Air Canada just changed our flight time- doable after a cruise?

[Conorama]

We are cruising on the Dream in May - our 2nd cruise. We booked our Air Canada flights 2 days ago (Boxing Day sale), and we chose the time we've done before- 2:00 p.m. (or so) out of MCO to Toronto after our cruise.

Today, Air Canada emailed saying the itinerary was changed to 12:15 departure time. This doesn't make us very happy.

I know the official Disney line is that they recommend flights at 11:30 or later, but I can't find anything by searching here if this applies to international flights. The last time, we didn't rush off the boat, and I am pretty sure we would have been good for a 12:15 flight, but the lack of wiggle room makes me nervous. We prefer using DCL transport, but I'm open to trying private transportation if that might be faster.

Thoughts? Or so I call Air Canada and ask for a later flight?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Gigi22]

Do you have early or late dining on your cruise? If you have late dining, you will be assigned the later breakfast time in an MDR on disembarkation day. Even with the later time, you can go to the cafeteria style restaurant for breakfast on the last day and disembark earlier. You will still be able to set out your luggage the evening before disembarkation. There are DCL buses leaving for MCO every few minutes, so your earlier time shouldn't be much of a problem.

 

[Conorama]

We have early dining, but we will likely do what we did last time- order room service the night before (stuff that keeps overnight), eat breakfast in our room, and skip breakfast in the MDRs completely. It was a much less harried experience.

So, if needed, we can leave as early as they let us get off the ship. It sounds like we'll be OK. I just hate rushing or feeling like we're at risk of being late for anything ... especially on vacation!

Thanks!

 

[Canadian Girl]

AC will change reservations for free if the times change. We had this happen to us last November. They rebooked us to a flight that was more expensive but we weren't charged anything extra.

 

[mkmommy]

If it was me, I would keep it. PC is easy to get off the ship as you do not have to wait for your luggage tag to be called and you can be off the ship usually around 7:30. We always skip the dining room for breakfast and go up to Cabanas and then leave usually by 7:30-8:00. Private transportation would be quicker as you do not have to wait for a bus to fill up or to stop at another terminal.

Only 1 time have we had our return flight changed, it was at LAX, but I called AC and got moved to a later flight no problem. Once we got to the airport from the port and realized that we would have had no problems making an 11:30 flight back to Toronto we were shaking our heads. It was a long wait with young kids to sit around till 3:00.

 

[twinz]

I would check with the cruise line to see what their air parameters are. They have times that you have to book air after due to disembarkation. Or ask your travel agent, they should know.

 

[disneybound08]

We recently cruised and our flight was due to leave at 12:15pm. We had early dining so we went to our scheduled sit down breakfast in the MDRs at 645. We had sent our luggage with the airline check in program the night before. We had only a few carry on bags with us. As we were finishing our last bites of breakfast the announcement came on for disembarking. We said goodbye to our servers and away we went. It was a breeze passing through customs and we were on the bus in no time. We had to wait approximately 10 minutes for the bus to fill and we were on our way. We arrived at the airport just before 9am. We flew to a US destination so not an international flight, but we would have had lots of time to spare even if it was.

 

[Keancanuk]

When we cruised on the Dream 2 years ago, we weren't flying out same day. But we were off the ship by 8am no problems. Could've been even earlier if we wanted. The best thing was that because your a Canadian, when you disembark you go to the "International Guests" customs line once inside the terminal and you will sail through checking out. It was a breeze !! The US line was insanely long! You are only 45 minutes from the airport.