Miami disembarking early flight times good and bad stories

[Annicruise2014]

We always get afternoon flights home. Take an excursion that takes us to the airport, so we don't carry around our luggage all day.

 

We are thinking of taking a cruise in May, last minute decision for us. But may need to be home early and the last day.

 

What are some stories or experiences, good and bad, taking our own luggage off, getting a taxi to the airport and making it for an early flight. And how early have you made your flight out? 9:30 am, 10:30 am?

 

I KNOW THIS IS PROBABLY A BAD IDEA. But I wanted to get some ACTUAL experiences of people doing this.

Thank you in advance for your stories.

[djvcr]

I have done multiple 10 am flights out of MIA but have also had a suite and would be in the first escorted suite group off at 7:30 which helps bypass the walkoff lines. If you do the easy walkoff which starts around 7 am it should be easy to do too if you bring your bags with you. If you jump in a cab, you can be at the airport by 8 am. Uber takes longer unless the driver is already in the port area, it takes a while for them to arrive.

 

That said, it is always a risk. I also have Mosaic status on Jetblue which makes it easy to do same day changes in case we are delayed getting off.

[nelblu]

Love the pics and accompanying scenery.

[Gerbilicous]

In Dec 2022, we had a 9am flight out of Miami. Picked cause was super cheap compared to any other time in day.

I believe we did self disembark to be part of first group. I do not recall the time we were supposed to get off the ship but it was delayed about 15-20 minutes. I just recall that once we could get off ship we got to airport as quick as could and onto our already boarding flight.

 

(Off ship and through customer to taxi in like 5 minutes. To airport in the normal 20ish it takes to get there. Then we had no checked bags and flight was already starting to board so from walking into airport and getting to gate was maybe 10-15 minutes (TSA Pre-check). Walked right onto plane and into seats around 8:30. So maybe got off ship 7:45am.)

 

Considering our last 2 times we had mid afternoon flights that involved hours of waiting at the airport, I would take this any time. But my wife did not love the rush and if any delay we would have missed flight 😆. So now we tend to tack on an extra day and find something to do.

 

Edit: so to say 9am is probably earliest and is rush, 10am is just fine and 11am should be no issue at all. (based off 4 cruises out of miami I've done)

Edited March 13 by Gerbilicous

[time4u2go]

What time is your ship scheduled to dock that morning?  Will you be checking luggage for your flight or doing carry-on only?  Do you have TSA Precheck?

[jean87510]

3 hours ago, Annicruise2014 said:

We always get afternoon flights home. Take an excursion that takes us to the airport, so we don't carry around our luggage all day.

 

We are thinking of taking a cruise in May, last minute decision for us. But may need to be home early and the last day.

 

What are some stories or experiences, good and bad, taking our own luggage off, getting a taxi to the airport and making it for an early flight. And how early have you made your flight out? 9:30 am, 10:30 am?

 

I KNOW THIS IS PROBABLY A BAD IDEA. But I wanted to get some ACTUAL experiences of people doing this.

Thank you in advance for your stories.

Made a 850am flight.  Made a number of 10am flights.  Made a 10 am FLL flight in January when disembarked in Miami.  But that's us.  We also have GE, self disembark, suites, and either taxi or pre-arrange lyft or uber.  And don't have any physical limitations.  Or excessive bags.

[leaveitallbehind]

Miami terminal A is now our least favorite departure port for disembarking after a cruise.  Embarking is easy and fast with no issues.  However, based on our recent Oasis NYE cruise, the lines getting off the ship were very slow and disembarkation took upwards of 30 minutes once in the queue.  And the traffic getting out of the pier is was horrendous. 

 

The lines to the taxi were from the departure doors all the way down the sidewalk to the cab stand with several hundred people stuck in line.  There were not enough cabs to begin with and those that were trying to service those people were stuck in the loop trying to get back into the terminal.  We chose Uber (as we typically do) and they faced the same congestion getting to us.  We waited and watched their progress on our phone as they struggled to get to us for nearly 45 minutes less than a half mile away.

 

This was not our first slow experience there, but our experience with this years NYE cruise on Oasis will have us avoiding the POM as much as possible for all future cruises.  Worst in 50+ cruises.  Never any similar issues in Port Everglades, Cape Liberty, Baltimore, Port Canaveral, or San Juan.

 

While it is true your experience may be different, I would not count on any early flights after a cruise disembarking at the POM.  Fortunately our flight was an afternoon flight. Just our recent experience.

