Should we check a bag?

Hi everyone! I am going on my first cruise with a close friend in mid-May. While it is not his first time, it has been almost ten years since his last cruise and he is a little rusty. He was also a minor at the time, so his parents took care of most of the trip details. Our trip is the 5/17-5/24 FotS 7 night eastern Caribbean cruise with RCI.

Our flight is scheduled to come in at MCO at 11:09 am, and our cruise is at 4:30 PM. We are too young to rent a car, so we are planning to take a shuttle to Port Canaveral. We haven't picked one out yet, but it looks like the latest they are willing to pick people up is 12:30 pm.

Originally we were planning to only use carry-on bags, but this has led to complications. We wouldn't be able to bring the two bottles of alcohol permitted by RCI, or larger bottles of sunscreen or bug spray due to carry-on limitations (all those tiny bottles!). However, we are concerned about time, especially the time it would take to pick up a checked bag before getting to our shuttle.

So, basically: Do you think it would take too much time to take care of a checked bag? Should we go for it or try to find a work around? If we were renting a car we could easily stop at a grocery store, but with a shuttle we don't have that luxury. We considered using the transfers offered by RCI, as they're cheaper than a taxi, but they're a lot more than a shuttle - will they take care of our checked bags for us? I'd appreciate any input!

First of all - have a great time on your cruise.

You will get many ideas from folks but if I were arriving that close I would choose to carry my own luggage. You might be able manage the liquids by packing a couple of small sizes of sunscreen. You can also use bug spray sheets rather than liquid to meet your needs.

Also, be aware that the alcohol you can bring along is restricted to wine.

Good luck!

I would carry on. Live without what that costs you. Too much chance of missing the ship while waiting for bags

First of all - have a great time on your cruise.

You will get many ideas from folks but if I were arriving that close I would choose to carry my own luggage. You might be able manage the liquids by packing a couple of small sizes of sunscreen. You can also use bug spray sheets rather than liquid to meet your needs.

Also, be aware that the alcohol you can bring along is restricted to wine.

Good luck!

Thank you so much! I am beyond excited :D

I did consider the tiny sunscreens, but I'm extremely fair and worried about how many it would take to last a 7-night cruise. I suppose I can always sneak some in his bags, since he doesn't have that problem. I've never heard of bugspray sheets, I'll have to check those out! And yep, we were going to go with one wine and one champagne, but it looks like we'll be picking out of what's offered on the ship.

Thank you so much for your advice! I really appreciate it :)

I would carry on. Live without what that costs you. Too much chance of missing the ship while waiting for bags

I figured! I've never checked baggage on a plane (usually very short trips) so I am not sure how long to expect it to take, but at this point any extra time is too much time! Probably better not to risk it. Thanks for your advice!

Please do not take this post as being super critical or trying to flame you! I am seriously trying to give you advice and be helpful.

Many people who are seasoned cruisers would not consider such a tight connection. Best advice is always to fly in the day prior to a cruise. There are just too many things that can go wrong - weather (not just snow; have been delayed by thunderstorms in Florida); crew delays, equipment problems, etc. Any chance of flying in day before, or an earlier flight?

Just doing carry-on may give you a slight edge, but that depends where you are seated on the plane. Baggage is unloaded right away - if you are in the back of the plane, you might be the last one off, and the bags would be sitting waiting for you.

You are allowed two bottles of wine; not alcohol. You might want to check-out one of the alchol/drink packages if you are not able to take your two bottles of wine on board. (Might be a good idea for you anyway if you plan to have a few drinks.)

I also use a lot of sunscreen and know what you mean about large sizes. Be aware that anything you purchase on the ship in the way of toiletries is a very limited selection, and very expensive.

Would suggest booking your transportation with RC - they are more likely to get you to the ship on time.

Also, you have to be on board usually at least an hour prior to sailing; sometimes more; (each port has its own requirements). I am more used to Fort Lauderdale and they are very strict. This is a TSA rule, manifest has to be turned in, etc. You cannot be even 5 minutes late to check in. Find out exactly what time you have to be on board.

Hope you have a wonderful cruise, but think through the transportation from airport to ship. Make sure you have insurance!

How old are you? How old do you have to be to rent a car? The ship's have a minimum age for cruising along....are you old enough?

Of course you should check a bag...how else will you get all the liquid stuff you need? 3.4 oz of liquids (sunscreen) is not enough for 1 morning...let alone an entire cruise!

Please do not take this post as being super critical or trying to flame you! I am seriously trying to give you advice and be helpful.

 

Many people who are seasoned cruisers would not consider such a tight connection. Best advice is always to fly in the day prior to a cruise. There are just too many things that can go wrong - weather (not just snow; have been delayed by thunderstorms in Florida); crew delays, equipment problems, etc. Any chance of flying in day before, or an earlier flight?

