Escape in Port Canaveral Question

[Chesneygirl]

What is everyone's experience with getting to the airport and flight times from the cruise port to Orlando International (MCO) on departure day? The cruise goes from Saturday to Saturday in January. We would be doing easy walk off.

 

JetBlue has a 10:55am flight non stop or my next option is 6PM. 

I would rather do the morning flight back home but I'm not sure how doable it would be.

 

Anyone help/input is appreciated. 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Chesneygirl

[www3traveler]

12 minutes ago, Chesneygirl said:

What is everyone's experience with getting to the airport and flight times from the cruise port to Orlando International (MCO) on departure day? The cruise goes from Saturday to Saturday in January. We would be doing easy walk off.

 

JetBlue has a 10:55am flight non stop or my next option is 6PM. 

I would rather do the morning flight back home but I'm not sure how doable it would be.

 

Anyone help/input is appreciated. 

Given the distance between Port Canaveral, I would doubt you could make a 10:55 A.M. flight.  If your flight requires a ONE hour check-in, you would have to be at MCO by 9:45 A.M.   Given all the things that could go wrong including the ship being delaying in docking, I would not risk a flight that early.

[ColeThornton]

Noon flights at the very earliest.   You don't want to end a nice relaxing cruise with the stress of trying to make an early flight and the hassle of finding new flights if you miss it.

[FlGoodShips]

1 hour ago, Chesneygirl said:

What is everyone's experience with getting to the airport and flight times from the cruise port to Orlando International (MCO) on departure day? The cruise goes from Saturday to Saturday in January. We would be doing easy walk off.

 

JetBlue has a 10:55am flight non stop or my next option is 6PM. 

I would rather do the morning flight back home but I'm not sure how doable it would be.

 

Anyone help/input is appreciated. 

FYI...  It takes about 1 1/2 hrs to get to MCO.  Cutting it really close. 

[Sand and Seas]

Do you know what time your ship is scheduled to dock that day?  Last month, our Getaway cruise was one of four ships disembarking at PC that day.  Our ship was scheduled for 8:00 docking and the others were earlier. 

 

We made a 1:10 flight out of MCO by doing early walk off.  It was easy to be first off the ship as we were in Getaway's Haven and got the concierge escort to first of line.   I would have been stressed if we were not in Haven as I know that can be quite a line.  We are rarely in Haven, but it was great for this particular trip as Delta had changed our original 5:30 pm flight to 1:10.   We were able to change our CruiseControl shuttle time to 8:15am.  (I highly recommend them!)    They were also supposed to pick up another couple from a nearby ship, but they had docked late.   CruiseControl driver arranged with their dispatch for a later shuttle for that couple and we left for the airport on-time.   No traffic problems and I believe we arrived at MCO around 9:20am.  

 

The more stressful part of that day was once we arrived at MCO.  Orlando airport on a Saturday was a series of long lines with lots of kids running around. For some reason, I thought Saturday at MCO wouldn't be as bad as a Sunday.   It took quite a while to get our luggage checked in with Delta.  They pulled some of us out of that line and sent us downstairs to check our luggage.  If you are cruising with only carry-ons that would be optimal.   And, even though we have TSA pre-check, it was confusing to find the correct line.  They should work on more signage.    Several of us were in a line that we had been told was pre-check, but then found out it was not🤨  We all moved over to another long line (still no visible signage) and were finally through security.  I really felt bad for those in the regular security lines.  Unfortunately, we talked to several in line (for bag drop & check-in) that were not going to make their flights.

 

For us, we had no problem making our flight.  A tram ride to our terminal and all was good!   

[luv2kroooz]

I agree. Noon flight or later. You have Mardi Gras, Fantasy, Escape and Adventure of Seas homeported there on Saturdays in Jan.

[Sand and Seas]

We loved our first cruise out of Port Canaveral.   We flew in a couple of days early and rented a car that we dropped off the morning of cruise. (Their is a shared rental office right at the port for Enterprise and a couple of others.)   It's an interesting port and we ate a couple of meals there at Gators & Fishlips. 