Edited March 13 by leaveitallbehind

[0penWater]

@jean87510  

 

Can you tell me more about your experience from Port of Miami to FLL? We are doing this in a few weeks.

 

Ship docks in Port of Miami at 6:30 AM & we fly out of FLL at 12:15 pm. 

 

Self-assist bags / Carry-on & plan to Uber direct to FLL.

 

How much of a rush was it to make your 10 AM flight out of FLL? 

[jean87510]

1 hour ago, 0penWater said:

@jean87510  

 

Can you tell me more about your experience from Port of Miami to FLL? We are doing this in a few weeks.

 

Ship docks in Port of Miami at 6:30 AM & we fly out of FLL at 12:15 pm. 

 

Self-assist bags / Carry-on & plan to Uber direct to FLL.

 

How much of a rush was it to make your 10 AM flight out of FLL? 

We were lucky to be in Yacht Club on the MSC Divina so we had an escort to the gangway and bypassed everyone.  

 

No rush at all.  We had our uber quickly and got there fast.  We have Global entry and Miami port has the facial recognition with the passports so we flew through that part.

 

When we got to FLL, it was pretty quick even though we had to check 4 bags as we flew on Avelo Airlines and we weren't sure where they were in FLL.  

 

I believe we were sitting waiting for our plane around 830am at the gate?  We left ship about 7am.

[squattie]

8 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Miami terminal A is now our least favorite departure port for disembarking after a cruise.  Embarking is easy and fast with no issues.  However, based on our recent Oasis NYE cruise, the lines getting off the ship were very slow and disembarkation took upwards of 30 minutes once in the queue.  And the traffic getting out of the pier is was horrendous. 

 

The lines to the taxi were from the departure doors all the way down the sidewalk to the cab stand with several hundred people stuck in line.  There were not enough cabs to begin with and those that were trying to service those people were stuck in the loop trying to get back into the terminal.  We chose Uber (as we typically do) and they faced the same congestion getting to us.  We waited and watched their progress on our phone as they struggled to get to us for nearly 45 minutes less than a half mile away.

 

This was not our first slow experience there, but our experience with this years NYE cruise on Oasis will have us avoiding the POM as much as possible for all future cruises.  Worst in 50+ cruises.  Never any similar issues in Port Everglades, Cape Liberty, Baltimore, Port Canaveral, or San Juan.

 

While it is true your experience may be different, I would not count on any early flights after a cruise disembarking at the POM.  Fortunately our flight was an afternoon flight. Just our recent experience.

This ⬆️ 💯

 

I do not understand why they can’t figure out how to disembark an Oasis class ship in Miami.  Both times, with Harmony in 2023 and last week with Oasis, the process of getting off the ship is a total cluster.  The ship arrived at 6am in port, and they cleared the ship to start disembarkation by 7:30am.  When we arrived in the promenade at 7:30, the line was packed on the track on both sides of the ship.  You couldn’t figure out where the line started or ended.  Just a solid line of people with signs saying “Exit this way”, which just took you to a line of people with no end or beginning.

 

Then they started funneling people into the Royal Theater with all of their luggage and no where to go.  You can’t fit suitcases and people in the theater at the same time.  Eventually, it was just a sea of everyone and no organization.  At this point, we went to Boleros and found an empty seat and hung out for about 10 minutes.  I walked around and eventually found a line moving on the track, so luckily we found ourselves in the correct moving line.  
 

Our flight from FLL was at 11:50am.  We were in the cab line by 8:15am, which never moved in about 10 minutes.  Gave up and scheduled a Lyft, which arrived less than 5 minutes, and was at FLL by 9:00am.  
 

Still had plenty of time to spare for us… but an hour after we got to FLL, there was a major wreck that closed I-95 between Miami and FLL, causing a few of our fellow passengers to get stuck in traffic.   
 

You never know what may happen these days, so always have a Plan B, just in case.   

Edited March 14 by squattie

[leaveitallbehind]

14 hours ago, jean87510 said:

We were lucky to be in Yacht Club on the MSC Divina so we had an escort to the gangway and bypassed everyone.  

 

No rush at all.  We had our uber quickly and got there fast.  We have Global entry and Miami port has the facial recognition with the passports so we flew through that part.

 

When we got to FLL, it was pretty quick even though we had to check 4 bags as we flew on Avelo Airlines and we weren't sure where they were in FLL.  

