how stressful would an 11am flight from MCO be from 6am Freedom arrival in Cape Canav

[kc320]

Is Tampa an option if sailing from Port Canaveral?

 

It's an option...but it's also clear on the other side of the state.. a 2 hr or more drive depending on traffic...

[ptf2009]

We are supposed to dock at Port Canaveral at 6am on the Freedom. Just saw a flight that leaves MCO at 11 am. What are your experiences getting off at Port Canaveral and making it to the Orlando airport for an 11 am flight (I know the drive is about an hour) if we get arrange for a shuttle to be waiting for us when we disembark?

 

I have posted this in the homeports thread as well, but thought previous Freedom cruisers could off their opinion on this as well.

 

Thanks for your question, as we are thinking of doing the same thing in April...11:00 flight to ORD. What shuttle transportation have you arranged?

 

We plan to rent a car from MCO to the Cape Canaveral area when we fly in Fri. or Sat. a.m. because we can turn the car in Sun. a.m. and get a ride to the port. I just don't trust the car rental places arriving at the port earlier enough on Sun. morning so that we could make it to MCO by 9:00-9:30a.m.

[MCC retired]

No matter what advice you get here (and from the cruise line), if you decide to go for the early flight ,you will be the one worrying about making your flight home , for your entire cruise. Is it worth that ?

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

What is the express pass

 

 

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Even More Speed on JetBlue. Other airlines call it something else. It is something that can be bought either as part of a seat or separately or may come with a certain status on some airlines. It is a supposedly shorter line but often ends up feeding into the others for the bag and person screening. Also it does not guarantee that those in front of you have a clue. So sometimes it's not any faster than not having it.

[cajuncowgirl13]

I have a 12:55 flight in December! We plan on doing own disembarkation, our ride to the airport picks up at 9:00 ... Hope it's ok

 

 

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[FLACRUISER99]

11am would be much to stressful for me.

[BecciBoo]

We also fly to and from Melbourne airport just a short drive from the port. Much closer than Orlando's airport. 27.8 miles to be exact. A very uncrowded small airport.

 

Our points with AMEX makes Delta/Continental our preferred airline and they both fly into Melbourne. It was no problem making it back for an 11:00 flight. We took a shuttle once and rented a car from the Cape which we returned to the airport another. Just google shuttle services any one of which can get you back in time. Just don't daudle:D

Edited September 6, 2015 by BecciBoo

[Russ Lomas]

I can understand that.

 

But I'd also caution that the much higher price could be a sign that that flight is nearly sold out.

You would think that may be the reason, but it just turns out that the airlines are just gouging and trying to rip passengers off. Four direct flights by the same airline flying that day out of MCO and they are charging $1470 per person (price has gone up since I looked last), so it is now $1200 more per person to fly over the 11am flight with another airline I was asking about earlier. That means that a 2 1/2 flight for my family of six would cost $7200, or more than double the cost of the entire 7 day cruise on the Freedom with gratuities included for all 6 of us in 3 cabins.

 

If you check to see how many seats are sold on those 4 flights, you see that they have not sold a single seat on any of them. Hmmm....I wonder why? Perfect example of price gouging. I know prices will drop on these flights somewhat eventually, but the games the airlines play are insane.

[Russ Lomas]

In response to the question, this morning my son got off Freedom at 7:30AM (thru Customs and out of the terminal). They started self assist debarkation at 7AM. Would have been no problem taking the specified flight particularly with prearranged transportation. We live near the port and even on this holiday weekend traffic was very light on the Beachline headed to Orlando.

Thanks for the info. I will keep the flight in mind as a possibility, but wait a bit to see if the other airline offering direct flights drops to a reasonable price first since they offer later departure times.

[Russ Lomas]

Also, what is your transportation? A shared shuttle isn't going to floor it to the airport as soon as you get on, they have other passengers from other ships to pick up. Have you checked other airports, as well. Sometimes, Melbourne is about the same price for me , about the same driving time and much easier security. Last time I checked, they had a 1pm flight that worked out perfectly for me. :)

Thanks for the suggestion. I always keep my options open to other airports. I drove 3 hours from FLL to MCO last year to get a direct flight and save about $1200 on airfare.

 

I have looked at other airports (Tampa, West Palm Beach, Melbourne, Jacksonville, Daytona). The issue is that they pretty well all require us to make a connecting flight, which with young children is not always the best plan. Most require a layover that forces us to arrive home, after landing and doing the drive to our house from the airport, at around 2am, which makes it difficult to be up 4 hours later to go to work and school.

[Russ Lomas]

We also fly to and from Melbourne airport just a short drive from the port. Much closer than Orlando's airport. 27.8 miles to be exact. A very uncrowded small airport.

 

Our points with AMEX makes Delta/Continental our preferred airline and they both fly into Melbourne. It was no problem making it back for an 11:00 flight. We took a shuttle once and rented a car from the Cape which we returned to the airport another. Just google shuttle services any one of which can get you back in time. Just don't daudle:D

I will keep watching Melbourne. Currently Delta wants $704 per person one way from there on the day we want to travel . We travel the same week every year and have never paid over $450 return, so paying $700 for just half of the flight seems insane.

[Russ Lomas]

In this case, I personally would also look at the cost for a hotel room/rooms the night you disembark and the flight the next morning.

