Fly in day of cruise or day before?

[Burgermom]

For those coming from Canada, would you recommend flying in early on the day of your Disney Cruise or flying in the day before?
We are looking at flying from Toronto for a cruise departing from Port Canaveral in late January.
Because of the time of year I am leaning towards going the day before in case of bad weather.
At the same time I feel like it would just be simpler to fly in early the day of so that we don't have to transfer to a hotel and then transfer from a hotel to the cruise.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Anyone with experiences good or bad with either option?
Thank you.

 

[minnie56]

Day before!
I'm in th cruise business and always always always suggest flying in the day prior especially in winter!
Don't take the chance , the ship won't wait !

 

[hardis5]

IMHO always plan for at least the day prior. Any weather delays (remembering the weather could be anywhere to affect plane availability) could delay or cancel ones flight not talking about airlines rescheduling flights. A delayed or cancelled flight could mean no cruise. Planning transfers or a nights hotel a small inconvenience and does allow for a less stressful start to the cruise.

 

[Gigi22]

Day before, definitely. You never know what weather or other weird thing (Delta's recent system problems, for ex.) will occur. And, it isn't only the weather at your departure airport that can mess you up, either. If your airplane is coming in from another airport, bad weather at the point of origin of the previous flight can mess you up too. I prefer an early morning flight because you have a greater chance of getting on another flight if your flight gets messed up.

 

[Toy Story Fan]

Always, always come in the day before. You don't need the stress of being delayed! If I were you, I would come in early the day before and have a hotel reservation at the port. We have done this and it's so relaxing to know you are right there. You get up in the morning, have breakfast and leisurely get ready to get on the boat, no rushing! It's a great way to start your vacation!!!

 

[SaraMc]

Always come in the day before, if you can swing it two days. Specially in the winter. We were in front of a family that was flying out the day of their cruise when Southwest systems crashed last month. They couldn't get another flight out for their family and missed those cruise. Also just incase travel insurance of for some reason you can't get there like snow or cancelled flights.

 

[Mollygirl21]

Day before for sure. I've done 8 cruises and only once were our travel plans disrupted - by an ice storm in Atlanta!

We always fly in the day before and lucky we did in this case because we were stranded in Boston for the night but made it to New Orleans just in time the next day.

 

[LemonNeko]

I did fly in the day of on my Disney Cruise in 1998 but at that time the flight was included in the cruise cost and that's when they had me come in but I would suggest flying in the day before.

When I took a cruise last October we did a one way car rental. We picked it up in Orlando stayed over night near the airport and dropped the car off at the port. There was no extra charge for dropping the car off at a different location.

 

[rothesay]

I had tried the same day arrival once. And I nearly missed getting on the ship as they was a delay due to the need of de-icing the plane, which cause a missed connection. Fortunately, there was enough of a buffer that I managed to be the last one to get on the ship. From that moment on, I always arrive at least a day early. Besides, hotels near the airport are pretty reasonable and it is a pretty easy drive to the port the next day

 

[thetallone101]

Always day before! I couldn't imagine the stress coming in day of...could be delays, traffic issues etc. No thanks! We always come in the day before

 

[darwinsrule]

Just look at the last couple of months. Major problems on Jetblue, Southwest, Delta. Flying in the day before buys you a bit of time to figure out PLAN B.

For our March Break 2015 cruise on the Wonder out of Miami, we were flying out of BUF on Saturday for a Sunday cruise. JB cancelled our connection from JFK to FLL. There were a lot of people scrambling trying to rebook flights for various cruises leaving out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. JB originally rebooked us to get in to FLL a little after 3 pm on Sunday with sailaway at 4 pm. Ended up playing around with times and cities but managed to get the last 4 seats in to FLL on Saturday. Had to spend 8 hours at JFK, but at least we were in Miami and were on the ship.

 

[starvenger]

When on a cruise departing from the US, I like getting there at least 1 day before. Two days is a sweet spot for me because we can assess what we might still need to buy (sunscreen, beach toys etc) without feeling too rushed about it. For me, it's worth the cost of the car rental/hotel, but ymmv.

I've only done a cruise departing from outside the continental US once (San Juan, PR) and that turned out fine. But an extra day would have given us more time to explore the city.

 

[Starwind]

I would recommend at least one day before. For winter cruises, we fly in three days before -- enough time in advance that if flights are screwed up we could get in a car and drive (only one driver) to FL.

If you are cruising DCL out of Port Canaveral, I highly recommend the Hyatt inside MCO as a night-before airport: while you will have to bring your luggage up to the hotel, they will take care of handling it in the morning to get the checked bags to DCL if you are using DCL port transfers, and the DCL port transfers are right there in the airport. We had a leisurely breakfast at the Hyatt restaurant, then came back to the room to be there when they picked up the luggage (we wanted to be, it isn't necessary), and then we headed to the line for the port transfer. We were about the second family on the second bus to head to the ship.

Our plan is: fly in 3 days before, stay at a WDW resort for two nights (no park visit necessary unless we want to), then use Disney's Magically express to head back to the airport the night before the cruise, spend that night relaxing at the airport and Hyatt, and then in the morning head to the ship. This works well for us. YMMV.

