What time off ship?

[DeeCeeSW]

Hi all,
I am already looking into rental cars for getting to the port and back to MCO for our cruise next May. I already have a car reserved from MCO to PC. I was wondering if someone would give me an estimate of what time we can expect to be off the ship so that I can book the return.

We will use Budget and will need to be at MCO for a 1:45pm. flight. Thanks in advance!

 

[kcashner]

Dcl wants everyone off the ship by 9. The big doors usually open around 8, although we were on one cruise where they didn't open till after 9:30.

Your breakfast the last morning depends on your dinner seating. Late seating has 8 am breakfast, early is before that. You can also eat at the buffet on deck 9. As soon as you finish breakfast, you are off. 9 am would be safe....or a little earlier if you like.

 

[DeeCeeSW]

Thanks for the quick response!

 

[tvguy]

9 is a good choice. That's in the middle of when most people manage to make it off the ship.
They do say they want you off by 9 am, and normally open the doors by 8, but face it, it takes a while to get 2700 people off the ship. There is normally a steady line from 8 until at least 10. Even 2 hours is a pretty fast pace, a little math tells me that 22 people a minute have to exit the ship (possible if they walk fast) but not sure customs and immigration can clear 22 people a minute on the pier.
Anyone been among the last off? Do they round you up?

 

[disneycruise05]

I just got back last week from my 4-night land/3-night sea vacation and I must say the way DCL handles dembarkation is impressive. The time you disempark depends on your dining schedule. If you have a early sitting (5:45, 6:00, 6:15 pm), you eat at 6:45 AM at the same restrauant and table that you were supposed to eat at the night before. If you had a late sitting (8:00, 8:15, 8:30 PM), you eat at 8:00 AM. If you ate at Palo or did room service (which is great and I HIGHLY recommend for a midnight snack), you eat where you were supposed to eat. You MUST be out of your room by 8:00 AM.

Once you are done eating, you go directly to deck 3 midship (the lobby) and disembark through the same place you entered. You'll have whatever carry-on baggage you did not place outside your room the night before to be taken out. Once you leave the ship, you have your Key to the World scanned one last time and you then go through the terminal and claim your luggage. When you place you luggage outside your door the night before, you place new luggage tags on your bags. Rooms are catagorized by color, so when you enter the terminal, all you have to do is find your tag color and your bags are right there.

After claiming your bags, you go through U.S. Customs and Border Control where you present your passport or birth certificate with photo I.D. and customs form. If you have any worries about disembarkation, you should attend a disembarkation seminar the last full day at about 4:15 PM. All questions are answered there.

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[scrapperjill]

Just wanted to say...that last year when we did our first disney cruise the car service place recomened we schedule pick up for no later than 9am...(I was trying to book 10am) so I comprimise and settled for 9:30am pick up...by doing that he did add...he wasn't going to be held responsible for having us standing outside in the heat alone in the parking lot after EVERYONE else on the ship would be long gone. Anyway...I stuck with 9:30....and was SOOOOO rushed all morning. (okay maybe poor planning on my part)...but we would have been just fine having pick up at 10am. After breakfast and a last stop by shutters....we were off the ship by a little after 9am...but then finding our luggage ....then trying to find a porter to help us with our things... Didn't happen. So by the time we gathered out many many bags...and made it through customs (Just picture us...2 adults, 2 dd's 6&11 and 8 suitcases, 4 carryons along with personal items and souviners that didn't fit in the luggage...of couse dd's did what they could...but it wasn't a whole lot)...then lugged all our things to the "white tent" area we were late to our car....the poor drive had been waiting for us in the heat.

My point...were having our pickup this year scheduled for 10am....no sooner

 

[tvguy]

8 suitcases, 4 carryons along with personal items and souviners that didn't fit in the luggage

Wow, did you leave any thing at home? We had 2 suit cases and 4 carryones for the 4 of us, for a 7 day DW, me and 2 kids who were 13 and 17 at the time, 5'6", and 6'2", so they wear adult sized clothes.
And we overpacked.

