Earliest flight I should book?

nkereina

Last chance to lose your keys.
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
We'll be on Oasis of the Seas in March out of Port Canaveral. We disembark on a Sunday and will be flying home same day out of Orlando. We'll walk off ourselves with our luggage. What would be the earliest flight you would comfortably book? This is our second cruise and last time we didn't pay attention to time frames as we weren't leaving until the next day. Thanks!
 
I have never used Port Canaveral nor have I been on the Oasis. Having said that, I am recommending you keep a few things in mind: RCCL does not control the disembarking procedure, the custom officials are in charge. While it is very rare, they can hold up disembarking for any variety of reasons. Consider the trip to the Orlando Airport and traffic. Also consider the possibility of a lengthy wait at the airport check in or TSA Lines. I would rather wait for the plane than have the plane leave me.
 
If it helps, Disney says to not book any flights that depart before noon. Hopefully the TSA will get their problems fixed by then since some recent travelers thought MCO have said the TSA lines are 2 to 3 hours and some folks have been missing flights.
 
IMO, assuming everything goes right:

Off ship: 7am
Through customs: 7:30am
Arrive MCO: 8:30am
2 hours through TSA: 10:30am

Bare MINIMUM would be 11am for me. I'd be more comfortable with a 1-2pm. I don't like being stressed on the last day.
 


I was on Oasis recently and had a flight for 11:15. The airport was only 15 minutes away,but with TSA and customs clearing the ship late, I just made it in time. I have also sailed out of Canaveral and that is a 35 min. Ride with good traffic but you are always at the mercy of customs and when they will clear the ship. I would leave lots of extra time at airport as this will take away the stress of being late.
 
If you want to take an early flight I would recommend to sign up for Global entry which also give you TSA precheck. It will allow you to bypass the lines at both customs at the port and TSA at the airport. It is well worth the money if you don't have a credit card that will reimburse you for fee. All adults will need to have TSA pre to bypass the regular line at the airport. Children will get it if parents have it. You can also take your own luggage off to save some time. I would agree though to not make it stressful and book a flight after 11 am.
 
If you want to take an early flight I would recommend to sign up for Global entry which also give you TSA precheck. It will allow you to bypass the lines at both customs at the port and TSA at the airport. It is well worth the money if you don't have a credit card that will reimburse you for fee. All adults will need to have TSA pre to bypass the regular line at the airport. Children will get it if parents have it. You can also take your own luggage off to save some time. I would agree though to not make it stressful and book a flight after 11 am.

What is the difference between Global Entry and TSA Precheck? I noticed that the Global Entry web site lists Airports, but not ship ports. How much more does it cost?
 
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What is the difference between Global Entry and TSA Precheck? I noticed that the Global Entry web site lists Airports, but not ship ports. How much more does it cost?
Global entry is like TSA precheck for customs. If you apply for global entry you get both. I believe global entry costs $100 while TSA precheck is $85. There are different interview locations so you may have to drive further for the global entry interview, but it's worth it IMO. You can find out the locations and details the website.
 
What is the difference between Global Entry and TSA Precheck? I noticed that the Global Entry web site lists Airports, but not ship ports. How much more does it cost?

A note of warning. It could take up to 9 months, maybe more, for you to get your Global Entry interview with customs. It depends upon the location. I am in Austin. We just got approved for the interview about 2 weeks ago. There was absolutely nothing listed, and nothing listed in San Antonio. I tried doing a walk-in, because DH was successful the week before. However, it didn't work. Some of the people waiting with appointment said that they had booked their appointment 9 months ago, and it was the first available appointment. You might google for your nearest location and see if there's anything. You can't check for appointments though, until you are approved. I did manage to get an appointment for Monday. They are bringing in agents from other cities for a bit to clear things up. We originally had Houston and Orlando booked in July, and those were the earliest appointments available for them.
 
We just flew home on Sunday out of Orlando...what a mess! We waited almost 1 1/2 hours at 9AM in line for TSA!! I would rather have a later flight booked and people watch in the airport than risk missing my flight! HTH
 
We sailed Freedom in March and booked an 11:00 am flight out of MCO. Between airline check-in (SW) and TSA we barely made our flight. The two things that saved us was a smooth disembarkation (carrying our luggage) and having the towncar waiting for us. It wasn't worth the stress to end an otherwise wonderful vacation.

If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't book anything earlier than 1pm in order to avoid the rush and stress.
 

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