10:30 Miami Flight Home

[hollon]

Hello - Is it doable to make a 10:30 am flight home from the miami port?  Can I walk off early w/ my luggage, if so, do they designate a time that I can walk off early?  Thanks

[MightyMike]

If your ship has a 6:00 am arrival and all goes well with customs and such, then a 10:30 am flight is quite doable, especially with self assist. If anything goes wrong, then....

[hollon]

Thank you, the airline prices are so expensive for next May and the plane isn't even full at all.  The later I leave the price goes up.

[CHOPPERTESTER]

In theory yes but

 

Walking off the ship (once cleared by local authorities and you are COVID cleared) at 7:00.

Getting through Border Services (if there are enough agents or facial recognition system is working) say 7:15

Taxi/car service to MIA in morning traffic (hopefully none) 7:45

Shouldn't be that many people in line to check bags/check-in 8:00

Again TSA should be vacant during the morning rush say 8:15

 

Up to your risk acceptance. People on this board will say "yes I was off the ship and sitting at the gate by 8:00" but the majority will say why accept the risk and stress about it, plan for a later flight.

 

Personally, I would not plan on a 10:30 flight out of MIA or even FLL.

[pasodancer]

on 10/9/21 we walked off (Self Assist) Symphony at 7:10 (Gangway opened around 7:05am).  Breezed thru Customs (now electronic facial recognition system) and was in a taxi by 7:20 and at the Miami Airport at 7:45am.  BUT, Miami Airport was PACKED - (MSC Ship also).  Took us over 30 minutes in line to do self-check-in, another 20 minutes to self-check bags then 45 minutes to go thru security.  We didn't get to our gate until after 9am.   We were very LUCKY to be able to walk extremely fast, have a taxi driver who thought he was in the Indy 500 and knew exactly where to go to get us to the right check in area.  It also helped that we had Priority Departure (at 7 am or when gangway opened).  Do not recommend trying to get to the airport too early unless you are a seasoned traveler and can carry own luggage and speed walk.

Edited October 13, 2021 by pasodancer

[brillohead]

I would feel comfortable doing a 10:30 flight out of MIA from PoM.  

(I also have TSA Pre-Check, which helps with the line at security, too.)

[cruiseguy1016]

Generally, a 10:30 flight shouldn't be a problem if you walk off the ship your own. There is of course some risk with the possibility of the ship not clearing customs right away or long lines at the airport. I have booked a 10:20 flight in the past and made it with a couple hours to spare. You need to decide how comfortable you are with some risk.

[Eddie Wilson]

February of 2020 we were not cleared to leave the ship until about 7:30 or 7:35.  It was a mess.

 

Then, thanks to having 4 (I think) other ships arriving the same day, and all of them cleared prior to ours, we were behind the eight ball on transportation.  We were not in a taxi/shuttle until close to 9:30.

 

We went to FLL, arrived at 10:30 for a 12:30 flight, and barely made it to the gate.  Again, 5 ships that day created quite a bundle of people.

 

Eddie 

[Merion_Mom]

1 hour ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

Generally, a 10:30 flight shouldn't be a problem if you walk off the ship your own. There is of course some risk with the possibility of the ship not clearing customs right away or long lines at the airport. I have booked a 10:20 flight in the past and made it with a couple hours to spare. You need to decide how comfortable you are with some risk.

 

Was this specifically at MIA/POM?

[crewsweeper]

Who knows what the protocols or weather conditions will be like next May.

Agree with brillohead on TSA pre-check.  Could have saved pasodancer 25-30 minutes.

And grab taxi not Uber/Lyft as those areas at POM tend to be confusing and actually take longer to get your ride.

 

[Lou33]

7 hours ago, hollon said:

Thank you, the airline prices are so expensive for next May and the plane isn't even full at all.  The later I leave the price goes up.

One thing to consider....The airlines are cancelling or changing many flights right now for a variety of reasons.  If your flight is in May, my guess is that you have a better than 50% chance that they will make some type of schedule change.  

 

But that's a good thing.  Once they make any change, then that is not the flight that you paid for.  So that gives you the green light to either cancel for cash refund, or request a one time change for any or all of your flights at no additional cost.  This happened to me twice in the last two months.  Each time they let me choose any flights that I wanted, both departure and return, regardless of the current price.  If I had chosen those flights when I booked it would have cost 3X more.  But I ended up getting the perfect flight times for a very low cost.  

[cruiseguy1016]

4 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Was this specifically at MIA/POM?

 

Yes. It was the first time we had a booked such an early flight and I was very nervous about missing our flight. I don't remember what time we walked off the ship but it was early. I remember being through security at the airport (we have TSA Precheck) shortly after 8:00.

[BirdTravels]

8 hours ago, hollon said:

Hello - Is it doable to make a 10:30 am flight home from the miami port?  Can I walk off early w/ my luggage, if so, do they designate a time that I can walk off early?  Thanks

Yup, no problem.

 

They are using facial recognition at the PortMiami terminal so as fast as you can walk from the ship, through the terminal, through the baggage hall, and pause for 15 seconds to get scanned, you will be on the curb. We had a nice leisurely breakfast in the Windjammer, picked up our bags from our stateroom, and walked off the Freedom. We were sitting in the airport lounge by 9:15. 

[bonsai3s]

Just a thought...does Royal Caribbean offer "luggage valet" from the all the ships disembarking at Port of Miami?  Thank you.

