Freedom - Embark/Disembark times?

[Scottee25]

We have never sailed Carnival before so I am trying to get an idea of when we will be allowed to board the ship on the first day and when we will be allowed to disembark on the final day. We will be staying in Fort Lauderdale the night before and the current itinerary shows the ship to be departing Saturday, October 6, 2012 @ 4PM. I am not really worried about being late to the ship, but since we have never seen this ship before, and we'll already be in town, we would like to board as soon as we can. However, you don't want to get there so early that we are forced to wait in the terminal for an extraordinary amount of time. What time would we normally be allowed to board?

 

The itinerary shows the ship arriving back in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 7AM. What time are people usually allowed to disembark? I am currently looking at airfare and trying to decide on which flight to take. The best option currently looks to be a flight leaving out of FLL at 11:15AM. Should we be able to make this flight? The next flight is not until 3:30PM and since we both have to work the following day, I would prefer the earlier flight. Would we have to "self-assist" (I think that is what you guys call it when you carry off your own luggage and do an early disembark)?

 

Thanks!

[serene56]

I would take the 11:15 flight

 

Having sailed many times out of FLL I would book whatever was available between 11:00am - 11:30

 

Youdo not have to get off with self assist either.

 

take your flight information down to the guest services and ask for early off tags.

you will be in the first group off after the self assist.

 

have a liesurly breakfast in the dining room-- away from the crowds.

 

leave the carry on stuff in the room until you are done breakfast.

[franks1]

We were on the Freedom last week.On Sat we got to the port around 11:00 am they didn't start boarding till 11:30.They started letting people off on Sunday about 7:20.We had zone 6 and got off at 8:30,The first people off was the ones who carried there luggage off.Ft.Laud. airport is only 10 min. away.It took us about a half hour to get our luggage and go thru customs.There were plenty of taxis and more in a holding area down the street.Just let the service desk know on the day before that you need a early zone #.

[Scottee25]

That is great news! Thanks for the information guys! I really appreciate it!

[iheartpoco]

I am sailing on the Freedom on 12/29...my itinerary shows that she docks at 8am - is this later than she is currently docking, or do they just say 8, but maybe she docks at 6:30 or 7?

[serene56]

I am sailing on the Freedom on 12/29...my itinerary shows that she docks at 8am - is this later than she is currently docking, or do they just say 8, but maybe she docks at 6:30 or 7?

 

Freedom does different itineraries. 6 days and 8 days.

 

But I also see that other sailings have it docking at 8am

[Scottee25]

That was a typo on my part. The itinerary I have shows 8AM as well. Sorry, that was my mistake. However, I am assuming that an 11:15AM flight should still be feasible? Would the purser's desk be able to tell me if I would need to do a self-assist disembark? Or do you guys still stick to your original assessments?

[Gma&Gpa]

Scott, we are on the same cruise with you in October. Cannot wait - and I say this after cruising several times. We typically get to the port around 10:45 - we then go through the line (have not sailed out of Lauderdale before but I suspect they are all the same). And usually have a short wait in the terminal. Most of the time, Carnival will book "wedding parties" and of course VIPs first -but it's rare that we're not on the ship by 11:30-11:45. Having lunch on the lido by noon. Getting off of this ship, I've no experience. But one of my co-cruisers booked her flight at 11:30 - and Carnival told them they didn't think it would be any problem at all. Obviously, we are sailing in hurricane season - so things CAN happen - but if that's the case - there will be a whole bunch of us scurrying to figure out what to do. Missing a plane to come home is not nearly as worrisome as missing the plane to get TO the cruise. (that's just my opinion - I always tell my bosses when i "intend" to be home -but they know - things CAN happen)

[Scottee25]

Yeah, I am really looking forward to this cruise. All new ports for us, as well as, a new line. All of our cruising prior to this has been on RCCL and most of those have been out of San Juan. We have had one cruise out of Miami and another out of Barcelona. With the San Juan cruises, anything before noon was probably not happening. However, considering how close everything appears in Fort Lauderdale, I was think along the lines that an 11:15 flight was more than doable. This will be our first time trying for a flight before noon but hopefully there will be no issues.

 

So far the only time we arrived at port before boarding was for our Miami cruise. I hate to say it, but I hated waiting in that terminal :) But waiting there was much better than staying another moment in the hotel we got stuck at. From the sound of it, if we were to arrive at port shortly after noon we should be able to check in and board at that time? Since we get in pretty late on Friday night, I would rather sleep in Saturday morning and get to the port after the boarding process has already started.

 

Hopefully it turns out to be an awesome cruise!