Customs, and your vehicle will be waiting for you.
For the person with the 11:45 flight, there is no need to be on the first bus. Do whatever you feel best about the luggage. It takes about 45 minutes to get to MCO, so as long as you are not on the last bus, you'll be fine.
. Our flight time was 12:45, so we had plenty of time. Enjoy your trip. 
