First Cruise

[WOD]

We will be sailing on the Fantasy in September. This is our first ever cruise and I am nervous about our arrival date and time. Our plane arrives at MCO at 11:00 am on embarkation day. Is this cutting it too close? Should we fly in a day earlier and stay overnight?

 

[Geomom]

Yes, I think you should fly in the day before the cruise and stay overnight. There are just too many things that can go wrong with flights (weather/mechanical, etc)--if you're delayed too long you could miss the ship.

 

[iivye]

We will be sailing on the Fantasy in September. This is our first ever cruise and I am nervous about our arrival date and time. Our plane arrives at MCO at 11:00 am on embarkation day. Is this cutting it too close? Should we fly in a day earlier and stay overnight?

That would be too close for my comfort. We prefer to fly in the night before and stay at the Hyatt in the airport. For some reason my flights to Orlando more often than not have had a 1-2 hour delay.

 

[Kennywood]

Flying in the day before makes everything SO much less stressful. You'll have a chance to actually being unwinding, rather than winding up a bundle of nerves.

 

[LeiaOfAlderaan]

I would never cut it this close, my nerves couldn’t handle it! Our last cruise we came in 2 days early to spend some time near Disney Springs. Southwest cancelled our flight with 3 hours notice and luckily we got some of the last seats on one of the last flights out that day. Finally made it to our hotel at 3 am. This was stressful enough happening 2 days before our cruise, I can’t imagine dealing with flight issues day of.

 

[Firstof3]

On my first cruise I flew in much like what you currently have planned. It worked fine, no issues whatsoever. Since then I have heard too many stories of all planes at airport x where delayed by a few hours as a flock of birds took up residence on the runways, or someone who got to the airport late decided to go backwards through the baggage claim to skip security and caused the whole airport to be shut down for "X" amount of time while they looked for the individual. I am planning to fly in at least one day early for my next cruise. Chances of this type of thing happening are fairly small, but why take that much of a chance when you paid so much for the boat ride in the first place.

 

[diznymom]

All it takes is one delay and you miss the ship, your cruise and your much anticipated vacation.

 

[lizzyb]

That is cutting it close. I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Rob1872]

3 hours of delay and you miss the ship. If you can't come in the night before due to schedule issues, get a good trip insurance policy. If I had insurance that would pay out on a delay from that tight of a connection, AND if I was OK with shifting to a week at Disneyworld/Universal/SeaWorld if I missed my cruise, then and only then would I risk that tight of a timeline.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Fly in the day before. Especially in September, when hurricanes can still reck havoc on airline schedules (among other months).

Even if you need to take a late night flight the night before. Just crash in the MCO Hyatt when you land, and take the DCL shuttle.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Plenty of people fly in the morning of their cruise and have an uneventful experience. But what if you're not one of them? If you don't have to fly in that day (for example, someone who's working a night shift and can't change or can't get a babysitter, etc), then fly in the night before. Yes, it costs you the hotel fare. You're already paying a bundle for the cruise and airfare. Spring for the hotel and know you're in Orlando and ready to sail.

 

[DisneyKrayzie2]

Just like the others have said, we like to fly in the night before and stay at the MCO Hyatt that is right there in the terminal. Then take the Disney transfer bus (for a charge) and arrive at the terminal on the first bus and get on the ship by noon. Ill gladly pay for a night at hotel for the piece of mind that a delayed flight wont cost be a missed cruise.

 

[kiford]

I've had flights delayed by 7 hours. I wouldn't cut it that close even when it's not in winter. A mechanical delay (which is what caused our 7 hour flight delay) could cause you to miss the ship.

 

[lklgoodman]

We almost missed our first cruise because of a delayed flight. We now fly in the day before. We take the first flight out, even though it's direct 2 hour flight, we still always take the first flight so that if it gets delayed, we still have at least 10 later flights we could try to make. So as others have said, fly out the day before your cruise.

 

[MichelleCanada]

We will be sailing on the Fantasy in September. This is our first ever cruise and I am nervous about our arrival date and time. Our plane arrives at MCO at 11:00 am on embarkation day. Is this cutting it too close? Should we fly in a day earlier and stay overnight?

Where are you flying in from? Is it a direct flight? That would have an impact on me and what I decide to do.

 

[SG131]

Too close for me I would be so stressed out. No one wants to start a vacation by being stressed.

 

[pixiedustedme]

I would be fine with it if it was a direct flight from a warm area.

 

[Spiffy MacSpiff]

You're cutting it pretty close, IMHO. There's no predicting travel delays and people are often stressed enough about a first cruise as it is. My family always plans to arrive the day before embarkation just in case. It really paid off once when we ran into some travel problems and would have missed the ship if we hadn't allowed ourselves that extra time. To me, the peace of mind is worth the extra vacation day and the expense of a hotel room for the night before the cruise.

 

[WanderingAlice]

You guys just reinforced one of my worries so thank you! We have a cruise set for December 2nd, the week after thanksgiving and the start of the winter season. We were planning on flying in the day of at Miami and arriving at 12pm but I feel it was cutting it too close, so I just now changed our flight to a day before with an added hotel. Thankfully we have the whole weekend, so hopefully my friend will not mind the change. It’s for my peace of mind anyways!

 

[GatorMomInNC]

We will be sailing on the Fantasy in September. This is our first ever cruise and I am nervous about our arrival date and time. Our plane arrives at MCO at 11:00 am on embarkation day. Is this cutting it too close? Should we fly in a day earlier and stay overnight?

Yes.