CruiseOs

We cruise on the Pride often and take two twin size eggcrate foam toppers sucked down tight in their original bags inside kitchen size glad flex bags. It's a bit trickier than using space bags but we put the still-bagged new eggcrates in the flex bag for easier handling then insert the vacuum attachment tube in the original bag and vac it small while it's still in it's original folded shape. Then gather the top of the flex bag around the vac tube and pull the tube out of the first bag slightly while still running and it sucks the flex bag tight. Twist and tape the gathered flex bags at the top and they don't pop open as often as space bags. They also vac down to a very small size that way.

We use twins on the twin beds pushed together since they vac down tighter than king size and are easier to handle and pack. We tried the extra comforter under the sheets once and it was only a tiny bit better than nothing. It's surprising how the egg crate foam helps those hard beds. The room stewards are always happy to keep the foam at the end of our cruises. We tell them at embarkation that they can keep them for themselves or as gifts or barter. That gives them time to decide what to do with them ahead of their crazy busy embark/disembark day.

 

We've used self assist and gotten off around 8 AM twice now and made our flights, one was 10:45 and the other was a little later. It's only a 10 minute cab ride to the airport. For 4 of us it was around $15 total + tip.

 

That's just great, Fred! It really helps to know you've accomplished that an hour earlier than we need to. Like cra-z-2cruise we enjoy Fort Lauderdale and even used to have a time share there. We are trying to keep enough leave days for DH to take the Fridays off after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. After retiring from the military he contracts with the Defense Dept and has had his job cut three times in the past two years by Congress refusing to ratify a budget. That puts him back to low leave levels every time. We're very grateful he's back to work and are hoping he can have relaxing winter holiday weekends AND this cruise over Labor Day. All this info will help me facilitate those schedules! Don't you just love Cruise Critic boards for the terrific people you meet!

I'm not positive of what time we actually walked off the ship, but it was around 7:30. If the ship arrives back as scheduled and you do either self assist or FTTF you should not have any problem making your flight! :)

 

Hope you have a fantastic trip!

Thank you so much! You've saved us an extra night in a hotel and DH a vacation day by not having to rebook to the next day to get decent connections! I can't thank you enough for your prompt, experienced answer!

[quote=cra-z-2cruise;"We were up early the next day for self assist disembarkation.

I have to say this was the absolute easiest disembark we have ever had.

Essentially no line at all to get off the ship and only a small one for customs.

We stayed on extra day in Fort Lauderdale and were at our hotel before 8:00."

Thanks for your great review, it's so helpful and so much fun to read! What time did you actually get off the ship in Ft. Lauderdale? The airline cancelled our afternoon flight and put us on an 11:55am flight. We had already bought FTTF and transfers to the airport but the Carnival rep said we shouldn't count on getting off the ship in time to use their transfer to the airport for a noon flight even though it's within their time parameters. We've cruised out of Ft Lauderdale before and have driven to the airport many times but this is our first time on Freedom. I assume getting off with self assist and FTTF will get us off in plenty of time to get a cab but I was hoping to hear from someone like you who has done it recently. Thanks so much for all you great information. Lots of us are benefiting from your generosity.