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

The official Port Canaveral cruise ship schedule is only showing through September currently, but it might give you an idea of how busy it can be:

 

https://www.portcanaveral.com/Cruise/Cruise-Lines-Schedules

[mcmomny]

This past March during Spring Break week we had an 8:30 am departure time and prebooked an NCL transfer to the airport on our Escape cruise from Cape Canaveral.

 

We also allowed a porter to help us with our bags, she was great!  She pushed her way thru the madness of Spring Break families all looking for their bags. She got us directly to our bus and off we went!

 

We were off the ship and on the bus and at the airport by 10:45 am for our noon flight! Great!

 

But MCO was a cluster, took us forever to get to our gate. Barely made it 😬

 

FYI, the week before we were delayed several hours to board as the ship was delayed clearing customs. Guests we not allowed off before 9:45 am! Many people complaining they will miss their flights!

 

So what we thought would be plenty of time ended up being a close call

[dbrown84]

3 hours ago, FlGoodShips said:

FYI...  It takes about 1 1/2 hrs to get to MCO.  Cutting it really close. 

No way.  45 minutes.  One hour would be a very long time.

[Chesneygirl]

Thanks everyone. 
I didn’t realize the airport was that far from PC.  I’d rather not be stressed. We will take a look at some different times on other airlines.  

[amygutman]

Having lived in Orlando for over a year, I can honestly state that I4 is one of the most congested highways we've ever been on, with the craziest drivers, leading to an airport where the TSA is the epitome of slow. Even pre-check TSA is glacially paced. Polite, but very, very slow. 

 

However, if you have an option for a later flight, enjoy all the fun of this very cool city. NASA, Universal, Sea World - all amazing for an afternoon. Go see manatees in Port Canaveral. Disney...a very expensive day of waiting in line and not a great way to spend time unless you spend more than a day. Consider Gatorland (it's superfun) or the Sanford Zoo which is inexpensive plus you can pet PJ the rhino and feed the giraffes. 

 

The restaurant scene in Orlando is outstanding. Winter Park (a 20 min ride to the airport, 45 minutes from Port Canaveral) is a fantastic little town with an amazing farmers' market on Saturdays and a bustling shopping and dining walkable district on Park Avenue. 

 

End the cruise on a high note and enjoy Florida a little before you fly home!

Warmest, Amy

[BirdTravels]

On 6/18/2023 at 12:54 PM, luv2kroooz said:

I agree. Noon flight or later. You have Mardi Gras, Fantasy, Escape and Adventure of Seas homeported there on Saturdays in Jan.

Considerations are not the ships in port. It is the travel time to MCO, the walk from the bus drop to airline checkin, airline checkin time, and whether you have TSA precheck.

 

We have flown out of MCO multiple times this year. Lines at airline checkin are long. And the wait times for normal security are always upward of 45 minutes. From drop off at MCO to gate took almost an hour last week using First Class airline check-in and TSA Pre-check lanes. 

 

More than other airports like MIA, MCO has a lot of inexperienced family travelers which slow down everything. 

[luv2kroooz]

2 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Considerations are not the ships in port. It is the travel time to MCO, the walk from the bus drop to airline checkin, airline checkin time, and whether you have TSA precheck.

 

We have flown out of MCO multiple times this year. Lines at airline checkin are long. And the wait times for normal security are always upward of 45 minutes. From drop off at MCO to gate took almost an hour last week using First Class airline check-in and TSA Pre-check lanes. 

 

More than other airports like MIA, MCO has a lot of inexperienced family travelers which slow down everything. 

Agree. Everything you mentioned are fixed and reasonably determinable. The travel time is what it is 60 minutes, the lines are always long, the walk is what it is, too. The only variable is the number of ships/passengers in port on a particular day.

 

Getting back to the OPs question, 1055 flight probably not a good idea.

[fonekween]

@ChesneygirlDitto what everyone is saying about not flying out of MCO before noon what with the distance and traffic between the port and MCO. To answer your question about "getting to the airport", we always use - and have for years - Cocoa Beach Shuttle to take us from the port to MCO. We've never had any issues, they've always been there when we've left the ship, and they're also there waiting for us at MCO and take us to our hotel in Cocoa Beach. Easy peasy and you can book online!