Departing time out of FLL on the CB

[bled01]

Ok, I have never sailed Princess or out of FLL before and I wanted to see if there was a consensus opinion of when to show up at the port. The official guidelines from Princess say:

 

CHECK IN 1:00PM-3:00PM

ARRIVE AFTER 2:00PM

FOR A FASTER CHECK IN

 

However, I see a lot of posts about people showing up at 10:30am. We do not need to be the first ones on the ship, nor do I want to be the last on. So basically I am looking for the optimal time to show up and get on the ship as early as possible without waiting in line for an hour.

[Gunner22aa]

You are likely to have a wait regardless of when you show up. Unless you have priority boarding you won't be the first on the ship for sure. It seems like everyone wants to be the first on. Your wait will likely be minimised if you show up early afternoon, say 1300-1400 but never expect just to show up and board immediatly.

[highheel girl]

. So basically i am looking for the optimal time to show up and get on the ship as early as possible without waiting in line for an hour.

 

10:30 :)

 

Unless you arrive 1 to 2 hours before sailing you will have to wait to some extent. INMO

[bunny1954]

You are likely to have a wait regardless of when you show up. Unless you have priority boarding you won't be the first on the ship for sure. It seems like everyone wants to be the first on. Your wait will likely be minimised if you show up early afternoon, say 1300-1400 but never expect just to show up and board immediatly.

 

We were at port and checked in by about 10:40. We got Zone 3 boarding and a place to sit until they started actual boarding about 2 hours later. One night at dinner, we shared a table with a couple who arrived at 1:00pm. They said the line was wrapped around the outside of the building and that the check in process had stopped for those in line until some of us already checked in had boarded and cleared the waiting area.

[bled01]

We were at port and checked in by about 10:40. We got Zone 3 boarding and a place to sit until they started actual boarding about 2 hours later. One night at dinner, we shared a table with a couple who arrived at 1:00pm. They said the line was wrapped around the outside of the building and that the check in process had stopped for those in line until some of us already checked in had boarded and cleared the waiting area.

 

Wow, that sounds like a real mess. I wonder if this is something unique to FLL and/or Princess. We showed up and waiting in line for 10 minutes for our last cruise on the Norwegian Epic out of Miami.

[caribill]

We were at port and checked in by about 10:40. We got Zone 3 boarding and a place to sit until they started actual boarding about 2 hours later.

 

Wow, that sounds like a real mess. I wonder if this is something unique to FLL and/or Princess. We showed up and waiting in line for 10 minutes for our last cruise on the Norwegian Epic out of Miami.

 

Whenever we have sailed out of Port Everglades, boarding has started around noon.

[Pam in CA]

We were at port and checked in by about 10:40. We got Zone 3 boarding and a place to sit until they started actual boarding about 2 hours later. One night at dinner, we shared a table with a couple who arrived at 1:00pm. They said the line was wrapped around the outside of the building and that the check in process had stopped for those in line until some of us already checked in had boarded and cleared the waiting area.

I've embarked at FLL many times and never experienced that. Maybe I was lucky.