Malta Arrivals

[Travelmadoldie]

Now our luggage has to be collected on arrival in Malta - has anyone any estimate of the time it takes from landing to getting on to Azura?

I ask because I have been following the Tui flight from Birmingham for several weeks (I know - sad isn't it) and it is usually late arriving. Today it is due to land at 19.01 for example.

We are hoping that dinner is held for us!

[tring]

7 hours ago, Travelmadoldie said:

Now our luggage has to be collected on arrival in Malta - has anyone any estimate of the time it takes from landing to getting on to Azura?

I ask because I have been following the Tui flight from Birmingham for several weeks (I know - sad isn't it) and it is usually late arriving. Today it is due to land at 19.01 for example.

We are hoping that dinner is held for us!

 

We are not due to fly out from Manchester until just after 2pm and seems that is normally delayed.  They cannot starve us - we will be on a cruise ship!

 

Seriously though airports are normally cleared within an hour, even when collecting luggage and the transfer is not a long one - certainly less than half an hour, if that.  With a big delay, I suspect they may just send is to the buffet and leave that open for us.  Probably have to go straight in after dumping hand luggage in cabins, but would be no problem IMO.  The buffet would be better from my perspective, as we could then be fed quickly and luggage will have arrived at the cabins by the time we have finished eating, so we would not be having to unpack the essentials late at night.

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by tring

[tim2go]

We're flying out from Gatwick with TUI in 4 weeks time for our first fly cruise and I've been tracking our flight too. We're due in at 1755 but I've noticed it's often delayed. Yesterday it didn't touch down until 2030!

 

It would be annoying to miss the first dinner but I'm sure they won't let us go hungry, even if it is just the buffet. Personally I'd prefer that to having to get up at stupid o'clock in the morning for an earlier flight.

[wowzz]

As a matter of interest, I assume that the incoming aircraft is also used for departing passengers? 

That would mean some very late night departures! 

[Orianababes]

Going from Birmingham later this month and have noted the terrible record on flight delay. 
Flew out from Gatwick last month and Azura was a couple of hours late in leaving; I surmise this was down to Birmingham flight!

 

you have to wonder why there are such regular delays and no action appears to be taken

 

Ah well, it’s another cruise so no worries😁

[Travelmadoldie]

There seems to be a great variation in the timings of the flights out to Malta and with various airlines. The later in the day the greater the chance of delays seemingly.

It would have been nice to have a leisurely arrival but.....

 

[Jennizor]

Our TUI flight to Malta next Thursday is 6.15 am. A bit early really but we will have the afternoon to recover.

[Yorkypete]

10 hours ago, tring said:

 

We are not due to fly out from Manchester until just after 2pm and seems that is normally delayed.  They cannot starve us - we will be on a cruise ship!

 

Seriously though airports are normally cleared within an hour, even when collecting luggage and the transfer is not a long one - certainly less than half an hour, if that.  With a big delay, I suspect they may just send is to the buffet and leave that open for us.  Probably have to go straight in after dumping hand luggage in cabins, but would be no problem IMO.  The buffet would be better from my perspective, as we could then be fed quickly and luggage will have arrived at the cabins by the time we have finished eating, so we would not be having to unpack the essentials late at night.

 

Having many bus/coach trips in Malta and experience of the airport I would certainly allow two hours from landing to getting to the port. It could be longer depending on traffic though we usually arrive in Malta around 11am! so it is very busy. It is approx a 3.5 hour flight to Malta.

 

[purplesea]

We flew out from Bristol at the end of April and our flight was 6 am. It too a while to get through passport control in Malta as about 6 planes landed in quick succesion.  We arrived on the ship at about 1pm.

[Thejuggler]

Flights in the afternoon will probably be on aircraft doing their second cycle of the day.  They usually leave UK at 6-7am on a 2-3 hour flight, leave at lunch to arrive back late lunch in UK, then leave about 2pm for a second cycle.

 

The OP flight from Birmingham was late because the aircraft's first cycle, a return trip to Palma, was an hour late departing Birmingham.  It was then late leaving Palma which lead to a knock on delay in Birmingham, missed slot is often a reason why, so a new flight plan has to be submitted.

 

Previous performance is no reflection on future performance, airlines and cruise companies are well rehearsed in managing late flight arrivals.

[tring]

1 hour ago, Thejuggler said:

Flights in the afternoon will probably be on aircraft doing their second cycle of the day.  They usually leave UK at 6-7am on a 2-3 hour flight, leave at lunch to arrive back late lunch in UK, then leave about 2pm for a second cycle.