 

[DeeCeeSW]

Thanks for all of your replies. From what I have read, it seems safe for me to plug in 9:30 am. as a pickup time for the car at Budget(?) I am guessing that DH will need a little extra time as he will have to take the shuttle to pick up the rental then come back for us at the port. Do you think it will be OK to book ourselves on the 12:30pm. flight out of MCO, or do you all think we should play it safe with a 1:45pm. departure?

 

[bhoffman]

Although I would NEVER recommend this to anyone, my husbands company's travel agency booked us for a 10am flight out of Orlando so, when the doors opened at 7:35 we were about the 5th ones off the boat, on a bus by 7:50 and the bus was moving by 8:15....we were at the airport, at our gate about 45 minutes early...if someone had sneezed wrong though it would have never worked out. It was WAY too early, but we did make it with time to spare...I would say 11:00 would be the earliest I would do it even getting off the ship when the doors open...hope that helps!

 

[scrapperjill]

Wow, did you leave any thing at home? We had 2 suit cases and 4 carryones for the 4 of us, for a 7 day DW, me and 2 kids who were 13 and 17 at the time, 5'6", and 6'2", so they wear adult sized clothes.
And we overpacked.

well we had one suitcase full of our snorkel gear (never knew it would take up so much room, then we also had a couple suitcases full of medical equiptment and food suppliments for our youngest daughter...then of course we always pack extras clothes for the girls.. you know how kids can be they tend to get dirty a couple times a day...and sometimes need to change more often.)...Then we also had at least one whole carryon was meds for our youngest daughter also... Right now were trying to figure out how to cram more of the needed stuff together this year to take less luggage...but some things just can't be left behind.

Lugging that crap around it sure felt like we took everything...including the kitchen sink

 

[tvguy]

We are very economical packers when we fly.

But if we drive.....well....let's just say it's a good thing we have a Suburban.

 

[Cast Member Boy]

Early dinning seems like such a great thing until the last morning of the cruise! That was probably the worst part for me having EARLY breakfast that last morning. Sure I could have skipped out but seeing my table mates one last time was soooooo much fun. Especially the lady who showed up in her pajamas because she left all her luggage outside her room the night before!

 

[tvguy]

In hindsight I kind of wish they delayed boarding for an hour or two at the start of the cruise, and gave you that hour or two on the last morning when you really need it.

 

[kecall]

Thanks for all of your replies. From what I have read, it seems safe for me to plug in 9:30 am. as a pickup time for the car at Budget(?) I am guessing that DH will need a little extra time as he will have to take the shuttle to pick up the rental then come back for us at the port. Do you think it will be OK to book ourselves on the 12:30pm. flight out of MCO, or do you all think we should play it safe with a 1:45pm. departure?

Have you considered renting a car for your entire stay and just leaving it parked at the port?? I have not checked the prices out myself, but the parking is not too high and may be well worth it, instead of your dh having to drive back and forth!! That sounds VERY stressful to me!!!

karen

 

[lowkat]

Have you considered renting a car for your entire stay and just leaving it parked at the port?? I have not checked the prices out myself, but the parking is not too high and may be well worth it, instead of your dh having to drive back and forth!! That sounds VERY stressful to me!!!

karen

This is what we are planning to do on our Sept 3rd-10th trip but..... my brain started thinking and was wondering what happens to car if a hurricane should happen to hit?

We are renting from National, do they have a good choice from EA at PC, in case we change our minds and not keep a car while we are gone?

 

[DeeCeeSW]

kecall--We have thought about renting for the week, but it's only $29 per day to rent for the two days and much more for a weekly rental. Plus there's the cost of parking at the port (we doubt we'll be staying in a hotel that has free parking for the week). The goal is to save $$$, and so renting 2 days seems most economical at this point!