Flight into Port Canaveral - any tips/stories for flying in on embarkation day?

[zookeeper1970]

It absolutely can be done the same day.  The three issues you may run into are storms, lost luggage and a wreck on the beachline (the road that goes to port canaveral from MCO). Because same day flying stresses me out, I tend to use my call in days at work for situations such as this.  Wink.

[GTO-Girl]

Consider flying in the night before and stay at a hotel at the airport like the Hyatt which is literally in the airport.  Then shuttle to the port the next morning?

[Itchy&Scratchy]

30 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Why didn't you get a refund?  I have cancelled two flights for my Mom on SW and was able to get it credited back to her credit card.

because it was a non-refundable "wanna get away" fare. So, I can use the funds within a year.

[reallyitsmema]

1 minute ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

because it was a non-refundable "wanna get away" fare. So, I can use the funds within a year.

 

Both of her flights were wanna get away fares too.  I cancelled the flights via the app on her phone.  It said she was going to get a credit but then there was an arrow beside refund method or something like that.  When I clicked into there, it said refund to original form of payment or SW credit.  I chose refund to original form of payment.  She thought she would have to take a SW credit as she has in the past but both have posted to her credit card.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

18 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Both of her flights were wanna get away fares too.  I cancelled the flights via the app on her phone.  It said she was going to get a credit but then there was an arrow beside refund method or something like that.  When I clicked into there, it said refund to original form of payment or SW credit.  I chose refund to original form of payment.  She thought she would have to take a SW credit as she has in the past but both have posted to her credit card.

mine didn't give me a choice. It just says: "Refund to: Travel Funds"

[reallyitsmema]

1 minute ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

mine didn't give me a choice. It just says: "Refund to: Travel Funds"

 

That's too bad.  I was surprised she didn't get travel funds but I scrolled down and saw something to click on, so I did.  I don't fly Southwest, so was not familiar with their app.  

[geneparmesan]

1 hour ago, GTO-Girl said:

Consider flying in the night before and stay at a hotel at the airport like the Hyatt which is literally in the airport.  Then shuttle to the port the next morning?

There is a 10pm Southwest flight the night before that lands at 1:30am... Guess that can be our backup plan if Southwest changes our flight schedule on us.

[homedepot124]

Take uber or left from MRO to PC.  Yeah , its $100 but quicker than Rccl transfer.

[Air&Sea]

On 3/4/2022 at 4:24 PM, Itchy&Scratchy said:

yeap, I too purchased a 6 am flight on SW ATL-MCO. A month later SW cancelled a 6 am flight and moved us to the first available flight at 11 am. It's a no for me, dog. Now I have $500 worth of SW credit, since I had to cancel SW tickets and buy Delta tickets instead.

When given the choice, I NEVER fly SW. 

[Air&Sea]

I'm a United frequent flyer. I'm also a former Chicago resident.

 

I've never had issues flying in/out of ORD on United. 

 

Your plan sounds solid. Have a great time. 

[deliver42]

I wouldn't chance SW or any of the budget airlines. SW rarely has direct flights, so that's problem one. The other is if they have a plane problem, there's no alternative.

[SRF]

Plus, many times SW is more expensive.

 

There is a reason they refuse to be listed on any of the fare comparison sites.

[cruiselvr04]

I’d take the earliest non stop and get insurance.  Sometimes it’s all the choice you have but it’s never my first choice to fly in the day of.  Its too stressful for me.  When we used to fly from Omaha our bags were always missing, delayed and once lost.  Flying now from Dallas is much better.  
 

We flew in the day of about 3 years ago and made it with about 90 minutes to spare.  It was the only choice or not go.

[Corby114]

I just read a sad story yesterday on the MSC cruise page in reference to a canceled Southwest flight from BWI to Miami. A family of six arrived at the airport early Sunday morning already knowing that their flight had been canceled along with a second later flight. The woman was in a panic explaining that she purchased insurance for her family of four but her parents hadn’t. She thought that maybe the ship would either leave later or possibly if there were a lot of flight cancellations the ship would leave on Monday. Regular veteran posters explained that scenario wouldn’t happen. They were scheduled for a twelve day cruise and everyone in this family were first time cruisers. I really felt bad for her. Please stick to your regular routine and leave at least a day early.No plane yesterday had room for six passengers and if any seats were available they would have added thousands in additional fees.

[Zach1213]

16 hours ago, deliver42 said:

I wouldn't chance SW or any of the budget airlines. SW rarely has direct flights, so that's problem one. The other is if they have a plane problem, there's no alternative.

