teacherman Posted November 24, 2018 #1 Share Posted November 24, 2018 We have never cruised or flown from Boston. We are scheduled to arrive in Boston aboard HAL Zuiderdam on Tuesday, July 30 at 7:00 am. This will be after doing a trans Atlantic from Rotterdam. What would be a "safe" time to book a flight home from the airport (Logan-?)? Approximately how long does it take to get from the ship to the airport? Is taxi the best way to get there? Any information/advice is welcome. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
138east Posted November 24, 2018 #2 Share Posted November 24, 2018 3 hours ago, teacherman said: We have never cruised or flown from Boston. We are scheduled to arrive in Boston aboard HAL Zuiderdam on Tuesday, July 30 at 7:00 am. This will be after doing a trans Atlantic from Rotterdam. What would be a "safe" time to book a flight home from the airport (Logan-?)? Approximately how long does it take to get from the ship to the airport? Is taxi the best way to get there? Any information/advice is welcome. Thank you. What are your flight time and airline choices? Cab or Uber should be about 15 minutes to Logan Airport. You can see the airport from the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacherman Posted November 24, 2018 Author #3 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Current offerings are on Delta, either 10:45 or 12:45. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
138east Posted November 24, 2018 #4 Share Posted November 24, 2018 57 minutes ago, teacherman said: Current offerings are on Delta, either 10:45 or 12:45. Safe time would be 12:45. You could make a 10:45 if you can be among the first ones off the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacherman Posted November 25, 2018 Author #5 Share Posted November 25, 2018 I think we will take the 12:45 and have a more relaxing morning. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budget Queen Posted November 25, 2018 #6 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Are you clearing c&i in another US port? Vitally important with a TA and the everyone having to clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacherman Posted November 25, 2018 Author #7 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Our last stop prior to Boston is a long day in Halifax. I assume we will just go through C&I when we leave the ship in Boston. Is there any extra time involved due to it being a trans Atlantic? I still think 12:45 will work best for our flight time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
138east Posted November 25, 2018 #8 Share Posted November 25, 2018 I think you're wise to go with the later time. My experience with Boston Customs has been irregular and unpredictable. They just don't seem to have their act together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mskaufman Posted November 25, 2018 #9 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Logan is pretty close to the cruise terminal (by taxi/Uber). The comment the C&I varies is accurate as is the length of the security lines at the A/P. That all said, I would go with the later flight in case you arrive late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budget Queen Posted November 29, 2018 #10 Share Posted November 29, 2018 On 11/25/2018 at 9:51 AM, teacherman said: Our last stop prior to Boston is a long day in Halifax. I assume we will just go through C&I when we leave the ship in Boston. Is there any extra time involved due to it being a trans Atlantic? I still think 12:45 will work best for our flight time. Absolutely - you will have to present your passport for examination in Boston, which is going to delay getting off the ship with lines involved. Very different from the round trip Boston sailings which are way more common with the Boston port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WisRiver Posted December 1, 2018 #11 Share Posted December 1, 2018 Since the last port of call before Boston is in Canada, you have to clear immigration and customs in Boston. This process could be quick. Three years ago we finished a cruise in Boston. We arrived at 10 AM three hours late due to foggy weather and it took us an hour to clear the ship. We took a cab to Logan and barely made our 1:30 PM Delta flight. I would go the latest flight. In September, 2018 we will return to Boston on the Zuiderdam on the Voyage of the Vikings. We are booked on a 2:30 PM Delta flight despite the possibility of earlier flights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olemissreb Posted January 14, 2019 #12 Share Posted January 14, 2019 YIKES! I booked an 11am departure out of Logan. We return to Boston from our New England/Canada cruise on Oct.6th. Mom won't be able to carry her luggage off, but if we can somehow be in the first group off the ship, will we make it? I wasn't thinking when I booked it - so used to Sat/Sat cruises that I thought we'd have a leisurely morning before getting to the airport and I just remembered we are on a Sun/Sun cruise! UGH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
