Experiences with disembarkation from Oceania ship in Miami?

[Iamthesea]

I have been reading on the Carnival forum about problems disembarking among a madding crowd at the Port of Miami.   We will be taking an Oceania cruise in/out of POM next spring.  We have two choices for flights after the cruise which will be out of FLL.  One around 11:30, and the other at 4:30 or so. Flights will either be on Delta (hoping airfare will go down soon) or on Allegiant Air. My preference would be to stay on the ship as long as possible and make a leisurely way to FLL for the later flight.  My husband does not want to sit in the airport all day.  Plus, with Allegiant, we cannot check bags until a couple of hours before flight time.  Yet, we both feel it would be pushing it to try for the earlier flight.  Experiences and thoughts welcomed. 😉  Also, what is the lastest that Oceania allows passengers to stay onboard?

[Hlitner]

The issues with POM and also Port Everglades are the worst on Sat and Sun mornings.  Other days will find the ports less crowded (and frantic).  With any cruise line, we have always felt good about flights after 11am at the airport nearest to the cruise ports (MIA for POM and FLL for Port Everglades).  If you are booking flights at the other airports (such as MIA for a cruise ending in Ft Lauderdale) than you need to allow an extra 45 min (we generally use Uber/Lyft for the longer transfers.  In those cases (with the more distant airports) we would be OK with 11:30.  

 

The key to all of this is how early you physically get off the ship.  The safest is to use express disembarkation where you drag your own luggage off the ships.  On many cruises this can have you at the airports as early as 8.  Otherwise, you are at the mercy of the port to get your luggage off the ship and sorted in the terminal.  

 

Our most recent cruise was last month on the Sky Princess where we disembarked with about 4000 others at Port Everglades.  We had a 10:50 flight (out of FLL) and decided to let ship offload our luggage.  We did get an early time (on Princess you can simply ask).  Things at the port were quite good (although Port Everglades was completely full on that Saturday) and we were off the ship by 7:30, quickly found our luggage, was out of terminal by 7:45, grabbed at taxi, and was at FLL by 8:10.  Keep in mind that POM to MIA is a longer ride than going from Port Everglades to FLL, but we are only talking an extra 10-15 min.

 

DW and I do not use cruise line transfers since we are not fans of sitting around on large buses while they wait to be filled and get luggage loaded.  And the large bus transfers generally drop folks at a common drop spot at each airport which we laughingly say is very inconvenient for everyone!  With a taxi or Uber/Lyft you get dropped at the proper airline door :).  And, using taxis or Uber is usually less expensive (and a lot faster) than cruise line transfer buses.

 

Hank

[Cruisedreamer1]

Go for the later flight. You might opt for a Miami tour departing from the ship which ends at the airport. It's interesting tour if you are not acquainted with the city. We found that the walk to the AA gate at the airport was very long and if you don't have enough time to walk you can be rushed after checking in at the airport.

[1985rz1]

26 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

Also, what is the lastest that Oceania allows passengers to stay onboard?

Generally, one must be out of the stateroom by 8 am and off the ship by 9 am.

[Iamthesea]

1 hour ago, Cruisedreamer1 said:

Go for the later flight. You might opt for a Miami tour departing from the ship which ends at the airport. It's interesting tour if you are not acquainted with the city. We found that the walk to the AA gate at the airport was very long and if you don't have enough time to walk you can be rushed after checking in at the airport.

AA meaning American Airlines (forgot that was also an option for us.) or AA meaning Allegiant Airlines?  All 3 airlines have the best flights to/from FLL, versus MIA. 

 

We will be leaving the Vista, berthed at the POM, on a Saturday morning and headed to FLL airport. 

 

We are familiar with both cities, and have done an Everglades tour while in route to the airport (FLL) from Port Everglades.  Would not mind doing the tour again, but I don't believe those tours are offered from Miami (POM) to Ft. Lauderdale (FLL).  

 

1 hour ago, 1985rz1 said:

Generally, one must be out of the stateroom by 8 am and off the ship by 9 am.