[broadwaybaby123]

That would be a negative from me.  The last cruise I was on, I was set to walk off the ship to catch a 9AM shuttle back to the hotel.  We arrived at the port before 7AM but weren't cleared to leave until about 8AM.  By the time we got through the lines and off the ship, we missed our shuttle back to the hotel and had to wait another 45 min. in the cold for the next one.  Good thing we drove to the hotel and didn't have a flight booked!

[Tapi]

I’d feel more comfortable with a bit more time (maybe 11:30am) but a 10:30am is doable if everything goes smoothly, which is not always the case. 
 

With that said I’ve been able to get on a 10:00am flight out of Miami and one time as early as 8:35am out of Ft Lauderdale after arriving at the port of Miami. But I didn’t book such early flights. I just happened to be off the ship so fast on those two occasions that I was able to get on those earlier flights as a standby. 

[Sayuil]

9 hours ago, pasodancer said:

on 10/9/21 we walked off (Self Assist) Symphony at 7:10 (Gangway opened around 7:05am).  Breezed thru Customs (now electronic facial recognition system) and was in a taxi by 7:20 and at the Miami Airport at 7:45am.  BUT, Miami Airport was PACKED - (MSC Ship also).  Took us over 30 minutes in line to do self-check-in, another 20 minutes to self-check bags then 45 minutes to go thru security.  We didn't get to our gate until after 9am.   We were very LUCKY to be able to walk extremely fast, have a taxi driver who thought he was in the Indy 500 and knew exactly where to go to get us to the right check in area.  It also helped that we had Priority Departure (at 7 am or when gangway opened).  Do not recommend trying to get to the airport too early unless you are a seasoned traveler and can carry own luggage and speed walk.

Sorry for off topic, you just came back from cruises. Can you confirm if you saw car rental shuttle running between MIA and POM

[veep]

Don't mean to scare you, but several years ago on Freedom we had a medical emergency the last evening so we stopped in Nassau to drop them off. We didn't get to Port Canaveral until 5 hours after we anticipated. In the morning everyone was trying to get off with their luggage to catch planes. It was a madhouse. Instead of renting a car to get to the airport, we paid a taxi a huge tip to get us there asap (we were flying out of Datona- cheaper for 4 of us). We got there, but it was scary. Changing flights would have cost $4000. 

 

Even if ships don't clear customs, there are other things that can delay getting in for disembarkation. If I was chosing flights, I'd schedule something later. 26 cruises- I always book a late afternoon flight to the west coast.

[neverbeenhere]

10:30:go for it.  (But don't packed your back up plan in your checked luggage)

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, veep said:

Don't mean to scare you, but several years ago on Freedom we had a medical emergency the last evening so we stopped in Nassau to drop them off. We didn't get to Port Canaveral until 5 hours after we anticipated. In the morning everyone was trying to get off with their luggage to catch planes. It was a madhouse. Instead of renting a car to get to the airport, we paid a taxi a huge tip to get us there asap (we were flying out of Datona- cheaper for 4 of us). We got there, but it was scary. Changing flights would have cost $4000. 

 

Even if ships don't clear customs, there are other things that can delay getting in for disembarkation. If I was chosing flights, I'd schedule something later. 26 cruises- I always book a late afternoon flight to the west coast.

2 out of last 3 times I Cruised Walk offs didnt start until 730 & 745. Happens at times. This right before CV.  Much as I Fly know some point this stuff happens. Not MIA but couple times got to FLL and line was out the Door. One 18 month Period had different planes have inop Bathroom, Electronic issues, Cracked Windshield, stuck in Snow and 2 different Flat Tires. Not to mention 20yrs ago flew home day of Shoe Bomber, was in Florida for Anthrax scare, but did just get home from Cruise Flying in with my 3 small kids early am on 9/11/01. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by ONECRUISER

[pasodancer]

9 hours ago, Sayuil said:

Sorry for off topic, you just came back from cruises. Can you confirm if you saw car rental shuttle running between MIA and POM

Sorry - wasn't looking for shuttles - just Uber or Taxi.  Saw plenty of "MIA Airport Buses" & Private Company Shuttles but really didn't notice any rental car shuttles.

[sellwingri]

13 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

Just a thought...does Royal Caribbean offer "luggage valet" from the all the ships disembarking at Port of Miami?  Thank you.

This hasn’t resumed since Covid.  However, before Covid, Miami wasn’t one of the ports that offered valet.  Ports offering it were Ft Lauderdale, New Jersey, and Seattle.  

[bonsai3s]

2 hours ago, sellwingri said:

This hasn’t resumed since Covid.  However, before Covid, Miami wasn’t one of the ports that offered valet.  Ports offering it were Ft Lauderdale, New Jersey, and Seattle.  

Thank you sellwingri!

We used it for the first time, in Seattle, last month and it was fantastic.  Placed 2 luggages outside our cabin the night before disembarkation and we didn't see it until we got to our home airport...nice.

Perhaps if it ever becomes available in Miami, it may help those with a 10:30am flight.

[brillohead]

18 minutes ago, bonsai3s said:

Perhaps if it ever becomes available in Miami, it may help those with a 10:30am flight.

In the past, the earliest your flight could be was 11am in order to use the Luggage Valet program.  If your flight was earlier, you weren't eligible for the service.

[bonsai3s]

19 minutes ago, brillohead said:

In the past, the earliest your flight could be was 11am in order to use the Luggage Valet program.  If your flight was earlier, you weren't eligible for the service.

Oops...oh well, I just threw my idea out the window...thanks.