138east Posted January 14, 2019 #13 Share Posted January 14, 2019 3 hours ago, olemissreb said: YIKES! I booked an 11am departure out of Logan. We return to Boston from our New England/Canada cruise on Oct.6th. Mom won't be able to carry her luggage off, but if we can somehow be in the first group off the ship, will we make it? I wasn't thinking when I booked it - so used to Sat/Sat cruises that I thought we'd have a leisurely morning before getting to the airport and I just remembered we are on a Sun/Sun cruise! UGH! What airline are you flying? Are you a diamond or better on RCL? You may have to consider self disembarking. Post back and I will respond. I did a Bermuda cruise last Sep and customs was a mess for the disembarkation. The good news is that the airport is 15 minutes away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olemissreb Posted January 15, 2019 #14 Share Posted January 15, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, 138east said: What airline are you flying? Are you a diamond or better on RCL? You may have to consider self disembarking. Post back and I will respond. I did a Bermuda cruise last Sep and customs was a mess for the disembarkation. The good news is that the airport is 15 minutes away. Mom and I are flying Delta. Unfortunately, I'm not diamond or better on RCL. I can talk to my mom, but I'm not sure she'll be able to handle her luggage to self disembark. I can't change it (without a $200 fee/ticket), so I guess I'll just be ready with a list of flights in case we miss the one we have booked. Dang! my blonde moments sure come at the wrong time! 🙂 Edited January 15, 2019 by olemissreb Additional Info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
138east Posted January 15, 2019 #15 Share Posted January 15, 2019 54 minutes ago, olemissreb said: Mom and I are flying Delta. Unfortunately, I'm not diamond or better on RCL. I can talk to my mom, but I'm not sure she'll be able to handle her luggage to self disembark. I can't change it (without a $200 fee/ticket), so I guess I'll just be ready with a list of flights in case we miss the one we have booked. Dang! my blonde moments sure come at the wrong time! 🙂 I think if you get out in front of the situation you will probably make your flight. When you embark, I would go to guest services and tell them you need priority disembarkation (low luggage tag number). Get yourselves early to deck 5 to stage yourselves near the exit point. Don’t get trapped in the theater or dining room. If you tag your luggage, I would get off as soon as possible (essentially self disembark without luggage) and plan to wait in the luggage area if necessary. Boston seems to work differently. For my cruise the customs and immigration folks set up in the dining room. They called all the folks who spent over the customs limits to do a detailed customs check at 6:45 am. That took a while. Thanks to the Concierge I was able to join the group #1 folks going on the “excursion” to see Boston before a later flight. Once they started processing the US citizens, I showed my passport and was off the ship in 5 minutes. It was about 8:30 am and I certainly would have made an 11 am flight. My husband picked me up and we were off to Maine to attend a wedding breakfast. I had carryon luggage, but I’m sure most of the luggage was ready and waiting for folks in the terminal since we had docked at 6 am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olemissreb Posted January 15, 2019 #16 Share Posted January 15, 2019 15 hours ago, 138east said: I think if you get out in front of the situation you will probably make your flight. When you embark, I would go to guest services and tell them you need priority disembarkation (low luggage tag number). Get yourselves early to deck 5 to stage yourselves near the exit point. Don’t get trapped in the theater or dining room. If you tag your luggage, I would get off as soon as possible (essentially self disembark without luggage) and plan to wait in the luggage area if necessary. Boston seems to work differently. For my cruise the customs and immigration folks set up in the dining room. They called all the folks who spent over the customs limits to do a detailed customs check at 6:45 am. That took a while. Thanks to the Concierge I was able to join the group #1 folks going on the “excursion” to see Boston before a later flight. Once they started processing the US citizens, I showed my passport and was off the ship in 5 minutes. It was about 8:30 am and I certainly would have made an 11 am flight. My husband picked me up and we were off to Maine to attend a wedding breakfast. I had carryon luggage, but I’m sure most of the luggage was ready and waiting for folks in the terminal since we had docked at 6 am. Thank you 138east! I will try this. I'm going to try and call Delta today and see if maybe they will waive the fee since we are only changing one leg of our trip and only by a couple hours. If not, then this is the way we'll go. If mom's back and knees didn't bother her so much, we could probably carry our luggage off ourselves, but I just don't want to chance mom hurting herself after what will be a wonderful vacation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwingy Posted February 26, 2019 #17 Share Posted February 26, 2019 A question to build on this one: we are arriving at 7 am on HAL Veendam (Transatlantic) on 9/7/19. We will clear C&I in Bar Harbor the day before, and will do self-disembarkation. Is it realistic to catch 11:45 am out of Logan? Our other option is a 3 pm flight, and I would rather be home sooner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sauna4me Posted February 26, 2019 #18 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Although you can see the cruise pier from the airport (might even fly over it when landing) I remember the awful, congested traffic nightmare getting into or out of the airport. It's one my "memories" from 2016 New England cruise. Please keep that in mind when planning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