 

I believe we were sitting waiting for our plane around 830am at the gate?  We left ship about 7am.

While the new terminal is under construction, I believe MSC Divina currently uses terminal C, which is in the older section of the pier. The traffic flow has, in our experience, always been easier in that section and IMO would provide a different experience than that indicated in my response regarding RCCL's terminal at the end of the pier.  And as the OP is asking regarding RCCL, your experience may not translate to theirs.

[jean87510]

1 minute ago, leaveitallbehind said:

While the new terminal is under construction, I believe MSC Divina currently uses terminal C, which is in the older section of the pier. The traffic flow has, in our experience, always been easier in that section and IMO would provide a different experience than that indicated in my response regarding RCCL's terminal at the end of the pier.  And as the OP is asking regarding RCCL, your experience may not translate to theirs.

I have done the same with the Symphony.  

[leaveitallbehind]

4 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

I have done the same with the Symphony.  

I was actually just editing my response to direct it to you, not the OP, regarding whether or not you were inquiring about RCCL or MSC.

 

We have been cruising out of the ports I indicated for 32 years. We, too, have had better experiences (Symphony in 2019 as example) with the POM.  But there was a similar situation with another RCCL cruise and then this most recent Oasis NYE that was as I described.  And disembarking delays not withstanding, the traffic into the loop was terrible and the sidewalk crowds and taxi lines were very deep.  Maybe just an off day, but not one I wish to repeat anytime soon. 

Edited March 14 by leaveitallbehind

[jean87510]

9 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

I was actually just editing my response to direct it to you, not the OP, regarding whether or not you were inquiring about RCCL or MSC.

 

We have been cruising out of the ports I indicated for 32 years. We, too, have had better experiences (Symphony in 2019 as example) with the POM.  But there was a similar situation with another RCCL cruise and then this most recent Oasis NYE that was as I described.  And disembarking delays not withstanding, the traffic into the loop was terrible and the sidewalk crowds and taxi lines were very deep.  Maybe just an off day, but not one I wish to repeat anytime soon. 

I gave my feedback and experience.  I prefer early.  Others don't.

[Cutigerlady]

We were getting on the Oasis in Miami the week of Thanskgiving and the ship was delayed in disembarking the cruise that was returning.  It was mass chaos because you had an oversold Oasis class ship of people arriving and a group trying to disembark.  I believe they didn't start to get off until around 10 and we couldn't get on until 12:30.  When we returned, we got in line about 7:00 and I was in line for the taxi at 8:00. 

 

We were also on a cruise right before New Years on a smaller ship and we had no issues getting off at 7:30.  They forgot to tell the port workers and we did have to wait 10-15 minutes for cabs to start to arrive.  We were sitting at the airport by 8:30 and had no issue on our 10:50 flight.  

 

We find the taxis are faster than Uber in Miami.  I prefer getting dropped off using Uber to save some $$.

[cruisegal40]

Thanks for starting this thread.  We are use to going out of PE.  I have not sailed out of POM in a number of years and asked in the FLA board how long it takes to get from POM pier to the Miami airport. I booked at 11:15 AM flight. I am hoping we will be good. (if all goes according to plan)

[jerryg95]

3 hours ago, Cutigerlady said:

We were getting on the Oasis in Miami the week of Thanskgiving and the ship was delayed in disembarking the cruise that was returning.  It was mass chaos because you had an oversold Oasis class ship of people arriving and a group trying to disembark.  

How can there be an oversold ship? There are a max amount of berths and muster station spots. 

[Biker19]

12 hours ago, jerryg95 said:

How can there be an oversold ship?

It's usually not oversold, but cabins can become unavailable for a number of reasons.

[0penWater]

@cruisegal40  

 

I am confident you will make the 11:15 flight from POM to MIA. 

 

TSA at Miami Airport always seems to take forever. MIA is one of the only airports I follow the "arrive 2 hours early" rule.

 

Also, Spring Break official here & will end in late April. Which will make TSA in Miami, FLL, and MCO worse on weekends.

 

[celoplyr]

We made a 10:30 flight once with ease, but I realized later that it was New Years Day, and so not many people wanted a taxi, the airport was quiet (people were trying to take another day or two of vacation), our ship was way undersold (during Omicron wave) and we had first class tickets (which only means checking a bag is easier).  Now, that was with my parents who are slow and like to be at the airport early.  We probably got to the gate around 9am, and I was bored.  But, for current conditions, I have no idea.