Noon flight on return - can i stay on the boat till 9 a.m.?

[peggy5]

Got a noon flight back & taking the disney bus transfer(preferred airline). If I leave the boat at 9 a.m. & bus hopefully leaves 9:45, is that enough time to reach airport & be ok for a noon flight? Read a couple posts that said people left the boat at 7:30 a.m. for a noon or 11:30 a.m. flight but was wondering if its really necessary to leave that early - won't I just end up waiting at the airport if I leave at 7:30 - 8:00 a.m. instead of 9 a.m.? Or is there something I'm missing? Do the buses not leave right away, if not, whats longest wait?

[kcashner]

Participating airline or not?

If not, you can leave when you choose....but remember that you'll have to check in and check luggage at the airport. You'll want to allow at least 2 hours for that (if you do, it will take 30 minutes; if you don't, it will take every minute of 2 hours).

I believe that on a participating airline with onboard check in, you are required to be off by 8.

[peggy5]

sorry i meant participating airline not preferred so i have to be off at 8 & can't stay a bit longer

[clten]

Originally Posted by peggy5

sorry i meant participating airline not preferred so i have to be off at 8 & can't stay a bit longer

No, they have a list of people who have to be off by 8 and check you off this list as you come off the ship. Don't know how close to the 8am mark they start pulling your luggage out but they are monitoring it. So if you want to wait until 9, your luggage will be in the terminal participating airline or not. So you will need extra time in the airport to check your luggage.

The buses leave when they are filled. We have often left the ship at 9ish. Sometimes the bus pulls out pretty quickly and some times we've sat there until EVERYONE is off the ship.

One other thing, the lines to get through security in MCO are also hit and miss. I've been there where the lines are long and it can take 45 minutes to a hour just to get through the line (plus all the rude people jumping in front because they didn't leave enough time to get through the long line.)

[peggy5]

I see your point now thanks so much I didn't realize that the luggage went with us on the bus to airport. Was under the misconception that they deliver all the luggage(of those doing participating onboard check in) to airport on a seperate bus so figured luggage part I wouldn't have to worry about & last time i'd see it was the nite before the cruise & then at the home airport. So thats why was thinking take a little bit of time to get off the ship like out of the cabin at 8 & then off the ship at 9 & to the airport by 10:45 to leave 1.5 hr at the airport for a 12:10 flight. But i guess if i don't get off by 8 a.m. as required then i gotta worry about checking in my luggage after all once i get to the airport. ok thanks for the info really appreciate it, will def have to be off the ship by 8 a.m.

[kcashner]

If you are off by 8, your luggage will go on a luggage truck separate from the bus and you won't have to deal with it at all.

If you are not off by the time they check the 8:00 list, your luggage will go with you on the bus and you'll have to deal with it at the airport.

[ruadisneyfan2]

Originally Posted by peggy5

sorry i meant participating airline not preferred so i have to be off at 8 & can't stay a bit longer

We used onboard check in last Nov. They give you a letter with very specific directions that say you must exit by 8 and stop by at the desk (off ship) for onboard check in. It's not like they have no idea who's left and who hasn't.
The whole process was so smooth and seamless and we didn't want to do anything that might cause our luggage to not arrive at our home airport.

[mmouse37]

Ditto all of the above. Any flight before 1:00 pm (on the onboard airline check-in program) and you have to be off the ship by 8:00.....I know some may think it excessive but I am sure DCL has worked out all the logistics so that they can get you and your luggage where it needs to be.

The tradeoff for the seamless transition of you and your luggage is that you may have to wait at the airport a bit longer than you anticipated.....but, we have found that the convenience of DCL delivering our luggage tags, boarding passes, handling our luggage to our home airport and a nice bus ride is so worth hanging out at the airport for.

There is plenty of shopping and food options at the airport so we never really were bored there. I just see it as a few hours to chill out.

Now, for the 9/19/09 cruise we booked right before we sailed so my flight options were very limited. I had to book a flight that left MCO at 10:40 am. Even though I was flying Continental (a participating airline) my flight was too early to take part in the OAC program. We wound up just buying DCL transfers one-way for the return to the airport at check-in at the terminal. We were told we would have to handle our own luggage which was fine and which I knew ahead of time.

We checked in online the day before at the internet cafe onboard and printed out our boarding passes and then next morning had breakfast up in Topsiders, left the ship about 7:30 (had to wait on a line to leave as they did not open the exit doors yet), claimed our luggage in the luggage hall, went through customs and were on the bus by 7:45 am. Were were at the airport by 8:45 and checked our bags. We were lucky as there was no line for checking bags and no line for security. Airport was pretty empty that day.

It worked out fine for us but I would have preferred to have used the OAC program.

MJ

[jnadelman]

What are the preferred airlines? And can you use the luggage and check in stuff if you are on one of those airlines but NOT using their bus (we have a rental car).