 

The OP flight from Birmingham was late because the aircraft's first cycle, a return trip to Palma, was an hour late departing Birmingham.  It was then late leaving Palma which lead to a knock on delay in Birmingham, missed slot is often a reason why, so a new flight plan has to be submitted.

 

Previous performance is no reflection on future performance, airlines and cruise companies are well rehearsed in managing late flight arrivals.

 

Exactly what I was going to say about the later flights as delays can build up over the day.  So no surprise to us, we always book later flight departures if we can for any holiday as we hate the early ones, which mean we miss much of a night's sleep.  Certainly the later departures from Manchester have generally been late as well.

 

I only replied to this thread earlier as no one seemed to be able to report on arrivals for Azura this summer, though have no personal experience of that as yet.  We have arrived late at cruise ships though, as well as hotels and have never been without food entirely which seemed to be main the concern of the OP.

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by tring

[tring]

4 hours ago, Yorkypete said:

Having many bus/coach trips in Malta and experience of the airport I would certainly allow two hours from landing to getting to the port. It could be longer depending on traffic though we usually arrive in Malta around 11am! so it is very busy. It is approx a 3.5 hour flight to Malta.

 

 

Gosh two hours is an incredibly long time, so I certainly hope it will not take us that long.  Admittedly we have not embarked a cruise ship in Malta, but I can see that a number of flights may well arrive a a similar time given the size of Azura, which would affect the workings of a relatively small airport like Luqa.  Brexit, could presumably add to time as well regards passport control.  I am hoping your experiences have been affected by the time of day and/or the season.  We do not travel in the high season and we do not embark Azura until the 29th September.  Our normal travels would be in the winter season for land holidays and our previous port calls to Valletta have been in February or the end of October.

 

We have been on holidays to Malta and stayed in the Mellieħa Bay area which is quite a bit further than Valletta and transfers have never been more than about 45 mins maximum and even the public bus journies between Mellieħa Bay and Valetta or Sliema have not been lengthy either.  I suspect the evenings will be quieter though and that is when we have arrived at the airport previously - we do not do early flights.  Interesting that Bing is giving a road journey from the airport to Valletta cruise port today as 4.4 miles, taking 12 minutes though, leaving at 15.00.  I know Bing often gives shorter times than would realistically be possible, but not usually by much, we will find out at the end of this month though.

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by tring

[Yorkypete]

1 hour ago, tring said:

 

Gosh two hours is an incredibly long time, so I certainly hope it will not take us that long.  Admittedly we have not embarked a cruise ship in Malta, but I can see that a number of flights may well arrive a a similar time given the size of Azura, which would affect the workings of a relatively small airport like Luqa.  Brexit, could presumably add to time as well regards passport control.  I am hoping your experiences have been affected by the time of day and/or the season.  We do not travel in the high season and we do not embark Azura until the 29th September.  Our normal travels would be in the winter season for land holidays and our previous port calls to Valletta have been in February or the end of October.

 

We have been on holidays to Malta and stayed in the Mellieħa Bay area which is quite a bit further than Valletta and transfers have never been more than about 45 mins maximum and even the public bus journies between Mellieħa Bay and Valetta or Sliema have not been lengthy either.  I suspect the evenings will be quieter though and that is when we have arrived at the airport previously - we do not do early flights.  Interesting that Bing is giving a road journey from the airport to Valletta cruise port today as 4.4 miles, taking 12 minutes though, leaving at 15.00.  I know Bing often gives shorter times than would realistically be possible, but not usually by much, we will find out at the end of this month though.

 

It is criminal of Bing to say that. I would not be happy using the narrow Malta roads and allowing less than an hour. This is based on 20 years experience being in Malta (October and March) for 6weeks plus and using only public transport and taxis.

[tring]

1 hour ago, Yorkypete said:

It is criminal of Bing to say that. I would not be happy using the narrow Malta roads and allowing less than an hour. This is based on 20 years experience being in Malta (October and March) for 6weeks plus and using only public transport and taxis.

 

As I said your experience is very different to ours.  You said initially, perhaps it was because of the time of day you were there, which is possible.  There were no undue delays to excursions when we have been docked in Valletta either, and I have seen reviews for Maltese holiday visits this summer that mentioned swift transit of and transfers from the airport so there would seem to be a limit on how long it could take to travel 4.4 miles - that distance could be walked in a little over an hour and looking at Google Earth much of that route is on dual carriageways.

