Can i make an 11:15 flight out of fort lauderdale?

[Keith1010]

Can I make an 11:15 flight out of Ft. Lauderdale departing from a cruise docking in Miami??? They recommend flights after 2PM, but there's a HUGE gap in flights with NOTHING between 11:15 and 5PM!

 

Too risky. I would not chance it.

 

Keith

[Krazy Kruizers]

I would not want to be stressed not knowing if I could make that early of a flight.

Especially since your ship is arriving in Miami and you have to get to Ft Lauderdale to fly home. One never knows how traffic will be.

[zqvol]

Can I make an 11:15 flight out of Ft. Lauderdale departing from a cruise docking in Miami??? They recommend flights after 2PM, but there's a HUGE gap in flights with NOTHING between 11:15 and 5PM!

 

I would not try it, there is just too much that could delay you to comfortably make that flight, though if you can get off the ship quickly it is certainly doable.

[printingchick]

I posed this question for family members, who cruised last week. It wasn't a matter of taking an 11:30 or a 1:30. There were no other mid-day flights on Southwest. Not making that 11:30 meant waiting until late afternoon, taking a connecting (rather than non-stop) flight and getting home very late. A VERY long travel day to be sure.

 

I will put in a plug from "Jiffy Jeff" who was there with a van waiting to get them to the airport as soon as they disembarked. They made it with time to spare.

 

I have cruised a dozen times and am well aware of the potential for delays. Worst case, they'd have been stuck trying to get on a later flight. But booking the earlier flight worked for them and they had no problems at all.

[leaveitallbehind]

Deleted - misread the OP's question.

Edited January 19, 2017 by leaveitallbehind

[Elaine5715]

First, your travel insurance will not pay if you not do observe the recommended flight times.

 

I have walked up to the FLL counters and go through security in less than 5 minutes..

 

AND

 

I have been there when they won't you into the baggage check line until 2 hours before flights, been in that line for 45 minutes, in PreCheck TSA line for 20 minutes. When the big ships dock on the same day, there is 20,000 people heading out.

 

There is a reason the flights before cruise line recommended times are cheaper.

[Lookingforfacts]

A poster in a frequent flyer forum said a person who's never missed a flight is a person who's wasted too many hours in airports through the years. You'll probably (greater then a 50% chance) make your flight.

 

FLL suggests arriving at the airport 2 hours before your flight. Your airline has some kind of quick bag drop and you have TSA pre clear, you can probably cut that to an hour. Allow an hour to get to the airport, 45 minutes if you feel lucky. That suggests leaving the port at 9:30 is cutting it extremely close but leaving at 8:15 is very reasonable. Can you get off the ship by 8:15? Probably most of the time. Which is worse, to you not us, the possibility of missing your flight or the certainty of wasting a few hours?

 

I'd go with a later flight but I respect people who put a high value on their time, are willing to race off the ship and through the airport and like the suspense of missing or making your flight. Passengers flying Southwest should assume missing their boarding group and getting left over middle seats. Passengers flying other airlines should accept the risks of losing their assigned seats.

[wheezedr]

I realize this is a very old thread that was brought back but can give some recent experience. Got off the Royal Princess on 12-20 and caught a 10:10 nonstop FLL to SFO with plenty of time to spare. Couple of key points is that princess runs in on that day from its private isle so there was little chance of a delay with departure and thus on time arrival in FL. Also we did first walk off so no need to look for bags which were not yet out as we cleared. 7:40 debark began at 7:30. At that early hour on a Tuesday cabs were right there and everything flowed at the airport. Given my previous history of cruise ships and airports this is the only one I would ever try something that early.

[GUT2407]

Can I make an 11:15 flight out of Ft. Lauderdale departing from a cruise docking in Miami??? They recommend flights after 2PM, but there's a HUGE gap in flights with NOTHING between 11:15 and 5PM!

 

Wouldn't even consider a flight three hours before the recommended time.

[GUT2407]

I realize this is a very old thread that was brought back but can give some recent experience. Got off the Royal Princess on 12-20 and caught a 10:10 nonstop FLL to SFO with plenty of time to spare. Couple of key points is that princess runs in on that day from its private isle so there was little chance of a delay with departure and thus on time arrival in FL. Also we did first walk off so no need to look for bags which were not yet out as we cleared. 7:40 debark began at 7:30. At that early hour on a Tuesday cabs were right there and everything flowed at the airport. Given my previous history of cruise ships and airports this is the only one I would ever try something that early.

 

There's more to delays than late departures.

Edited January 19, 2017 by GUT2407

[Lindisney]

We were the last ship in and there was a problem with our docking last Easter. We were due to do early walk off, which should have been from about 7am but we didn't make it off the ship until 10.30. That has only happened once in six cruises out of Miami. But it can happen.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Liz54]

We have made it a habit not only to fly in the day before, but we usually stay one night AFTER a cruise. We get a nice hotel through a discount site - one with a pool. Often they allow an earlier check in. We enjoy the day in Fort Lauderdale, a final nice dinner (always a bit put off that they expect us to PAY!!), then back to the hotel. Then we go to the airport in time for our flight the next day. To rush, no stress. Highly recommend.

[OBX-Cruisers]

Short answer is that yes you can "usually" make that connection easily IF you do the early walk off and get into the customs lines early. HOWEVER.........

IF the ship is delayed by fog, traffic or mechanical problems........you might want to consider if your blood pressure and trip insurance is up to the stress you will encounter in such a tight connection.