Liberty express departure

[tjebme]

We just returned from our LOS cruise and did the express departure. We went to our departure lounge a little after 7 am and waited until 7:45 for them to begin disembarking. You have to carry all your suitcases down 2 flights of stairs. There were lots of people using this service so the stairwells were quite full. We made it through customs and were at the airport by 8:30. I'm thinking we would have been just fine making our 11:00 flight by getting an early luggage tag number. I would be interested to hear what time some of the other passengers got to the airport as it wasn't pleasant carrying those suitcases down all the steps!

[island284]

We, too, were on this cruise and did self-embarkation. Although we knew we would be facing stairs, etc with our suitcases, we didn't have a problem. I guess it depends on how lightly you pack, or not. Because we had a VERY early commuter train to catch we were waiting to depart at 7:00 in order to miss some of the crowding and be at the front of the debarkation line.

 

The only problem we encountered was the L-O-N-G walk to the customs building which seemed like 2 city blocks. Admittedly we were in a hurry so as to make our commuter train and walking as fast as we could wore us out.

[berylde]

Hey, you two--------------

We are interested in the embarkation of the Liberty. How did that go for you?

In the fall of last year, I read some posts complaing about the long lines and poorly run embarkation. Has it gotten better?

We live 1/2 hour from Port Everglades--what time do you recommend we get there?

[island284]

Hey, you two--------------

We are interested in the embarkation of the Liberty. How did that go for you?

In the fall of last year, I read some posts complaing about the long lines and poorly run embarkation. Has it gotten better?

We live 1/2 hour from Port Everglades--what time do you recommend we get there?

 

We arrived about 11:45 and the lines were long for new cruisers and Gold. It took us about 30 minutes to reach the check in desk going through the Diamond line.

 

I've experienced much faster boarding but in the end the cruise experience was worth the wait.

[tjebme]

We got to the pier around 10:45. The line started moving around 11 ish and we were on board and eating lunch around 12:00.

[Verfai]

We just returned from our LOS cruise and did the express departure. We went to our departure lounge a little after 7 am and waited until 7:45 for them to begin disembarking. You have to carry all your suitcases down 2 flights of stairs. There were lots of people using this service so the stairwells were quite full. We made it through customs and were at the airport by 8:30. I'm thinking we would have been just fine making our 11:00 flight by getting an early luggage tag number. I would be interested to hear what time some of the other passengers got to the airport as it wasn't pleasant carrying those suitcases down all the steps!

 

I guess a lot of the experience depends on what port they use...We did express departure on LOS in September at Barcelona dock.

We had to queue on deck 5 in center of the aft elevators (of course with luggage), the gangway of pier came all the way to deck 5 and it was like at an airport, without stairs...So we just rolled off the ship from deck 5 to land in about 5 minutes, went like a charm and about 70 people where using this option.

[mom07]

Just got off LOS last Monday. Had an 8:00am wake up call, got to the Sphinx lounge around 8:30 for a quick cup of coffee and a muffin which we sat and enjoyed.

 

We were in a cab after getting our suitcases and going through customs by 9:10 and were at the airport by 9:30 for an 11:30 flight.

 

It was quite easy!

[daboyz1223]

We were on Liberty Jan 3-7. The debarkation was terrible. Our flight wasn't until 12:57 so I didn't get my panties in a bunch or anything, but it just seemed rather unorganized. We went to our waiting area for our tag... and they were calling a number 1 at a time, then all the sudden they called probably 5 or 6 tag numbers, so it was mass chaos. Since we were pushing a stroller, i had to go down the elevator, and when we got down there, it was packed with people. I had some group of older ladies that behaved worse than my toddler. They were the people that lay on their horns in gridlock thinking that it will make a difference. So after the long delay getting off the boat, going through customs was a bit nuts. Since we had a stroller we went to some special line, but we had to wait outside for my parents and inlaws to get through and it took them probably about 20 more minutes than it took us. I know you were asking about express departure, but wanted to let you know that the regular checkout is a bit rough.