SW

 

[VillainLesley]

At least one day before, for sure! We stay near the airport on our arrival day, with a short trip by that hotel shuttle back to the airport in the morning where we check into the DCL transportation. They take our luggage and next we see it will be outside our state room. At the end of the trip, we take the Magic Express from the Cruise to say at a Disney Resort either for a few days or to one night before heading off home. On our winter flight last year, the plane experienced problems with a de-icing part and the replacement equipment had to be flown down from Canada (no de-icing in FLA!!). Buffer days on either side of travel days are so important!

 

[MouseGirl]

We always do two days before, since we travel in the winter and always want to have a buffer in case of inclement weather. Also, it allows us to warm up a bit in the nice Florida temperatures and do some shopping and exploring before we head off on our cruise.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

We also fly in the day before now, and Toronto while a nice airport seems to have a lot of delays. In the last 10 years we have been delayed (sometimes as much as 9 hrs) at least 50% of the time. You can also check out Buffalo, US as an option to fly out of. Either way the day before, for sure.

 

[Burgermom]

Thanks everyone. It definitely sounds like we should come in at least a day or two before the ship leaves. I was actually considering coming in the day before and staying in Port Canaveral but it looks like some are suggesting spending our first night in Orlando? Is that recommendation based on the fact that DCL transfers happen from MCO? I was thinking Port Canaveral so that my kids could play at the beach (Cocoa beach) the day before the cruise. But I really have no experience with this...
Again, thank you for all the helpful responses and suggestions.

 

[mab2012]

Thanks everyone. It definitely sounds like we should come in at least a day or two before the ship leaves. I was actually considering coming in the day before and staying in Port Canaveral but it looks like some are suggesting spending our first night in Orlando? Is that recommendation based on the fact that DCL transfers happen from MCO? I was thinking Port Canaveral so that my kids could play at the beach (Cocoa beach) the day before the cruise. But I really have no experience with this...
Again, thank you for all the helpful responses and suggestions.

I think many people prefer to stay in Orlando either because they want a couple of days at Disney before the cruise, or because they prefer to use the Magical Express and avoid renting a car. If you're happy renting, staying in Port Canaveral is a great choice. The kids can play on the beach, you're close to the port in the morning, and renting a car is almost certainly going to be cheaper than Magical Express for more than two people.

 

[Starwind]

Thanks everyone. It definitely sounds like we should come in at least a day or two before the ship leaves. I was actually considering coming in the day before and staying in Port Canaveral but it looks like some are suggesting spending our first night in Orlando? Is that recommendation based on the fact that DCL transfers happen from MCO? I was thinking Port Canaveral so that my kids could play at the beach (Cocoa beach) the day before the cruise. But I really have no experience with this...
Again, thank you for all the helpful responses and suggestions.

We prefer to not rent a car unless we have to, so we use Disney transportation. We enjoy being in the "Disney bubble" and for the most part don't mind their transportation, despite some of its limitations.

We have tried staying at a WDW resort and using the DCL transfer from the resort to the port, but that got us in to the port later than we like. We've also used private transfers, but they are expensive (there are only two of us) and also get us into the port later than we like. Our most recent experiment was WDW resort for a couple nights then back up to the airport and stay at the Hyatt then be out in the morning on the early DCL transfer to the port. This got us to the port at a time that worked well for us and will be our go-to plan for the future. The Hyatt has a nice pool and really neat views of the airport (especially at night -- the lights are pretty mesmerizing).

We aren't beach people, so are content with the beach time we get on the cruise and have no need for extra beach time. Others have different needs.

Another advantage of staying in orlando: I don't know when your flights leave, but ours are 6 or 7 am. Which means we arrived at the airport 4-ish, and probably had little sleep that night. We have to transfer in Toronto and aren't getting into MCO until about 1330. I have no desire, and quite frankly due to sleep deprivation it would be unsafe for me to then attempt driving out to the port area. Getting on a bus to a WDW resort and then relaxing, or just staying at the Hyatt MCO is a great, safe alternative for us.

SW

 

[starvenger]

Thanks everyone. It definitely sounds like we should come in at least a day or two before the ship leaves. I was actually considering coming in the day before and staying in Port Canaveral but it looks like some are suggesting spending our first night in Orlando? Is that recommendation based on the fact that DCL transfers happen from MCO? I was thinking Port Canaveral so that my kids could play at the beach (Cocoa beach) the day before the cruise. But I really have no experience with this...

Obviously personal preference plays a huge part in the decision making here.

For my family, we like exploring around Orlando (or the Fort Lauderdale area if we're on RCCL) so doing one way rentals to and from Port Canveral is our preferred choice. In part because it's our "last chance" to have some Asian food before getting on board (Lac Viet in North Orlando is a favourite).

So if you're thinking of getting a beach day in before, then this is a viable option - shuttles to and from the Port Canveral rental lots are fairly frequent, so getting to the cruise terminal should not be an issue.

One thing to note - when booking your car for the drive back to MCO, I'd recommend putting around 9am as your pickup time. DCL kicks you off the boat surprisingly early, and if you book a car for a later time the rental agency may not give you a car earlier than that.