How early can you book a flight from San Diego?

[Love2Cruise2015]

My family and I have never sailed from San Diego before and we are looking at return flights and I found a really reasonable rate but its leaving at 10:50am, do you think we would make it using DCL transfer from port to airport?
(I did google what DCL website recommends for departure times and it says 11:45, we are leaving on March 15,2019 arriving in port at 8:30am our itinerary says, if that helps)

 

[dcassetta]

My family and I have never sailed from San Diego before and we are looking at return flights and I found a really reasonable rate but its leaving at 10:50am, do you think we would make it using DCL transfer from port to airport?
(I did google what DCL website recommends for departure times and it says 11:45, we are leaving on March 15,2019 arriving in port at 8:30am our itinerary says, if that helps)

Does your itinerary say that the ship will not arrive until 830, or 830 is when they anticipate debarkation to begin? If the ship doesn't arrive until 830, it may be quite a while before they start debarking. The airport is not too far, but I tend to think that Disney's advice about flight times is pretty good.

 

[MillauFr]

Just book a flight after Noon and don't worry about it.

 

[Love2Cruise2015]

Thank you for all your help. I think we will be safe and go with the flights after 12

 

[bobyetman]

Having done SD a few times with DCL, I will warn you that just because the ship docks on-time, and they start letting people off on time (0830, which doesn't always happen), don't assume you're going to get off at 0830. We've had to wait almost 2 hours twice to get off, because unlike PC, they do it in groups, and depending on which group you get, you may be in the last group off the ship (happened to us once). In our experience, customs in SD is very iffy, one cruise we got off there, and they were so backed up at customs they just started taking our forms and not even looking at them, and were getting us out as fast as they could. So, allow plenty of time. If you get an earlier flight (before 1:00 pm), might not hurt to go to guest services the day before and ask for the luggage tags for the first group off. Just tell them you have an early flight.

The airport is approximately 1 mile away, and a cab will cost between $10 - 20 (depending on the number of stop lights you hit).

 

[darnheather]

I'm glad this thread came up. Looks like I'll be on a redeye after all. Ug. For whatever reason it seems like flights to the east coast are either before noon or after 10pm.

 

[dclpluto]

There is no advantage of taking dcl transportation in San Diego.you still have to get your bags and the airport is very close. A cab will be cheaper. Plenty of them waiting.

 

[nrexxma44]

Jet Blue flies out of San Diego and has afternoon flights. You can also fly out of John Wayne airport which is about an hour away in Newport Beach.

 

[bumbershoot]

Good idea to look at other airports, but right now sitting in downtown San Diego google tells me it would be 1.5 hours to SNA, and it’s Sunday. Not sure when the cruise gets in, but it can be longer than that. But even getting to the SAN airport can be a pain depending on what else is going on in town.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I'm glad this thread came up. Looks like I'll be on a redeye after all. Ug. For whatever reason it seems like flights to the east coast are either before noon or after 10pm.

Just rent a car and drive to Anaheim. Visit Disneyland and then fly home out of Ontario (John Wayne).

 

[darnheather]

Just rent a car and drive to Anaheim. Visit Disneyland and then fly home out of Ontario (John Wayne).

Going to DL was the original plan. But one of my kids will be in school and two weeks out is more than enough.

 

[darnheather]

Jet Blue flies out of San Diego and has afternoon flights. You can also fly out of John Wayne airport which is about an hour away in Newport Beach.

Thank you for reminding me of Jet Blue. I just checked them and to my destination the flight would be at 910pm and $626!!!! Right now Delta is $195. I'm waiting for Southwest to release their fares.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Going to DL was the original plan. But one of my kids will be in school and two weeks out is more than enough.

Bummer. But I can totally understand, I didn't like taking DD out of school either.

 

[darnheather]

Bummer. But I can totally understand, I didn't like taking DD out of school either.

When we booked this trip both were homeschooled. Now my youngest is going into a private school. Thankfully, they are very supportive of family time and see this trip as a life changing educational experience.