Earliest flight times after cruise

[dbond]

We have booked a flight out of MCO after our 4-day cruise for 11:58 AM. The next available flight was much later in the afternoon and we have some commitments at home that we need to get to by the evening. Are we crazy? It's on a Thursday, we're going to rent a car from Budget and drive ourselves to the airport. Can someone share any experiences they've had in similar situations pro or con. I need some piece of mind here.

 

[depomas]

I do not think you are crazy at all. Seems like a great time for a return flight. Disny suggestion is nothing before noon, so you are on target. Barring an unforseen, you should be able to be off the boat by 8:30 am, then a trip to mco.

Personally, I would not rent the car, I would have a pick up by a town car service, but that is me....Others have done it your way, and been fine..

On two occasions, we have had an 11:30 flight, and skipped breakfast on the boat (not a full one the last day anyway) and got to the airport to check in, and then relaxed, sat down, and ate. This is what works for us.

 

[ljql_5969]

Thanks for the question and answer. I was wondering about this myself.

 

[mickeyboat]

Our flight, scheduled by DCL was at 12N. We didn't leave the ship until 9AM adn took DCL transportation to MCO. We were there shortly after 10 and had plenty of time to make our flight (which was delayed another hour by the way).

You should be fine.

Denae

 

[BigAl]

I'm with you if there's a problem, because I'm booked at 11:45 on my return flight from the Magic April 16. I am using disney transportation but plan to exit the ship as soon as I can eventhough I have late seating. Wish us both good luck. Have a great cruise.

 

[dbond]

Hi all, Thanks for the encouragement and the tips. I have some piece of mind now. I got concerned because when we called DCL to book transfers with them they totally freaked me out about how early our flight was. We've cruised DCL before and we knew how early we typically get off the ship, but we've never had to catch a flight that day so we were 2nd guessing ourselves.

Personally, I would not rent the car, I would have a pick up by a town car service, but that is me....Others have done it your way, and been fine..

I checked the pricing for FL Tours, the service that this site suggests. One way for 2 people quoted at $90. I can rent a car from Budget for less than $50. We have a rental car for the front end for a couple of days for about that amount too. It looks like renting the car on both ends will be the more economical way for us.

 

[aprilgail2]

I checked the pricing for FL Tours, the service that this site suggests. One way for 2 people quoted at $90. I can rent a car from Budget for less than $50. We have a rental car for the front end for a couple of days for about that amount too. It looks like renting the car on both ends will be the more economical way for us.

I checked out a car service for our May cruise and round trip it would have been 190 plus tip so it would have ended up being 230.00....I ended up renting a car from Alamo for the entire 8 days for 101.00. I can park it at port and it will still be less than the car service. Plus I like being able to walk off the ship, have the porter load up our luggage and go.

 

[dbond]

I can park it at port and it will still be less than the car service. Plus I like being able to walk off the ship, have the porter load up our luggage and go.

Do you remember what the daily rates are to park at the port? Since this is just a short cruise, I'm going to compare pricing for the 2 one ways with keeping the car for the stay and parking it in the lot. It may be about the same and would certainly be more convenient for us to not have to drop off and pick up at Budget in Port Canaveral.

 

[tvguy]

You may, or may not be okay. Disney recommends no flights before 12:30, not noon. I suspect they do that based on experience.
We had a 12:35 flight and barely made it. Disney wasn't the problem, even though there was a 45 minute wait to get off the ship. We were at the airport by 10:15......but it took 90 minutes to get through security at the airport. So our flight was already boarding when we went to the gate. We had planned on grabbing some lunch at Orlando but ended up having to wait until we landing in Dallas.

 

[crisi]

Yep, security can be tough.

We also had a lost bag getting off the ship - and that caused a really significant delay getting to the airport. We wouldn't have made a noon flight. But if we had a noon flight we'd have done things differently:

1) Grabbed rolls and coffee and been off the boat without a full breakfast.
2) Filed a claim for the bag and not hung around hoping it would turn up (which DCL pretty much required us to do - if we had a flight to make, I think we'd have been more forceful with "no, we need a claim form.")
3) NOT stopped on the ship for the kids to go potty (public bathrooms after the staterooms start clearning out added 20 minutes!).

 

[aprilgail2]

Do you remember what the daily rates are to park at the port? Since this is just a short cruise, I'm going to compare pricing for the 2 one ways with keeping the car for the stay and parking it in the lot. It may be about the same and would certainly be more convenient for us to not have to drop off and pick up at Budget in Port Canaveral.

Its 10.00 a day