Best Way to Depart Ship - FLL

We're on Nieuw Amsterdam in November 18. We're in a Neptune Suite. We're driving and will be parking in the port garage. In the past, we've always tried to be some of the first departing the ship. We've changed our philosophy. We'd like to be off the ship and on the road by about 0930. Our only luggage will be the two small carry on's we will be handling ourselves. We both have passports and Global Entry.

Question: What kind of lines/backup can we expect in the terminal and how much time should we allow to clear customs and exit the terminal? No issue with using a porter to expedite the process.

Global entry will speed you along. Suggest you use cash to pay for parking. The last time we parked there our credit card was compromised. Fair warning.

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Global entry will speed you along. Suggest you use cash to pay for parking. The last time we parked there our credit card was compromised. Fair warning.

 

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Thanks for the suggestion. But, by 'speed along', does that mean we can almost walk right through with minimal delay?

BTW, what time does the crowds thin out in the terminal?

Our last few cruises were from Tampa. Much different.

You should be able to bypass the regular lines.

9:30 should see less crowds.

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This past year people only did immigration -- no customs.

Starting around 8:30 they cut back the number of officials working the immigration area. And we have seen the lines start to back up at that time. This has been going for about 4 years.

I'm confused.

Will we spend a lot of time in lines if we leave the ship around 0900?

If we leave the ship around 0900, can we be through the terminal and in the parking garage by 0930?

Or, should we plan on leaving the ship around 0800?

With Global Entry/Nexus, we have walked straight through the line - just be on the lookout for the sign that directs you there. It wasn't too obvious where to go last time we were there. I don't think there would be much of a problem whatever time you go. At the Global Entry kiosk, they do let people in from the "regular" line if there is no one in their line, and some can get rather annoyed when you "jump the queue"!:D

The sign might also say Mobile Passport, so keep that in mind.

Thanks everyone.

With Global Entry/Nexus, we have walked straight through the line - just be on the lookout for the sign that directs you there. It wasn't too obvious where to go last time we were there. I don't think there would be much of a problem whatever time you go. At the Global Entry kiosk, they do let people in from the "regular" line if there is no one in their line, and some can get rather annoyed when you "jump the queue"!:D

We saw the sign on our last cruise from FLL.

My wife had no interest in Global Entry until I pointed out we could have been in the non-existent line.

Once in FLL, we saw the Global Entry line combined with the folks in wheel chairs, so that extended the wait time a bit. They had 3 agents working the non-citizens line and 2 working the US Citizens line, even though there are maybe 12 booth positions. So, the US line was about an hour long.

Interested in this thread, as we're on the same cruise, same day (Nov 18), heading home. Our flight has been changed to an hour earlier (11:30 am). I'm thinking we should keep our luggage and depart as soon as allowed. We've never done this before. What time do they normally let people leave? I'm assuming there won't be much of a line up for taxis?

We often like to be among the last to leave the ship at disembarkation (we want to enjoy the ship as long as possible). We generally find that if we leave the ship around 9:30-9:45 the queues in the terminal are minimal. Leaving about 9 will not be as good but GE really helps at Port Everglades.

Hank

Once in FLL, we saw the Global Entry line combined with the folks in wheel chairs, so that extended the wait time a bit. They had 3 agents working the non-citizens line and 2 working the US Citizens line, even though there are maybe 12 booth positions. So, the US line was about an hour long.

We've experienced that too, and the last time we disembarked from a HAL cruise in Port Everglades, a whole group of suite passengers and others with priority disembarkation were fed into the head of the Global Entry line ahead of those of us who actually were qualified to be in the line. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We've experienced that too, and the last time we disembarked from a HAL cruise in Port Everglades, a whole group of suite passengers and others with priority disembarkation were fed into the head of the Global Entry line ahead of those of us who actually were qualified to be in the line. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh, well, we'll have global entry and are booked into a suite.

We're on Nieuw Amsterdam in November 18. We're in a Neptune Suite. We're driving and will be parking in the port garage. In the past, we've always tried to be some of the first departing the ship. We've changed our philosophy. We'd like to be off the ship and on the road by about 0930. Our only luggage will be the two small carry on's we will be handling ourselves. We both have passports and Global Entry.

