Port Canaveral to MCO how early for international flight

[mizLORInj]

I see you already booked.

This was our experience.

We were the 2nd ship (of 5) into port that day this past March,

and we were at the airport by 8:30am.   Among the first off the ship and carried our own luggage off.   

[Stingray64]

On 7/11/2024 at 12:48 PM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I don’t think we will another cruise that ends in PC , it sucks getting to the airport 

The drive to MCO from the port is easy and only takes 45 min. I drive Uber and provide private rides. Every day the ships arrive the Uber lot is full and getting a ride to MCO is a breeze.

[Stingray64]

On 7/1/2024 at 5:11 PM, Capt_BJ said:

a BIG factor is the port schedule for the day. Some days there is one or two ships turning around and usually things are OK and you'll have no issues. Other days there can be 4,5 even SIX and then things get crazy. You can find the schedule at https://www.portcanaveral.com/Cruise/Cruise-Lines-Schedules  click the schedule button ... they usually have about 6 months available.

 

Also recognize that today easily 50% of the folks on the ship with you plan to be the first to walk off early to beat the crowd. On a recent RCCL cruise folks started queuing up to be first off around 4am. And as a 'small town' Cape Canaveral ain't overflowing with UBER drivers . . .

On ship days the area is overflowing with Uber drivers, tons of them come over from Orlando and its never a issue getting a ride. I should know I'm a driver and live close to the port.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

On 7/15/2024 at 6:52 PM, mizLORInj said:

I see you already booked.

This was our experience.

We were the 2nd ship (of 5) into port that day this past March,

and we were at the airport by 8:30am.   Among the first off the ship and carried our own luggage off.   

Our cruise is a transatlantic, you never know if there will be complications getting off the ship 

So either it could be perfect or a shitty 😉

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, Stingray64 said:

The drive to MCO from the port is easy and only takes 45 min. I drive Uber and provide private rides. Every day the ships arrive the Uber lot is full and getting a ride to MCO is a breeze.

Compared to FLL, MIA, Tampa, Lisbon, Barcelona, Athens,   PC is a pain 

[capriccio]

4 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Our cruise is a transatlantic, you never know if there will be complications getting off the ship 

So either it could be perfect or a shitty 😉

My limited experience with trans-Atlantic cruises (one arrival, one departure on a ship that just arrived on a TA) at Port Everglades were dismal. Hopefully Port Canaveral is better.

 

Disembarking passengers didn't clear immigration and customs until noon or so (we cleared at 11 instead of the scheduled 9 am and there were hundreds behind us) and as embarking passengers on another cruise embarkation began at 2 pm instead of 11 am as scheduled do to immigration inspections of the crew and ship inspections by various government agencies.  

 

Every year I see complaints from TA disembarking passengers at all Florida ports that no one warned them of potential schedule problems.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

On 7/11/2024 at 12:30 PM, Ex-Airbalancer said:

WestJet only has two direct flights on Dec3 

the 11:30 am was with AC 

Just our luck, our flight was change from 14:25 to 21:30 😱

So we cancelled the Westjet flight

Air Canada add a 12:20 flight which I think will give us more of a cushion compared to 11:30 AC flight also there no directly flight until 9:30 

Why did AC offer this flight 20 days ago 🤔😉😁

[Ex-Airbalancer]

On 7/17/2024 at 5:37 PM, Stingray64 said:

On ship days the area is overflowing with Uber drivers, tons of them come over from Orlando and it’s never an issue getting a ride. I should know I'm a driver and live close to the port.

 I am booking this flight because of your post 😉😁

just wondering the cost to get to MCO at about 8:00- 8:30 ish ? 🤔

[Stingray64]

56 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

 I am booking this flight because of your post 😉😁

just wondering the cost to get to MCO at about 8:00- 8:30 ish ? 🤔

Uber XL from the port to MCO is roughly $100 as the morning get later towards 9:30 sometimes the price goes up due to decreased rideshare drivers. I drive at the port and do MCO runs all the time.

[zqvol]

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

 I am booking this flight because of your post 😉😁

just wondering the cost to get to MCO at about 8:00- 8:30 ish ? 🤔

You are assuming that the ship and CBP are on time. You may not even be off the ship by 8:00. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

31 minutes ago, zqvol said:

You are assuming that the ship and CBP are on time. You may not even be off the ship by 8:00. 

I figure if we off the ship by 9 we should be ok 

our last 2 westbound in ‘22 and ‘23 we were off by 9 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

14 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Air Canada add a 12:20 flight which I think will give us more of a cushion compared to 11:30 AC flight also there no directly flight until 9:30 

Why did AC offer this flight 20 days ago 🤔😉😁

 

funny - I was saying the same thing. We're flying on a different day but AC initially had a flght to YYZ at 2:10pm, then they moved it to 11:30, which seemed to early. So we booked a 4pm flight, to be safe and now they've added a 12:20, which is weirdly close to the 11:30 flight they already have. Maybe there's a lot of people coming back from cruises and Disney and such that day...

 

I wisht that new flight was more mid-afternoon but I'll keep my 4pm flight and hope there are some spare seats on the earlier one when I get to the airport, I guess....

Edited July 24 by TJ O'Pootertoot

[Cienfuegos]

The Customs and Border Protection stations in Florida are often reported to be very understaffed. And sometimes the staff can be grumpy, as one might expect.

 

It doesn't take much to create a lot of havoc at airports or ports.  A few people calling in sick can shut down a lane, for example

[Ex-Airbalancer]

On 7/24/2024 at 9:43 AM, TJ O'Pootertoot said:

 

funny - I was saying the same thing. We're flying on a different day but AC initially had a flght to YYZ at 2:10pm, then they moved it to 11:30, which seemed to early. So we booked a 4pm flight, to be safe and now they've added a 12:20, which is weirdly close to the 11:30 flight they already have. Maybe there's a lot of people coming back from cruises and Disney and such that day...

 

I wisht that new flight was more mid-afternoon but I'll keep my 4pm flight and hope there are some spare seats on the earlier one when I get to the airport, I guess....

I would have been fine with a 4 pm flight if it was offered