How late is too late to land at MCO the day of a cruise?

[erinsmom03]

We have never flown in on the day of a cruise before, but we are this time due to the timing of our next cruise (January 2nd). We had originally booked the earliest flight possible, which would have gotten us to MCO at 9:25 a.m. I felt comfortable with this. Then, Delta went and changed our flight by two hours, and our new arrival time at MCO is 11:37 a.m. I am really nervous about this change.

Our original plan was to hire a car service to get our party of 7 to the ship. Now, I'm thinking that might not be the best choice. I'm considering the Disney ground transfer simply because then we don't have to retrieve our luggage. I want to make sure that we can arrive at the port in time.

Any words of wisdom to offer?

 

[Carrie in AZ]

I am sorry, not what you want to hear, but do not do this! You are one weather delay or mechanical issue away from missing your cruise. My stomach could not handle this. Is there any other alternative whatsoever? Can you ask them for refund since the new timing will not work for you and rebook on another carrier? I am wishing you all the best.

 

[maxiesmom]

Book the flight the day before. It is a terrifically bad idea to fly in the day of a cruise. Too much can go wrong. If your plane is delayed at all you can miss your cruise.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We have never flown in on the day of a cruise before, but we are this time due to the timing of our next cruise (January 2nd). We had originally booked the earliest flight possible, which would have gotten us to MCO at 9:25 a.m. I felt comfortable with this. Then, Delta went and changed our flight by two hours, and our new arrival time at MCO is 11:37 a.m. I am really nervous about this change.

Our original plan was to hire a car service to get our party of 7 to the ship. Now, I'm thinking that might not be the best choice. I'm considering the Disney ground transfer simply because then we don't have to retrieve our luggage. I want to make sure that we can arrive at the port in time.

Any words of wisdom to offer?

Did you accept the flight change? That's the key. If the new flights don't work, you need to let the airline know, and they will assist you with finding one that will. At least that's my experience.

According to DCL's website:

• Latest arrival time to Orlando International Airport on Embarkation Day: 1:45 PM

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/guest-services/air-ground-transportation/

 

[hcox31]

I think that would be incredibly stressful. Especially in January. There are too many weather delay possibilities. I'd be looking to fly in the day before. (We are probably on the same cruise.. ours leaves the 2nd too)

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We have never flown in on the day of a cruise before, but we are this time due to the timing of our next cruise (January 2nd). We had originally booked the earliest flight possible, which would have gotten us to MCO at 9:25 a.m. I felt comfortable with this. Then, Delta went and changed our flight by two hours, and our new arrival time at MCO is 11:37 a.m. I am really nervous about this change.

Our original plan was to hire a car service to get our party of 7 to the ship. Now, I'm thinking that might not be the best choice. I'm considering the Disney ground transfer simply because then we don't have to retrieve our luggage. I want to make sure that we can arrive at the port in time.

Any words of wisdom to offer?

You "could" make it if everything goes well, but I'd try to get in the day before as well. We were once delayed for 3 hours because a bird or something hit the windshield and broke it, of the plane we were going to get on while it was landing in Phoenix. They had to completely empty the entire plane, change the windshield out, start up the plane again and go through the entire pre-check process so we could finally get on our way.

Arriving at that time would be way too stressful for me to enjoy it.

 

[MickeyEarrings]

Even if you live in a warm climate and aren't concerned about the weather, the plane may be coming to you from a cold place.....

I wouldn't do it, either.

 

[wombat_5606]

I have to agree with the previous posters that you should avoid arriving the day of the cruise.

Sadly, this may not be your last airline change from Delta either. There are still 2 months for them to play with their schedule.

One time they changed my daughters flights so many times that she ended up having to cancel her trip home to see her mother. Her itinerary didn't have many choices and a $400 plane ticket for approximately 24 hours home just wasn't worth it.

Then there was the trip where she booked an airline ticket to maximize the time in the park to justify the cost for an extra day ticket to WDW. Delta changed her flight and she ended up having to use her ticket for just a few hours in the park.

So another consideration is where you are coming from and how well it is serviced by the airlines. Sadly where we live there are very few choices for alternate flights once they start changing things.

 

[Confederate Scott]

We have never flown in on the day of a cruise before, but we are this time due to the timing of our next cruise (January 2nd). We had originally booked the earliest flight possible, which would have gotten us to MCO at 9:25 a.m. I felt comfortable with this. Then, Delta went and changed our flight by two hours, and our new arrival time at MCO is 11:37 a.m. I am really nervous about this change.

Our original plan was to hire a car service to get our party of 7 to the ship. Now, I'm thinking that might not be the best choice. I'm considering the Disney ground transfer simply because then we don't have to retrieve our luggage. I want to make sure that we can arrive at the port in time.

Any words of wisdom to offer?

