Delta flight time change - post cruise

4 adults and 2 children from our party will be flying home from Orlando MCO right after the cruise. The cruise is supposed to end at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday. They were planning on using the EZ check luggage option and then taking the Disney shuttle to the airport for their noon flight. They were just notified today that the flight will now depart at 11 a.m. Does anyone have a suggestion for taking this flight?

Once they arrive at the destination they will still have a 2 1/2 hour drive home, so while it is possible to switch to the next scheduled flight at 2 p.m., it will make for a very long day for the little ones.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Well, you can't use on board airline check in if you have an 11:00 flight. And you can't use EZ Check on DCL as it is a Princess name!

However, an 11:00 flight is no problem IF everything goes as scheduled for the disembarkation. We have actually been at the airport at 9 and Delta moved us from a 12:30 flight to a 9:30 flight!

I honestly can't tell you what to do. Obviously there is a 2:00 flight, but it might be full if you were to somehow miss the 11:00. Planning on the 2:00 is easy, but as you noted, that makes for a longer day after the flight. The 2:00 would allow you to use onboard check in.

If you were to miss the 11:00, can you afford the tickets for a later flight? Things do happen--an accident on the road to the port can close the road for hours! The port could be fogged in so that the ship can't dock (doesn't happen often at MCO). There could be any number of reasons that you can't be at the airport by 9, which is what you'd need for an 11:00 flight with no onboard check in. On the other hand, when everything goes right, there is no problem with this flight time.

I'd probably go for the safety of the 2:00 flight and then grumble as I sat around at the airport......I don't remember much of those times I had to sit around the airport, but I certainly remember the times of stress when things didn't go as scheduled.

4 adults and 2 children from our party will be flying home from Orlando MCO right after the cruise. The cruise is supposed to end at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday. They were planning on using the EZ check luggage option and then taking the Disney shuttle to the airport for their noon flight. They were just notified today that the flight will now depart at 11 a.m. Does anyone have a suggestion for taking this flight?

 

Once they arrive at the destination they will still have a 2 1/2 hour drive home, so while it is possible to switch to the next scheduled flight at 2 p.m., it will make for a very long day for the little ones.

 

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Well, you won't be able to use the Onboard Airline Checkin option with an 11:00 flight. Flight have to be after 11:30 for that.

When an airline changes a flight time, they have to ask you if you accept the change. If you say "no", they need to work with you to get you a flight that works.

Personally, I don't think a 2 1/2 hour difference is worth worrying about. I'd go with the 2:00 one. If the kids get tired on the drive home, they can sleep in the car. Yes, I've traveled with young kids, in a car, on long trips.

It MIGHT be possible for you to still get off the ship when debarking begins (usually around 7:30), if you carry your bags off, have private transportation meeting you at the port, and there's no traffic/weather issues on the highway to the airport, and catch an 11:00 flight. But all that's out of my comfort zone. And it assumes that all will be well with the ship getting in on time.

Personally, that would be too close to comfort for me.

Even if everything goes according to schedule, the earliest the DCL bus would get them to MCO would be 9am.

One little hiccup with Customs Officers not all starting at the right time, the ship not getting clearance exactly on time, or delayed docking and no way would they make their flight check in.

I would move the flight to 2pm. Yes it is a long day for the kids, but they will exhausted from all of the fun of the cruise and likely sleep in the car on the way home from the destination airport.

ex techie

Also they will have the benefit of not having to get the kids up at say 6:30am to get ready and have breakfast before debarking.

If they take the last bus, they can have a more leisurely morning as long as they are out of the Stateroom by 8am, then go to breakfast, and be more relaxed instead of rushed.

Once they get to the airport, they will have time for a snack for lunch before the flight too, so no grumpy kids on landing or expensive airline crappy food!

Win win!

ex techie

Also they will have the benefit of not having to get the kids up at say 6:30am to get ready and have breakfast before debarking.

 

If they take the last bus, they can have a more leisurely morning as long as they are out of the Stateroom by 8am, then go to breakfast, and be more relaxed instead of rushed.

 

Once they get to the airport, they will have time for a snack for lunch before the flight too, so no grumpy kids on landing or expensive airline crappy food!

Win win!

 

ex techie

But if they do onboard check in, they still have to be off the ship by 8. This may have changed though--I just saw a form that said if your flight was after 1:00, you didn't need to disembark until 9:00. It used to be 8:05 for everyone with onboard check in.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I have forwarded this to my group and will keep you posted on their decision.

I would switch to the 2pm flight. If anything happens like, the DCL ship not being in line at the correct time to enter the port, then the ship will be delayed and you risk missing your flight.

Some days there are 4 cruise ships entering the port and if DCL misses the assigned time, then the ship is bumped to the end of the line. I believe the difference between the first ship and the last is over 2hrs.

It is more of a risk on the 3 day cruises because if the ship has to reduce power/speed, there is no way to make up the lost time. The 4 day cruises have plenty of time on the last day at sea. Also the Captain can pick a route that is smoother rather then the straight shot from Castaway Cay to the port.

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Thanks everyone. Our party of 6 has all switched to the 2 p.m. flight. They couldn't get seats together (7 yr. old is sitting alone), but I feel hopeful that some kind person will swap seats to correct that.

Thanks everyone. Our party of 6 has all switched to the 2 p.m. flight. They couldn't get seats together (7 yr. old is sitting alone), but I feel hopeful that some kind person will swap seats to correct that.

Not to be unkind, but no one wants to sit with an unsupervised 7 year old. Either the flight attendant will arrange a move or a passenger will undoubtedly agree to change seats.

You made the "right" choice. Have a super cruise.

Not to be unkind' date=' but no one wants to sit with an unsupervised 7 year old. Either the flight attendant will arrange a move or a passenger will undoubtedly agree to change seats.[/quote']

 

 

We fly on standby several times a year, so often we've had to split up because the only thing left are middle seats which obviously most people don't want to trade for (at least not happily) even when they see parents with small children.

 

What we've learned is that our 5 and 7 year olds behave more "mature" when sitting a few rows away than when they are sitting right next to us! Something kicks in that tells them that they can't be whiny or misbehave around adults that they've just met and who they will be sitting next to for the next few hours. It's funny watching them from far away trying to act "adult like" [emoji23].

 

To the OP: great decision on selecting the 2:00pm flight! [emoji1360]

 

 

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