Miami Seaport (Carnival) to Fort Lauderdale Airport: My experience

[highcorral25]

I sailed the Carnival Conquest and disembarked at the Miami Seaport (MSE) Terminal E on Saturday 29 Feb 2020.  I had a 12:02pm flight out of FLL.  This is my experience:

 

1)  I chose "Express" disembarking (I took my luggage with me).

2)  My cabin was on Deck 1 and disembarking was by deck, starting with Deck 1.

3)  Scheduled disembarking was to start between 8:00am and 8:15am.

4)  We disembarked from Deck 3.

 

At 7:45am I was on the Lido Deck getting breakfast when they called for Deck 1 to begin disembarking (15 minutes early). I got to my cabin, got my luggage, and made my way to Deck 3. 

 

I scanned off the ship at 8:00am.

 

The Customs process is very fast.  I was prepared to use Global Entry or Mobile Passport but neither are necessary.  There are no paper discloses (unless you actually have something to disclose).   Passing through Customs was as simple as passing through the face recognition.

 

I was through Customs and on the curb at 8:07am.  It literally took 7 minutes from ship to curb.

 

I checked Lyft and it was $33 to FLL, Uber was $47.  I opted to take a shuttle van for $20 pp (my wife was with me).

 

7:45am Disembarking started (15 minutes early)

8:00am Scanned off the ship

8:07am Through Customs and on the curb

8:20am On shuttle van ($20 pp) to FLL

9:00am Arrived FLL Terminal 2 (Delta Airlines)

10:30am Checked bags at Delta counter (12:02pm flight)

 

FLL was extremely busy.  Delta would not let us check our bags until 10:30am. From there we passed through TSA and went to our gate.

 

Other observations worth noting.

The shuttle to the MIA airport is $10.

Checking in to the cruise was fast.  Prior to security they verified my boarding pass and scanned my passport.  That was the check-in process.  My Sail & Sign card was in the mail slot at my cabin.  They used the picture from my passport.  Overall it was the fasted check-in I have experienced.

 

Even though they began with Deck 1, I did not observe any controls to prevent the other decks from "jumping the line".

 

 

 

[Cienfuegos]

That's a great report, thanks for sharing it.

 

readers should consider that traffic between the Miami Cruise port and FLL airport might be more congested on a weekday.

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, highcorral25 said:

9:00am Arrived FLL Terminal 2 (Delta Airlines)

10:30am Checked bags at Delta counter (12:02pm flight)

 

Thank you for your report.  What did you do between the time you arrived and the time you were able to check your bags?

[highcorral25]

When I arrived at FLL I went to a kiosk to print bag tags but it only produced boarding passes.  I tried to get in line to the counter to check my bags but a security guard wouldn't allow me to enter.

 

Instead, she pointed to a very long line and said that that line was for flights departing before 11am.  For flights departing after 11am (mine was 12:02) we were directed to "just hang out".

 

It really sucked.

Edited March 6, 2020 by highcorral25

[SteerageJoe]

Thanks! Good info!

 

Which shuttle van company did you use? Did you prebook or just walked up (if so, did they accept cash or credit)?

 

[highcorral25]

I did not pre-book. I had intended to use Lyft.  There were several Van's and I heard people talking about going to MIA. I asked about FLL and some driver pointed to van and said it was $20 pp.

 

I don't know what company it was or if they took credit cards. There were a lot of Van's and it a fairly fast process to load the luggage and board. There were around 15 passengers.

 

He loaded the luggage by terminal so the luggage was on top for the first stop.

 

A friend who was on the cruise pre-booked a round trip through Carnival.

[rkacruiser]

23 hours ago, highcorral25 said:

Instead, she pointed to a very long line and said that that line was for flights departing before 11am.  For flights departing after 11am (mine was 12:02) we were directed to "just hang out".

 

It really sucked.

 

I appreciate your response.  If such happened to me at FLL, I'd feel the same as you.

 

I assume no place to sit while you waited?  I had the same kind of experience waiting for a Delta flight in Buenos Aires.  Few chairs for passengers in the airport's lobby; long, snaking line of guests waiting to check-in with many sitting on the floor for several hours.  Fortunately, I arrived at the airport early enough that I found a chair.  I sat in that chair until I saw a fellow guest from my cruise that was a tablemate walk by.  I asked him to sit in my chair while I went to the restroom.  

 

You'd agree, I am sure.  This was no way to end a cruise!

Edited March 7, 2020 by rkacruiser