Flight Questions for Cruise

[Ringo73]

Hello there - hope everyone is having a magical day.

We've booked our cruise in November. My question - When should we book our return flight on the day we debark? I've read that debark begins at 7:30am, so should I book an early afternoon or early evening flight?

Thanks!

 

[mommasita]

Disney reccomends nothing before 12:30pm...THis is due to any unforseen circumstance.....You could probably make an earlier one, but with many rattled nerves..

We have successfully done 2 11:30 am flights, but I have to tell you, we moved it, and it was not that easy to do...We had time to spare, but there is always that "what if"...

HTH

 

[kcashner]

DCL suggests that you not book a flight before noon.

Under normal circumstances, DCL asks that all guests be off the ship by 9 am so that they can prepare for the next cruise. It takes about 45 minutes to get to MCO, and you should be there 2 hours before your flight. We were on one cruise where the big doors didn't open till well after 9--don't know what the hold up was, but DCL can't open the doors until the ship has been cleared by US Customs. I actually made a 9:30 flight on a different cruise--we were booked on one about noon, but got to the airport in time for the earlier one and the airline asked if we wanted it.

So...unless you have some reason to hang out around MCO, I'd book as soon after noon as there is a flight.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Most people get off around 8 A.M. after they have had breakfast. It doesn't take too long to get your luggage and go through customs. The port is around an hour from the airport. So if your done with luggage and customs by 9:30, allow a few minutes for a taxi or to get to your rental car, an hour to get to the airport. You want to check in 2 hours before your flight, so if you had a flight around 3 or 4 P.M. you should be fine. That allows some extra time for those unexpected things that can happen. OIA has many shops you can browse through to waste time and many places to grab a bite to eat before boarding the plane. Better to allow a little extra time, once we were headed back from the port (only one road to take) and there had been an accident. It took us over an hour to go about 2 miles. There really arnt any places to get off and go around such things. I hope this helps some.
mom x4, grandma x4

 

[tvguy]

Disney recommends nothing before 12:30 pm, and we barely made our 12:35 pm flight.
Many have made earlier flights. But there are too many factors that can slow your exit.
Many love the Disney system of "get off the ship when you want". I found that to be chaos. Most other cruise lines have you leave the ship based on what time your flight leaves. I did not appreciate having to stand in line for 45 minutes to get off the ship.
The system on linking to your luggage was, however, the best I have experienced in 6 cruises.

 

[Texan Mouseketeer]

So what if you book online with Disney and they make the flight times for you? Do they make sure that they schedule you on a flight that would fit in these time windows?

 

[tvguy]

I would assume Disney would take their own advice and book at 12:30 pm.