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10:35 FLL departure: to early?


seaworthy1
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1 hour ago, donandmelissa said:

It really depends on how many ships are in port.  I have been in FLL when 7 ships were in port and the TSA lines went all the way to the rental car counters.  TSA personnel were actually helpful, pulling passengers with early flights to the front of the line.  But it was stressful.  If Celebrity is still doing luggage valet, that would be an important factor as well.  Not having to stand in line to check your bags is a huge time saver!  On a Friday, you will probably be fine, especially if you have TSA pre check.  Good luck!   

I never knew X did luggage valet. Do you have anymore details about it, or a cost? I wonder if anyone has used it on the 2 cruises that left from Port Everglades. 

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Doable pre -Covid with precheck, who knows now? This happened t us once before Covid (we didn’t notice that the flight was 2 hours earlier for several weeks - we were a wreck when we did notice). We changed ours, but we would have made it.

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1 hour ago, Seany527 said:

I never knew X did luggage valet. Do you have anymore details about it, or a cost? I wonder if anyone has used it on the 2 cruises that left from Port Everglades. 

Luggage Valet was awesome, worth every penny, but I don’t think it has restarted.

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The Delta terminal is not big so you have that going for you. Take turns going for breakfast on the ship while your companion watches the luggage cause there aren't many food options on the Delta side of the terminal.

If you have TSA pre that would be helpful too.

I abhor self disembarkation. Those who recommend getting to the disembarkation area at least an hour early aren't kidding. And handling your luggage via crowded corridors and elevators is daunting. Also be prepared to use the stairways if you can't get an elevator.

Be sure that you have any major purchases handy with sales receipts in case you are the one in a hundred who gets checked. Keep your passports and probably Covid info handy as well. Don't purchase alcohol or tobacco products beyond the "legal" limit. Don't carry off prohibited items like fruit/fresh food. The list of don'ts goes on and on. Think about anything that will impede your forward progress.

It's going to be tight but under normal circumstances doable.

 

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I don't think Celebrity's Luggage Valet, when it is available, is an option for flights that leave FLL that early. 

 

I forgot to mention that Global Entry (GE) is useful to bypass the large Customs & Immigration line when you disembark at Port Everglades. It is most associated with returning to the USA by air, but it can be used at cruise terminals and Port Everglades is listed as a GE location.

 

However the GE line at Port Everglades is not well marked (if at all) and not all cruise terminal employees even know about. During our last time we disembarked at Port Everglades (Jan 2019), we had to ask a couple of employees about the GE line and when we found one that knew what we were talking about we were let in to a separate empty line that allowed us to walk past the large line of other passengers and it got us immediately to the front. According to another Cruise Critic member on the same sailing (and stuck in the main Customs & Immigration line), it saved us over an hour of wait time. 

Edited by mahdnc
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3 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

I don't think Celebrity's Luggage Valet is an option for flights that leave FLL that early. 

 

I forgot to mention that Global Entry (GE) is useful to bypass the large Customs & Immigration line when you disembark at Port Everglades. Most people associate it with air travel, but it can be used at cruise terminals and Port Everglades is listed as a GE location.

 

However the GE line at Port Everglades is not well marked (if at all) and not all cruise terminal employees even know about. During our last time we disembarked at Port Everglades (Jan 2019), we had to ask a couple of employees about the GE line and when we found one that knew what we were talking about we were let in to a separate empty line that allowed us to walk past the large line of other passengers and it got us immediately to the front. According to another Cruise Critic member on the same sailing (and stuck in the main Customs & Immigration line), it saved us over an hour of wait time. 

 

When I disembarked my last Celebrity cruise in December 2019 there was not a GE line but since they used face recognizion it was a faster disembarkation anyway. 

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2 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

When I disembarked my last Celebrity cruise in December 2019 there was not a GE line but since they used face recognizion it was a faster disembarkation anyway. 

It must not have been working then when we disembarked at the then new and modern Terminal 25. 