 

Just doing carry-on may give you a slight edge, but that depends where you are seated on the plane. Baggage is unloaded right away - if you are in the back of the plane, you might be the last one off, and the bags would be sitting waiting for you.

 

You are allowed two bottles of wine; not alcohol. You might want to check-out one of the alchol/drink packages if you are not able to take your two bottles of wine on board. (Might be a good idea for you anyway if you plan to have a few drinks.)

 

I also use a lot of sunscreen and know what you mean about large sizes. Be aware that anything you purchase on the ship in the way of toiletries is a very limited selection, and very expensive.

 

Would suggest booking your transportation with RC - they are more likely to get you to the ship on time.

 

Also, you have to be on board usually at least an hour prior to sailing; sometimes more; (each port has its own requirements). I am more used to Fort Lauderdale and they are very strict. This is a TSA rule, manifest has to be turned in, etc. You cannot be even 5 minutes late to check in. Find out exactly what time you have to be on board.

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise, but think through the transportation from airport to ship. Make sure you have insurance!

I was having the same thoughts. Most of the time we've sailed out of our home port -- an hour's drive away, but even then, we try to be in the car by 10am so we can get to the port early (and hopefully get on board by 11:30 or so). For all other cruises, we're going to be in our embarkation city at least a day ahead to keep the stress level down. We can do any shopping for things left behind -- box o'wine, soft drinks (don't care for coke), factory sealed snacks for keeping my energy in ports. And for the length of cruises we're doing (now it's two week cruises, but even with the one week ones...), I need to have checked luggage (and I don't bring many of those items people tend to list as must brings -- no surge suppressors, over the door hangers, etc.).

Even if you have an itinerary that has a second day port that you can fly to, that's a flight and hotel that you have to pay for. Plus that stress. We would rather go in early and stay the night, maybe get in a little sightseeing or a nice dinner. If we don't have the extra day to do this, we postpone going on a cruise until our schedules work out. To us, a cruise is a relaxing vacation so making it stressful is not our goal.

How old are you? How old do you have to be to rent a car?

You generally have to be 25 to rent a car (some rental companies will rent to 21-24-year-olds but slap on so many fees, you could hire a limo for less).

Boy, you are really taking a chance arriving in Orlando that late. You have to deplane, walk the concourse, take the shuttle to the main terminal, get to your transportation, and take the ride to the port, which, if you're lucky, and there are no problems on the freeway, the ride will be an hour. You must be ON the ship 90 minutes before departure, which means you must be on board by 3pm. If your flight is even a little delayed, you might have a problem.

FYI, you are NOT allowed two bottles of alcohol, but wine, and only wine, and it's two bottles per cabin, not per person. If you still want to bring alcohol, and it's found in your bag, they will take it from you and keep it until the last night of the cruise.

We are both 22, above the minimum age for our line, and minimum age on RCI is 21, but you do pretty much have to be 25 to rent a car. I am checking with my mom to see if a Floridian friend of hers is willing to drive us to the port and back for the return trip - if so, we would be able to stop at a grocery store on the way and pick up liquid toiletries, getting rid of that dilemma. Haven't heard back yet. If we take a taxi that is also an option, but taxis are much more expensive than the shuttles. I just checked Uber and their prices are excellent, may go that route. If we have time perhaps they can get us to a store on the way there.

As I posted in an earlier reply I am aware the alcohol has to be champagne or wine! Sorry for the confusion :( will edit initial post to clarify.

The port requirements are indeed an hour before embarkation, so we would need to be in there by 3:30 PM to hit the deadline. For what it's worth, we are sitting in the first 3 rows of economy class on the plane - so, not the absolute back, but still pretty far back there.

Unfortunately my travel buddyis going to be stuck working the night before, so we can't go in a day early. We were aware of the time constraints but since the cruise website said to schedule your flight to come in by 12:30 at latest, we figured this would account for slight delays, picking up luggage, etc. We did not get travel insurance of any kind. I have looked and there is a flight that would get us in at 9:15 AM, but we would have to cancel the old tickets with no refund.

I definitely appreciate all the feedback, and I know you all have positive intent :) thank you to every one of you!

.

 

Our flight is scheduled to come in at MCO at 11:09 am, and our cruise is at 4:30 PM. We are too young to rent a car, so we are planning to take a shuttle to Port Canaveral. We haven't picked one out yet, but it looks like the latest they are willing to pick people up is 12:30 pm.

 

!

If your flight is due to arrive at 11:09 and it is on time, it could be 20 or 30 minutes before you get off the airplane and get to the terminal. If you do check your bags, add another 30 minutes. That makes it 12:15 if you are lucky before you are out of the terminal and ready to get to the cruise port.

You have to be checked in and on the ship 90 minutes before it leaves which means that you have to be on board at 3:00.

