Past Carnival from Port Canaveral Cruisers

[loveJake]

This is not our first cruise, actually #8, but our first on Carnival. We have cruised out of Port Canaveral before also. I have a few questions if anyone would be kind enough to answer.

 

We usually arrive at the port around 11/11:30, is this a good time for Carnival also?

 

I have a choice of flights home, 12:10 or 2:30, which is best? In August we left our stateroom at 7:45, ate breakfast and just walked off the ship at 8:30 on Disney, which we have done on 6 cruises. But on RC in May we never left the ship until 11:45 after sitting and waiting for over 3 1/2 hours this plus a lot of other things will stop me from cruising this line again. What is the norm for Carnival?

 

I know I am new to the boards and want to enjoy this cruise, not trying to compare with anyother cruise line. We did not enjoy RC, was a beautiful ship just not enough to do, stuffy older people aboard/average age of about 80 and not very friendly crew members. Some may have been sailing out of Baltimore.

 

Thanks

[obx_fintoo]

I have sailed from Port Canaveral 4 times. We usually arrrived by 11:00 and had a minimal wait to get on board. We almost always drive, so can't help with the flight time. Carnival does offer "self-assisted disembarkation" which means you carry all your bags off and get to leave first. I haven't done this at Canaveral but it was pretty easy in Jacksonville.

 

As for the other comments, Carnival uses the FUN ship tagline for a reason. You should fine more than enough to keep you busy and a nice mix of age groups to party with. Enjoy yourselves!

[neverenufcruising]

We've sailed from Port Canaveral 3 times. Like obx_fintoo we drive and get there at 11:00 and always get on the ship promptly.

 

Assuming the ship is on time and you're not being held up by any port authority activities, you should be able to disembark and get to the airport by 12:10. Any thing that delays normal activities would probably be pushing it though. If it was me, I would take the 2:30 and just hang out on the ship until the last call.

[silentbob007]

On my last trip on the Glory out of Canaveral, the ship was 3 hours late into port due to high winds. I was one of the first passengers off of the ship doing self-assist (saw there was a line to leave before it was even announced and rushed off) and used a Carnival transport to get to MCO ... ended up arriving at about 11:33 for a 1:00 flight. Others on my flight who did standard debarkation missed it.

[mnsawyer]

I would take the later flight. We sailed out of Port Canaveral in April and our ship was late due to high winds as well. The self-assist didn't even start until after 9;00 a.m. Our deck was one of the first one's called and we didn't get to the airport until noon. Used Mears Shuttle and it was fine but took us 2 hours from the time our deck was called until we got through customs, luggage, on the bus and to the airport.

[big_duck]

Put me down for 2:30 too. You don't need the stress of making a flight after a week cruising.

[HappyCampers3]

ditto :)

[cruzn buckeye]

Last year on the Glory we arrived back to the port on time...no weather issues or anything like that. However, we did not get off the ship and through the security line until 11:00! We had used Floridatowncar service and he was there at 10:00 to pick us up....so glad he waited!

[Knights on the Beach]

You just never know what could happen to hold up debarkation, so I'd also say a later flight is better. Last year, we were off the Glory and standing by our car before 8:30. We didn't carry our own luggage off; it just happened to work out that we had the first color called after the self-assist. (On the flip side, we didn't get off the Victory in Miami until NOON!)

[glrounds]

Much safer choice after a week of cruising. Winds might delay ship, you're about an hour from the airport, any kind of unseen event could really make things dicey. :)