Disembark Oasis of the Seas for 9 AM FLL Flight?

[alocsin]

Is it possible to disembark from Oasis of the Seas (November 28 - Dec 5 sailing) and make a 9 AM flight at Fort Lauderdale Airport if we do self-disembarkation?

 

I'm a citizen but DH is a non-citizen/permanent resident.

 

Any tips for speeding up the disembarkation process would be appreciated.

[TifffanyD]

If even possible, it would be so crazy close I wouldn't try it.

[cincicruisers]

Wow that is really cutting it close! Check in online ahead of time, be ready in the self debarment early to get off first. If possible I would still say try to get flight at least 10am.

[Clarea]

Too early for my stress level.

[kevink]

That's cutting your margin of error too close.

 

You would need to take the "walking off with my own bags" option and be ready as soon as disembarkation begins. If all goes well, you'll make it to the airport before 8am. The problem is what happens if things don't all go well, like disembarkation is delayed.

[booze brothers]

We have a 9:15am flight leaving FLL, in Nov. also on Oasis.

 

As long as everything goes on time , when leaving the ship, I feel confident we can make it.

 

Hate carrying our luggage off, but we've done it before and we can do it again.[/center]

[Ashland]

We have a 9:15am flight leaving FLL, in Nov. also on Oasis.

 

As long as everything goes on time , when leaving the ship, I feel confident we can make it.

 

Hate carrying our luggage off, but we've done it before and we can do it again.[/center]

That little word "everything" is important...best of luck to you...I would never cut it this close ;)

[APDMOM]

Is it possible to disembark from Oasis of the Seas (November 28 - Dec 5 sailing) and make a 9 AM flight at Fort Lauderdale Airport if we do self-disembarkation?

 

I'm a citizen but DH is a non-citizen/permanent resident.

 

Any tips for speeding up the disembarkation process would be appreciated.

 

My parents have cruised with us out of Miami, FLL, Port Canaveral and Seattle with foreign passports. FLL was the worst. Maybe it will be faster for a permanent resident, but our last experience out of FLL had us waiting 30 minutes for them to be cleared. We will be cruising with them from FLL again in 3 weeks - hopefully it is better by now.

 

So, it is a chance you are taking. From personal experience, I would look for a later flight.

 

Oh, we also had a bad experience disembarking Carnival Freedom - we did not even get off the ship until 1:40 p.m. There were only 2 customs officers that day.

[1ParticularHbr]

We did self-disembarkation (carry off own bags) on Oasis last week. Left our cabin at 7:45 and were at our gate at FLL at 9am. Considering the earliest they advertised self-disembarkation was 6:30am, if you're ready to walk off at that time, a 9am flight should be fine. Enjoy your cruise!

[Cruising_Tiger]

Is it possible to disembark from Oasis of the Seas (November 28 - Dec 5 sailing) and make a 9 AM flight at Fort Lauderdale Airport if we do self-disembarkation?

 

I'm a citizen but DH is a non-citizen/permanent resident.

 

Any tips for speeding up the disembarkation process would be appreciated.

 

You'll probably be fine, but you better have a plan B. I would worry most about Customs at Port Everglades or TSA slowdowns at FLL.

 

Good Luck

[mattmax11]

Honestly instead of booking a the day you get off the ship. You should consider maybe booking a hotel so you get of the ship without having to worry about missing your. It also that your vacation isn't over yet. :D

[maryjaden]

We had a 8:55 flight out of FFL on our March cruise. We did the self disembark with time to spare....but everything worked smoothly. I am not sure I would do this again because if anything would not have worked, it would have been touch and go.

[GottaKnowWhen]

Is it possible to disembark from Oasis of the Seas (November 28 - Dec 5 sailing) and make a 9 AM flight at Fort Lauderdale Airport if we do self-disembarkation?

 

I'm a citizen but DH is a non-citizen/permanent resident.

 

Any tips for speeding up the disembarkation process would be appreciated.

 

 

Not to seem judgmental, but really!?! That just seems like an ideal way to ruin the end of what was hopefully a stress free vacation. I will be boarding Celebrity Infinity that morning, I'll watch for you and wave as you sprint through the port.

If you must do this thing, then my suggestion would be to make sure you each have no more than one carry on which is light enough that you can carry it, not roll it, as you walk down stairs, walk/trot through the terminals, etc. And wear comfortable shoes. It always amazes me to see women trying to run through airports in high heel shoes.

[PLEIKU68]

Is it possible to disembark from Oasis of the Seas (November 28 - Dec 5 sailing) and make a 9 AM flight at Fort Lauderdale Airport if we do self-disembarkation?

 

I'm a citizen but DH is a non-citizen/permanent resident.

 

Any tips for speeding up the disembarkation process would be appreciated.

 

Why in the world would you book a flight this early ? That eager to get back to work ?

[thejewgernaut]

Is it possible to disembark from Oasis of the Seas (November 28 - Dec 5 sailing) and make a 9 AM flight at Fort Lauderdale Airport if we do self-disembarkation?

 

I'm a citizen but DH is a non-citizen/permanent resident.

 

Any tips for speeding up the disembarkation process would be appreciated.

 

We are like you -- we'd rather just head home than sit around on the ship or at the airport. I've done it many times, but we were both US Citizens. I don't recall the non-US line being terribly long either though.

 

 

If you want to help ensure success, make sure you line up early for self disembarkation. Sometimes there is a bit of a line off the ship (a decent number of people were lined up to get off first every time we've done it). There aren't a ton of customs officers working that early so you want to be as close to the front of the line as possible to get through.

 

We've never had a problem after doing it three times, however, I will acknowledge you are rolling the dice -- delayed arrival, customs issues, etc and you're likely SOL. Twice we were at the airport by 7:30, the one time we hit snags we got there at 8 -- I was getting nervous but in the end we still had no problem.

