Is a 12:50 return flight from Dover doable?

[Mineu]

Ugh-my return connection was cancelled. There is a 12:50 that will get us back at a reasonable time. The next flight gets us back at 10:30 pm with a two hour drive home. Has anyone flown this early from Dover? Thanks!!

 

[Disneyfriend]

I think you'd be pushing it, honestly.

Last September we walked off the ship in Dover at exactly 8 am with our luggage. It took about 2 hours to get to the Heathrow area, and that was without traffic issues. A 10:00 am arrival at Heathrow is cutting it a bit close for an international flight at 12:50. It would *probably* be ok, unless you ran into any traffic, or extra long security lines.

I'm sympathetic because it took us a CRAZY long time to reach our home the day we disembarked from Dover. We also had the choice of cutting it too close for comfort, or taking the later flight and having about three extra hours to kill. We chose the latter and I'm glad we did; we hired Eddie Manning Limo to do our pick up, and we used the extra time to tour Windsor Castle (very close to Heathrow) and have lunch in a charming pub there. It ended up being a great mini excursion!

 

[Mineu]

Thanks for the advice. I'm leaning the same way-but, my husband wants the earlier one as we can fly into a closer airport and cut down on the driving time as well. Really bummed about the change because the outbound flight was originally on Virgin and their economy comfort product is a lot nicer than Delta's. So, we've down graded our cabin and increased our travel time. I'm probably going to take the later flight-but was hoping others had flown out earlier without issue.

 

[xiphoid76]

12:50 sounds like the flight we took from London-MSP. We got off the cruise around 7:30 in Dover. We arranged transportation via blackberry and were at the airport by 9:30. Plenty of time. LHR is easy to manage and we were thru security with plenty of waiting around time at the airport - able to enjoy a snack and coffee in the terminal.
That is the only direct to MSP, if not that flight we would have to connect. It was plenty of time for us. I would absolutely go for that instead of waiting around all day. You land a few hours after you take off and have the day to recuperate back at home.

 

[cedricandsophie]

It may be doable but I’m not one to take chances with flights. I’d probably spend the last few day worrying about the upcoming flight. But that’s me.

 

[kiford]

Very tight especially with Brexit looming. When we were there, there was a minor slowdown/work to rule at the port and it slowed down traffic into the port considerably - like hours long. When we left the port, we could see trucks backed up for absolutely miles. It was fortunately not too bad leaving the port, but if Brexit causes any problems with customs or cargo shipping, it could be significant. Given the botchup that is Brexit, I would personally be expecting a mess at Dover.

We disembarked about 9:30 and got to Heathrow a little after 12:30. We were originally booked on a 6 pm flight and got notification that morning that it had been delayed to 10 pm. There was a flight at 3 pm we had originally declined to book because we were concerned about not making it (we'd seen news articles about issues at the port which is apparently quite common). We had thought that maybe we'd try to switch to the 3 pm flight but it was sold out and by the time we finished checking in, it was 1 pm which would be cutting it close for an international flight. If we'd disembarked early, we could maybe have made it (if it hadn't been sold out) but given the "normal"-ish traffic we experienced, I wouldn't have wanted to be worrying about getting there in time if there was worse traffic.

 

[Mineu]

Thanks everyone! Disney is recommending flights after 1:45-I'm wondering if the 1:40 flight they switched me to is safe

 

[mab2012]

This is one of those tricky questions where nine times out of ten you'll be fine with time to spare, but there's not much room for anything to go wrong. So if the ship is late to disembark, there are issues at the port, or bad traffic on the way, you're in trouble. Whether you want to take that risk is really a matter of your personal comfort level.

Consider which day of the week you are travelling, and also how you plan to travel. Traffic on the M25 can be awful anytime, but especially on a weekday morning. The train is definitely not an option for an early departure. Best bet is probably early debarkation with a private transfer or rental car left at the port. If you're doing ground transfers with DCL, I'd check with them about the likely earliest departure and how you can make sure you're on it.

FWIW, DCL's earliest recommended flight time on cruises terminating in Dover is 1:45 pm.

We were looking at a similar flight time last summer, except in our case there really weren't any viable later options to our destination. We decided to stay the night and fly out the next morning instead.

 

[Deb Explores]

Personally, I wouldn't book anything before the 1.45pm Disney is recommending. I was previously a Crew Member and disembarked from Dover on my last cruise. I was told not to book anything before about 2pm due to any unexpected issues that could happen including debarking delays at the port, traffic and if there are any delays debarking it can cause further delays depending on the times of high tide. We debarked at 8am and had no issues but you never know what's going to happen .

It's entirely up to you of course and because I was flying domestic I got there super early in the end but I'm personally a worrier when flying and like to be there 3 hours before.

 

[Mineu]

Thanks! I decided to go back to my original flight and we will just get an airport hotel and fly out in the morning. The alternative connecting flight options just wouldn't work and I really didn't want to chance the earlier flight. Thanks for all of the input!!

 

[jrabbit]

It also depends upon WHERE your cruise is coming from. 4 years ago we had 12 night Northern Europe cruise out of / into Dover. I think that we made the assumption that we would be returning to the port at the normal O-Dark-30. But in fact we were not scheduled to arrive at the port until after 9am with disembarkation an hour later.

We had 2 1/2 sea days from Tallinn to Dover. Were late leaving Tallinn due to the short port "day" and everyone returning to the ship at the same time. There were many onboard that had tight connections and the captain put the pedal to the metal and actually got us back to Dover and docked before 8 am. The crew kept everyone informed throughout those last 2.5 days.

So i would verify that the time you are scheduled to arrive back in Dover "works" with your flights.

 

[oufpat]

We have a 4pm flight out of Heathrow and are thinking of doing the Disney transfer. What is the latest time the transport will leave the port?

 

[Deb T.]

We've cruised in and out of Dover on DCL several times. The last time, the port authorities were holding all taxis, private drivers, and cars picking up friends/relatives outside of the gates that enter the pick-up area inside the port until those drivers could prove that the people they were picking up were already off the ship and completely ready. We had booked a private transfer to pick us up at the published debarkation time, but since he couldn't call us, the PA's wouldn't let him through. As we continued to wait, we heard another driver tell cruisers of the difficulty he had getting into the port, so we started walking down the line of cars until we finally connected with our driver. Fortunately, we only had carry-on luggage, which also helped at the airport since we didn't have to wait in line to check any suitcases. Our drives each way (Heathrow/Dover, private transportation each time) have been as short as an hour and 45 minutes up to two and a half hours. We personally wouldn't book flights more than 30 minutes earlier than what DCL recommends. It's not worth it to us to have the last moments of our vacation filled with anxiety and worrying whether or not we'll make it to the airport in time. Good luck and enjoy your cruise!!

 

[kaseyC]

Take the later flight. You don't want to end an amazing cruise stressing about whether you will make your flight or not.