Earliest flight out of Shanghai's Pudong airport on disembarkation day

[thuyronald]

Hello everyone,

 

I will be disembarking the Celebrity Millennium on a Tuesday in Shanghai. The ship is scheduled to arrive at 7:00 am.

 

From your experience, what is the earliest time that I should book for my international flight back to the US on the same day? Would a 12:00 pm flight be okay?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Twee

[Pushka]

On the QM2 we experienced fog and were not allowed into the River Channel which is four hours out of Shanghai port. We finally got there four hours delayed. Everyone queued up to disembark but it took another 90 minutes before we were allowed to disembark due to 'immigration processing' - despite the fact that Chinese Immigration had processed all our passports from the Port before, 3 sea days earlier.

 

Get my drift? But of course others might have better stories to tell.

[mking8288]

Greater metro Shanghai has a population of 30 million residents and road traffic to match that of the LAX area, plenty of 8 lanes+ tolled freeways.

 

Recommended check-in time for int'l departure is to arrive at PVG 3 hours before, to clear border control, custom, security & get to your gates (with secondary inspections for all non-stop flights destined for the USA).

 

Most direct transfer from Shanghai Wusongkou Int'l Cruise Terminal (1 of 3 in this area) that can handle multiple mega ships to PVG is via private car/transfer or taxi (Uber is available for experienced & seasoned fliers/travelers, not necessary recommended) for a 55 km trip that's 60 to 75 minutes, but depending on time/hours of the day & traffic/road conditions + weather, easily 2 hours. Metro to HST (Maglev trains) can take smartly packed travelers to PVG for flight connections ... best if you speak/read simplified Chinese and can handle multiple transfers, buying tickets & deal with queues (lines of people).

 

Assuming that you can clear the ship & be outside with all your luggage by 9 AM - without further delays in getting promptly into ground transportation - I would NOT be booking any flight departing any earlier than 3PM local time (PVG) ... just to be safe ( not sure what airline/alliance partner you are planning to use/fly with as some of them only have a daily non-stop )

 

Keep in mind, everywhere in China, military air traffic ALWAYS have priority and air space can be closed without any notice ... in addition to smog or air pollution and general air traffic congestions - in delaying the inbound aircraft and your homebound flight with the turnaround services by the ground crew. IMHO, consider spending an extra day and stay near the Bund by the river, then, fly home on the following day. There are plenty of 4 and 5 stars hotel in this int'l city with prices for all budget and it will be easy to arrange for bus/group transfer to the airport on the following day, etc.

 

See this posts from earlier - including post #17 - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2123454

 

Port info for the 3 cruise terminals - http://www.chinahighlights.com/shanghai/shanghai-cruise-port.htm

[thuyronald]

Thank you for the detailed information. I will look into getting flights after 3:00pm as suggested.

 

Once again, thank you for your assistance.

 

Twee