Zach1213

Eh, I've been flying AA constantly for the entirety of Covid (and the 12 years leading up to it) and while they've been inconsistent as of late, so have Delta, and United, and even everyone's beloved Southwest. It's just the way it is as of late. I love the bus between terminals. I'm an airplane geek and the bus ride around is something I have always, always enjoyed. Sure it adds some time, but I am usually willing to make my connection a bit longer because I enjoy it. I understand I am...different...but that's who I am 🙂

MCO is one of those airports I always give myself extra time for, even with PreCheck, because the families + those with mobility issues are...well, everywhere. I would personally arrive 90 minutes ahead; earlier if it's international.

What do you mean by "the airport is likely to change"? I have no idea where this cruise is leaving from, so sorry, but that seems...interesting. Is it a city with multiple airports?

Assuming they're UK citizens, I am not able to advise unfortunately, but I would recommend also reaching out to the cruise line. Travel agents are (often) great, but the official word will come from the cruise line and I would reach out to them immediately.

TAP is fine. Another airline I have had limited experience with, but have done a long-haul between Portugal and Brazil, and a shorthaul between Portugal and UK, and both were fine. Their longhaul hard product has become quite good with the A330-900s; shorthaul hard and soft products are perfectly adequate for that short hop.

I have flown them only once, back in 2017ish, from Madrid to Munich. A client had facilities in both places and booked my flight for me, which is why I ended up on Air Europa instead of my usual Ibera/OneWorld. Oh well... ANYWAYS, they were fine. Nothing special. I remember the flight being on time, the crew being friendly enough. Nothing memorable beyond that, which is usually a good thing. You'll probably be fine, though there are many nonstop LIS-BCN flights each day and those would have, of course, been even easier.

The Flying Saucer at DFW definitely doesn't have quite the beer wall of a normal Flying Saucer, but it's plenty fine for a layover. The Irish pub unfortunately disappeared back in...2015ish? I think the Flying Saucer actually took the space of the Irish pub, but I am not 100% confident on that.

I transit through DFW a lot, and I sometimes build in a longer layover if it's later in the day...because there was an Irish pub that had excellent Guinness (some of the best I've had), and now there's a Flying Saucer that has a very good range of beers. Mmmm, now I'm thirsty.

Despite their size, the Delta operations at JFK and ATL are fairly streamlined. I would personally choose ATL for two reasons - (1) it's a bit more streamlined, and (2) there are (a lot) more ATL-TPA flights than there are JFK-TPA flights, so if you do misconnect, there are more options to be accommodated on.

I love booze cruises. If I am going to a place where my option is "sit on the beach" or "take a booze cruise", it's a 50/50 choice for me. Also, plenty of non-Americans go on tourist trains...not sure how being on one of those makes you look like a clueless American.

Ugh, you're right...my jet lag and lack of sleep are compounding hourly, just got back from Sao Paulo this morning. Time to pretend it's 5 o'clock and start the weekend.

It could be tight, but I would do it. Here's some info on how that process will work at YYZ: https://www.torontopearson.com/en/connections/guide?arrivingairline=aca&arrivingdestination=fco&departingairline=aca&departingdestination=rdu Note you will need to also clear security and US immigration/customs at YYZ, as it's a pre-clearance airport, so that will add a bit of time.

I know CDG-CVG doesn't start until August of this year, do you know if it's going to be year-round or seasonal? Seems like an interesting route to keep year-round, but also August seems like an odd time to start (er, resume) a seasonal European route. As a kid I once flew CDG-CVG (late 90s) and it always cracked me up that you could fly from Paris to Kentucky nonstop.

You may not be able to figure out exactly what your flights are going to be this far out, but there will be a LOT of options. Let's say you're coming out of Amsterdam, for example - Delta has a big operation there, and while CVG is by no means a Delta hub anymore, it still has a sizeable operation. So, in that case, you're likely to have a ton of options from Amsterdam to CVG via Detroit, or Minneapolis, or Atlanta, or New York. In each of those, you should have multiple options which will allow you to build as long or as short of a layover as you're comfortable with, especially Detroit/Minneapolis/Atlanta. If you can't book flights now, and you're not willing to book the cruise with unknown flights, I'm not sure what else we can advise on. You'll have to either wait for flights to be released in about a month, or risk it. Just be aware that booking flights right when they come out usually results in schedule changes over the subsequent 330 days.