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What I did, and what I should have done instead

I wrote in a previous blog post about how I did something not-too-smart when I took my recent weekend cruise on Utopia of the Seas: I flew to my port on the morning of my cruise. I tried something equally ill-advised on the way home, scheduling a 9 am flight from Orlando with the hopes of being back in NC by noon.

I missed that flight, of course, but I could have made it, if I’d executed things a little differently. I had purchased a round-trip transfer with GoPort (which I highly recommend for Port Canaveral cruises), and I woke up early on disembarkation day in order to be among the first people who got off the cruise ship. I was waiting for the GoPort shuttle bus when it arrived a little after 7.

What I didn’t realize was that the shuttle bus would wait until it was mostly full before it left the port for the 45-minute drive to the airport. By the time we finally arrived, I had missed my flight, and I had to purchase a new one on a different airline.

I had actually thought to look at the cost of an Uber from the port to the airport; at the time I disembarked, it would have been about $100. While it’s impossible to say for sure, I’m pretty sure that leaving the port in an Uber around 7 am would have gotten me to the airport in time to make my flight.

Instead, I had to buy a new plane ticket, for a cost of $300. Lesson learned! I definitely don’t advise an early flight on your way home from any cruise port, and certainly not from Orlando. But if you absolutely have to, make sure that you’re taking an Uber and not depending on a shuttle.