Flight Question

[Luv2trav]

Do we have time to catch at 10:45 flight on disembark day?

 

[The Sasquatch]

assuming you are going to MCO and you keep your luggage to do the early disembarkation and yopu have a car you should be ok. I have been in WDW around 9am.

I have never taken magical express so I dont know when that bus leaves port

 

[Quellman]

assuming you are going to MCO and you keep your luggage to do the early disembarkation and yopu have a car you should be ok. I have been in WDW around 9am.

I have never taken magical express so I dont know when that bus leaves port

But WDW doesn't have TSA checks nor a rental car drop off to figure. OP has to wait until ship clears, walk off, clear customs, get to parking garage and load in. 60 minutes to the airport, rental car (assumed) return, airline check in (since they wont do luggage transfer if they do express walk off), TSA line, tram to terminal gate.

I'm sure people have done it in the past and can chime in, but I just wanted to point out that getting to WDW isn't exactly the same as getting to the gate at the airport.

 

[cedricandsophie]

I wouldn't do it personally. If you take DCL bus you might get the first one but it wouldn't leave until at least 830 or 9 because it waits to fill up, getting you there 45 to 50 min later. If you check in luggage on cruise you could go right to srcurity. But Orlando has one of the worst security lines so it can take anywhere from 15 to an hour to get thru unless you are PRE. If you are renting a car you have to get off, get bags, go thru customs, wait for rental cr van, etc. Then you have drive to airport, car rental drop off, check in and security. Others May disagree but for me its way too much stress. The earliest I've ever scheduled plane after a cruise is 12.

 

[samily]

Here is what I posted on another thread about how it worked out for us (we were on a Dream cruise out of Port Canaveral - this is from a year or two ago):


We easily made a 10:45am flight out of MCO last Sunday. I was a bit worried about making the flight and normally wouldn't have booked that early but we wanted to be back home for something that afternoon.

It was just me & DH traveling so that made it easier than if we had the kids with us. Here is what we did:

-We packed in 2 small carryon suitcases so we wouldn't have to stand in line to check luggage at the airport
-We booked DCL transfers to MCO
-We carried our luggage off the ship because I didn't want to have to take the time to locate it
-We lined up in the atrium at about 7:05 and were let off the ship about 7:20-ish
-Went through customs and we were sitting on the DCL bus by 7:30
-By 7:45 the bus was full and we were on our way to MCO
-Arrived at MCO at 8:30
-My FIL had checked us in online from home, so we just needed to print our boarding passes at the Southwest self serve kiosks (the actual line for checking luggage or full service for Southwest was HUGE!)
-Went through security (the line wasn't bad at all - everyone was still in the SW line, lol)
-We were at our gate by 8:55

We were lucky everything worked perfectly for us - I was worried because on the way to the port for the cruise the other side of the highway to MCO had a lot of construction and traffic was quite backed up.

Also, for breakfast went up to Cabanas around 6:30 - they had fruits and pastries out at this time - the full buffet did not open until 7, so we had some fruit and one last chocolate croissant there and ate again at the airport.

I will also add that I had also brought a list of later flights in case we needed them just in case we didn't make it, luckily we were fine. A flight that early wouldn't be my first choice but we have had to do it a couple of times.

 

[bumbershoot]

Just because it can be doesn't mean it should be done.

MCO is an airport that demands being there two hours ahead most of the time. We had Pre and status meant that dropping bags took five minutes but by the time we got to the gate we were glad we had walked in two hours before the flight.

Only way I would do a flight that early is if it were the following day.

 

[MunFam]

Things happen. Ships can and do pull in to port late. My very first cruise was almost 10 hours late pulling in to port. We hit a storm and had to slow down. They had us leave our luggage for the pull and asked us to vacate our rooms at 1pm so they could start turnover. When we pulled in to port, they got us off as quickly as possible and then started loading. Most people on the ship missed their flights. I have a 24 hour grace period rule with all cruise travel both directions...and I always have insurance.