Disembarkation for Oasis in November

[NathJH5]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am trying to determine which return flight to take home after my Oasis cruise in November. My only two flight options available are 9:45 AM and much later in the day. I would prefer the earlier flight to avoid waiting around most of the day in the FLL airport. I've researched the boards regarding this topic and most of the posts I saw said that it would be doable with self-disembark and so long as we don't fly Southwest. However, many of these posts were from as early as 2010 and I know things change over the years.

 

If you have sailed the Oasis in the past several months, I have a few questions for you, particularly regarding disembarking the Oasis using self-disembark and your experience going through customs. And of course, I would love to hear your experiences or recommendation whether or not I should take the early flight, do self-disembark, etc.

 

Some other items to note: We're US citizens using passports, in our 30's - no children (so we can roll our own suitcases), flying jet blue, will most likely bring back alcohol but no other purchases, we have cruised a few times before (all with RCL), we plan to take a cab from the port to the airport (assuming this is the quickest option).

 

1. For recent Oasis trips, how early have you been able to get off of the ship if you did self-disembark?

 

2. How long has it taken you to get through customs/how long should I expect it to take? Would this vary if I am doing self-disembark versus the regular disembark schedule? Note: Based on some things I have read on the boards, it sounds like customs is not as efficient as they used to be...

 

3. When doing self-disembark, everything I have read said that you can do it so long as you can carry your own luggage. We are perfectly capable of rolling our own bags, but asking me to carry my 50lb bag up or down stairs is another story. When you have done self-disembark from the Oasis, have you had to carry your bag up or down stairs? Or is it relatively easy (aka not having to lift and carry) to roll your bag off the ship and through the customs building?

 

Thanks in advance for your insight and help!

[Jon in the ATL]

We were on Oasis a few weeks ago.

 

Off the ship at 7:00a and through customs by 7:45a. FLL airport 15 mins later. Can you do it? Yes. Right after we got off, I heard the computer system went down. People were forced to wait on the ship until it was rebooted so sh*t can happen.

 

On self disembarkation, you roll it off yourself. They will not let you go down the escalator with a heavy bag so they direct you to an elevator. It's very organized and is very easy.

 

If I was you and I travel a ton, I wouldn't book at 9:45am flight coming off a cruise. Just too many variables.

[NathJH5]

We were on Oasis a few weeks ago.

 

Off the ship at 7:00a and through customs by 7:45a. FLL airport 15 mins later. Can you do it? Yes. Right after we got off, I heard the computer system went down. People were forced to wait on the ship until it was rebooted so sh*t can happen.

 

On self disembarkation, you roll it off yourself. They will not let you go down the escalator with a heavy bag so they direct you to an elevator. It's very organized and is very easy.

 

If I was you and I travel a ton, I wouldn't book at 9:45am flight coming off a cruise. Just too many variables.

 

Thanks Jon! I appreciate the insight and the recommendation. Question for you - Did you do self-disembark? What time was the self-disembark group allowed to start getting off the boat? Was it 7 am, or earlier? I ask because I called RCL this weekend and they said that self-disembark would be able to start getting off the ship at 6:15 am. I have never done self-disembark before, so I wasn't sure if there's a lot of people who do it so you have to wait in line, etc.

 

Thanks again for all of your help!

[maggieq]

We have caught early flights before. Most recently the oasis we were getting in a taxi at 6:45 am and at the airport very early. Our last couple of flight were 9:10, 9:40, etc. yes, stuff can happen but they can when you have a later flight. We always do express and the oasis class does express debarkation very well. When my cruise is over, I want to get home ASAP. But that's just me...

Edited April 21, 2014 by maggieq

[mander_44]

We had no problems arriving to our 9:20 flight off the oasis! Leave as soon as u can disembark and U will b fine. And u can take the elevator down instead of carrying ur bags.

 

 

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[jcg4550]

We were on Oasis a few weeks ago.

 

Off the ship at 7:00a and through customs by 7:45a. FLL airport 15 mins later. Can you do it? Yes. Right after we got off, I heard the computer system went down. People were forced to wait on the ship until it was rebooted so sh*t can happen.

 

On self disembarkation, you roll it off yourself. They will not let you go down the escalator with a heavy bag so they direct you to an elevator. It's very organized and is very easy.

 

If I was you and I travel a ton, I wouldn't book at 9:45am flight coming off a cruise. Just too many variables.

