All aboard time????

[mommy2mnm]

Hello,

We have just booked our first Disney Cruise for the 4 day in May. I'm wondering if the all aboard time says 4pm if that is the earliest you get on the ship or if you can board earlier & that is the depart time? We land in Orlando at 1:30pm & wondering if that is an ok time to land & get to the ship?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[KyCruisinSusan]

They start letting people board the ship between 11:00am and noon. The all aboard at 4:00pm is the latest time they recommend that you board, due to the manditory safety drill that is scheduled for 4:30. Your 1:30 arrival in Orlando should get you there in plenty of time, unless you plan on making Palo or spa reservations. They tend to go pretty quickly.

 

[dwkwootton]

You can get into the port at approx 10am and board approx 12 noon. The 4pm time is latest you can board. I would strongly encourage you to move your flight time back. I think you are playing with fire by landing in Orlando at 1:30pm.

 

[zeldacruiser]

I agree that you should try to change to an earlier flight, if it's possible. If you arrive on time, get your luggage right away and get on the road right away and don't run into traffic, all will be well! If anything causes a delay, though, your schedule will be very tight. Are your flight reservations and transfers through Disney? If they are, then I believe DCL might even hold the ship a few minutes if you're late. If you have made your flight reservations independently, then DCL takes no responsibility for getting you there on time.

And, of course, the earlier you get on the ship, the more time you have for fun!

 

[salbythec]

I agree as well! Our last flight in Aug. to WDW was 2 and 1/2 hours delayed!
We always fly in the day before for a peace of mind and to relax.

 

[jrabbit]

Remember that *** (Mickey Vacation Time) seems to fly by and coming into the ship between 3 and 4 pm doesn't seem like a big deal (its only 3-4 hours later than boarding starts). On our first cruise we came in that late because boarding didn't start until 1pm and I wanted lunch! I "knew" that they wouldn't be serving anything until dinner because of the 1pm boarding time and that is after "lunch time" OK so now I know better - I like to be at the terminal by 11am.

Back to our first cruise - a 4 nighter BTW. By arriving around 3 we didn't board until after 3:15, saw that there was the lunch buffett and I couldn't resist another go at lunch so we did that. Then to the room to drop off our bags and off to the manditory safety drill. Back to the room to do a little unpacking, up to deck 9 for the sail away party, whoops, it's pouring - downstairs to the atrium for the sail away. Back to the room to change for dinner - hey, wheres our clothes - oh yea, mostly still in the luggage because we haven't had the time to get somemore unpacking done. Finish that while dressing and rush off to dinner (now just where is the Lumiers - oh yea we were by it in the atrium - where the atrium - and I really wasn't hungry - two lunches you know. After dinner, go to the show (just follow the crowd and if they are lost, so am I). After the show go to the adult activities in the evening. Stay up way way way way past my bedtime (having a LOT of fun). Go back to the room exhausted, finish unpacking, oh yea, where are the kids - In the Clubs - where are the clubs - I know that I've been there before to drop them off ) Now back to the room and to bed. If you made it this far in my rant, the point is by arriving to the ship "late" we missed out on several hours of unpacking and getting ourselves "organized" in our room and having some time to explore the ship before we set sail.

And in a blink of an eye our 4 nights were over. *** was up and we had to go back to the real world!

 

[fljelad]

You aren't flying in from Denver are you? Our earliest flight out of Denver got us in to MCO at 1:30 too except that for us, we didn't have to worry about boarding the ship, it was the first day of our Land/Sea package and most of it was GONE in travel.

We decided to fly in the evening before and stay at an off-site hotel for one night (VERY cheap! Breakfast included!) so that we could take full advantage of our first day at WDW. Our Wednesday flight was also almost $200 cheaper than the Thursday flight too. You might want to consider doing the same thing!