9:45 am flight

[monkll]

do you think ill have enough time to get top airport if i do express checkout for a 9:45am flight???? anyone else do this? and if so what time did you get off ship?

[timh111]

WHOA!!!! WAAAAAAAY to close to call. I wouldn't (and don't) make my air reservations till after 12pm on disembark day!!! ANYTHING can happen to delay disembarkation!! Passenger with the wrong credentials (i.e. Passport) or any customs concerns. Even with express checkout, your still taking a BIG chance. You may want to rethink the flight time!!

[GMoney]

Just to clarify - what airport?

 

I have routinely made flights as early as 830am out of MIA / FLL after a cruise. You have to self debark and take a cab, and accept that there is some risk that something unforeseeable beyond your control will happen to delay you. If you are comfortable with that and have a plan B, then go for it. It's not nearly as daunting and risky as many people think.

[monkll]

fll airport.

[LLindaC]

The only flight I could get was 10 am out of FLL. We discussed it, and changed plans. SWA put my award ticket back and we're going to take the train to West Palm Beach and go from there on Sunday morning. That way, it won't ruin our last night on the ship. I won't be crazy with worry and I won't have to end a peaceful week with beaucoup stress. Remember how many ships will be in port that day!

[regg1216]

We did self asssit on Dec 19 took a taxi and were at the FLL airport at 7am.

[Needzavacation]

We did Express Departure on 12/26, walked leisurely off the ship at 5 minutes before 7:00, and were checked in at FLL by 7:30.

[Longhorn Cruiser]

Since we had a 12:50 flight, we took our time, had coffee one final time on the Promenade, disembarked well after our number had been called, found most of our luggage except for one that had lost its tag and was in lost in found, got a taxi ......

 

Even with all of this, we were at the gate at 9:15.

 

Amazing process and if you do everything express you can get to FLL much earlier (barring any unforeseen ship issues.)

[Cruising89143]

I worry too much to book a flight this early. Our flight after our Oasis cruise is at 11:35. We have seven ships in port that day and with the latest security issues, I don't want to be breaking my neck to catch the plane. We are doing express debarkation.:)

[dougp26364]

I'd never book a flight that early. Everything must go perfectly including no lines at the airport. I wouldn't try this on a ship with 2,000 passengers let alone a ship disembarking 5,400 passengers.

 

Since this is a new ship, holds more passengers than any ship before it, has a new terminal with what I expect to be different procedures for getting all these guests through the process, I went the opposite way and booked a flight late enough that we can take the Everglades tour post cruise. I don't want to relax for a week only to get stressed out over running to make a flight. Nothing like feeling like a sprinter in the starting blocks on that last morning of the cruise.

[monkll]

well....if i miss it theres always the 1:30 flight!!! lol:p

[PhoenixCruiser]

well....if i miss it theres always the 1:30 flight!!! lol:p

 

lol, good luck finding an empty seat the day of the flight :p

 

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[REOLI]

We did Express Departure on 12/26, walked leisurely off the ship at 5 minutes before 7:00, and were checked in at FLL by 7:30.

 

I have a 10:30 flight out of FLL and never gave it a second thought until I heard that for the 12/12 sailing there was a shortage of customs agents and many people did end up missing their flights. So my questions are: if you do Express Departure do you have to leave the ship BEFORE they start calling tags or can you do it at 8am. Second, is room service breakfast available on debarkation day??

[PhoenixCruiser]

I have a 10:30 flight out of FLL and never gave it a second thought until I heard that for the 12/12 sailing there was a shortage of customs agents and many people did end up missing their flights. So my questions are: if you do Express Departure do you have to leave the ship BEFORE they start calling tags or can you do it at 8am. Second, is room service breakfast available on debarkation day??

 

Room service is not available on the last morning.

 

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[skiiergirl]

While I wouldn't recommend it from a stress level....we did make a 9:00 am flight. (And did NOT do express walk-off. But we were in the first group of non-walkoffs.) We had a later flight booked but hustled to the airport and paid the same-day change fee to catch the earlier flight.

[CKforensic]

I just returned from the Oasis this morning and had a 9:45 flight out of FLL on Southwest. Four of us were on the flight and we had too much luggage to consider doing the express walk-off. During the cruise, we requested to disembark ~7:00 or so, which is the earliest you can disembark when not using the express disembarkation. We ended up with #12 luggage tags, which were called for disembarkation at ~7:25 (we actually walked off when #s 1-10 were called and we had no problem getting to our bags). Bag collection and customs were very efficient. We caught a cab and were at the airport in plenty of time (even with a ~20-minute queue to check bags at Southwest). I wouldn't hesitate to book that early again. Hope this helps...

[REOLI]

It turned out that my return flight had been moved up to 10:15 due to a schedule change. And it was stress free making it -- we had breakfast on the ship and left our cabin at 8am sharp and were sitting at the gate in Fort Lauderdale at 8:45am. And in my house in NY at 1:45pm which was great. I would definitely recommend any flight after 10am or even earlier if you don't mind waking up early and carrying your bags off.

[MickeyB426]

Folks, your stories of your being able to make a 9:45AM flight or 10AM flight, while comforting, are not really the point.

 

What NO one can control is US Customs.

 

If disembarkation is delayed for even an hour, it puts a wallop on the rest of the day.

 

Simply put, booking a 9:45 AM flight, while it has a better-then-even chance of working out, can be a land mine.

[skiiergirl]

Folks, your stories of your being able to make a 9:45AM flight or 10AM flight, while comforting, are not really the point.

 

What NO one can control is US Customs.

 

If disembarkation is delayed for even an hour, it puts a wallop on the rest of the day.

 

Simply put, booking a 9:45 AM flight, while it has a better-then-even chance of working out, can be a land mine.

 

True....but anytime we cruise we have a chance of having problems of a delay on the return. Ship could run in to weather or mechanical issues. Customs / immigration is always an unknow. In San Diego, in November we barely (and I do mean barely...by like 2 minutes!) made a noon flight. The only reason we made it was we begged security to put us to the front of the line and they did. Luckily the airport is only 5 minutes from the pier! Many pax from our voyage missed flights that were booked noon or even later.

[avalon1025]

on the Constellation in Feb 2009, we were still waiting for the first group to be called at 9:00. There was a delay with customs. Crazy to take a flight earlier than 11AM