When to fly home?

[Rain4sasha]

I hope this is the right area to put this question in!

 

We are sailing in and out of Fort Lauderdale on the Carnival Conquest in late July. We're going to fly down the day before the cruise sails and stay overnight, to minimize stress, and plan to fly home the same day as disembarktion. The itinerary says we'll arrive at the port at 8am. When is a safe time to book flights? The cheaper flights are at like 10:30 and 11:30am, then jump up significantly until about 4 or 5. I don't know how I feel about sitting around an airport for 6 hours, but am nervous 10:30 or 11:30 would be a close call.

 

About how long does it take to disembark off the ship? Recommendations on the earliest time you'd recommend booking a flight? Thoughts on time killers if we don't fly out til later in the day?

 

Thanks for your help!

[Ashland]

I hope this is the right area to put this question in!

 

We are sailing in and out of Fort Lauderdale on the Carnival Conquest in late July. We're going to fly down the day before the cruise sails and stay overnight, to minimize stress, and plan to fly home the same day as disembarktion. The itinerary says we'll arrive at the port at 8am. When is a safe time to book flights? The cheaper flights are at like 10:30 and 11:30am, then jump up significantly until about 4 or 5. I don't know how I feel about sitting around an airport for 6 hours, but am nervous 10:30 or 11:30 would be a close call.

 

About how long does it take to disembark off the ship? Recommendations on the earliest time you'd recommend booking a flight? Thoughts on time killers if we don't fly out til later in the day?

 

Thanks for your help!

Take the 11:30am flight...you should have no problems with this flight time from Port Everglades-FLL.

[paul929207]

My concern with the 11:30 flight is your arrival time. Most ships arrive at 7 & start debarkation 7;30 or 8. That means you may be at the end of a long line to checkin at the airport and go thru security. How many ships are with you that day?

[Crew News]

I hope this is the right area to put this question in!

 

We are sailing in and out of Fort Lauderdale on the Carnival Conquest in late July. We're going to fly down the day before the cruise sails and stay overnight, to minimize stress, and plan to fly home the same day as disembarktion. The itinerary says we'll arrive at the port at 8am. When is a safe time to book flights? The cheaper flights are at like 10:30 and 11:30am, then jump up significantly until about 4 or 5. I don't know how I feel about sitting around an airport for 6 hours, but am nervous 10:30 or 11:30 would be a close call.

 

About how long does it take to disembark off the ship? Recommendations on the earliest time you'd recommend booking a flight? Thoughts on time killers if we don't fly out til later in the day?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

FLL is notorious for long TSA Security lines, so you best be there more than two hours before the flight. If there are any glitches in port arrival time or disembarking, your late morning flights will be in jeopardy which puts you on a standby list.

 

We have learned that spending Disembarkation night in FLL will let you catch an early-morning flight that will be much cheaper and with no competition from arriving cruisers.

[cb at sea]

There is no reason to book anything later than 2 pm on departure day....you will be OFF the ship before 10am...

 

You can easily make a noon (or around there) flight. No worries!

 

Yes..it's good to arrive in port the day prior. There is NO reason to linger after the cruise!

Edited April 24, 2015 by cb at sea

[Treven]

I live on the Left Coast. By taking one of the flights you're looking at, that would get me home that evening. I always get a hotel room for that night and take the 6 a.m flight home. Yes that means getting up at 3, and being at FLL by 4, but that gets me home about 11:30 that morning.

[GUT2407]

I would NEVER book before about 2:00 pm.

 

Arrival could be late, customs could be short staffed, there could be traffic delays.

[Krazy Kruizers]

If you are able to carry ALL your own luggage off the ship yourself, then you can ask for self-disembarkation and be the first off the ship and be at the airport and through security in time to catch the 11:30 flight. There are plenty of taxis in Ft Lauderdale.

We always stay over a day as our first flight is early in the morning.

[wichitastatecruiser]

I hope this is the right area to put this question in!

 

We are sailing in and out of Fort Lauderdale on the Carnival Conquest in late July. We're going to fly down the day before the cruise sails and stay overnight, to minimize stress, and plan to fly home the same day as disembarktion. The itinerary says we'll arrive at the port at 8am. When is a safe time to book flights? The cheaper flights are at like 10:30 and 11:30am, then jump up significantly until about 4 or 5. I don't know how I feel about sitting around an airport for 6 hours, but am nervous 10:30 or 11:30 would be a close call.