 

Eh...I'm not the biggest Southwest fan by any means, but there are a couple of flaws with your argument in my opinion. 1) Southwest is not a budget airline; (2) Southwest has a huge number of direct flights, and they also have a huge number of nonstops...whether or not those direct and/or nonstop flights are the route you need, that of course depends on your origin and destination. For example, today, Southwest has 170 nonstops from Midway...and an equal number of nonstops to Midway; (3) While it's true that Southwest doesn't have interline agreements with other airlines, it's also the case that they (a) have one of the world's largest fleets, so there's always a chance that a new aircraft can be swapped in, and (b) while other airlines do have interline agreements, they'll often do whatever they can do avoid using them and putting you on another airline...so those interline agreements are only as good as the airline willing to actually use them. Even as a top-tier American Airlines frequent flier, I can count on one hand in the last 15 years the number of times AA has put me on another airline, let alone a non-OneWorld partner. 

Edited March 14, 2022 by Zach1213

[MississippiMom]

On 3/4/2022 at 4:25 PM, Itchy&Scratchy said:

mine didn't give me a choice. It just says: "Refund to: Travel Funds"

We are in the same situation.  We were not given a full refund to credit card option.

[time4u2go]

22 hours ago, deliver42 said:

I wouldn't chance SW or any of the budget airlines. SW rarely has direct flights, so that's problem one. The other is if they have a plane problem, there's no alternative.

I just checked a random Sunday in July, and Southwest has 9 nonstop flights from Chicago to Orlando.

[SRF]

21 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

Southwest has a huge number of direct flights, and they also have a huge number of nonstops...whether or not those direct and/or nonstop flights are the route you need, that of course depends on your origin and destination. 

 

All the airlines run a hub and spoke system primarily.  That is is, there are non-stops to and from their hubs.  If you are not going to or from one of their hubs, there is likely to not be a non-stop to another non-hub airport.

 

So sometimes, the deal is pick the airline that has the non-stop.  But if you are going from some smaller city, you will likely have to drive to a major city/hub of make a connection.

 

You can use a site like Kayak to see if there are any non-stop possibilities for your trip.  But you may have to play around with the actual departure point if you are near enough to more than one possible airport.

[Zach1213]

11 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

All the airlines run a hub and spoke system primarily.  That is is, there are non-stops to and from their hubs.  If you are not going to or from one of their hubs, there is likely to not be a non-stop to another non-hub airport.

 

So sometimes, the deal is pick the airline that has the non-stop.  But if you are going from some smaller city, you will likely have to drive to a major city/hub of make a connection.

 

You can use a site like Kayak to see if there are any non-stop possibilities for your trip.  But you may have to play around with the actual departure point if you are near enough to more than one possible airport.

 

Southwest is only a quasi-hub and spoke system. They do have some major "hubs" like Chicago, Vegas, Denver, Atlanta, Phoenix. But it's entirely possible to connect in places like St. Louis, Nashville, Austin, and other places that are certainly not Southwest hubs. Because of this, Southwest DOES offer more nonstops, and more directs, than just about anyone else. No other airline is flying routes like Kansas City to Nashville, or Spokane to Sacramento, or Milwaukee to St. Louis. 

 

The whole "but if you are going from some smaller city, you will likely have to drive to a major city/hub of make a connection" is true of any airline. If I am going to Huntsville, Alabama or Savannah, Georgia or Grand Forks, North Dakota, I'll likely have to change planes somewhere or drive in from a closer major city. If I am going to Atlanta or Dallas or Los Angeles, probably not. If anything, it's less true of Southwest. Let's look at my current home airport of Kansas City, which is far from a hub or focus city for Southwest. On Southwest, we have nonstops to 23 cities year round, and another 12 seasonally. Plus, other direct destinations. The next closest airline as far as number of nonstop destinations is, I believe, Delta...with eight year-round and zero seasonal. 35 versus eight. 

 

Again, I am not a Southwest lover by any means. But they offer some nonstops that no other major airline would even think of touching. 

 

 

 

[SRF]

5 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

Southwest is only a quasi-hub and spoke system.

 

Looking at some possible flights, it seems that they do is to make some multi stop flights.  So yes, quasi hub and spoke.  But the flight from Airport A to Hub 1, might stop at Airport B and Airport C before arriving at Hub 1.  And the same outbound.  So if you want to go from Airport A to Airport B, they do have a non-stop.

 

However, while you do not have to get off the airplane at those intermediate stops, they do add the potential for some issue to pop up and cause the flight to be delayed or cancelled.