138east Posted February 26, 2019 #19 Share Posted February 26, 2019 It looks like you’re arriving on a Sat. Traffic should not be a big issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olemissreb Posted April 4, 2019 #20 Share Posted April 4, 2019 Our itinerary has totally changed. It looks like we will actually be going through customs in Bar Harbor now. So we will be returning to Boston from Portland instead of Halifax. Does this increase my chances of making an 11am flight on a Sunday if we are in the first group to get off the ship? I keep crossing my fingers that Delta will change our flight to a later time, but I don't usually get so lucky. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
138east Posted April 4, 2019 #21 Share Posted April 4, 2019 2 hours ago, olemissreb said: Our itinerary has totally changed. It looks like we will actually be going through customs in Bar Harbor now. So we will be returning to Boston from Portland instead of Halifax. Does this increase my chances of making an 11am flight on a Sunday if we are in the first group to get off the ship? I keep crossing my fingers that Delta will change our flight to a later time, but I don't usually get so lucky. Thanks! I think it would. Do you have any status on RCL? I might plan to self disembark. A huge number of folks on your cruise are likely to be locals doing self disembarkation with their luggage. That’s the only way to actually be in the first group to get off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olemissreb Posted April 4, 2019 #22 Share Posted April 4, 2019 1 hour ago, 138east said: I think it would. Do you have any status on RCL? I might plan to self disembark. A huge number of folks on your cruise are likely to be locals doing self disembarkation with their luggage. That’s the only way to actually be in the first group to get off. I don't have any status on RCL. We're going to head to Guest Services though and request the first group off the ship and then get in line early. Mom can't carry her luggage down the stairs - just getting too old for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
138east Posted April 4, 2019 #23 Share Posted April 4, 2019 I totally understand. You should be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olemissreb Posted October 16, 2019 #24 Share Posted October 16, 2019 On 4/4/2019 at 11:41 AM, olemissreb said: Our itinerary has totally changed. It looks like we will actually be going through customs in Bar Harbor now. So we will be returning to Boston from Portland instead of Halifax. Does this increase my chances of making an 11am flight on a Sunday if we are in the first group to get off the ship? I keep crossing my fingers that Delta will change our flight to a later time, but I don't usually get so lucky. Thanks! Just an update - we made our flight with plenty of time to spare. We did not do self-assist, we were in Group 3 & 4 which was right after the self-assist, suites, and those with RCL status. That being said, we had some luck in that a group from Atlanta that were on the same flight as us let us cut in line so that saved some time. They had said they were in line for an hour when our group was called. The other thing that saved us some time was that we got a porter to take our luggage to the taxi area and we were able to bypass that line as porters got priority status from the guards. We made it to the airport and were through security by about 9am. Would I do this again? NOT EVER if I can possibly avoid it. It was just too stressful - although some of that could be the angst I felt from my mother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expat Cruise Posted October 28, 2019 #25 Share Posted October 28, 2019 Here is the thing here. Yes the cruise port and the airport are very close, it is a easy straight shot through the Ted Williams Tunnel to the Airport. Weekends a lot less traffic and most of the time from getting into a taxi and getting out at the airport is under 15 minutes. I grew up and lived in Boston for almost 40 years know the city very well. Great port to visit and most enjoy it. But if you have any problems a early flight can become a big problem. What happens if the Ted Williams Tunnel is not available or limited? Accidents happen and maintenance work is done on weekends. With all the traffic from I 90 & I 93 the tunnel can and has become a problem. The Ted Williams has been closed in the past wen LNG tankers come into the harbor. So if a problem with the Ted Williams you then must us the Callahan / Sumner Tunnel or go over the Tobin Bridge. The result if you booked a early flight you will miss it. No one wants stress flying, relax and give yourself a break. If you have booked a later flight and get to the airport, check in drop your bags and relax. If you do not want to wait around the airport grab the free Hyatt Shuttle to the Airport Hyatt, great views and food on the airport and on the water. If you have lots of time consider a trip to Encore Casino they have water shuttles from the airport to the front door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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