11:10AM Flight out of FLL

[SeaTrailer]

Is this doable from the CB on Saturday? Delta has changed our flights. :mad:

 

Thanks.

[jennew]

you can do it, but arrange for cruiseport pick up. Also- bring your airline reservation form and show it to the pursers desk so you can be off first.

 

My hubby just booked us on a 10:15 flight out of FLL (against my advice and the advice of the posters here). He called Princess and they said because the airport is so close we can probably make it. If we miss the flight we will just fly stand by on a later flight so it is not the end of the world, I am not stressing about it.

[Pam in CA]

It's doable... but make sure you get a Red tag and get off the ship early. Even though FLL is only minutes away, it can take quite a long time to even check in plus Security.

 

If you want a later flight, Delta will change it for you if you call and explain that you're returning from a cruise and their flight change has affected you. I did that for our Christmas cruise -- they changed the return flight home from about 12:30PM to 10:30AM. They only options they offered me instead of the direct flights were to fly to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Boston. I told them "No thanks" and they returned my money. I re-booked on AA.

[JGR01]

HOW much of a time change was made by Delta?

 

I think American has a 'rule' that a change more than 15 minutes allows you to make pretty flexible changes to your schedule if you don't like the new times. I got a SchedChange notice recently and since the departing time was only one minute earlier .. they would not let me make a 'free' change.

 

When THEY make the schedule change .. normally you are able to make changes more to your liking without incurring the Change$$ fee.

 

IF you have any tier status with Delta .. ability to use First Class lines and security checkin .. yes the time frame is do-able. Make certain you get FIRST OFF luggage tags ... and take a cab. A porter (even though you tip them) may also be able to get you thru faster and into a cab faster .. at the pier.

[SeaTrailer]

Thanks for the feedback. We originally had a direct flight out of Richmond and now must connect. Our return options are 11:10 or 2:10. I really do not want to hang around the airport for hours if we can help it.

 

I know the airport is only a short distance but in March for an afternoon flight on Sunday the lines were incredible.

 

Thanks again.

[2bcrewzn]

Hire a porter for a $1.00 a bag inside the port terminal and he will bypass all the people in line and hail you a cab, this is the only way to get a cab in Ft Lauderdale, it is very crazy, and the porters just take the next available cab, and you are out of there in a few minutes worth every dollar! So hail a porter inside the port terminal. You should make it with early debarkation.

[merela]

Thanks for the feedback. We originally had a direct flight out of Richmond and now must connect. Our return options are 11:10 or 2:10. I really do not want to hang around the airport for hours if we can help it.

 

I know the airport is only a short distance but in March for an afternoon flight on Sunday the lines were incredible.

 

Thanks again.

 

With a 2:10pm departure, you won't necessarily be hang around the airport for hours. We had a 10:55am flight out of FLL in January and I was worried all week that we wouldn't make it. We were on an AA flight to LA. Our other option was a 4:50pm flight. Since we had 2 small children and it would be a long long day if we had a later flight, I decided to risk it. We had 6 people on that flight and if we had missed it, it would be difficult to reschedule flights for all 6 of us.

 

We didn't do Express Disembarkation (not possible to carry all my luggage with 2 small children and 2 strollers), so we got Red2 which is essentially the 3rd group off the ship. Lucky for us, the ship started to disembark at 8:30pm and the customs & immigration took 30 minutes. After we got our luggage, we got the first taxi out (easiest form of transportation to the airport). Getting a cab wasn't difficult...all you had to do is bypass all those people wanting you to get on their shuttle bus. It's cheaper to go with taxi if you have 2 people than using the shuttle because the airport is not far away. We got to the airport around 9:10am. AA had curbside check-in (you need to tip the porter for this), so we were all set by 9:15am.

 

But we didn't get to enjoy a leisure breakfast on the ship that last day and I prayed all week hoping that nothing would go wrong with the ship coming in on time.

 

I would opt for the 2:10pm flight to make room for any unforeseenable events (engine trouble, delayed in disembarkation time, long line at customs, etc....), but 11:10am is more do-able than the 10ish flight.

[gambit57]

You can do it. Weekends are supposed to be crazy, but the airport really is such a short distance, that you can do little things to speed things up. Airport didn't seem to really get crowded until about noon anyways. Just get off the boat first and you'll be fine. I had a 1:20pm flight, disembarked towards the middle/end, and still was waiting around for hours.

[rwdtgb]

We are on an 11:10 Delta flight out of FLL on December 3rd I requested this flight, I don't think it will be a problem making the flight....

[Luckyroot]

Just came back from MIA on 11/10/05. Now this WAS a Thursday so it could have made a difference, but our disembarkation time was 10:30am and we were at the airport and at the gate when the 11:00 flight was boarding (but we couldn't fly standby because we had checked our bags :mad: )

 

Definitely can be done, which is why I booked an 11am flight for our next cruise.

[SeaTrailer]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Will stick with the 11:10 flight.

[baileyboy]

We just returned from the Carib Princess yesterday. Had an 11:50 flight, and didn't bother getting "early off" tag, since we'd been off every ship by 9:30. Not yesterday. We had cream 5, and sat and sat... finally at 9:50 asked at purser's desk, and were told we were the next group to be called. Not called by 10:20 - with lots of folks from the earlier groups still waiting - so we just got in line. Figured if anyone asked, we'd explain we had a flight to catch, which was true. 20 minutes later, we were in a cab and were at the airport at 10:50. We used curbside check-in, and were through security by 11:10.