 

We will see what happens when we go. 

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by tring

[Megabear2]

32 minutes ago, tring said:

 

As I said your experience is very different to ours.  You said initially, perhaps it was because of the time of day you were there, which is possible.  There were no undue delays to excursions when we have been docked in Valletta either, and I have seen reviews for Maltese holiday visits this summer that mentioned swift transit of and transfers from the airport so there would seem to be a limit on how long it could take to travel 4.4 miles - that distance could be walked in a little over an hour and looking at Google Earth much of that route is on dual carriageways.

 

We will see what happens when we go. 

 

Google maps say 20 minutes.  Reading Yorkypete's original post he said 2 hours from landing to port.  Assumedly he is speaking about passport control, luggage collection, boarding transport and the drive?  On my last trip to Malta 4 years ago I was astonished at all the new dual carriageways and how built up it had become. If he hasn't been lately perhaps he isn't aware of these roads?

[tring]

34 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Google maps say 20 minutes.  Reading Yorkypete's original post he said 2 hours from landing to port.  Assumedly he is speaking about passport control, luggage collection, boarding transport and the drive?  On my last trip to Malta 4 years ago I was astonished at all the new dual carriageways and how built up it had become. If he hasn't been lately perhaps he isn't aware of these roads?

 

He originally mentioned at least 2 hours for clearing airport + transfers, but his last post, (which my reply referred to), was purely talking about the journey to the port from the airport, which is 4.4 miles according to Bing, I knew it was pretty near.  He was confident it would not take less than an hour - but we will see.

 

I have just tried Google maps and it is giving 15 minutes to the cruise port, though yes, a few minutes longer if you drive into the city.  I am using the "by car" option as the alternative of bus, is on a public service bus, which will have bus stops and go through the busier areas.  I do agree that those online maps can only be used as an approximation - we would normally add another 30% to that time, but have not found it to take four times that estimate.  Admittedly, sometimes you can be waiting quite a while for a coach to leave the airport whilst waiting for other passengers, though I was hoping with the number of passengers going to embark Azura there would be a number of coaches which will leave when full, but another unknown for us until we get there.

 

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by tring

[Megabear2]

8 minutes ago, tring said:

 

He originally mentioned at least 2 hours for clearing airport + transfers, but his last post, (which I have just replied to and you quoted), was purely talking about the journey to the port from the airport, which is 4.4 miles according to Bing, I knew it was pretty near.

 

I have just tried Google maps and it is giving 15 minutes to the cruise port, though, yes, a few minutes longer if you drive into the city.  I am using the "by car" option as the alternative of bus, is on a public service bus, which will have bus stops and go through the busier areas.  I do agree that those online maps can only be used as an approximation - we would normally add another 30% to that time, but have not found it to take four times that estimate.  Admittedly, sometimes you can be waiting quite a while for a coach to leave the airport whilst waiting for other passengers, though I was hoping with the number of passengers going to embark Azura there would be a number of coaches which will leave when full, but another unknown for us until we get there.

 

 

I'm sure it will be well organised.  I did look at one of the cruises myself but because of all involved and the amount of flying I've been doing since June opted for Iona in October instead.

 

I'm back to Italy again on Sunday with my husband, this time on pleasure celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary 2 years late.  Thankfully slowly running down all our rebookings at last, only one more to go.

[Pencil62]

1 hour ago, tring said:

 

He originally mentioned at least 2 hours for clearing airport + transfers, but his last post, (which my reply referred to), was purely talking about the journey to the port from the airport, which is 4.4 miles according to Bing, I knew it was pretty near.  He was confident it would not take less than an hour - but we will see.

 

I have just tried Google maps and it is giving 15 minutes to the cruise port, though yes, a few minutes longer if you drive into the city.  I am using the "by car" option as the alternative of bus, is on a public service bus, which will have bus stops and go through the busier areas.  I do agree that those online maps can only be used as an approximation - we would normally add another 30% to that time, but have not found it to take four times that estimate.  Admittedly, sometimes you can be waiting quite a while for a coach to leave the airport whilst waiting for other passengers, though I was hoping with the number of passengers going to embark Azura there would be a number of coaches which will leave when full, but another unknown for us until we get there.