 

 

We have had 11:00am return flights at the airport & check if there were any seats available on earlier flights & caught a 9:20am flights with no trouble.

 

 

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[Eng23]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am trying to determine which return flight to take home after my Oasis cruise in November. My only two flight options available are 9:45 AM and much later in the day. I would prefer the earlier flight to avoid waiting around most of the day in the FLL airport. I've researched the boards regarding this topic and most of the posts I saw said that it would be doable with self-disembark and so long as we don't fly Southwest. However, many of these posts were from as early as 2010 and I know things change over the years.

 

If you have sailed the Oasis in the past several months, I have a few questions for you, particularly regarding disembarking the Oasis using self-disembark and your experience going through customs. And of course, I would love to hear your experiences or recommendation whether or not I should take the early flight, do self-disembark, etc.

 

Some other items to note: We're US citizens using passports, in our 30's - no children (so we can roll our own suitcases), flying jet blue, will most likely bring back alcohol but no other purchases, we have cruised a few times before (all with RCL), we plan to take a cab from the port to the airport (assuming this is the quickest option).

 

1. For recent Oasis trips, how early have you been able to get off of the ship if you did self-disembark?

 

2. How long has it taken you to get through customs/how long should I expect it to take? Would this vary if I am doing self-disembark versus the regular disembark schedule? Note: Based on some things I have read on the boards, it sounds like customs is not as efficient as they used to be...

 

3. When doing self-disembark, everything I have read said that you can do it so long as you can carry your own luggage. We are perfectly capable of rolling our own bags, but asking me to carry my 50lb bag up or down stairs is another story. When you have done self-disembark from the Oasis, have you had to carry your bag up or down stairs? Or is it relatively easy (aka not having to lift and carry) to roll your bag off the ship and through the customs building?

 

Thanks in advance for your insight and help!

You are going to get answers from sure no problem to that's way too early. You have to ask yourself how comfortable you are and if you can accept the stress of taking a risk? Do you have a back up plan if you miss the early flight?

 

If you do self disembark the cruiseline clearly states you must be able to carry your bag off with no assistance and that going up or down stair wells is a distinct possibility. The elevators on the ship are usually swamped that morning and you may wait for an elevator longer than you want, which is why you need to be able to carry your bags down stairwells. Once you get to the deck disembarkation is taking place on you should be able to roll your bags.

 

Generally Oasis and Allure are the first ships into port on their respective days and they arrive pretty early (6am ish). If there are no problems docking, no problems with the ship being cleared, no problems with Customs, no problems with computer's then yes it's possible to make an early flight. But all it takes is one snafu or hiccup and your nice relaxing cruise has just become a stress filled day of trying to get home.

[handbellplayer]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am trying to determine which return flight to take home after my Oasis cruise in November. My only two flight options available are 9:45 AM and much later in the day. I would prefer the earlier flight to avoid waiting around most of the day in the FLL airport. I've researched the boards regarding this topic and most of the posts I saw said that it would be doable with self-disembark and so long as we don't fly Southwest. However, many of these posts were from as early as 2010 and I know things change over the years.

 

 

 

What's the problem with Southwest at FLL?

[f1mauro]

My family and I travel to Ft. Lauderdale a lot and 9 times out of 10 it's with Southwest. Never had an issue or delay. One person's bad experience shouldn't negatively influence to fly with them. Having said that, I wouldn't risk flying down the same day as a cruise because we live in an imperfect world and anything can happen. As for an early flight on debarkation day, yes mathematically it is possible. It's more of a gamble in the end really as anything can go wrong but most times it doesn't....are you feeling lucky?

[NathJH5]

I am not ****ting on Southwest by any means. I am simply providing the background information about my travel plans so that the cruise critic community could provide their best advice and recommendations, since several factors come into play.

 

I simply mentioned Southwest because in my research before posting earlier today many many posters said that the Southwest check in and security line were very long and took time on Saturday and Sunday mornings - more so than the other airlines. Again, that is not my personal experience or opinion, just what I found from researching these boards with posts from 2010 to 2013.

 

I will greatly appreciate if members could share their experience in terms of timing with customs when disembarking the Oasis. Thanks for all of your help.

[A&L_Ont]

We have had 11:00am return flights at the airport & check if there were any seats available on earlier flights & caught a 9:20am flights with no trouble.

 

 

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OP that's what we have done in the past. It works great as worst case situation you sit have seats for the later flight, not miss the early flight and be on standby for the late flight.