 

About how long does it take to disembark off the ship? Recommendations on the earliest time you'd recommend booking a flight? Thoughts on time killers if we don't fly out til later in the day?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Go with the 11.30 am flight. I've flown out of FLL twice and MIA once. Both those airports won't even let people check into their flights until 2 hours before their flights to avoid congestion. TSA lines take 30 minutes if that since they have the body scanners. Its not a problem to get off the ship within 30 minutes to an hour. Airport is only 15-30 minutes. Check in process and TSA is 45 minutes to an hour. That worse case scenario unless your ship is late and still gives you 30 minutes before your plane starts boarding if the flight isn't delayed.

[SuiteTraveler]

We just did this very type of thing and caught the 10:30am flight. Here's how we did it:

 

1. Self disembarkation at 7:00 am - we were told to get off before 7:30 because that is when general disembarkation starts.

2. 30 - 45 minute in line with customs - btw, it is very hot and muggy in there. My head was wet with sweat and my husband sweated through his shirt so wear loose fitting cool clothes.

3. Took a taxi to the airport (about 15 minutes). Printed tickets at kiosk, checked in luggage.

4. Got through security by 9:00. (we are careful to not carry any liquids or anything of any interest to security and wear slip on shoes so we get through fairly quickly.)

5. Had breakfast at the airport and went to gate at 9:30, sat around for a bit, then got in line and boarded plane.

 

 

The whole thing was very smooth and easy.

[Rain4sasha]

Thanks for the all the advice! I'm still not sure what we're going to do but the 11:45 (I was wrong, actually 11:45, not 11:30) seems feasible. Especially if we do the self disembarktion. I had not heard of that (only my second cruise) so I think I'll look into that more.

 

Is it easy catching a taxi out of the port? We were going to do the Carnival offered transport but if we're trying to get out quickly a taxi may seem quicker.

[Treven]

There will be a TON of taxies waiting outside of the terminal exits. Several rows across and "umpteen dozen" cabs in each row.

 

If you buy the transfer, you will sit on the bus and wait until the bus gets full. Save your money.:)

Edited April 25, 2015 by Treven

[DirtyDawg]

There will be a TON of taxies waiting outside of the terminal exits. Several rows across and "umpteen dozen" cabs in each row.

 

If you buy the transfer, you will sit on the bus and wait until the bus gets full. Save your money.:)

 

Like Treven said there are lots of cabs, grab one and go. You'll be at the airport in plenty of time for a 11:45am flight. Have a great cruise!

[FawnRiver]

We tried staying overnight after disembarkation on our first cruise and found it depressing. We prefer to go home straight away. You can either shell out extra for a prime flight time or there are lots of options if you take a late flight.

Personally, we've done disembarkation tours or, one time we had a really late flight so we ended up finding a day room at the Quality Inn near the airport (it was the fourth hotel we called disembarkation morning). It was a nice place to crash for the day, walked about, had a good lunch at a local restaurant and rested in by the pool before we caught the hotel's complimentary shuttle to the airport.

[SuiteTraveler]

Thanks for the all the advice! I'm still not sure what we're going to do but the 11:45 (I was wrong, actually 11:45, not 11:30) seems feasible. Especially if we do the self disembarktion. I had not heard of that (only my second cruise) so I think I'll look into that more.

 

Is it easy catching a taxi out of the port? We were going to do the Carnival offered transport but if we're trying to get out quickly a taxi may seem quicker.

 

Very easy and taxis are plentiful and the ride to the airport very short.

[bearhug75]

It can get tricky~ second cruise, we missed our early flight by 10 minutes, had to sit around the airport for 8 hours!!! Not very enjoyable at the end of the vacation!!! Good luck!

[ducklite]

I have taken six cruises. Three came into port late or had excessive customs/immigration delays. Three different cruise lines, two different ports in two different countries. Do the math.

Edited May 1, 2015 by ducklite

[nybumpkin]

FLL is notorious for long TSA Security lines, so you best be there more than two hours before the flight. If there are any glitches in port arrival time or disembarking, your late morning flights will be in jeopardy which puts you on a standby list.

 

We have learned that spending Disembarkation night in FLL will let you catch an early-morning flight that will be much cheaper and with no competition from arriving cruisers.

Exactly what we do! The first time we flew out of FLL we did same-day, and although we had a later flight the security lines were horrendous. Last year we stayed over, flew out early the next morning, and it was much less stressful. This year we return to port on Sunday and fly out on Monday.