flight times

[Jessbaby]

Our ship will be docking at 8:30 AM. What would be a good time for a flight home? Is a 12:25 flight enough time to get off the ship and get to the airport or should I go with the 1:25?

Thanks

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

12:25 should be fine. Actually, the ship usually docks well before 8:30am. It's usually docked by 6:00, and they often clear it for debarkation by 7:30 or so. I wouldn't book anything earlier than noon, just to be safe, but the latest I've ever been to the airport and through security after getting off the ship has been 10:15am.

 

[KAR3600]

Personnally, I would take the 1:30 flight, why rush like crazyon the last day of your vacation if "things" don't go as planned.

 

[pediatric-rnp]

We had an 11:50 AM flight last April, and were at the airport by 8:40 AM with lots of time to spare. But, we were fortunate and did not encounter any traffic delays on the way. We made certain we were off the ship as soon as they allowed us to leave, which was about 7:30 if I recall correctly. (We brought our carry-on bags with us to breakfast at 6:45, and then waited in the lobby.)Then we found a porter who eased us thru finding our luggage and getting thru customs at lightening speed - I would highly recommend using the porter (don't forget to tip, also - this is easy to forget as you are in a rush and they move so quickly - my DH had to run after the guy to give him our tip!)
We also had air thru Disney as well as the transfers, so our luggage was given by the porter to the Delta rep outside the terminal, and our bags were tagged and loaded onto the Delta truck, and we were checked into our flight right there. So, by the time we reached the airport, there was nothing to do for 3 hrs except find a seat, relax and wait! Which was nice as it was the end of April break and the lines were tremendous at the airport.

 

[MommyTo5]

Our ship will be docking at 8:30 AM. What would be a good time for a flight home? Is a 12:25 flight enough time to get off the ship and get to the airport or should I go with the 1:25?

Thanks

We had at 12:40 p.m. flight last month and made it in plenty of time even with lots of fog that morning. We actually had enough time to shop at the Disney Store at the airport as well as have lunch at Chili's before our flight started boarding so I think you should definitely be fine with a 12:25 p.m. flight.

~ Angie
MommyTo5

 

[my3princesses]

We have a 3:30 flight and was thinking of trying to catch an earlier one instead but then we decided to take a few hours to do some shopping (there are a lot of stores that we do not have) and just take it easy. The week will seem to fly by and you are always busy doing something, so it will be nice to just do something casually.

We have the DCL transfers but was able to cancel the last part to the airport so we will rent a car for the day until we leave. Any chance to stay in warm Florida instead of Ontario a little longer is appreciated!

 

[faireygod mother]

We had the 1130 2 weeks ago and we had plent of time to shop at the earport and clear that aweful line for security.

 

[tvguy]

The airport security is what you have to watch. It took us 90 minutes of waiting in line to get through the metal detectors. We were at the airport 2 hours before our flight left, but because of the security backup, just barely made our 12:35pm flight. Literally walked from the metal detectors to the gate and right onto the plane.
There was also a 45 minute wait to get off the ship, we lined up at 8:30, were off the ship at 10:15, took us literally 10 minutes to find our bags, clear immigration and customs, check the bags with AA at the port, get on the DCL bus and be on our way, but like I said, the airport delay was the problem. I gather Saturday's in Orlando are the worst since that tends to be the heaviest day for ships to arrive and depart.
We had the same problem with our Alaska cruise out of Seattle on a Saturday. Thousands of cruise passengers arriving at the airport all at once, and trying to check in all at once, even though some of them weren't flying out for 6 hours our more. Alaska Air literally had to juggle folks in line so those with earlier flights were in line ahead of the folks who left later.