[outahere]

Originally Posted by jnadelman

What are the preferred airlines? And can you use the luggage and check in stuff if you are on one of those airlines but NOT using their bus (we have a rental car).

Here is the list of participating airlines: AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Northwest Airlines, United/Ted Airlines and US Airways

However, you must use DCL transfers or have booked your flights through DCL, in order to use the onboard checkin program.

[jnadelman]

Originally Posted by outahere

Here is the list of participating airlines: AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Northwest Airlines, United/Ted Airlines and US Airways

However, you must use DCL transfers or have booked your flights through DCL, in order to use the onboard checkin program.

We are on one of those airlines, but not using their transfers and book our own flights. Can we still use them to just check us in so we can get boarding passes, and then we handle our own luggage, or are we totally on our own?

I find it odd because at WDW we always check in for our flights at the hotel, and it doesn't matter at all if you use their transfers or if you booked your on flights.
I wonder why the difference?

[lg3]

Originally Posted by clten

One other thing, the lines to get through security in MCO are also hit and miss. I've been there where the lines are long and it can take 45 minutes to a hour just to get through the line (plus all the rude people jumping in front because they didn't leave enough time to get through the long line.)

I agree with this and think it is because of how the lines are set up - It is more like a cattle herd and it lends itself to more line jumping. Most other airports don't herd you like that, where the end of the line is not always clearly defined.

[mmouse37]

Originally Posted by jnadelman

We are on one of those airlines, but not using their transfers and book our own flights. Can we still use them to just check us in so we can get boarding passes, and then we handle our own luggage, or are we totally on our own?

I find it odd because at WDW we always check in for our flights at the hotel, and it doesn't matter at all if you use their transfers or if you booked your on flights.
I wonder why the difference?

It is just a different branch of the company...the same questions can be asked "Why do we even have to pay for DCL transfers when Magical Express is complimentary?" Because they can!!!

Your answer is no. You have to use their transfers in order to use their luggage service or boarding pass/luggage tag delivery. That is the perk of using their transfers. It would not be in DCL's interest to offer that service to non DCL transfer guests. The whole point of offering the service is the perk of them to handle everything. They want people to buy their transfers and reward is worth it.

If everyone was able to use their luggage service and airline check-in service without buying transfers...I doubt many would even buy their transfers. Think of how much smaller a rental vehicle people would need if they did not have to worry about transporting their own luggage.

Back in the day DCL did offer the airline check-in program with the airline desks outside the terminal. For awhile you could use that service without using their transfers but they stopped that and then eventually rolled into this new program which, is, a good thing.

Last week I had to bite the bullet and log onto the internet onboard to check-in and print out our boarding passes even though we were on a participating airline AND were using DCL transfers to the airport....but our flight was too early to be part of the program. Flights need to be after 11:30...ours was 10:40 am.

MJ

[Firedog]

We are cruising DCL in a couple of weeks. Our return flight doesn't leave MCO until 1:45 on a Saturday (non-participating airline).

My plan was to just have breakfast at Topsiders and leave the ship as late as possible (9:00?). How late does Topsiders serve breakfast?

Even leaving Port Canaveral at 9:00, do you think we would have enough time to hit Downtown Disney for about 1-1/2 hours, and then head to the airport with enough time for check-in and security?

[jnadelman]

Originally Posted by mmouse37

It is just a different branch of the company...the same questions can be asked "Why do we even have to pay for DCL transfers when Magical Express is complimentary?" Because they can!!!

Your answer is no. You have to use their transfers in order to use their luggage service or boarding pass/luggage tag delivery. That is the perk of using their transfers. It would not be in DCL's interest to offer that service to non DCL transfer guests. The whole point of offering the service is the perk of them to handle everything. They want people to buy their transfers and reward is worth it.

If everyone was able to use their luggage service and airline check-in service without buying transfers...I doubt many would even buy their transfers. Think of how much smaller a rental vehicle people would need if they did not have to worry about transporting their own luggage.

Back in the day DCL did offer the airline check-in program with the airline desks outside the terminal. For awhile you could use that service without using their transfers but they stopped that and then eventually rolled into this new program which, is, a good thing.

Last week I had to bite the bullet and log onto the internet onboard to check-in and print out our boarding passes even though we were on a participating airline AND were using DCL transfers to the airport....but our flight was too early to be part of the program. Flights need to be after 11:30...ours was 10:40 am.

MJ

I agree that using them is a perk, but at some point (at least for us) it just wasn't worth it.
They wanted $380 per person for the flight, plus $50 extra to fly in the day early (total of $430). We paid $150 by booking on our own. We are 6 people, we save $1680! The transfers were $69 a piece, we booked 2 one way mini-wans for $65 one way and $75 the other. For 6 people the savings were $274.
$274 + $1680 = $1954. I think very few people would say that $1954 is worth having them take my luggage and print my boarding pass.
I would for love them to let me check in, and I would have used them 100% if it was reasonable, but they need to see how over priced they really are for some of their services.