Flight Too Early?

[ROXIETHEHORSE]

Never cruised before...is an 11am flight out of Ft Lauderdale on our didembarkation day too early? Can we make a flight that early...or do we need to stay in the airport all day for the other alternaative of a 1:55 pm flight? Thanks!

[sk8teacher]

While possible, if there are any delays you may miss the flight. Recommend taking the later flight. You can always be one of the last to leave the ship, which will take up some of the time waiting.

 

Cheers,

[CruiserBruce]

Taking a flight at 1:55 is not "staying at the airport all day". It is a mid day flight, and it is by far the prudent thing to do. As mentioned, 11:00 is too tight, and too risky.

[paul929207]

When is your ship scheduled to arrive at FLL? How many other ships are returning that day? Some days there are about 25,000 passengers disembarking, with most heading to the airport.

[1025cruise]

I'd say you are pushing it for 11. Book the 1:55 for piece of mind.

[serene56]

When we sail out of FLL and have a flight for FLL we can book an 11:30 flight.

 

The night before debarkation- ask the pursers desk for early off tags. Show your flight information and you will be getting off with the first wave of passengers that are called AFTER self assist.

 

When your number is called-- go through the customs/immigration and then grab a porter- they will get you to the front of the line for taxi (we tipped 10.00- best 10 bucks I ever spent)

 

--

Now if you want to get that 1:10 flight- you go eat breakfast in the dining room- ask for later number. You will be off the ship by 10:30- and at the airport by 11:30 so you see the wait is not an all day type of thing.

[ROXIETHEHORSE]

I did not realize you could stay on the boat for awhile...how late do they let you stay?

 

Sorry...in my husbands world...waiting at the airport for more than an hour is all day. Not his favorite thing!! ;)

[Keith1010]

I did not realize you could stay on the boat for awhile...how late do they let you stay?

 

Sorry...in my husbands world...waiting at the airport for more than an hour is all day. Not his favorite thing!! ;)

 

This varies by ship but normally by around 8:30 AM.

 

I would not do the early flight unless you both handle stress well.

 

If all goes well you make the flight.

 

If there are delays with the ship arriving, or the ship is cleared late or you get stopped by customs and they go through your luggage this is where the problems can occur.

 

I would take the later flight but I don't care for stress.

 

Keith

[Karysa]

I did not realize you could stay on the boat for awhile...how late do they let you stay?

 

Sorry...in my husbands world...waiting at the airport for more than an hour is all day. Not his favorite thing!! ;)

 

We were on board until about 9:15 last cruise because we were staying in Miami for a couple of days so we let the people who needed to catch planes get off and then we disembarked. There were still quite a number of people still on board so we could have even stayed a little later if we chose to. I would rather sit in the airport than run through it but that is just me. I won't even look at flights that leave before noon.

[mizLORInj]

If you take the 1:55 you can skip the self-assist debarkation and use the color/# system to get off the ship and still be at the airport in sufficient time. You may want to skip the early flight this time till you see what debarkation is all about.

 

For FLL, we usually take an 11 or 11:15 and do self-assist debarkation (first group off carrying all your luggage off with you) so we're among the first off the ship. We're also usually among the first at FLL airport.

 

Enjoy your first cruise!!

[pcsunlover]

On our 1st Princess cruise we took a mid-afternoon flight (1:30pm) from from FLL and regretted it. We ended up sitting around the airport for over 3 hours.:(

 

On our last 2 cruises on Princess we were on 11:25am flights out of FLL. We didn't have any problems making our flights. We used the Princess bus transfer and made it to the airport by 8:30 both times. We just made sure that we were in the 1st or 2nd group scheduled to leave the ship. There are always taxis waiting to go to the airport if you don't want to wait for everyone to get on the bus.

[Langley Cruisers]

I could look it up but I don't wanna. :p Remember if you are disembarking with other ships, namely Oasis or Allure of the Seas, that's a lot of passengers and many of them are flying out of FLL with you. Yes, book the later flight but I would still plan to get to the airport as soon as possible, at least by, say, 10:30 am. Once through security you can relax but trust me until then, anything can delay you.

[trish1c]

When judging whether you can make a flight, don't look at when it takes off, look at when you have to be at the AP. For an 11 am flight you have to be there no later than 9:30. If something happens -- come to port late, another passanger has a medical emergency, there's a traffic tie up on the way to the AP, you won't make it. That's waaaaayyyy too much stress for a 1st cruise.

Take the 1:35 flight for which you should be at the AP by noon. If you are amoung the last off the ship, which does entail a certain level of more comfortable waiting around untl about 10:30 - 11 a.m., you will time it perfectly.

[ROXIETHEHORSE]

Thanks everyone...I think we have decided on the later flight...airports have bars!!! :D

[Keith1010]

Thanks everyone...I think we have decided on the later flight...airports have bars!!! :D

 

Good approach.

 

Keith

[CruiserBruce]

Hey Keith- they let you stay on ships past 8:30. HAL lets you stay until about 10. Others I have been on go close to 10, at least 9:30.

[Keith1010]

Hi Cruiser Bruce, you are right. I just gave 8:30 AM as an average not knowing all of the details of the OP. Yes, some cruise lines let you stay on longer than that, while others want you off by around then.

 

Keith