Is this an early flight???

[Sea and Me]

I may have seen this question posted before but I do not consider a 12:05 an early flight. We have booked Alaska out of San Francisco 5/31/07 and our returning flight home is at 12:05. Princess reservationist would not grant us transfers unless we had a flight out at 1:15 or later. SOOO we have to approach the Purser at the beginning of the cruise and ask if we can be first off the ship and for a transfer. We have done 12:20 flights out of Ft.Lauderdale with no problem. So is this considered an early flight??:confused:

[Cruise38]

That time is fine for Ft. Lauderdale as it is only about 10 minutes to the airport. It can be 45 minutes to 1 hour(depending on traffic) from the pier to the airport in San Francisco so 12:05PM is really pushing it.

 

Barbara

[Toto2Kansas]

This is a totally different port from Fort Lauderdale. You will be lucky to make it. I would look into a later flight than this.

[GloriaF]

What about 10:55 am in FLL??

 

I normally would say this is too early, but have cruised out of FLL many times and we are always off the ship by 9:30. It is either this early flight, or one at 5:45 pm and that really hurts. All thoughts on if I should I book this 10:55 am will be appreciated.

[Toto2Kansas]

Gloria, if you are one of the first off the ship, 10:55 works great. We are normally not first off but we still get to the airport by 9:30 AM. I try to make our flights as close to 11:00 as I can so we can get home at a decent hour. Never had a problem.

[TJM001]

I'm not as experienced with the Fort Lauderdale airport as some others who have responded to this post. I would say however, that the last time we went through that airport in 2005, it was an absolute zoo with long lines to get to the ticket counters and even longer lines to get through security. I would be worried about about making a 10:55 departure on the day we arrived back in port.

Maybe I just worry too much (my spouse says I do) but it would bother me the entire cruise.

[seamama1]

I may have seen this question posted before but I do not consider a 12:05 an early flight. We have booked Alaska out of San Francisco 5/31/07 and our returning flight home is at 12:05. Princess reservationist would not grant us transfers unless we had a flight out at 1:15 or later. SOOO we have to approach the Purser at the beginning of the cruise and ask if we can be first off the ship and for a transfer. We have done 12:20 flights out of Ft.Lauderdale with no problem. So is this considered an early flight??:confused:

 

Apparently it is!:confused:

[GloriaF]

Thanks, Toto. It seems to be moot point because when I checked the cheap flights I was looking at are now unavailable. But it's good to know that you aim at 11 am in FLL. I felt sure I could make it, but needed some encouragement:)

 

I'll keep checking all the airlines and see what opens up - we don't need it til 11/29/06 to and 12/10/06 back.

[bluefintuna]

Ft. Lauderdale airport is a zoo, mainly because of so many ships disembarking. We will try for a 11:20 in Jan. We did notice last Dec. that they were pulling people out of line to get thru security and make their flights. It was a mess, but it worked. Just go to the pursers desk and ask for first off or carry your own bags and get off first.

[cruzinchris]

DH and I are sailing on the Dawn out of San Francisco in January, 2007. We will arrive from Detroit the day prior to sailing. Our return flight is at 12:45 on the day of disembarkation, and we have already booked Princess transfers from the ship. The next available non-stop to Detroit is the "red-eye" with departure from SFO at 10:00PM. We will request priority disembarkation, and the Princess shuttle should whisk us away to the airport shortly after we're off the ship.

 

Bon Voyage!

Chris

[cruisingpeople]

Carol....I can't see why Princess says that 12:05 P.M. is too early. According to the itinerary, the ship is supposed to dock at 7:00 A.M. and that should be more than enough time to disembark and travel to the airport.

 

Bluefin......We have done numerous departures from FLL and all our flights have always been between 10:50 & 11:25 and we have never had a problem. Even when the ship gave us later disembarkation tags, we had no trouble with the Purser's deck exchanging them for earlier tags.

 

Joe

[Toto2Kansas]

Thanks, Toto. It seems to be moot point because when I checked the cheap flights I was looking at are now unavailable. But it's good to know that you aim at 11 am in FLL. I felt sure I could make it, but needed some encouragement:)

 

I'll keep checking all the airlines and see what opens up - we don't need it til 11/29/06 to and 12/10/06 back.

 

Just a bit more reassurance Gloria. We sail out of Port Everglades on the 19th of this month. On the 26th, I booked a flight home for 11:20. I hate waiting around the airport for 3 or 4 hours with nothing to do. No doubt in my mind that we will make the flight.

[negc]

Carol....I can't see why Princess says that 12:05 P.M. is too early. According to the itinerary, the ship is supposed to dock at 7:00 A.M. and that should be more than enough time to disembark and travel to the airport.

 

Bluefin......We have done numerous departures from FLL and all our flights have always been between 10:50 & 11:25 and we have never had a problem. Even when the ship gave us later disembarkation tags, we had no trouble with the Purser's deck exchanging them for earlier tags.

 

Joe

 

Well the fact that the ship is scheduled to dock at 7am doesn't necessarily mean that the customs and immigration personnel will begin processing passengers that early, so while Princess is probably being overly conservative, any number of things could delay your debarkation. I'd just make sure that I was aware of my other flight options should events conspire to make you late for your flight.

As far as FLL is concerned, a lot may depend on how many ships are docking the day you arrive. Someone on another post noted that there would be eight cruise ships in port on the day his cruise ends. My cruise arrives in FLL the next day and there are only three other ships scheduled to be in port on that day. I feel more comfortable dealing with passengers from four ships rather than twice that many.:)

[LonghornKJK]

We have a 1:30 p.m. flight out of Seattle and I would like to book the Princess Seattle tour excursion with transfers to the airport. In fact, I have booked it. However, the website says it is for passengers who have flights later than 2 p.m. (or are staying in Seattle.) Since the tour leaves at 9:30 a.m. and lasts for two hours, we should get to the airport at 11:30 a.m.

 

Is there something wrong with my thinking? Thanks!

[Lighting Guy]

We have a flight out of FLL at 12:20pm same day disembarkation... We also have the Princess transfer from port to the airport. Should this automatically get us an early disembarkation tag since we sent in the paperwork with our flight info and have princess transfer?

[Sea and Me]

We have a flight out of FLL at 12:20pm same day disembarkation... We also have the Princess transfer from port to the airport. Should this automatically get us an early disembarkation tag since we sent in the paperwork with our flight info and have princess transfer?

 

This was the time of our flight in March. I printed up my boarding passes the day before on the ship (of course:D ) and was glad I did. FLL is a zoo, we whized passed all the people in the check in lines, did curbside, and had no problem! We had Princess transfers too. You'll make it, we were off the ship at 9:30. Happy cruising:)

[Sea and Me]

Carol....I can't see why Princess says that 12:05 P.M. is too early. According to the itinerary, the ship is supposed to dock at 7:00 A.M. and that should be more than enough time to disembark and travel to the airport.

 

Bluefin......We have done numerous departures from FLL and all our flights have always been between 10:50 & 11:25 and we have never had a problem. Even when the ship gave us later disembarkation tags, we had no trouble with the Purser's deck exchanging them for earlier tags.

 

Joe

 

Joe: My thoughts exactly!! I'm calling my TA today and seeing if there is any other flights home. I looked at some schedules and they are either early or those red eye flights. I feel the the Pursers will help us out here. Holy cow 10 months away and I'm starting to get stressed. :( My TA wanted us to get a "good price" that is why she did what she did. However, I'm anxious to hear what she says today.