First Cruise

[clten]

I agree with everyone from the practical side, lots of things can delay flights these days so I don't risk flying in day of any more.

But look at it from the vacation side. If you are flying in day of, that probably means a very early morning to get out of the house, to the airport, through security usually to wait around. The actual travel (the hurry up to wait part) tires me out. If you fly in the day of, by time you hit dinner time you are exhausted -- I've seen plenty of kids crashing at dinner that first night. You've only got a limited number of nights to enjoy the cruise ship, do you want to squander the first one because it was your travel day?

To us it's always worth the little extra time and money to be less stressful and to have a less hectic way to begin vacation.

 

[phins_jazy]

We are flying in the day before and staying at the MCO hotel. I would freak out if we flew in the day of.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

To pile on; we drive down to Florida from Virginia - here it comes - the day before!

I really responded so I could tell you how excited I am for you and your family. That first cruise was truly magical for us. Come to think of it, so was the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth...

Yay for you!

 

[WOD]

Thank you all! We changed our flight and are now coming in a day early. We rented DVC points and will be staying on property. That gives us a day in the parks before we cruise in addition to two days after we cruise! Yay!!

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Good job. You can relax and enjoy your time at WDW and the cruise!

 

[Dug720]

WAY too close.

I don’t care if it is non-stop (“direct” in airline parlance means the same flight number, but there can be at least one stop (Southwest is famous for these in my experience) and possibly even an equipment change) from a warm place. All it takes is weather or a computer system failure or any little problem ANYWHERE in the system to potentially cause massive delays. EVEN on the first flight out. I have had first flights delayed by an hour or more because something delayed the incoming flight crew and they had to have their mandated rest period and there were not enough subs to come in.

Unless you can emotionally and financially handle losing the cruise, fly in at least one night before.

Edit to add: I see that the OP has made a wise choice. Good job!

 

[nzdisneymom]

OP, you'll enjoy this first cruise so much more by having removed the travel worry for arrival. Good choice.

 

[tigerfansga]

I’ve flown for business travel over the years. I had one flight home from Chicago, a twenty storm came through four hours before my 6pm flight. I left the airport for a extra night stay in Chicago at 1am. It take just the most random event to give you delays. Good for you for changing your flight.

 

[hcox31]

Good decision to change your flight, OP. One ground delay (hello, Florida thunderstorms) and you would be in a position to miss the ship. Last cruise we flew in on the last flight the night before and I was stressing with that.

 

[flowsoul]

Thank you all! We changed our flight and are now coming in a day early. We rented DVC points and will be staying on property. That gives us a day in the parks before we cruise in addition to two days after we cruise! Yay!!

Good call. Airport and flight mishaps are always possible and you just saved yourself from all the stress and worry of making it in time to board your cruise ship. If just going through the airport security and taking a flight is not tiring and stressful enough at that. Enjoy your first cruise!

 

[jvncnt]

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?

Absolutely should fly in a day earlier. Weather is just one of many things that can go wrong, and if they do, you will likely miss the cruise.

 

[Kennywood]

Let me provide some first-hand experience to this conversation. We just returned from our DCL cruise to Alaska. We arrived in Vancouver the day before Embarkation Day. Boy, am I glad we did! Our plane must have been one of a LOT of other planes that arrived around the same time. We stood in line for half an hour upstairs in the airport, winding our way through the back-and-forth maze. We thought we would get to the customs area, when we got to the end of the line. Nope! Once we got to the end of the line, we had to take the escalator downstairs to wait in another back-and-forth maze. This one took about 45 minutes. On top of that, even though there were a LOT of open kiosks to scan your passport, they were only using about 1/2 of them. (I still have no idea why.) Doing our passports took about another 15 minutes. Then we had to wait for our baggage, which took about another 1/2 hour, as one of our bags was temporarily misplaced.

So, from the time we landed to when we got to our awaiting shuttle to the airport, it was a little over 2 hours. Our shuttle driver was literally starting to walk away and leave, just as we walked up. Had we been even 1 minute later, we would have had to take a cab to the hotel, even though we had paid for the shuttle. The shuttle driver waited longer than he normally would, as he found out about the influx of passengers. Still, it was VERY close.

If we had flown on Embarkation Day and all of this had happened, I honestly don't know if we would have made it to the ship on time.

So, for those thinking of arriving the day of your cruise.....don't. Arrive the day before your cruise.

 

[diznymom]

I always book a flight the morning before the cruise. Worst case scenario.....with 2 or 3 of us driving, we can drive to PC in 24 hours. I hope we never have to do that drive like that, but it is still an option if need be.

 

[Caboosey]

First cruise coming up in August. Initially, my boyfriend balked at coming in a day early and adding the night's hotel stay on top of the cost of this major vacation. However, after reading some horror stories to him he's convinced that we made the right call flying in the night before.

 

[Pooh93]

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.

We always take the first flight out the day before for the same reason. Many other SW flights that day leaving St. Louis to Orlando. Never would we try to fly in the day of the cruise.

 

[MomOTwins]

We always take the first flight out the day before for the same reason. Many other SW flights that day leaving St. Louis to Orlando. Never would we try to fly in the day of the cruise.

Off topic but we are in St. Louis too--go Blues!

Glad OP moved. We are flying in the day before for the first time this November and even that has me super nervous--normally we give ourselves at least a 2 day cushion, but I can't get away from work this time.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

Off topic but we are in St. Louis too--go Blues!

Glad OP moved. We are flying in the day before for the first time this November and even that has me super nervous--normally we give ourselves at least a 2 day cushion, but I can't get away from work this time.

Play Gloria!

 

[Pooh93]

Play Gloria!

Actually we are across the river in Illinois, but St. Louis is so much more relatable! LOL We are cruising in August on the Dream. Glad OP moved her plans.
Yes, GO BLUES!!! We are normally like "it's June and Hockey is still going on?" But now we are "heck yeah Hockey is going on!"

 

[heatherking06]

We r flying into MCO aug 28 (2days before) 1st cruise Aug 30. My travel agent suggested staying at Holiday Inn Orlando water park and catching an Uber the morning of the cruise and on the way back, our flight leaves MCO at 10:30 am, I wanted to stay at Disney and use magical express but all the value resorts r booked.

 

[Caboosey]

We r flying into MCO aug 28 (2days before) 1st cruise Aug 30. My travel agent suggested staying at Holiday Inn Orlando water park and catching an Uber the morning of the cruise and on the way back, our flight leaves MCO at 10:30 am, I wanted to stay at Disney and use magical express but all the value resorts r booked.

Leaving at 10:30 AM seems pretty early - doesn't Disney recommend a 11:30 or later flight?