NCL site says "allow 6 hours from ship arrival to airport transfer" (POM to FLL)

[luvtovaca]

We have cruised out of Miami only once before and that was on Carnival who's policy had said not to book departing flights from FLL earlier than noon. Best I can find on NCL it is saying they recommend 6 hours from ship arrival into port to your return flight. Is this excessive? We are looking at booking a 12:40 return flight out of FLL, cruise is from POM. Most info on these boards seems to say that should be fine. We plan to use SAS from POM to FLL and can do self assist off the ship.

[bambione]

That seems a bit excessive to me. We were on the Getaway last March and had plenty of time to catch a 12:30 flight. Depending on how many are in your party NCL also has a shuttle from POM to FLL, it costs $25/per person. It takes about 40 minutes to get from POM to FLL. If you are taking a shuttle are they going to be waiting around for other people to get off the ship? That could hold you up. I'm not an expert, and I'm sure some other people will chime in here as well.

Of course there could always be the usual problems, like a ship arriving really late, your suitcases are flagged in customs, a big traffic accident, etc. But I think you'll be fine.

[don't-use-real-name]

In general NCL quotes a generous time allotment for the ordinary everyday port transfer to the airport.

YMMV if doing the transfer on your own but will definitely be much better and faster.

After getting your baggage and clearing Customs the fastest way is by your own chartered vehicle be it a cab/taxi or shuttle bus.

For the NCL chartered motor coaches there will be a wait till a large enough group is present to fill or nearly fill the buses usually in a staging area onboard the ship.

If enough people are in a one group going to one airline a wait for that may not be so bad - when you get to the airport the bus goes directly to that airline instead of all the airlines in between.

And with all means of travel - weather - accidents - road repairs - will disrupt well timed plans from "A" to "B" !

The day/night before the ship ports the ship's Daily usually has an order of disembarking starting with the Passengers with their own baggage doing what is called a Walk-Off

followed by the passengers with organized travel arrangements thru NCL (a colored coded baggage tag scenario).

The larger the ship the more complex the problem.

Getting off the NCL SUN is most apt to be easier than the NCL EPIC or the Breakaway class ships.

Being in a suite haven or garden arrangements are made through the Concierge to expedite your disembarking.

 

Just remember no matter how fast you get to the airport there is the possibility of TSA Security and Airline check-in snafus - allow for that !

[Jancruz]

Miami is a strange port to clear customs..they can take a long time one time and do it quickly next time..with air , I would rather book later than take a chance of missing the plane..

Jancruz1

[zqvol]

We have cruised out of Miami only once before and that was on Carnival who's policy had said not to book departing flights from FLL earlier than noon. Best I can find on NCL it is saying they recommend 6 hours from ship arrival into port to your return flight. Is this excessive? We are looking at booking a 12:40 return flight out of FLL, cruise is from POM. Most info on these boards seems to say that should be fine. We plan to use SAS from POM to FLL and can do self assist off the ship.

 

 

The key here is the word arrival. Ship arrival is NOT when disembarkation begins, it is when the ship docks. Six hours after arrival will be sometime between 11 and noon. Miami is really easy and fast to clear customs and immigration and the trip to FLL is only about 45 minutes so barring any unusual circumstances you should be fine with a 12:40 flight.

Edited March 25, 2015 by zqvol

[cliffd64]

We have cruised out of Miami only once before and that was on Carnival who's policy had said not to book departing flights from FLL earlier than noon. Best I can find on NCL it is saying they recommend 6 hours from ship arrival into port to your return flight. Is this excessive? We are looking at booking a 12:40 return flight out of FLL, cruise is from POM. Most info on these boards seems to say that should be fine. We plan to use SAS from POM to FLL and can do self assist off the ship.

 

You can easily make a 12:40 flight... We have done this several times.

[luvtovaca]

Thanks for all the responses! I guess we will take our chances and go with the 12:40 flight. It is cheaper, direct and enables us to fly into a less busy airport near home (we have a few choices all within an hour). We do always travel with travel insurance, so if anything unforeseen should occur we will deal with it. I'd rather miss our flight home, than our flight to begin our cruise;)! We always fly in the day ahead for that reason.