Flying from Orlando Mco to Fll Same day as cruise

I was just told by some friends that are going to our wedding cruise that they are flying in to Fll from Mco on the same day that our cruise leaves Port Everglades, they are 1st time cruisers and I haven't done this before so not sure if it's a good idea. Non stop flight on Southwest flight gets in at 12:30 am

TIA

Definitely doable, but recommending it is another thing... Driving is doable.

If all goes well it works.

But if something goes wrong such as flight cancelled or some type of shut down of airport or security issue, etc there is always the chance of missing the ship. Not sure where the flight is coming in from but there could be issues there.

I would advise to fly down or drive down the day before just to be on the safe side.

Keith

I would never recommend flying in the day of the cruise. Agree with previous posters, either fly in the day before or drive down. Not worth the stress.

12:30 AM, so roughly 16 hours before the cruise departs? I'd be okay with that, but we have always been "day of" cruisers. I'm sure sometime that's going to come back and bite us, but so far, so good.

For that distance, I'm surprised they aren't driving.

Sailingbride2018 do you really mean 12:30 AM or did you mean 12:30 PM.

I looked up Southwest Flights from MCO and I see no current flights that show a landing shortly after midnight.

Keith

Sailingbride2018 do you really mean 12:30 AM or did you mean 12:30 PM.

 

I looked up Southwest Flights from MCO and I see no current flights that show a landing shortly after midnight.

 

Keith

You're right, and I don't even see any flights that arrive at 12:30 p.m.

If indeed they arrive at 12:30 pm that's far too close for comfort. If something goes wrong there is no time for plan B. If it's 12;30 am, no problem, worst case scenario is they can drive.

And I'm with the others, why not just drive?

Not much room for error. The good news is fll is 15 min from the port.

Just me but I would suggest you advise your friends to buy travel Ins just in case.

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Your friends would spend less time and probably less money if they just rented a car at MCO and drove to FLL. It is about a 4 1/2 hour drive and when you consider the time you spend getting though the airport anymore it is quicker and easier to just drive when it is under 250 miles.

Driving would be easier and less stressful. I assume the flight gets in at 12:30pm the day of the cruise which is way too close for comfort. If the flight was leaving say at 8:00am or something like that I would be ok, it still gives them time to drive to Ft. Lauderdale if for some reason the flight was delayed until say 12. But if the flight arrives at 12:30pm that means it leaves MCO around 11:30am. Just some route delay, weather, flat tire, anything and its easy to be stuck on the plane or at the airport until 2:30 (only a 2-hour delay not crazy) and then miss the cruise.

Its about a 3.5hr drive, I am sure they are aware of this. I would even be more comfortable with a bus ride.

I was just told by some friends that are going to our wedding cruise that they are flying in to Fll from Mco on the same day that our cruise leaves Port Everglades, they are 1st time cruisers and I haven't done this before so not sure if it's a good idea. Non stop flight on Southwest flight gets in at 12:30 am

TIA

It takes 2.5 hours to drive and 4 hours to fly (1 hour flight, 2 hours at airport early, and 1 hour of home to airport, and airport to cruise). Yes, its doable, but I would drive.

It takes 2.5 hours to drive and 4 hours to fly (1 hour flight, 2 hours at airport early, and 1 hour of home to airport, and airport to cruise). Yes, its doable, but I would drive.

That makes a lot of assumptions as to where someone lives and if they have Clear or TSA Pre, carry on only, etc.

There are a lot of people who lives within 15 minutes of MCO, have a fast lane type program, and carry on only--yes, even for a cruise. For them it would be considerably less time to fly.

That said, I would drive from anywhere in the greater Orlando area.

I too would vote for driving down to FLL in 3.5 hours. What I would do is get a hotel and return the car upon arriving then have the rental car agency take you to the hotel and the hotel can take you to the cruise in the morning.

Even one option would be to drive 1/2 way get a hotel/motel for the night on the road and drive the rest of the way in if that is a less expensive option. I would leave to the 1/2 way point around 1:00 PM the day before get there by 3:00 PMish then on the day of the cruise I would leave at 8:15 AM after breakfast arriving at the car rental return by 10:30 and at the port by 11:00 AM.

The one way drop off fees can be considerably less than flying.

Figure out getting to the airport takes 20 minutes, checkin 20 minutes, security 20 minutes, waiting for flight 50-60 minutes flight 75 minutes, walk to baggage claim 10 minutes, wait for bags 20 minutes, wait for shuttle Uber or Lyft 10 minutes, shuttle Uber or Lyft 15 minutes to hotel.

If your friends wanted to fly I would fly in the day before the cruise.

I always fly in the day before the cruise as I love having a leisurely morning and get to the port by 11:00 AM and eating lunch by noon.

For our upcoming Tampa-Amsterdam April 2018 Cruise I booked my Father and I the night before in Tampa at the Westin Harbour Hotel located a mile away from the pier. As I have posted here on Cruise Critic its the best feeling to know that you are so close to the pier and we arrive at 5:20 PM the day beore .

We were first time cruiseers and made the noobie mistake of flying into San Juan the day of the cruise. Never again!!! It worked fine but that red-eye flight was a bad decision. Since then we have flown in a day or two befre the cruise and it really allows you to unwind before the vacation.

The same goes for after the cruise we stay at the port city for at least two days after if not more. This is why we chose an itinerary to a place we would like to spend a few days after. While everyone else is rushing to disembark we are having a leisurly breakfast and then get off as late as possible.

Even if the cost was $100 more to fly the day before I would do it.

Agree with others... drive.

We did break our own rule recently and flew in same day recently. LAX to SEA. Booked an early flight, with plenty of fallback options with the same and other carriers if our original flight was significantly delayed or cancelled. Of course, we would have been toast if there had been some issue at either airport which precluded any flights in or out.

Other than Enterprise and maybe Sixt or some of the other sketchy companies, there is no drop off fee between Florida locations. I have rented one way all over the state from Avis, Budget, Alamo, Hertz, etc. and never paid a drop or one-way fee.

With flying in the same day, I think it essential, to use another airline that has numerous flights, AND with booking the first flight out. I have flown Mco to Mia, on AA which has frequent, numerous flights on this run.

On Southwest, is there a earlier flight? I'd only recommend they take the FIRST available flight, making sure there were 2 flights that would get them to the cruise, not just one. ..

I just got off the Equinox and flew in the same day against my better judgment. My flight was the only one to get me to the ship on time. Won't do it again. Too stressful.

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