Edited by mahdnc
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On our last time cruising prior to COVID,  there was some issue departing ship in Miami. Walkoffs did not begin until 8:30 am.  Our scheduled 8:15 departure got us off ship at 9:30.  Fortunately, we had a noon flight.  First time we had been delayed like that.  

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I wouldn't recommend it, but we made an 8:30am flight out of FLL. And that was after debarking in Miami and driving to FLL. We were planning on taking a later flight, but once I realized that we'd be at the FLL airport that early, we were placed on the standby list for the earlier flight. 

 

Everything just happened to align perfectly that day, but I would never book something that early and expect to make it.

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I would not risk it.  You're talking a Friday - you are going to have rush hour traffic and even though it's only 5 miles from the port - every time I have been to Port Everglades it is a nightmare to get out of the ship. Adding Covid restrictions to the mix will just make things worse.  Now you will have less people I imagine but if you can avoid it I would.  Why ruin your relaxed mode you have created on your vacation by having to rush around like a crazy person the day you get back.  Just my opinion though.  Good luck 🙂

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Pre-Covid I would have recommended against it, but you probably could have done it with careful planning.  In today's world (and that cruise is not that far off) you are taking a big chance.  Rides to the airport can be harder to find.  Some airports (not sure of FLL) have TSA lines hours long.  I would change it if I could

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We have a 10:50 am Southwest flight!  The next flight at 1:30pm would put us home 7 1/2 hours later.  My son & wife are travelling with us and have 2 dogs at different homes plus a son to retrieve when they get home.  So that later flight would be an issue for them.  I am just hoping for the best. 

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6 hours ago, gfkcruiser said:

On our last time cruising prior to COVID,  there was some issue departing ship in Miami. Walkoffs did not begin until 8:30 am.  Our scheduled 8:15 departure got us off ship at 9:30.  Fortunately, we had a noon flight.  First time we had been delayed like that.  

Twice in my cruising life (and I've done 60+ overall) we have had cruises with disembarkation delayed until 9:30!  So many people were frantically trying to grab a ride, including us.  Our flight time had changed to 10:30 a.m. - bad luck on our part as we had booked a much later one.  We were literally the last people boarding our flight after running full speed through the airport.  Never want to have to go through that stress again!

Edited by phoenix_dream
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Our last time out of the Fort Lauderdale cruise port there was a big line getting out of customs.  I think that you could make it if everything went in your favor.  I would have a backup plan in case you missed the flight.  The last time that we missed a flight was at LAX.  The shuttle bus between the terminals was a hot mess.

 

Having been to the airports numerous times lately my experience is that 95% of the flights are fully booked.  Getting on the next flight may not be an option if you miss the flight.

Edited by NMTraveller
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Have you tried going into your reservation and modifying it?  Usually after a schedule change, Delta is somewhat liberal in your ability to change the reservation and pretty much opens up the entire schedule for you to choose from, without charging extra for changing to different flight.  Just pick the flights you'd like to change to and it should show you an even exchange - it not, just exit from the modification. You could always call and explain the situation, but the hold times have been painfully long.

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On 7/10/2021 at 9:27 AM, seaworthy1 said:

Delta Airlines has changed our flt time to 10:35am on Friday 9/07.  Our ship arrival is 7:00am.  Is this cutting it to close?  Self debarkation(sp?) then taxi to airport.  Later flight to ATL would be easy enough, but ATL/PHX on a Friday pm, not so easy.  So,  to those of you with FLL experience, is 10:35 to early? 

I would only do an afternoon departure for a morning arrival.  Contact Delta and let them know that THEY switched your flight to a departure that does not work and THEY need to change it to something else without the fees.

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1 hour ago, ATLJC said:

Have you tried going into your reservation and modifying it?  Usually after a schedule change, Delta is somewhat liberal in your ability to change the reservation and pretty much opens up the entire schedule for you to choose from, without charging extra for changing to different flight.  Just pick the flights you'd like to change to and it should show you an even exchange - it not, just exit from the modification. You could always call and explain the situation, but the hold times have been painfully long.

Delta has also enhanced their Web site ability to deal with changing flights, so this could probably be accomplished on-line. If not, their phone representatives have always been very accommodating with rearranging flights after schedule changes.