Thank you!  

 

Hank, Very helpful information of your experiences.    We can certainly take our own luggage off of the ship.  The trick is getting an elevator in a timely fashion.  Past experience with Oceania is that they are packed with the older generation on a normal day.  Embarkation day could be equally as bad.  Without luggage, we normally try to take the stairs.

[Tr1v1alCru1ser]

Got off Vista last week in POM.  Latest disembarkation was listed at 8.50am, although it ended up being later because people are called according to colour of luggage tag.

 

The Everglades tour and drop off at the airport was offered as an option on the disembarkation form. 

[babysteps]

What's your risk tolerance?

 

We were on Insignia when it disembarked Dec 17, 2023 after POM was closed overnight. No one got off the ship until about 1:30 or 2pm, everyone was off by about 3pm.

 

But that happens very rarely...would you rather have a long wait at the airport 7 times or a short wait 6 times plus one time of having to change plans last minute so extra cost and/or hassle just that once?

 

I have no idea if that's the actual ratio for future travel lol!

[Iamthesea]

2 hours ago, Tr1v1alCru1ser said:

Got off Vista last week in POM.  Latest disembarkation was listed at 8.50am, although it ended up being later because people are called according to colour of luggage tag.

 

The Everglades tour and drop off at the airport was offered as an option on the disembarkation form. 

Was the tour a drop off at the FLL airport or MIA?

[makai 7]

In the past we have used a limo service to take us from POM to FLL airport (to pick up a rental car).  We have used this same service many times over the years.  If you are interested, I will share their information.  Then you have full control over when and where you want to go.

[Iamthesea]

Yes, please. 😉 It's been years since we did this.  Had a service then, but I don't remember the name.

[Croooser]

We disembarked Vista at Miami on a Sunday in November. Express was permitted off at 8:00 and everyone else queued in hectic, disorganized lines. O placed responsibility on the port, but O had no one organizing the lines (one person at the door) and no communication as to why they could not let people disembark.  It was a real goat rodeo. If O was at the mercy of the port authorities, then they could have helped things quite a bit by organizing the lines.

 

OP: Having vented about all of that... We had O take our luggage off and were off of the ship by  around 8:45, claimed our bags, cleared customs, got a cab and were at the MIA airport by 9:30. We could have been off at least a half hour earlier had we taken our own bags off. An 11:00 flight is very doable, provided that you are not mobility challenged which could slow things up quite a bit at both ends. 

 

HTH

Edited January 10 by Croooser

[makai 7]

9 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

Yes, please. 😉 It's been years since we did this.  Had a service then, but I don't remember the name.

The company is Larry’s Limo Service 

https://larryslimo.com/service/#cruise

 

it has been several years since we last used them, but they were always prompt, professional, reliable, and courteous.

[kd1224]

Disembarked Vista yesterday in Miami.   Due to high winds we were moved from the usual dock of terminal J to terminal B which seems to be the big NCL terminal.   We were advised of the change late the evening before.  It was a breeze.  
 

We stayed in our cabin (enjoyed breakfast room service) until around 8:15, made our way down from deck 8 to deck 6 and proceeded to join the line for disembarkation.  Long walk in the terminal to baggage pick up but breezed right through customs  to the private taxi pick up area.  
 

Granted we were the only ship in port on a Tuesday morning but still, it really was very painless.  

[Iamthesea]

On 1/10/2024 at 8:34 AM, makai 7 said:

The company is Larry’s Limo Service 

https://larryslimo.com/service/#cruise

 

it has been several years since we last used them, but they were always prompt, professional, reliable, and courteous.

LOL, I am pretty sure that is who we used years ago!  Thank you.

 

Croooser and kd1224 - Thank you for the information.  We are still having trouble finding decent airfare for the early March cruise.  FLL is still the least expensive airport to fly in and out of.

[Tr1v1alCru1ser]

On 1/8/2024 at 3:33 PM, Iamthesea said:

Was the tour a drop off at the FLL airport or MIA?

I can’t swear to it, but I think it was MIA.