According to Google Maps, it will take you 42 minutes to get to Port Canaveral from the time you actually get on the shuttle. In other words, if you are out of the terminal immediately at 12:15 without any wait, you get to Port Canaveral at 1:00 assuming that there are no traffic problems or that there is no construction on Rt. 528.

This gives you a 2 hour window in case there are any problems or you will miss the boat. You can't afford to check your bags - they must be carry on. Given that your window is that tight, you might even consider booking cruise ship transfers even though they are ridiculously over priced.

The other obvious question that has not been asked and you have not explained is why you booked that flight. Is it too late to schedule an earlier flight, a red eye, or even a flight that arrives the day before.

DON

Although expensive you could buy sunscreen etc in your ports of call.

You should not check a bag. You should have phone number (not just website) of at least one transportation company that will rush you to the port OR arrange the cruiseline transfer (work out the relative costs vs risks)(if the cruiseline did not make your air arrangements, they will not wait for you past the last shuttle time they have given you anyway).

In addition to 3.5oz of sunblock in each of your quart bag, pack sunscreen and bug dope in stick forms, in your "personal item" aka daypack, but not in your 3-1-1 zippy bag. In theory they may be really thick gels (?) or pastes (?) and they may make you dump them depending on how they "read" in the x-ray. But there's your risk:benefit consideration -- $12 or $15 sunscreen from the ship for your first seaday? or risk losing a $5 stick sunscreen?

We have flown in on the day to FLL, Vancouver, and Santiago Chile (and we WERE delayed by 5 hours and the airport IS over an hour from the port -- I had both HAL's and Viator's phone numbers and hence was not overly stressed).

Make use of happy hour specials or splurge on a bottle of wine on the ship. Tank up on shore. Just balance those costs against NOT missing the ship -- Priceless!

If your flight is due to arrive at 11:09 and it is on time, it could be 20 or 30 minutes before you get off the airplane and get to the terminal. If you do check your bags, add another 30 minutes. That makes it 12:15 if you are lucky before you are out of the terminal and ready to get to the cruise port.

 

You have to be checked in and on the ship 90 minutes before it leaves which means that you have to be on board at 3:00.

 

According to Google Maps, it will take you 42 minutes to get to Port Canaveral from the time you actually get on the shuttle. In other words, if you are out of the terminal immediately at 12:15 without any wait, you get to Port Canaveral at 1:00 assuming that there are no traffic problems or that there is no construction on Rt. 528.

 

This gives you a 2 hour window in case there are any problems or you will miss the boat.

Thank you SO MUCH for working this out for me. I've never been to an airport with multiple buildings/terminals and wasn't aware that was a thing. 2 hours is a much smaller window than I thought we had, and it is very worrying.

My friend is stuck working the night before until 11pm-midnightish, and we will not be able to go down the night before. I did check and there is one other flight that would get us in earlier, at 9am, which is an extra 2 hours - we still don't think that is enough time to check any bags, but it is enough time to wander the airport in search of sunscreen for 10 minutes or so, and definitely a more comfortable window to catch our ship. We did not get insurance on our first flight, so I will have to see if we can cancel the first part of our round trip (or just not show up?) but keep the return, or if I have to re-do the entire flight plan.

SadieN, unfortunately our first port of call is Coco Cay, an island owned by the cruise line, so prices will be pretty similar, and I'm not sure if I can wait until day 4 to get cheap sunscreen. That is an awesome idea though, and we can probably wait that long to pick up other liquids we would have brought along. Thanks!!

crystalspin, that's a great idea! I will definitely check out some 'solid' sunscreen options. In the past, flying out of the same airport we're using this time, I forgot to stick mascara, lip gloss etc in my 3-1-1 bag and no one ever stopped me, so this may work. If not, you're right, it's a small loss and since sunscreen is a necessity I will just buck up and buy it somewhere. I'm so glad you made it to your destination without trouble! I will grab some emergency phone numbers without leaving. And I was not aware there was happy hour on the ship, which is definitely worth checking out.

Once again, thank you to everyone who has responded. I really appreciate the advice and concern from everyone. I will report back when I've figured out what the new plan is :)

Thank you SO MUCH for working this out for me. I've never been to an airport with multiple buildings/terminals and wasn't aware that was a thing. 2 hours is a much smaller window than I thought we had, and it is very worrying.

 

My friend is stuck working the night before until 11pm-midnightish, and we will not be able to go down the night before. I did check and there is one other flight that would get us in earlier, at 9am, which is an extra 2 hours - we still don't think that is enough time to check any bags, but it is enough time to wander the airport in search of sunscreen for 10 minutes or so, and definitely a more comfortable window to catch our ship. We did not get insurance on our first flight, so I will have to see if we can cancel the first part of our round trip (or just not show up?) but keep the return, or if I have to re-do the entire flight plan.