 

Note that no one checked our tag color at any point, so not sure why we bothered waiting (aside from being good citizens and following the rules). Disembarkation from the ship itself was very slow and inefficient but moved quickly once we were off the gangway. Just ask one of the attendants by the luggage where *your* color tag luggage is. Recommend you arrange early group color, or do what we did - just get in line and go.

[jennew]

I was thinking the same thing. Just get in line and go. They really don't check your tag color so you can leave when you want to. That is what we plan to do so that we can catch our 10:15 flight (YIKES).

[sellwingri]

Don't they usually have early departure for people who have early flights to catch? We have an 11am flight in Ft Lauderdale off the Coral Princess and we were planning on taking the Princess pre-paid bus. Based on what I'm reading, that may not be a good idea. However, it appears to be next to impossible to catch a cab because the lines are always so long.

 

Would anyone be able to help answers these questions?

 

Thanks

[stephenandrew]

To save some time, does Princess let you carry your bags off the ship instead of putting them out the night before? Obviously, if they allow it, it would mean dealing with the inconvenience of lugging your bags around, but it might save a bit of time tryinf to locate your luggage.

[baileyboy]

Sellwingri:

Not sure about other's experiences, but it was easy for us to get a cab. We walked out the door, across the crosswalk to the cab area, were immediately asked if we needed a cab, and were in a cab within seconds.

 

Stephenandrew:

Yes, we saw folks hauling their own luggage, but what a hassle! And IMHO, it's an inconvenience to those around you as well. Lines to get off are long enough with all the carry-on luggage and liquor boxes, without people dragging along big suitcases as well. I really don't recommend this. Again, once we were off the gangway (the only time-consuming part), we walked down to the luggage area, asked an attendant "where are the cream tagged bags?" and walked directly to our bags (there were about two rows of bags per color). We were out the door within 3 minutes, and that included customs.

 

Make things easy on yourself and your fellow cruisers -- let the cruiseline move your large luggage, and arrange with the purser's desk for an early departure (jennew, you may want to do this as well).

[Jaxsonbrownie]

We have a 10:45 am flight out of FLL after our cruise next April. Due to Delta's restructuring, we had our flights changed. We would prefer to keep this flight as the next ones would have us sitting around ATL for hours waiting for a connection and getting us home rather late.If we go to the pursors desk a few nights before disembarkation and express to them that we need to get off ASAP, is this do-able? I guess I am looking for some re-assurance from people who have made early flights. I know this has been discussed alot before, but again would like to hear from some of you......:) Jaxson

[Dreamer333]

I was on the CB about a month ago, and I had an early flight (If I remember correctly, it was 10:20am) and I had no problem getting there on time!

[Jaxsonbrownie]

Thank you Dreamer333, I knew it could be done.Did you take your luggage off yourself or did you let the cruiseline take it off for you at disembarkation? And did you have a transfer from Princess or did you take a taxi? Thanks again:) Jaxson

[Dreamer333]

Thank you Dreamer333, I knew it could be done.Did you take your luggage off yourself or did you let the cruiseline take it off for you at disembarkation? And did you have a transfer from Princess or did you take a taxi? Thanks again:) Jaxson

 

We did take our luggage off ourselves, but it was such a PAIN it probably would've been much quicker if we would have just let the cruise staff take it the night before!

 

We took a cab to the airport... it took about one minute to get a cab!

 

Depending on what airline you are on, you can go to the internet on board and check in and also print out your boarding passes online, just to make things even quicker.

[Jaxsonbrownie]

Those are great idea's! Thanks for your help:) I am determined to make this work without changing everything again!:) Jaxson

[trudzie]

Is this doable from the CB on Saturday? Delta has changed our flights. :mad:

 

Thanks.

I agree with prior posters. We had a 10am flight booked on our own. We called in advance of cruise and had them put a note on our record. Once on the ship, we also showed our itinerary to the pursers desk to assure we would be amongst first off the ship. We let the ship handle our luggage. We only needed about 10 mins to get off/find luggage. We got a cab immediately and were at the airport within 10-14 mins. So a total of about 30 minutes, door to door. I also agree with other posters that you can just get off the ship whenever you want. They don't really police the color of your tags. They are busy helping you get off quickly and don't want to waste time sending back people with the wrong color tag.

[Jaxsonbrownie]

Thanks for your encouragement Trudzie. There were so many negative posts on this subject, I was really starting to worry. I guess if you take all the necessary pre-cautions, it is do-able. I will call Princess ahead of time, I will also go to the pursors desk a couple of nights before disembarkment, and will also go online the night before and check in with our airline early and get off the ship as soon as they start letting passengers go. I am sure we will be able to make it.:) Thanks again for all the helpful idea's! Jaxson

[merela]

I agree that if you have one of the early color tags, there is no need to carry off your own luggage. All the bags will be laid out in the holding room by color tags. Decorate your bags so you can recognize it right away....that will save you at least 5 minutes looking for them.

[Marmarjudy]

We booked a 11 AM flight by choice and anticipate no problem based on past experience with Princess. With another cruise line it may be a problem, but Princess has it down to a science. We ask for early off, get the red luggage tags, let them do the luggage, get a porter and a cab, and still have time to spare. A couple of cruises ago we were at the airport so early that the airline put us on the 9:30 flight--it was tight, but we made it.

Judy