Cutting It Close.

[tonyfall1]

Hello,

We are cruising on the Magic in August. Our departing flight leaves FLL at 1:20pm. I am wondering what is the quickest way to get off the ship(thinking self assist) and quickest method to get to FLL.

[mz-s]

I wouldn't really say that's cutting it close. Carnival's airport transfer will be able to get you to FLL in time if you want to go that route, otherwise just get a taxi or rideshare...

[Ilovesailaway]

I've been home to NY by 1:20 from FLL after a PE cruise... flying..lol

I would have zero concern about cutting it close. If you feel more comfortable getting to FLL asap then you could carry off at 7-7:30 ish, grab a waiting taxi, and be at FLL by 8am. Waiting almost 5 hours to board would not be how I would want to end my vacation.

I would pick an early group, have breakfast in the MDR, walk off with my group, and get to FLL closer to 11am

 

[jimbo5544]

Done it many times.  I prob would go with Self Assist Debarkation.  Depending how many of you, there are many options to get to FLL.  Check the Florida departure board.

Edited June 22 by jimbo5544

[1025cruise]

You can relax, 1:10 is an OK flight time from FLL.

[tonyfall1]

There's 4 of us I was thinking Uber\Lyft.

[Elaine5715]

I am an early to the airport person and would easily select a 1 pm flight out of FLL from POM.  

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, tonyfall1 said:

There's 4 of us I was thinking Uber\Lyft.

 

Book an UberXL or whatever the larger version of the Lyft is. Either that or a taxi van. Carnival transportation will likely be more expensive than rideshare or taxi for a party of 4.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

3 hours ago, tonyfall1 said:

Hello,

We are cruising on the Magic in August. Our departing flight leaves FLL at 1:20pm. I am wondering what is the quickest way to get off the ship(thinking self assist) and quickest method to get to FLL.

that's not cutting it close. We had a 1:30 pm flight out of MIA and we had a leisurely breakfast, walked off after 9:30, and then ubered from Port Everglades to MIA airport and sat there for 2+ hours.

Edited June 23 by Itchy&Scratchy

[jsglow]

Take your time OP. One of the challenges at FLL (I think MIA too) is that they won't allow you to physically check your luggage until 2 hours before your flight if my memory serves. The reason for this is obvious; they simply don't have the storage capacity. So what ends up happening is that you're forced to find some place to sit, often literally on the floor, outside of TSA. No complaints mind you. Many thousands of tourists have to go through there every weekend.

[Marie51]

2 hours ago, jsglow said:

Take your time OP. One of the challenges at FLL (I think MIA too) is that they won't allow you to physically check your luggage until 2 hours before your flight if my memory serves. The reason for this is obvious; they simply don't have the storage capacity. So what ends up happening is that you're forced to find some place to sit, often literally on the floor, outside of TSA. No complaints mind you. Many thousands of tourists have to go through there every weekend.

I was wondering about that. Our flight leaves FLL at 11:07 AM but we’re hoping to get to the airport early and I wondered what would happen to our luggage if they won’t let us check in. I imagine that would be a nightmare.

[teknoge3k]

That's definitely not "cutting it close". We've taken many 11am flights from FLL without any issue. In fact our last cruise from Miami, we were on the Celebration. We let Carnival take our luggage the night before, ate breakfast on the ship, took our time debarking.  Once we were out of the terminal with our luggage, I requested our Uber. We were sitting at our terminal for Southwest at 9:17am. Granted, we always use the skycap for our luggage and have TSA-Precheck which helps expedite things at the airport. 

 

 

[Elaine5715]

10 minutes ago, Marie51 said:

I was wondering about that. Our flight leaves FLL at 11:07 AM but we’re hoping to get to the airport early and I wondered what would happen to our luggage if they won’t let us check in. I imagine that would be a nightmare.

You can use curbside which will take it earlier.  Depending on how busy, your airline may accept luggage 4 hours ahead.  There is also Luggage Storage for a fee.

[jsglow]

3 hours ago, Marie51 said:

I was wondering about that. Our flight leaves FLL at 11:07 AM but we’re hoping to get to the airport early and I wondered what would happen to our luggage if they won’t let us check in. I imagine that would be a nightmare.

What happens is that you 'luggage sit' until they can accept it. Look, I get the policy. I've seen Rose Dawson herself with her 20 steamer trunks for a 7 night cruise! 🤯 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

14 hours ago, jsglow said:

Take your time OP. One of the challenges at FLL (I think MIA too) is that they won't allow you to physically check your luggage until 2 hours before your flight if my memory serves.

depends on the airline and time of the year. It was 4 hours in April for Spirit.

12 hours ago, Marie51 said:

Our flight leaves FLL at 11:07 AM but we’re hoping to get to the airport early and I wondered what would happen to our luggage if they won’t let us check in.

that won't be a problem. We had a 5 pm flight,  now THAT's a problem.

Edited June 24 by Itchy&Scratchy

[newcruzer2]

I am a world class worrier.

I can assure you, you will have plenty of time.

[cruise_co]

Gosh, I hope that is not cutting it close, lol.  We are docking in Miami and have a 3:45 flight out of....Orlando.  Taking the 9:50 Brightline which will have us at MCO at 1:15.  It actually gets us home sooner than most of the flights from MIA or FLL.  

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

On 6/22/2024 at 5:54 PM, 1025cruise said:

You can relax, 1:10 is an OK flight time from FLL.

I agree..

[DaveOKC]

You have PLENTY of time, unless the ship is late.  When we get off in the first couple of groups we are normally at the GATE by 9 am.  We do use a taxi. which is quicker.  Once the cruise buses start arriving at the airport, things will slow down.

 

As mentioned, some airlines restrict how early you can drop luggage off, normally 2-3 hours.  If you have VIP status with your airline sometimes they will waive this. 

[zqvol]

14 hours ago, cruise_co said:

Gosh, I hope that is not cutting it close, lol.  We are docking in Miami and have a 3:45 flight out of....Orlando.  Taking the 9:50 Brightline which will have us at MCO at 1:15.  It actually gets us home sooner than most of the flights from MIA or FLL.  

Good luck. I wouldn’t do that. You are assuming everything is on time, both the ship and the train. 

[cruise_co]

26 minutes ago, zqvol said:

Good luck. I wouldn’t do that. You are assuming everything is on time, both the ship and the train. 

We are good. The train station is extremely close. You only have to be there 5 minutes before the train leaves. I am pretty sure we can make the station by 9:45, even if debarkation is delayed (we have guarantees that we will be one of the first off the ship if we need it.)  And if the ship is late, so be it. We are flying with Southwest on points so I can cancel our flight up to 10 minutes prior to departure with a full refund of points going into my account.  We have Clear and TSA Pre and travel to Orlando quite often as my daughter is a competitive cheerleader. We were just there for Worlds when it was swamped with thousands and thousands of cheerleaders all headed to the airport. It has never taken us more than 20 minutes to get through security, even with MCO's reputation for being awful. As for the train, unless it hits a car, it is pretty reliable within 30 minutes. We can always move to a later train and move our flight to another flight without penalty.  But if everything goes wrong, there are worse things than spending the night in Orlando.