Another great idea that we had thought of but it does not work for us. My DW and I both work in a school board and our employer forbids workers to take a day, even without pay, prior to or the day following March Break and Christmas. The money saved by flying a day later would easily compensate us for the money we would lose in salary and the hotel for the night but our employer will not let us do this.:(

[John&LaLa]

Quick takes from my perspective

 

11AM flight is fine if you arrange private transportation

Melbourne is often more expensive than Orlando

Melbourne is closer, but takes just as long to get there due to traffic and lights.

Shuttles to Melbourne are generally more expensive

[Ken at the beach]

Another great idea that we had thought of but it does not work for us. My DW and I both work in a school board and our employer forbids workers to take a day, even without pay, prior to or the day following March Break and Christmas. The money saved by flying a day later would easily compensate us for the money we would lose in salary and the hotel for the night but our employer will not let us do this.:(

 

I don't know if you've checked that policy lately but our board changed that policy with the last contract and I thought that it was province wide.

 

DW just submitted a request for the Friday prior to Christmas this year and for the Monday following March break in 2016. Both requests were approved within a week.

 

She is allowed to take up to 5 unpaid days off per year no questions asked as long as they do not fall in the first week of school, exam times or during parent/teacher interview times.

[SheehanDJ]

Have you checked flights out of Melbourne instead of Orlando?

 

It's the same drive time as Orlando just heading south. Sometimes you can catch a deal on cost and times.

[Keith1010]

I know you posted this on the Florida Departures Board.

 

To me it's similar to flying in the day of the cruise. Some people will say they have never had a problem but there is risk to that approach. Same risk as making this flight.

 

The issue here is there is risk and no one can promise you what will happen the day you arrive.

 

I you were asking about a 1:00 PM flight then there would be no discussion.

 

It all comes down to how much risk you want to take and do you want to spend half your cruse worrying about this.

 

If the price is $600.00 per person cheaper, have you thought about staying over one night at a hotel and could you get the same price the next day.

 

If so, you could still save quite a bit of money.

 

Just a thought.

 

Keith

Edited September 7, 2015 by Keith1010

[RCI Cruisers 004]

Stressful.......extremely ! Doable......hopefully ! Would we ever do it......Never ! Good luck, and please let us know how you make out !

[S.A.M.J.R.]

We also fly to and from Melbourne airport just a short drive from the port. Much closer than Orlando's airport. 27.8 miles to be exact. A very uncrowded small airport.

Shorter in distance, but because of traffic lights and lack of highways, it takes about the same amount of time (google maps currently shows 44 minutes to Melbourne International and 40 minutes to MCO).

 

We flew out of Melbourne last year and LOVED it. You didn't have the crowds and security headaches at MCO.

 

If the price is $600.00 per person cheaper, have you thought about staying over one night at a hotel and could you get the same price the next day.

 

If so, you could still save quite a bit of money.

 

Just a thought.

 

Keith

The OP said they're not allowed by their employer to have Monday off, so they have to return on Sunday.

 

OP, to save $600pp, I would book the 11am flight. Then: arrange for a private shuttle service to pick you up at the pier at 7:15AM, and do a self disembark. That should get you to Orlando (traffic permitting) by 8AM. That should be plenty of time to allow for traffic and security issues at TSA.

[alaska_planner]

It may be doable on a Sunday but I fly out of MCO alot and it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2.5 hours to get through security.

 

another one who has seen MCO TSA at its worst.

and keep in mind that TSA is not where the gates are, so the gate agents are somehow blissfully ignorant of the fact that their passengers are getting caught in lines at security.

 

on more than one occasion i've seen people miss their flights due to the security lines...

Edited September 7, 2015 by alaska_planner

[orville99]

We are supposed to dock at Port Canaveral at 6am on the Freedom. Just saw a flight that leaves MCO at 11 am. What are your experiences getting off at Port Canaveral and making it to the Orlando airport for an 11 am flight (I know the drive is about an hour) if we get arrange for a shuttle to be waiting for us when we disembark?

 

I have posted this in the homeports thread as well, but thought previous Freedom cruisers could off their opinion on this as well.

 

Given your starting point, I presume you're flying out of Buffalo? If that's the case, have you looked at flying back to Rochester instead, and getting a rental car to take you back to the Buffalo airport (~75 miles)? There are a few mid-afternoon flights (~2:30-3:30) out of MCO that get you into Rochester ~6:00-7:00.

[John&LaLa]

another one who has seen MCO TSA at its worst.

and keep in mind that TSA is not where the gates are, so the gate agents are somehow blissfully ignorant of the fact that their passengers are getting caught in lines at security.

 

on more than one occasion i've seen people miss their flights due to the security lines...

 

What airports have TSA near the gates?

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

What airports have TSA near the gates?

 

Most don't have them in a separate building connected by 4 monorails.

[John&LaLa]

Most don't have them in a separate building connected by 4 monorails.

 

That layout is more common than not. The only airports I have experienced anything different, generally only have a couple of gates

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

That layout is more common than not. The only airports I have experienced anything different, generally only have a couple of gates

 

Newark, JFK, and LaGuardia do not have that set up, and they are hardly airports with "a couple of gates". Ditto Nashville.

 

Orlando is the only airport I've ever been in where the all the gates are in unconnected (other than by monorail tracks) buildings.

[rtazz17]

To the original poster thats not stressfull at all.Ive made 9am flights out of mco after getting off freedom at 6:30.... No need to sweat it.Thats perfect actually.You will have no problem at all.I book all my flights back at 9 am -11 am...get off at 6:30 ,get into cab or limo by 7 or so and you are at mco around 8:15.... So even hitting traffic,etc you are fine.

Edited September 8, 2015 by rtazz17