How Early Can You Leave The Ship?

[jabraun]

We will be on the March 25th Freedom Sailing. When arriving in Miami, does anyone know if it is possible to make a 7:15am departure?

What time does the ship let passengers off?

We fly standby (airline employee) and the only flight that looks open is a 7:15am departure on April 1st. We are planning on having 1 suitcase per person to make things easier. Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks

[wrp96]

There is absolutely NO WAY that you could make a 7:15 am flight. You'd be pushing it to make even a 10 flight.

[Sue L]

I really hope you are kidding ! The ship probably won't be cleared until 7:30 or 8. if everything goes smoothly.

 

They reccommend no flights before NOON, though you could possibly make a 11. I used to work for an airline and remember standby flying. This is one time you might want to put out the $ if you have to be at work the next day.

[Tibear]

If you are a really, really strong swimmer, and can do about 30 knots, and if you jump off the ship around 2 am you may have a chance of making your flight, other than that. SOL. Oh ya, I forgot about customs...sorry can't be done!

 

Tibear

[PhoenixCruiser]

There is absolutely NO WAY that you could make a 7:15 am flight. You'd be pushing it to make even a 10 flight.

 

Since they leave the ship on 4/1, it just *might* be an early April Fools Joke :rolleyes: ;) :D

 

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[TxKroozer]

Here is something realistic to go by. We were on the Freedon on the 1/7/07 sailing. We opted for early departure carrying off our luggage. We were able to walk off the ship at between 6:15 am to 6:30 am. A minor wait at customs for about 10 other groups, a quick walk to a taxi and by 7:00 to 7:30 am. We checked in and opted to stand by for an 8:30 am departure and were lucky and got seats. So thinking you can make a 7:15 am flight sounds ludicrous by some, it is not unthinkable, but if you ask me based upon our recent experience, I wouldn't bank on making it.

 

You could get hung up in customs or the airport TSA may be backed up so you can try, but don't plan on making it.

 

The Freedom already makes plans to be back in Miami to allow the ship to clear extremely early to allow the passengers to get off fast to allow the next goup to borad. One attempt to deal with the mass amount of passengers.

[benandelena]

I had to read the tag of this thread several times. Why the heck would anyone want to leave the ship early? Does he mean board early?? Then I read it. Sucks for you, I want to be the last one to get off the ship!!

[Happy ks]

You could make the flight at 7:15 on April 2nd!

[csk]

We were on the Freedom a few weeks ago, we take our own luggage off, we were off the ship in the car, and on 1-95 by 6:30 am, I know this is not the norm, but it did happen, could not believe it myself, they called us at 6:15 and walked right off, my question would be, are there cabs that early?

[cruiseaholics]

The Freedom already makes plans to be back in Miami to allow the ship to clear extremely early to allow the passengers to get off fast to allow the next goup to borad. One attempt to deal with the mass amount of passengers.

The Office of Homeland Security dictates how quickly passengers get through disembarkation for Freedom and every other ship. It all depends upon how many immigration and customs officers are assigned on a given day. RCI has no control over this.

 

My experience has been that RCI ships returning to the port of Miami (and other ports) have always done so "extremely early", i.e. around 5 or 6am. However, that doesn't mean that you'll be able to disembark if there is no one to process you at the pier.