 

One I did was Nashville to Austin.  The plane goes from Nashville to St Louis.  Then to Tulsa.  Then to Austin.  Another flight is Denver to Atlanta to Greenville, SC to Houston.

[Zach1213]

1 minute ago, SRF said:

 

Looking at some possible flights, it seems that they do is to make some multi stop flights.  So yes, quasi hub and spoke.  But the flight from Airport A to Hub 1, might stop at Airport B and Airport C before arriving at Hub 1.  And the same outbound.  So if you want to go from Airport A to Airport B, they do have a non-stop.

 

However, while you do not have to get off the airplane at those intermediate stops, they do add the potential for some issue to pop up and cause the flight to be delayed or cancelled.

 

One I did was Nashville to Austin.  The plane goes from Nashville to St Louis.  Then to Tulsa.  Then to Austin.  Another flight is Denver to Atlanta to Greenville, SC to Houston.

 

Yes, and this is also where it's important to know the difference between nonstop and direct. So many people mistake them for being the same thing. Southwest is the king of direct flights...Flight 1234 from Chicago to Oakland, but it stops in Denver and Vegas. Even if it's the same plane and the same flight number, it's direct...but clearly very, very different than nonstop. 

 

Southwest does to BNA-AUS nonstop, too, on top of their direct BNA-AUS. Looks like today has five nonstop BNA-AUS flights, and four direct BNA-AUS flights, plus others with an actual connection. But this is a good example of a city pair that is not a hub of any airline, but Southwest does have a whopping nine nonstop + direct flights today in each direction (AA has two nonstops, also). 

[miraflores]

Any tips?  Yeah, don't.

[SRF]

16 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

 

Yes, and this is also where it's important to know the difference between nonstop and direct. So many people mistake them for being the same thing. Southwest is the king of direct flights...Flight 1234 from Chicago to Oakland, but it stops in Denver and Vegas. Even if it's the same plane and the same flight number, it's direct...but clearly very, very different than nonstop. 

 

Southwest does to BNA-AUS nonstop, too, on top of their direct BNA-AUS. Looks like today has five nonstop BNA-AUS flights, and four direct BNA-AUS flights, plus others with an actual connection. But this is a good example of a city pair that is not a hub of any airline, but Southwest does have a whopping nine nonstop + direct flights today in each direction (AA has two nonstops, also). 

 

AA has been know to have "direct" flights, with a plane change.  Same flight number, but two different aircraft.

 

The time I ran into this, the change was in MIA and you had to go to another pier, meaning go through security again.  On a "direct" flight.

[Zach1213]

10 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

AA has been know to have "direct" flights, with a plane change.  Same flight number, but two different aircraft.

 

The time I ran into this, the change was in MIA and you had to go to another pier, meaning go through security again.  On a "direct" flight.

 

United loves it too, mostly on international. For example (made up routes/flight numbers) UA 123 MUC-EWR-ATL...with MUC-EWR on a 764 and EWR-ATL on a 738. That's why so many of us on here who "specialize" in air travel are eager to correct the "direct and nonstop are the same thing" mindset of many casual travelers. I know we often come off as annoying for correcting people frequently, but it can make a world of difference if you're expecting a nonstop and end up on a direct. 

Edited March 16, 2022 by Zach1213

[Justjrn]

On 3/4/2022 at 10:57 AM, geneparmesan said:

I did a search, and I don't see any recent threads on this subject...

 

Let me start by saying that I don't love this plan - my wife and I have always arrived the day before a cruise to try to prevent travel problems from affecting the cruise itself. I understand all the benefits of arriving the day before. That said, we have one specific week this summer that we can vacation, and we can only leave home (Chicago) on a Sunday. Due to that, our options are to either go on a 5 day on a smaller ship starting Monday, or to fly first thing Sunday morning to get on 7-day cruise on Harmony of the Seas out of Port Canaveral.

 

I'm looking at a direct flight that lands in Orlando at 10:45am. I think we would *probably* be OK as it's one of the first flights of the day, it's direct, and we would book the Orlando -> Port Canaveral shuttle directly with Royal (from their side, they say they will allow booking their shuttle if the flight arrives before 12pm). But it does add some risk. So, we're trying to decide if it's worth the risk to get on a "better" cruise for us.

 

Anyone have any tips, recommendations, or good stories from flying in the morning of the cruise? 😃

Another possibility Is to fly in to the Melbourne airport instead And schedule an Uberfor The 30 or so minutes drive .Melbourne is really small airport So you're out of there very quickly. I know Delta an American fly there I don't know who else off the top my head down. And a quick search shows me that there are flights direct from the Chicago area to Melbourne, There airport code is MLB