 

Also note this is all assuming regular travel weekends and not memorial day/thanksgiving/etc. I would not chance it on high volume weekends.

[Summerknight]

Keep in mind that more and more people are carrying their own luggage off. The lines can be very, very long.

[HappyCampers3]

Embarkation varies from cruise to cruise, depending on ship clearance, how full the ship is, how many customs agents show up for work that morning, etc. I, too, am booked on this cruise, and I expect disembarkation could possibly take a bit longer this time, especially since it is the cruise following Thanksgiving holiday. We made certain we had early afternoon flights out so it wasn't so stressful for us.

[Colorado Beach Bum]

Is it possible to disembark from Oasis of the Seas (November 28 - Dec 5 sailing) and make a 9 AM flight at Fort Lauderdale Airport if we do self-disembarkation?

 

I'm a citizen but DH is a non-citizen/permanent resident.

 

Any tips for speeding up the disembarkation process would be appreciated.

 

I have a 9:15 flight booked after our cruise in early June. I will let you know how it goes for us.

[alocsin]

Thanks everyone for your encouragement, as well as listing the pros and cons of an early flight, and offering suggestions. We haven't booked our airline tickets yet and you've all given us something to think about before we do.

[alocsin]

I have a 9:15 flight booked after our cruise in early June. I will let you know how it goes for us.

Please do.

[Sherri914]

If the flight is at 9am, you should be at the airport earlier than that to get thru TSA checkpoint. That line can be long and slow. So you don't need to be AT the airport at 9, you need to be in the plane BEFORE 9am. They close the doors earlier than the scheduled departure time.

 

For me, 10 would be the earliest I'd book, and I would even prefer 11 or later.

 

And someone else has noted above that as more and more pax have been using the self debarkation process, the line at customs is very long (and slow). Last time thru there off of Oasis, there were only 2 agents working.

[GottaKnowWhen]

Thanks everyone for your encouragement, as well as listing the pros and cons of an early flight, and offering suggestions. We haven't booked our airline tickets yet and you've all given us something to think about before we do.

 

When I responded before I was on my iPad CruiseCritic app which does not show information about the poster. I see now that you are Southern California and presumably that is where you are trying to get back to on an early Saturday morning from Fort Lauderdale. I have been trying to imagine the circumstances under which I would take a chance on booking an early flight vs. being more conservative and going later.

 

Flight options? If the only other flight to destination is 12 hours later, AND if I knew the airline would allow me to just roll my ticket over to the next flight if I missed the first, AND if getting back home mid-morning Saturday would make a difference in being able to spend the rest of the weekend surfing, then maybe I would go for the early flight. In other words, I would try to balance the costs I incur (stress, early-morning hassle, possible lost luggage, possible need to rebook airline with attendant change-penalties) vs the gains (the laundry will be done by 3:00pm instead of 5:00pm). Of course what neither of us know is the risk involved.

 

An alternate strategy you might consider: since you are getting in on a Saturday, why not book the 9:00am flight for the next day? Get off expeditiously on Saturday, get a rental car, and spend the day in the Everglades. Sunday morning you would be far more in control of your own schedule as you head for the airport...

 

Good luck whatever course of action you choose!

[alocsin]

When I responded before I was on my iPad CruiseCritic app which does not show information about the poster. I see now that you are Southern California and presumably that is where you are trying to get back to on an early Saturday morning from Fort Lauderdale. I have been trying to imagine the circumstances under which I would take a chance on booking an early flight vs. being more conservative and going later.

 

Flight options? If the only other flight to destination is 12 hours later, AND if I knew the airline would allow me to just roll my ticket over to the next flight if I missed the first, AND if getting back home mid-morning Saturday would make a difference in being able to spend the rest of the weekend surfing, then maybe I would go for the early flight. In other words, I would try to balance the costs I incur (stress, early-morning hassle, possible lost luggage, possible need to rebook airline with attendant change-penalties) vs the gains (the laundry will be done by 3:00pm instead of 5:00pm). Of course what neither of us know is the risk involved.

 

An alternate strategy you might consider: since you are getting in on a Saturday, why not book the 9:00am flight for the next day? Get off expeditiously on Saturday, get a rental car, and spend the day in the Everglades. Sunday morning you would be far more in control of your own schedule as you head for the airport...

 

Good luck whatever course of action you choose!

Because of my SoCal location, there only seems to be two options for getting back non-stop -- either early in the morning or in the evening. Wish there were an afternoon flight.

 

Staying over an extra day is definitely an option.

[lubanskir07]

I submitted the exact same question a month or so back. Did self disembark this morning, this was our schedule exactly:

 

0530: Wakeup call

0615: Elevator down to self disembark area (Grande Dining Room)

0635: Off the ship, (there was waiting due to a few medical emergencies, that needed to get off first, also a few pushy Pinnacle members that figured they were entitled, unfortunately/fortunately there is no status when it comes to Homeland Security.

NOTE: This can be a very quick process as long as you are diligent with your time, and make sure you get down to gathering point promptly.

0650: In a Cab en route to FLL

0720: Through security at FLL, our flight was original scheduled for 1045am, we were moved to the 0745am flight and walked right on

 

The process works great and you should have no problem catching a 0900 flight.

[terrys1234]

Just got off Oasis this morning. We got in line at 6am and began moving at 6:30. We had a lot of luggage and had to stand in line to take the elevator down to Customs. You have to have a free hand to use the escalator. We rolled everything out to our car and pulled out of the parking lot at 7:05am if that helps. The key is to go down early to get in line. There was a line of people being pulled to the side for Customs inspections. That happened to us last year off the Freedom and resulted in an hour or more delay. So if you are pulled out, that would be a problem for your early flight time.