Caribbean Princess -- Return Flight Times

[Peggy Sue]

Hi,

 

we will be sailing Caribbean Princess on 12/3 .. our first Princess and mega-ship experience.

 

On past cruises returning to Ft Lauderdale we've departed the ship and arrived at the airport by 9 AM.

 

We have the opportunity to book an 11:30 AM direct return flight to Boston. Will we have any difficulty getting off the ship and making it to the airport by 10 AM?

 

I've read several comments that people haven't departed the ship until well after 10 AM .. however I seem to recall these people were not flying home .. so perhaps they were scheduled for a later departure due to their travel plans.

 

Will our flight times be taken into consideration when arranging for departure time from the ship that morning? Are we safe booking an 11:30 AM departure? Our next direct option is after 3 PM and I'd really like to avoid having to hang around the air port most of the day.

 

Thanks,

Peggy Sue

[LARGIN]

You should have no problem with the 11:30 flight. The airport is around a 10-15 minute drive from the port. Just tell Princess you have an early flight and you will be one of the first off the ship.

[Toto2Kansas]

Just a few weeks ago we had a return flight at 11:20. We were able to get red tags to disembark without problems. We were at the airport and through security over two hours before our flight boarded. NO problems at all. And it was nice to not have to hang around FLL for hours for that return.

 

The ship suggests that anyone with a flight leaving before 11:15 get the early disembarkation tags, but we checked and there was no problem getting them since our flight time was so close to that cut off mark.

 

Just grab a taxi and you will be there in a flash.

[Host Caroline]

We always use self disembark/first off tags and have an 11:10 a.m flight in a couple of weeks BUT there are only two big ships in port that day.. By late October/early Nov. when the ships return from Europe/Alaska/Canada there will be weeks when there are 4-6 at a time and the airport will be much more congested meaning longer lines with security etc.

 

You should be okay but for others booking flights during the "high season" (late Oct-April), take this into account..

 

my DH has a USAir Visa that gets us priority check-in which helps immensely with long lines but the security lines will be much longer than as well.

[OuiOnboard]

...my DH has a USAir Visa that gets us priority check-in which helps immensely with long lines but the security lines will be much longer than as well.

Even tho our Frequent Flyer points are used up faster, we still book Business class to expedite check-in and I pack very light to make security check quicker...can only say that DW is now packing somewhat lighter also. :D

[CruiseAholic]

Have had 11:00 am flights out of Fort Lauderdale before and had no problem getting to them. If I am disembarking around a holiday, I usually book a later flight.

[tory707]

PS...Actually we are on the same cruise as you. We were on the CB two years ago and had the same flight out (11:20) to philly and we were sitting at the AP gate waiting to board 2.5 hrs early. Actuallythis is our 3rd cruise out of FLL and we never had a problem. Hopefully our week is a good one!

[P.A.]

We cruised on Princess in Oct '04 and had an 10:15am flight back from FLL. I think we were the 2nd or 3rd group off the ship and had plenty of time. We had booked the flight on our own, but told Princess about our flight time, and they changed our luggage tag colors so we could depart earlier. It was not a problem at all. We took a taxi from the port to the airport and were there in about 15 mins. The airport was not too crowded.

 

You'll be fine! Enjoy your cruise! :) Mine is less than 5 weeks away! YeePee!