 

SadieN, unfortunately our first port of call is Coco Cay, an island owned by the cruise line, so prices will be pretty similar, and I'm not sure if I can wait until day 4 to get cheap sunscreen. That is an awesome idea though, and we can probably wait that long to pick up other liquids we would have brought along. Thanks!!

 

crystalspin, that's a great idea! I will definitely check out some 'solid' sunscreen options. In the past, flying out of the same airport we're using this time, I forgot to stick mascara, lip gloss etc in my 3-1-1 bag and no one ever stopped me, so this may work. If not, you're right, it's a small loss and since sunscreen is a necessity I will just buck up and buy it somewhere. I'm so glad you made it to your destination without trouble! I will grab some emergency phone numbers without leaving. And I was not aware there was happy hour on the ship, which is definitely worth checking out.

 

 

Once again, thank you to everyone who has responded. I really appreciate the advice and concern from everyone. I will report back when I've figured out what the new plan is :)

I forgot to ask and nobody else has asked. Hopefully your flight is non-stop. If not, your chances of having problems have increased dramatically.

DON

I forgot to ask and nobody else has asked. Hopefully your flight is non-stop. If not, your chances of having problems have increased dramatically.

 

DON

Luckily yes, the original flight is non-stop and our 9 AM replacement would also be non-stop. We briefly looked at connecting flights but the airports we'd be touching down in are apparently notorious for delays, and we knew we couldn't risk it.

1:45 arrival--tho the airport is much closer to Port Everglades in FLL.

BUT we did carry ons only JUST in case there were any delays--i recommend the same for you. Take what small bottles of sunscreen you can get ( buy more onboard if you need ) & forget the wine--it would be FAR more costly to miss the cruise than to buy sunscreen or drinks on board!

There are sunscreen wipes as well (I ordered mine online)

I have never put mascara or lip balm in a baggie--I flew 8x last year. Have never had an issue.

Have a great trip!

Makeup and a 311 bag is a horrible thing.

For more room use powders if you can and decant into smaller bottles if you can't. Contact lens cases and eye drop bottles are great to reuse.

So true! I had forgotten about that. I might also check out a new line of makeup that's made up entirely of pencils - kind of weird but worth a shot.

So, it would cost about $600 to fix our flights. If we do decide to do it, it is basically the same to come in that morning or, if he can somehow get off, the night before, including the hotel. The night before would be ideal, but he is pretty sure it won't be possible. As soon as this snow lets up and he can get back to work, we will find out.

You don't really need large bottles of bug spray--I've never had much of a bug problem in the Caribbean. I do usually have along a very small bottle (about 1 oz.), or just use the sheets.

If we are flying carry-on (we seldom do, for cruises, but have) I do buy large sunscreen before we get to the ship, but we always fly in a day before.

I think you could buy sunscreen in the terminal before you get on the shuttle. It will probably be more expensive than what you'd buy at a discount store, but less expensive than on the ship.

You'd be surprised how much you can get in one of those 'liquid' bags. It helps that my DH doesn't bring much so I can 'borrow' some of his space. I have never put things like mascara or lipstick in, and have had no problems, but no guarantees. I use travel sizes or decant into the 3 oz. bottles when necessary.

If you cant change the flights, how about sending a box to the port ahead of you. You could send your sunscreen and bug stuff and a few other things. Im not sure RCI will do that but it is worth investigating.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Forums mobile app

Have always taken bug "spray" in the wipes form - last time used the wristband type of bug repellant. Never had much of a problem in the Caribbean, but definitely glad we had it on the Panama Canal cruise.

Agree that sunscreen is your biggest worry - really use a lot of it in the Caribbean. Have seen people using the wipes on children (especially babies), kind of like a baby wipe, but have never tried. It is available that way.

Thanks for all the new input! Monday when I have a day off I'm going to call RCI and ask a rep for advice. I will definitely be checking out alternate forms of sunscreen/bug spray - both wipes and solid forms sound really useful. Shipping a box is also worth a shot, and I will ask about it while on the phone with them. I really appreciate all the support from everyone <3

I would not check a bag in Orlando with a time constraint. Maximize the use of both 3-1-1 bags.... Boys don't really have that much to put in them :). As mentioned before you can use contact lens cases for hair products. Target also has some small plastic jars for travel in their dollar section now. Cosmetics do not need to go in the bags. You should have room for at least a couple of travel tubes of sunscreen.

I would plan on taking a taxi from the airport to the terminal.

Find a Walgreens or cvs that sells wine close to the airport or cruise termina before you go. Faster to get in and out of one of these than a grocery store. Have the taxi driver stop there. Make a list of what you need to get and split it in two... One of you grabs the wine, the other grabs the sunscreen, etc, (be very specific with brands, etc on the items you put him in charge of getting :)).

Good luck and have a wonderful cruise!