 

There are also other options on Delta than flying to ATL for a connection to PHX, specifically, connections through DTW or MSP. It may not matter what the later flight times are for ATL-PHX.

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If you miss your flight the airline will get you on a later flight, if you're okay with that possibility of an extended adventure, you'll be fine.  Clear, airline status, pre/global and utilizing curb side check in all simply improve your odds.

 

One tip about self dis-embarkment I learned, reportedly they're gathering Edge (FLL) non-suite pax in the Eden, there's really no need to get there early.  Some folks will show up an hour early and therefore unless you're one of them will be waiting to get off.  The self walk off window is a half hour, if that window is 7am-730am, almost no one is walking off 715-730, simply exit your cabin 5mins after the window begins.  If you're walking off at 715 (or whenever the middle of the self carry window) you most likely won't even see another pax on the gangway or in the terminal.  You avoid the main wave of anxious people, will be able to walk off the ship without any lines, avoid customs lines if there are any (shouldn't be as FLL uses facial recognition but that occasionally goes offline) by then the taxi/ride share queue are replenished after that first wave.

 

Be careful with luggage valet and know most travel insurances/credit card baggage policies do not cover lost luggage via luggage valet.

 

Probably just my luck, I used the luggage valet with X in Seattle in 2019 and my luggage didn't make my flight.  I wrote about my experience on here.  Its run by a third party, bags inc, I called them and they said that my luggage was never "scanned" and therefore they believed it was still on the ship.  Not sure if things changed but X only had one option for lost luggage which is to file a claim with the "lost and found" dept.  Their attitude was if it shows up I'll you know and didn't seem to care about bags inc response that my baggage was still on the ship.  I went ahead and emailed LLP which obviously gets intercepted by her exec team that bags inc said my bag is still on the ship and they replied within hours that my bag was found.  Ironically, I received an email the day after my bag was found from the lost and found dept stating my item was still NOT found.

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13 hours ago, dkjretired said:

Yesterday there was a bomb scare at FLL and the terminals were evacuated. Never know


Happened once when we had arrived to board a pre-Christmas Celebrity cruise at Port Everglades. Some jerk was disembarking and saw people arriving. A security guard with a radio told us the jerk said something to the effect of “have fun, suckers, I left a bomb on board.” Entire port shut down, people left standing on the sidewalk outside the pier in the sun, guy led away in handcuffs & banned for life from sailing on X, ship sailed late, and the company gave every passenger a $50 OBC as a good will gesture for the inconvenience.

 

So, yeah, stuff happens. Maybe you’d make it but my first business trip after the Pandemic convinced me to allow LOTS of extra time at airports, based on the mobs in lines for check-in and security. (There was no curb-side luggage check-in, maybe there is now some places.)

Edited by Caribbean Chris
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The lines getting thru security at the airport in FTL can be very long.   
 

Doing self walk off has restrictions.   You are only allowed to take one bag down the escalator.  The line for the elevator gets very long because of that.    The walk from the ship thru  the terminal is also very long.  You basically walk in circles getting thru it.   Taking more than one bag pp can be a problem.  

 

As others posted the line to get off gets very long and people start lining up very early.   I would say that they are in line without having breakfast before the dining areas open.  
 

getting  on the elevator on the ship with a lot of luggage can also be very difficult.   Everyone is waiting to get on and when one does come it is usually full.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Edited by miched
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23 hours ago, dkjretired said:

Last thing I want to do is go on a nice cruise and the last couple days worry about whether I’m going to make my plane home.   In most cases you will make it but things can unexpectedly happen.

I'm with you on that. We've had enough stress in our lives to create more, right? I much prefer to arrive an hour or so early at the airport and then do some people watching. Especially those whose aircraft is just pushing back as they arrive at the gate. I heard a gent one day yelling at the gate agent, "Have that plane come back. That's my plane and I have to get home". A police officer showed up on a bicycle a few minutes later and the gent eventually was escorted away. He was still whimpering and saying, "It's not my fault the alarm didn't go off"..... etc, etc, etc.....

 

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