 

Question: What kind of lines/backup can we expect in the terminal and how much time should we allow to clear customs and exit the terminal? No issue with using a porter to expedite the process.

We have global entry as well. Was fanstatic. When we got off the ship in FLL there was a global entry line far right side as you are exiting, we walked straight up maybe had to wait for one couple went through in less than five minutes, all the other lines were very long.

Bear in mind that all this a guess. Things can and do go wrong and the whole system can get held up. The last time I disembarked in Fort Lauderdale, our assigned time was 9:30-9:45. We didn't get off the ship until close to 11:00 and the customs/immigration line took about 15 minutes. We were at the airport by 11:45. We had a flight at 4 pm, so it wasn't a big deal.

My brother was in the 8:00-8:15 disembarkation group and finally got to the airport at 11:00 for a 2 pm flight. There was a problem in the terminal and the lines were incredibly long, even for the people with Global Entry. Disembarkation was completely halted for over an hour to let the lines in the terminal, which were almost back to the gangway go down.

Another time in Fort Lauderdale, there was an issue with a passenger which involved local police needing to board the ship, and a passenger who had to be medically evacuated. All that caused regular disembarkation, even the early self-disembarkation group, to be pushed back nearly an hour and a half.

These fairly regular snafus are why we never book a flight before 3 pm on disembarkation day.

So while you should be okay to walk off with no problems at 9:30, it might not be the case. My advice is always plan for the worst eventuality, not the best.

 

These fairly regular snafus are why we never book a flight before 3 pm on disembarkation day.

 

So while you should be okay to walk off with no problems at 9:30, it might not be the case. My advice is always plan for the worst eventuality, not the best.

We're driving. Just trying to get an assessment of when we can start the drive. We'd like to be on the road between 0900 and 0930 but don't particularly want to get up early.

We cruised this last February through Port Everglades. We were also in a NS but do not have global entry. We do have “Mobile Passport”. We went to that line and they said Mobile Passport wasn’t available but waved us through anyway. Regular line was about an hour long. We were through in 30 seconds! We left with the group right after self disembark. I would presume the later,the better.

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Agree with above......global entry was worth every dime. We walked straight to the line and was number 3 in line while the regular lines were several hundred deep.....we had gotten off ship, claimed luggage, through GE, out of terminal and in tax headed to airport in about 15 minutes....shocked to say the least!!

I was curious, my wife and I were one of the last off the ship in January, and there was a lady waiting for us holding a sign with my name. I don’t remember our cabin, but it have been a vista suite. I have global entry, my wife does not. She ushered us to the far right lane and we whizzed thru.

We are so fortunate in that there is a nonstop flight home at 1pm, which gets us home at 330p. We used to rush to make a 1045am (which is easy to make) that got us home at 230, with a connection. So nice to have a MDR breakfast, then read in a lounge until last call to disembark. Only downside is sitting in the lounge listening to ‘Ralph’ call 20 of his closest friends to tell the, he’s back in port and had a suite and he’s getting ready to drive home, just in case they had tried to call him....

One other oddity, with the later flight, the bags to airline thing won’t work. That was okay as I’m used to carrying my bags around. And, when you’re last off, it makes it easy to find your bags, lol

I remember parking a few years back and the elevator broke in the parking a garage... what a nightmare!!

It was an isolated event, but what a horrible event!

Otherwise, parking st the pier was a great experience!

Another factor in Port Everglades is the number of ships disembarking at the same time as your ship. There are just so many US immigration officials assigned to PE, and if there are 5 ships all clearing at the same time, then the number of agents assigned to each terminal drops significantly. Check that issue out before you make a before-noon flight reservation, as it could have an impact on the time it takes to clear immigration and be on your way.

It's just a step to the left... 😂

Another factor in Port Everglades is the number of ships disembarking at the same time as your ship. There are just so many US immigration officials assigned to PE, and if there are 5 ships all clearing at the same time, then the number of agents assigned to each terminal drops significantly. Check that issue out before you make a before-noon flight reservation, as it could have an impact on the time it takes to clear immigration and be on your way.

Good point but we're driving.