The Night before?

[Ambifins]

I'm wondering whether I should plan on flying down the night before my cruise, or the morning of my cruise. I had originally assumed that I just come down the day of, but some posts imply it's better to come down earlier. If I do come down the night before, can I still use Disney transport even if I'm not going on the boat?
(By the way, I'm not sailing until March 06, and it's my first cruise ever.)

 

[rotary2808]

Alot of it depends on how long your flight would be. Coming down the night before makes more sense, less to go wrong. You can stay at the Hyatt at the airport and then use the cruise line transportation the next morning and be one of the first at the terminal. We normally fly down the morning of the cruise, we wanted to fly the night before this time, but schedules wouldn't allow it, but we're close to Fl. so it only takes about 2 hours to fly there. You'll love it, Disney cruises are the best, especially for a first cruise!!!

 

[hsteacher]

It is def. more relaxing to get there the day before. If you aren't using Disney for your air flights, it's not guaranteed that you will make the sailing. Ex: my first cruise, I flew out the morning of sailing from Chicago. I did not use Disney air. The plane was to leave O'Hare at 7 a.m. arrive Orland around 10. Shouldn't have been a problem and yes, I reserved Disney Transport from airport to port. Well, the plane was delayed and we didn't end up leaving O'Hare until 11 a.m.!! Arrived Orlando at 2 and didn't get to the port until 3:30 -- life boat drill is at 4!! We were very rushed and I felt totally exhusted as I was stressing about making the boat! The boat doesn't wait. It's just my opinion and I've been on four cruises since and always arrive the day before just so Im rested and relaxed. I have not been on a flight yet, even leaving the day before, that hasn't been delayed for some reason or the other.

Good luck and have a good time!

 

[inkkognito]

Flying in from Chicago, particularly in the winter, I always fly in the night before. MCO area hotel rooms are very reasonable via Priceline, and I like having that "margin of error."
Barb

 

[SeaSpray]

Hello from one MA DISer to another!

Especially after the long, snowy winter we had this year, I highly recommend flying down the day before. March is a funny time of year; we can have great weather, blizzards, or anything in between!

I think you chose an excellent cruise line for your first cruise

 

[scrapperjill]

Like others have said...flying down the night before is more relaxing. Another bonus of comming ahead of time...is the very first day on the ship...your not totally wiped out from all the travel that day (you'll at least have a nice rest in the hotel the night before). Another thought that I haven't seen mentioned before is...if your luggage is delayed or lost for any reason...comming the night before will give you a little more time to have it found.

The disney transportation shouldn't be a problem as long as your at one of the locations that they pick up at. So if your staying at a hotel near MCO...you may have to catch one of the hotel shuttles back to the airport to catch the DCL transportation...