Early Flight

[ritarussell]

I have an opportunity to get a pretty good flight out of FLL on my Navigator of the Seas Cruise. However, the flight leaves at 10:55am. I've never booked a flight earlier than noon. Will I have a problem making my flight if I do the self debarkation and take a taxi to FLL?

[Karson]

cutting it close..........I was told not to book a flight out earlier than 1 PM

[Sue L]

It is only a 10-15 minute ride to the airport. I made a 11:20 out of FLL when we docked in Miami a 45 minute drive. We got off grabbed a taxi and were at FLL by 8:30. You are docking right at Fort Lauderdale so it shouldn't be a problem barring any unforeseen issues.

[FunCruiser56]

Our flight is at 11:20, so I have been reading trip reports and asking the same question as you. If you have self debark or white tags you should be off the ship by 7am and hopefully quickly through immigration/security, so figure 7:30 in a cab. Takes about 45-60 min to drive. You should be at FLL by 8:30 or so, plenty of time for you flight. Now sure this looks good on paper but if the ship gets delayed then you might have a problem, think positive- that's what we will be doing!

I am going to have the flight numbers/times of the flights after ours if we should miss just incase...

 

Bev

[Gonzo70]

I agree, if everything goes smooth, it is no problem. There is obviously less wiggle room in case of the ship arriving late and/or taking longer than typical to get cleared. Most likely you should be OK though and I have twice made it in plenty of time with earlier flights.

[Sue L]

Our flight is at 11:20, so I have been reading trip reports and asking the same question as you. If you have self debark or white tags you should be off the ship by 7am and hopefully quickly through immigration/security, so figure 7:30 in a cab. Takes about 45-60 min to drive. You should be at FLL by 8:30 or so, plenty of time for you flight. Now sure this looks good on paper but if the ship gets delayed then you might have a problem, think positive- that's what we will be doing!

I am going to have the flight numbers/times of the flights after ours if we should miss just incase...

 

Bev

 

 

The OP said they are on the Navigator which goes in and out of FLL and that is only a 10-15 minute ride not an hour, that is from Miami

[ritarussell]

Thanks for the quick replies! I feel much better, especially since we are so close to the airport. The other option would be taking a 4:55pm flight and I would like to avoid that long wait for a flight after the cruise with 3 kids (been there, done that)

[corkpopr]

We have a 10:10 on american when we get back. we took the same flight in may of this yr. and dec. of last year with no problem. by carrying off your own luggage you are one of the first 150 off and it is a 10-12 min. cab ride to the airport. never a problem because you will be thru immigration at the port in five min.

[mm93le]

You will be okay if everything goes smooth. We have friends who missed their 1pm flight due to the bomb scare in Miami two weeks ago. They did not fly out until the next day. Had to pay extra for tickets and hotel.

[Sue L]

You will be okay if everything goes smooth. We have friends who missed their 1pm flight due to the bomb scare in Miami two weeks ago. They did not fly out until the next day. Had to pay extra for tickets and hotel.

 

 

One of the many reasons for travel insurance, this instance would be covered by most policies.

[Apoggi]

As long as there are no delays, you should make it in plenty of times. We've had flights at 11 am from Orlando and Port Caniveral is a longer distance and we make them with time to spare.

 

Good luck.

 

Ann

[Bobster]

Take a jacket or light sweater. That's the coldest terminal I have ever been in.

[royalcruz]

I live in Fort Lauderdale, and can offer the following. The FLL airport is about 2-3 miles from the actual pier. I fly out of the airport about twice a year (Southwest, Delta, Airtran or JetBlue), and have never run into any traffic driving there. The quickest way to check your luggage is the curbside skycap. The longest wait is the line to get through security into the terminal, and unfortunately, this is very unpredictable. Sometimes there is no wait; the longest it ever took me to get through this line was about 30 minutes.

 

I was on the Enchantment last week, and they were about 30 minutes delayed in Disembarkation, so that the first batch of people (lavender) with checked luggage were allowed to leave at 9 AM. So, people who were leaving with their luggage had disembarked before then. From what I have read on the boards, there have been rare delays that start disembarkation 2 hours later than planned. We have cruised out of Fort Lauderdale about 10 times, and live about 25 minutes away from the port, and have always been home by 10:30 at the latest.