Fly the night before?

[MaineFam3]

I would say to absolutely fly in the night before. Flight delays happen all of the time & I would be too stressed out if I was flying in the same day as my cruise departed.

We did this last year & rented a car, which is much cheaper than Disney transportation. We stayed at the Sheraton in Cocoa Beach, because I had points for a free night. I think many on here stay at the Radisson.

I think the best way would be to do a one-way rental car, which can be dropped off near the port & they will shuttle you to the port. Of course you would want to drop off the rest of your party & luggage prior to doing this.

My family will be flying in the day before our cruise and stay at a hotel near the port. I had also originally planned to arrange a weekly car rental and do a stay and park/cruise hotel package, but hadn't thought of doing one-way day rentals instead. Sounds almost as easy and much more cost effective.
Thanks for the great tip!

 

[Magic3forme]

We fly in the day before. We have gone to MNSSHP the night before and got a priceline hotel near WDW. We always rented a car thru Avis, the pickup and drop off at the port have been great. Also when you rent a car, you can pick up things you may have forgotten and/or some adult beverages.

this year we are able to drive, but we are staying near the port at the Residence Inn. (free room with points.)

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We always fly in at least one night before, more if we want to spend time at some of the parks. Too many things can go wrong with flights that could get you in too late to make the port in time.

We have experienced a delayed flight ourselves on our way home from AZ. We made an emergency landing ay ABQ because the cockpit window started to delaminate during the flight. We were stuck in the airport for several hours before we got on another plane and continued on our way home. First they could not repair the plane at that time, so they had to find another plane to fly us home, when they found another plane our original crews time ran out so they had to find another crew. When the new crew arrived a huge cheer went up and everyone around us waiting for another flight were wondering what the heck was going on where we had been waiting.

Another time we had to pick up my in-laws at the airport one evening, flight was expected in about 10:30 pm. There flight was delayed several hours because of problems with the plane, we picked them up at about 1:30 am.

Weather, plane problems, connecting flight delays, too many things can go wrong. Fly in the night before if you can. We always stay at a WDW resort. We take the ME to the resort and a DCL bus to the port.

 

[mmouse37]

How early can you board the ship? I am deciding wether to stay in Orlando or Port Canaveral? Dont want to be sitting around for hrs waiting to get on the ship...

Port opens for check in around 10:00 or so and boading starts at about 11:30-11:45....so you really are not at the terminal for too long. The characters come up, there is comfy seating, cartoons for the kids, beautiful cut out model of the ship to investigate.....we love to get to the port at opening and take it all in!!!

MJ