Enough time?

[tcmata]

Unfortunatley, we are going home right after our cruise..
Will we have enough time to make an 11:00 flight or would that be cutting it too close? Our transportation will be a towncar!

Thank you!!

 

[DIScruisers4]

I think you will definitely make it. Some people may say that you are cutting it too close. However, we have taken three Disney cruises (our 4th is coming up this January!). Each time, we have used a town car/limo and arrived at the airport by 9:30 am at the latest, and once we had a minor lost (but found) luggage issue and once the limo was about 25 minutes late. We've always had early seating/breakfast and were off the boat and through customs each time by about 8:15-8:30 am. Of course, something can always happen to delay you, but I believe that is extremely rare. Security can also delay you, but I still think you will arrive at the airport with enough time to spare. Therefore, unless you will be worrying too much about making your flight, I would stick with the 11:00 am flight rather than something in the late afternoon or evening, which would make your return day awfully long. Good luck and enjoy your trip!!!

 

[kcashner]

DCL advises that you not schedule flights before noon. That said, I have been on a 9:45 flight!

DCL wants everyone off the ship by 9, and if all goes smoothly with customs clearing the ship, that's the way it works. We had tickets on a 12:30 flight, and when we arrived at MCO so early, they offered us the 9:45....we took it, of course.

However, as a word of warning, we had another cruise when the doors weren't open for disembarkation until about 9:05...and you should have seen the lines. DCL can't control this. They cannot open the doors till they get the customs approval. That requires that all non-US citizens have attended their early am meeting and the dogs haven't found any suspicious luggage.

It takes about 5 minutes to claim bags, 1 minute to clear customs, then the porter takes you bags to your transportation. It is about 45 minutes to MCO.

Under normal circumstances, you can be off the ship before 8 (if you have early seating, you will have early breakfast that day, if you have late seating, you eat early in Topsiders). So, you could easily be at MCO by 9...the suggested 2 hours before your flight.

MCO is interesting. Sometimes security takes 2 minutes, sometimes 2 hours. They do ask that you arrive 2 hours before flight time.

 

[din]

I just got back from the east coast, not MCO, but the lines are long. Security is taking extra time...

We always book a latter flight so that we do not need deal with the stress of trying to get to the airport and checking in etc...

 

[inkkognito]

It is possible to make it, barring any unforeseen circumstances. We generally use Happy Limo and skip breakfast, and we are usually off the ship quite early. But in 38 cruises, we have had a handful of significant disembarkation delays. One was caused by a change in the security status and another happened when someone else took our luggage by mistake (Disney would not take a report until literally every piece of luggage was claimed). Things such as mechanical troubles and medical emergencies, although rare, can also come up. It's probably worth the risk if you get a great fare, especially if you are in a city with multiple flights. We know that we'll almost always be able to catch another flight back to Chicago if we miss one.
Barb

 

[mkbowlkw]

As everyone else has said, most of the time you could/would make it, but if anything goes wrong then you could miss it. We are just back (today) from the Disney Wonder. We ate breakfast at 8:00 (2nd seating), were off the ship at 8:45 and at the airport by 10:00. We used the DCL xfer bus. You are able to check your bag once you get off the ship for a lot of the airlines (we flew Continental). It was wonderful. We got off the ship this morning and before we boarded the bus, we were able to change our flight (from 3:00 to 12:00), check our bags and get our boarding passes. When we arrived at the airport, we did not have to stand in a line. We just went straight to our gate.

 

[CAMICKEY]

We had an 11:05 flight back to LAX on our last cruise and were there in plenty of time (we arrived at the airport at around 9:40). We checked our bags at the port which really helped. Good luck and enjoy your cruise. - Mike