Arriving at 11:37am the day of your cruise does not sound like a good idea at all. There are too many things that could go wrong.

 

[olookasquirrel]

I think the questions are:

--Where are you coming from? -> a 45 minute puddle jumper from the south is a different beast than a 5 hour flight from mid-Canada
--How many flights are there? -> I flew from Newark to Chicago a few days ago and there were 7 direct flights over the course of the day on just my airline (of course, this assumes direct weather won't be an issue). If I hadn't been able to make the 6am flight, I could have gotten on the 7am flight. As opposed to my trip to Salt Lake City last week, where there were 2 direct flights back home - if I had missed the 4pm flight, I would have been hanging out until the next day!
--Are you prepared for the consequences? Think travel insurance, as with 7 people I doubt you'd want to pay out of pocket for walk up tickets on another airline, and make sure it covers the worst case of missing your cruise.

Flying from the north, I'm super paranoid about snow, so we always plan to arrive early the day before - early enough so that if we had to, we could call it and drive. It would be a terrible drive though!

 

[polyqueen]

We are on the same cruise and are flying in the night before (landing at nearly midnight) and staying overnight at the Hyatt. I concur with the previous posters, change your flight plans if you can. Good Luck!

 

[Dug720]

Anytime the day of the cruise is too late IMHO.

Suck it up and pay for a hotel the night before. Unless you're ok with missing the ship because of the flight being delayed or cancelled.

 

[dclpluto]

I see you are from Michigan and it's January 2nd. Too much could go wrong. Snow

I wouldn't do it. You probably will be fine if it doesn't snow that day or day before. You could also have. Mechanical delAy.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Anither slant on the winter weather which we saw last year: severe weather that backed up flights for days. So many flights were canceled then it took DAYS for the airlines to catch up. This was way different than flights being delayed by a couple of hours due to de-icing, etc.

We also saw two major airline power outages which shut down the carriers for an entire day or more.

 

[Marc D]

Last February, our flight scheduled at 8PM the evening BEFORE the cruise didn't get off the tarmac. The plane, full of Canadian cruisers, was taken offline. The only flight left to get us to our cruises in time was a 6AM the day of the cruise that had 3 tickets left. They finally found a plane that landed at MCO at 3 AM (btw, there are cabs at MCO at that hour). My point : not only will we now fly the day before, but only on a morning flight to keep alternatives open.

 

[tinay]

On my first cruise out of Port Canaveral, my parents and I were flying in the day before because my parents at the time did not sleep well on planes and we took the advice of so many people. We left early in the afternoon from California and made it to our layover in Phoenix...where we would find out that our connecting flight was canceled due to weather from wherever it was coming from. So, we spent the next 2 hours trying to figure out how to get to MCO. We ended up taking a flight back to LAX and then taking a red eye to MCO. We arrived around 5am. I was so happy and exhausted that we made it. We got checked into the hotel room at Hyatt. My parents napped while I met up with the rest of our party.

We always fly in the day before the cruise and just hang out at the Hyatt and wake up early have McDonalds and then get in line...hoping to be the first ones on the bus

 

[professorandmom]

To the OP: like descriptions of labor and childbirth, your experience will be yours despite the many tales of horror...many people fly in on the day of the cruise - successfully...I've done it (in Winter) and been a nervous wreck but it worked...flying in the day of the cruise is NOT impossible...the risk analysis is yours...
Gather all the information you can and make a decision that is best for your family

 

[GoofyDisneyDaddy]

It could be done. But this is too risky to try in my opinion. I will only fly day of if:

1) it's not winter
2) I'm on the first flight of the day for that plane (i.e, that plane spent the next night at my airport), and
3) there are several later flights that would get me to the ship on time

Your scenario breaks all three of my conditions for day of flying. And, even with all these conditions, I'd still fly in day before where possible.

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

I'm worried for you just thinking about this. The one time I tried to fly in the day of from Chicago in early December, there was a massive snowstorm the day before and our flight was canceled. We had zero options to get out on any airline that would have made it in time for our trip and not enough time to drive even if the weather hadn't been dangerous. DCL was under no obligation to let us switch our cruise date so we didn't lose all our money (we hadn't booked air through them), but they did just that. We were so grateful!

Of course you most likely won't experience this, but if you have any other options to take a flight the day in advance or even earlier the day of, I agree with others who strongly suggest it. Sometimes due to work schedules, etc that just isn't possible. If you must take the risk, be sure you have insurance. Wishing you good luck!

 

[wilkeliza]

If coming in day of is your only option the best idea is to get first flight out in the am. That ways if you have any issues you have more than enough options to try and get there. Weather delays are an issue no matter time of year so hard to plan for that.

Also make sure you have trip insurance. Would suck to lose the cost of the cruise because you couldn't get to port.