Recent cruiser question-port arrival

[sigafoos]

There are alot of threads discussing what tme to arrive at the port, I'm curious with the higher security risk what time does DCL let you in to the terminal. I called Youride today to arrange transportation from MCO area to the terminal and they suggested arriving at 12:00 as the time you can get into the terminal changes alot. So as of now we will be picked up at 11:00. What do you recent cruisers think is this a good time or should I change it.
Kim

OOPS wrong forum meant to post on the other cruise forum

 

[garys_fan_club]

Sigafoos,

I recently took a cruise aboard the Disney Magic: Feb. 8-15/2003.

We drove to Florida and arrived in the Cocoa Beach area the day before. We arrived at the Cruise Terminal around 10:30AM on Feb. 8th and were allowed to park and enter the terminal. We were about the first ones there so we could park near the terminal's front entrance and were one of the first families to check in. The line to board the ship was held until about 12:15PM and our stateroom was ready around 1PM.

The primary advantage to arriving this early is to enable you to get first shot at any Palo or Spa reservations.

We chose to cruise during a slow vacation period, and our ship was not fully booked. If you cruise during a "prime time" vacation period, expect bigger crowds.

We arrived back to the terminal at approximately 6:30AM on Feb. 15th. Since we had the late seating (8:30PM) for dinner, our breakfast the last day was served at 8AM. We were off the ship and back in our car at 9:15AM.

I would characterize both our embarkation/disembarkation experience as "smooth."