Can I make this flight from Symphony?

[RCCLNYMETS41]

Returning on Symphony June 13 in Miami & will fly out of Ft. Lauderdale.

Does Royal offer shuttle service from Port of Miami to Ft. Lauderdale airport?

Can I comfortably make an 11:55 flight?

[vacationlover_mn]

It will be tight, but definitely do the “walk off with your own luggage” thing, as early as possible.

[Robinhill]

1 hour ago, RCCLNYMETS41 said:

Returning on Symphony June 13 in Miami & will fly out of Ft. Lauderdale.

Does Royal offer shuttle service from Port of Miami to Ft. Lauderdale airport?

Can I comfortably make an 11:55 flight?

Use SAS shuttle (book online $15) book it to pick you up no later than 8am- it takes 1 hr from Miami to FLL.  If you disembark by 8 and he picks you up a little late even by 8:30 you should arrive by 9:30 giving you

plenty of time.  Even if they can't pick you up on that early run if they can get you by 9 should even be ok but because they sometimes run late because of traffic in Miami i would book them for 8 or 8:30 pick up for sure.

[vacationlover_mn]

I wonder if Uber would be the quickest?  Not sure of the cost.

[Clarea]

2 hours ago, RCCLNYMETS41 said:

 ...

Does Royal offer shuttle service from Port of Miami to Ft. Lauderdale airport?

 ...

 

Yes, they charge $30 per person. 

[sea shepherd]

You should be fine I had the same time flight. The biggest problem is the new terminal is terrible with traffic. It took my guy who was picking me up over a hour to get into the pickup area. Then as we were leaving the cops had us go back around right back into the traffic jam again. Then got to the airport and it was packed 7 ships in Miami and 7 in Ft laurdale. No where to sit even the floor was full of people sitting. Be peppered for that. I did make the flight with plenty of time. I left the ship at 7:45am. 

[renza]

Way more than enough time. Uber is around $40. It’s only 40 min drive at most on a sat or sun. I live 1 hour and 15 min from Miami and we walked off symphony at 8 with our own luggage and was home doing laundry before 9:30

[Merion_Mom]

It should not be difficult for you to make that flight.  Personally, I would use Uber/Lyft.  It should be about $30.  (I think that I spent $28 getting from FLL to my hotel not far from the POM)

[BirdTravels]

If you are doing something like Uber, allow time since traffic at Terminal A is really bad (poor design by RCCL combined with the construction of the NCL terminal next door). It takes a while for cars to get in to the pickup area. 

[maggieq]

We arrived at the new cruise terminal from the symphony ta.  If they haven’t improved that situation with back up it would definitely deter me from cruising out of that port again.  Congestion and poor design for sure 

[RCCLNYMETS41]

Thank you all for the advice.

I'm not yet an Uber/Lyft person (I know, I'm crazy, but 20 years ago, if a stranger pulled up to me & said get in my car, I never would have jumped in the car)

We were just off the Oasis last week so I am familiar with the madhouse at Terminal A.  Organized chaos at its best.

I ended up booking the 11:55am flight.

So I called Royal to arrange their shuttle.  This was fun. Follow me on this one.

They do not allow someone to book a shuttle if their flight leaves before 12:00.

The guy says he will try to put in my 11:55 flight time. Denied.  OK. I asked him if Royal actually checks that I have a specific flight booked?  He says no. They want the flight info so they can plan the shuttles, which run every half hour anyway.

I said, so I have 2 options...either I can call back with a different flight # that leaves after 12, or you can simply type in 12:00 instead of 11:55 so I can book the shuttle. 5 minutes is not making the difference of a shuttle getting me to making this flight.

He puts in 12:00 & gets my family booked on the shuttle.

The best part about this is that I was on the phone so long with him, that while on hold, on a whim, I looked up my cruise to check the prices, & my cruise dropped $610!

[jakeil7]

As for the first part about Uber/Lyft:  this isn’t a big deal as the app tells you the license plate of the car along with the color, make, and model. It also gives you a photo of the driver. A little better than a taxi in that regard. 
 

There are so major issues with ridesharing  but the stranger thing isn’t one of them. 

[twangster]

As long as the ship is on time, CBP is being nice and you are not the last ones off that is very doable.  The problem with the Royal transfer - it's slowwwww and chaos with no clear direction or help to find the right bus.  

 

I do self-assist departure and can usually be through security at the FLL airport by 9am.  

 

This morning coming off Oasis I joined the self-assist line at 6:15am.   They started letting us off at 6:42am.  I was outside hailing my ride share at 6:48am.  I was through security at FLL with bags checked by 7:31am.  Ride share cost was $35 plus tip.

 

The beauty of getting off the ship early is that the terminal traffic is very light.  By 8:00am it's busy.  By 9:30am it's chaos.  Even the bus transfer vehicles get caught in the grid lock.  It can take 30 minutes for a vehicle to go halfway around the terminal road right in front of terminal A.

 

Passports help a lot since you use the facial recognition.  Guests with DL/BC have to queue up to see a CBP officer.   This morning I never stopped walking through the terminal.  As I approached the facial recognition machine the next person was cleared so I walked right up to one and was through in seconds.

Edited December 22, 2019 by twangster

[RCCLNYMETS41]

I trust you had a great cruise. 
getting off at terminal A was painless last week & took minutes with passport facial recognition as u mentioned. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

We did self assist and got a Uber for a similar flight time and had no problems whatsoever.

[taglovestocruise]

Do not take the shuttle, cancel and go with a taxi if you are uncomfortably with Uber.  We used the Shuttle because we had non refundable OBC left over. Shuttles were oversold, few people were waiting for the correct shuttle, bus sat for over a hour as they tried to get everyones luggage loaded. Left the terminal about 10:30 arrived at FLL Hollywood  at about noon.  Small fender bender accident a few miles from FLL/Hollywood held up traffic for 45 minutes.  Taxi runs about $75.00 total.