Flight time home on disembarkation day

[JH50]

Does anyone think we would have a problem making a 12:25 pm flight at MCO on the DCL bus? We are doing the 3 day Castaway Cay cruise in August and the only other direct flight option is 7:40 pm, which would be a long time to hang out at the airport for a 2.5 hour flight home.

 

[JTlikestheDuck]

Skip the DCL bus. Hire a private transfer and if you are TSA precheck no worries. You could make the flight if you are first in line off the ship. The issue is MCO can get seriously backed up at security. TSA precheck is a must at MCO.

 

[DIS_MIKE]

Not at all. I was already through security and at my gate by 10:30. Obviously that doesn’t happen with everyone. I think most suggest 11:30 as the cutoff, so you should have no trouble with that 12:25 flight.

 

[DCLDVC1]

DCL recommends a departure time of 11:25 or later out of MCO. If you take the DCL bus, look in to doing the Onboard Airline Check-In if you qualify.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

You could make the flight if you are first in line off the ship.

Since DCL recommends flights after 11:25, there's no need to be "first off".

OP, I wouldn't worry about that flight time, it's quite in keeping with what many do when taking DCL transfers (we have every time but one).

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Does anyone think we would have a problem making a 12:25 pm flight at MCO on the DCL bus? We are doing the 3 day Castaway Cay cruise in August and the only other direct flight option is 7:40 pm, which would be a long time to hang out at the airport for a 2.5 hour flight home.

12:25 will be no problem at all, and there is absolutely no reason to use private transfers in that scenario instead of DCL transfers (unless you just don't happen to like DCL transfers). If you're flying with a cooperating airline for Onboard Airline Check-in, that would be an added bonus. TSA Precheck is nice, but not necessary.

To give you some context, after our recent Fantasy cruise, we used DCL transfers and arrived at the airport just a little after 9am.

 

[clten]

Just to echo what others have said, you should have no problem with that time flight. We always use DCL transfers from the ship to the airport because we can take advantage of Onboard Airline Checkin (one of my favorite perks) and even with going to late breakfast, we are typically sitting at our gate before 11 am

 

[xQuizx]

You will be fine with a flight after noon.

We've taken both DCL and private transport.

The only reason we use private transport is the price is less with a larger group.

When you use DCL they load the buses up as you leave the ship, and when the bus is full you leave. The buses are constantly going so you will be fine.

The only issue you might have is if you are flying out of Southwest airlines. The place where the bus unloads you is on the other side of the airport from Southwest airlines. We get a porter at the unload area and tell them we are flying out of Southwest and they will transport your bags over there.

Have fun, Cheers!

 

[JH50]

The only issue you might have is if you are flying out of Southwest airlines. The place where the bus unloads you is on the other side of the airport from Southwest airlines. We get a porter at the unload area and tell them we are flying out of Southwest and they will transport your bags over there.

I appreciate all the replies! We are going to go with 12:25 pm flight.

We are flying with Southwest, so I will have to look into this further and also with the possibility of taking private transportation. Thank you for the heads up.

 

[Chemist]

I appreciate all the replies! We are going to go with 12:25 pm flight.

We are flying with Southwest, so I will have to look into this further and also with the possibility of taking private transportation. Thank you for the heads up.

We fly Southwest. Its not a big deal.
Unless you make a point of being last off the ship, you should have TONS of time.
(On our last cruise, we were in the middle of the crowd and got to the airport around 9 am.)

 

[tvguy]

Not at all. I was already through security and at my gate by 10:30. Obviously that doesn’t happen with everyone. I think most suggest 11:30 as the cutoff, so you should have no trouble with that 12:25 flight.

It just depends. Mornings are the worst at MCO when you have multiple ships arriving, and the usual crowd of WDW/Universal visitors heading home. We barely made at 12:35 pm flight after our cruise. We took the Disney bus, which got us to the airport by 10:15 am, had our boarding pass in hand by 10:30 am and headed to security. It took 90 minutes to get through security and our flight was already boarding by the time we got to the gate. So much for lunch at the airport before our flight.
Now, during our trip to WDW, we had a 7 pm flight. MCO was an entirely difference place. So while I wouldn't wait until 7 pm to flight home after a cruise, I certainly would think twice about booking a flight before 1 pm based on my experiences at MCO.