As summer gives way to fall and a chill sinks into the evening air and early morning light the minds of many Canadians will turn to one thing: escape. A sunny Caribbean cruise wins out over icy door steps, a drive that needs shoveling, and a car buried in snow. Getting to climes where 68°…sorry, we mean 20° is considered bundling up weather can be a daunting project in both time and expense though. For many Canadians just getting to an airport that offers flights to Florida can be a long and arduous journey by itself.
The Golden Horseshoe
Unless of course, you’re living in Southern Ontario. The Golden horseshoe (the western end of Lake Ontario) is home to 26% of Canada’s population with over 8 million people and much of Canada’s financial and industrial might. The centerpiece is Toronto, Canada’s largest city, and the region is served by Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. With 37 direct flights departing for Orlando alone getting from this region to anywhere in the world is straightforward, but has all the hassle of trying to fly out of a major international hub. This makes it expensive to fly into US destinations. Absurdly so, considering the border is only an hour or two away and can be passed through with a minimum of hassle and expense on the ground.
There is a nearby alternative across the border that Canadian cruisers may wish to avail themselves of. The Buffalo Niagara International Airport is only two hour’s drive away from Toronto. It isn’t necessarily convenient, but boarding your flight in the US can amount to a significant savings in airfare as you’ve already passed through customs at the border. It also significantly increases the number of flights available since you gain access to US regional lines that fly into peripheral airports, and not just long haul flights flying into major hubs. This is an appealing option for those in Toronto, Hamilton, and the surrounding areas. Those in Belleville, Kingston, and areas to the north and east are confronting a drive around most of the circumference of Lake Ontario that makes the Buffalo Airport much less appealing. Another option for Canadians living in these areas that is in the same vein as Buffalo is the airport in Syracuse, New York. It offer much of the same benefits of flying out of Buffalo, and for those north-east of Toronto a shorter drive. The caveat is that there are no non-stop flights out of Syracuse heading to Florida. A three hour drive followed by a six hour layover in a single terminal airport in a second tier city may be too much for some Canadian cruise travelers.
If you’re living as far east as Ottawa then you are likely better off driving to Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. It is Canada’s other major air-travel hub and offers direct flights to Orlando. Smart travelers should be advised that Trudeau is just as crowded and expensive as Toronto though, and likely with the added confusion of dealing with large numbers of French speakers.
Away Out in the West
Canadian in the western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia will be seeing direct flights to Orlando starting in January of 2016. It should be noted that airlines define direct flights as flights that do not change their alphanumeric designation, and is not the same thing as a non-stop flight. The designation can be misleading and it can cover everything from a stop for fuel to pulling up to the gate and embarking and debarking passengers while you fidget in your seat. In some cases you may actually debark the plane, get onto another, and still technically be on the same “flight”. It’s a good idea to at least glance through the flight itinerary before committing to the final purchase instead of assuming a direct flight is a nonstop flight.
With that caveat clearly defined: WestJet will begin offering direct flights from Windsor, Yellowknife, Victoria, Saskatoon, and other cities to Orlando in 2016. These flights are not precisely frequent. For example the flight leaving from Vancouver departs on Friday, the flight back arrives on Saturday. That is the only direct connection to Orlando the entire week.
That limited access means that Canadian cruises are likely to be confronted with one of two choices. A lengthy layover at Toronto, Minneapolis, or another hub airport to catch a connecting flight back on at least one leg of their journey. The second is to allot extra days of their vacation to shore side activities to buffer a three or four day cruise vacation out. Fortunately, Central Florida offers plenty of vacation destinations like Cocoa Beach, Disney Parks, and Universal theme parks. Given a choice between a layover in Minnesota while a slicing, icy wind blows across the plains from the arctic to rattle the airports windows and taking a couple extra days to ride a roller coaster in the reduced crowds of the Orlando off season we know what we would choose.
As an aside, Go Port offers customized packages with additional hotel days before or after your cruise along with transportation packages to make it easy to get around. You can call one of our reservation specialists at 321-735-8833 or 855-755-4637.
Your Days in the Sun
Winter is the perfect time for Canadians to take a Caribbean cruise. For cruise lines this is the slow season which means discounts as they try to fill rooms. For you this is a chance to escape the cold, the snow, and going to work and coming home in the dark.
Recommend 