 

 

Our flight to Malta in May should have been 6a.m.  We took off around 30 minutes late but we made most of the time up and arrived at 10:40. It was 11:30 when we lifted our cases off the carousel. Everything was well organised outside the airport and once the coach had filled up it only took 30 minutes to get to the port. Even with the extra checks at the port (vaccination records, insurance checks etc) we were pleasantly surprised to be on board Azura by 12:45.   I hope the process is just as good when we board her next month for her repositioning cruise to Tenerife.

[Yorkypete]

6 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Google maps say 20 minutes.  Reading Yorkypete's original post he said 2 hours from landing to port.  Assumedly he is speaking about passport control, luggage collection, boarding transport and the drive?  On my last trip to Malta 4 years ago I was astonished at all the new dual carriageways and how built up it had become. If he hasn't been lately perhaps he isn't aware of these roads?

I go every year at least twice a year (missed two years due to restrictions and covid). Going again in March. I know about the new dual crriageways, especially round Buggiba to Luqua Airport and the times it takes. It may well be the time of day we arrive (around mid-day) so it may be quicker in the evening..  I know where the port is as we often take a walk round there when in Valletta.

 

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, Yorkypete said:

know about the new dual crriageways

More than I did then!

[NottsCruise]

We were on the late TUI flight from Birmingham in August and were due to arrive at 6pm. I had tracked it running up to the cruise and it had been late every single week (sometimes by several hours). We ended up arriving about 15 minutes late which was the best (least bad delay) I had seen. We got through passport control and the rest of the airport fairly quickly and, as there weren’t too many other flights arriving at that time (just Manchester and Gatwick), we were on a coach fairly promptly. The check in process was swift and we boarded the ship at about 7.40pm. Having dropped off our hand luggage and got changed, we were in the MDR by 8.10pm and had a lovely meal. However, we only achieved that by moving quickly!!

 

I think we would have had to use the buffet if we had been any later. Also, be aware that there is a mandatory ‘mini muster drill’ at 9.30 in the theatre for those who arrive in the late flights as you have missed the Captain’s announcement at 6pm, so that limits your options if you arrive any later than we did. 

[Orianababes]

Last month on our Azura trip there were roadworks outside the airport but that only added 5 minutes to the trip which was about 20-25 minutes

[tring]

I have now seen reports elsewhere about the arrivals and they concur with the reports above. One person said they were on the ship within 50 minutes of landing, but that may not have been in July/Aug which I suspect may have taken longer.  Others have mentioned total times approaching the 1hr 30 mins as mentioned above, with fairly short transfers.  Sounds like the transfer coaches leave promptly once full as well, which makes sense as P&O will want them to run efficiently.  There were apparently health checks to leave the airport (even for land hols) earlier this season, that do not seem to be needed now.

 

We are on an afternoon TUI charter flight from Manchester, which only flys once a fortnight and obviously there are others from Birmingham and Gatwick (possibly weekly) at a similar time.  Most people seem to be on early morning charter flights though and some have been booked on Jet2 schedule flights to Malta.  Jet2 seem to be runing the charter flights to Tenerife for the winter season.

 

Sounds like the transfer coacheso full as well.

Edited September 10, 2022 by tring

[Technoman2]

Our experience a few weeks ago was luggage in 15 minutes , 5 mins to coach, 10 mins on coach, then 20 mins to port. TIP buy yourself some bottles of water and soft drinks in the duty free going through. Prices not cheaper in local shops and you can take as many soft drinks as you want on. We got 6 bottles of coke, 2 bottles of water and 4 cans of beer to put in our fridge. No problem. Going back to the airport there are roadworks that caused about a 20 minute delay. Not sure they will hold dinner in the restaurant but the Buffet is open. The Meridian restaurant (deck 5 midships) opens 30 mins after the peninsular at 6.30 so may be open 30 mins later so i would aim for that one .

[tring]

6 hours ago, Technoman2 said:

Our experience a few weeks ago was luggage in 15 minutes , 5 mins to coach, 10 mins on coach, then 20 mins to port. TIP buy yourself some bottles of water and soft drinks in the duty free going through. Prices not cheaper in local shops and you can take as many soft drinks as you want on. We got 6 bottles of coke, 2 bottles of water and 4 cans of beer to put in our fridge. No problem. Going back to the airport there are roadworks that caused about a 20 minute delay. Not sure they will hold dinner in the restaurant but the Buffet is open. The Meridian restaurant (deck 5 midships) opens 30 mins after the peninsular at 6.30 so may be open 30 mins later so i would aim for that one .

 

Thank you for your post, especially your tips about drinks 🙂

 

Edited September 10, 2022 by tring