11:20 a.m. FLL flight home

[sunluva7]

I know this question has appeared a billion times, but for the Caribbean Princess disembarking in FLL on 8/13/05, is 11:20 a.m. too early to book a flight home? The only other choice for Spirit airlines to my home city is 7:30 p.m. Thanks.

[psupa]

We always book between 11:20 and 11:40 am and haven't had a problem. Actually we did the CP in September and were walking off the ship at 8:30 am and were at the airport around 9:00 or 9:15 with plenty of time before the flight. Instead of taking the Princess transfers we take a cab to and from the airport. I wouldn't book anything earlier than this.

[ahracer]

You should be fine as long as the is no delays in debarkation.

 

Scott

[Coral]

Our flights out of FLL are always around 11:30 and we have never had a problem.

[CruiseFever]

You should be fine as long as the is no delays in debarkation.

 

Scott

Agreed.

 

And the only reason I chime in on this one is because on our last cruise, on the Star Princess, a full inspection of the ship was called and there were a number of passengers who might not have made that IF they had not taken the steps they should have to be sure they got off the ship in one of the earliest groups.

 

If they had requested early-off tags and done some of the other things they can to insure getting to the airport (ten minutes away) on time they still should have had no problem even with the whole disembarkation process starting a good hour later than normal.

 

But we've sailed out of Port Everglades many times, on Princesss and other lines, and have never seen that before...might never agan.

 

Just a word of caution

[iluvcruzin]

As long as there isn't much of a penalty for missing and rescheduling the flight.. go for it. There are odds that something could happen, but it's small. My last sailing was 4 hours late getting in due to one of the desiel engines going out. Those booking the traditional 1 pm or late flights had no problem. Those earlier either missed their flights or were getting there by the seat of their pants. This of course was a rare occurance. If you have a American Express card, you can charge your airline ticket on it and pay an additional $9.00 for travel delay insurance which would cover the extra fees if you miss your flight.

[pxgrant]

Hi - we just got back on Saturday on the Caribbean Princess and had an 11:15 A.M. flight to Boston. We were at the Airport having a Bloody Mary at 9:45 so just make sure that you go to Passenger Services and alert them that you have to be one of the first colors off the ship and they will take care of you.

[Pam in CA]

You shouldn't have any problem making the 11:20AM flight. There is the possibility of something unusual occuring but there's no way to anticipate that. Make sure you get the Red early-disembarkation tags and that you clearly mark your luggage so you can spot it quickly from a distance.

[crsshiplover]

but, it was because people were not reporting for customs and taxi's were very hard to come by. I never would have thought...this was a rare experience for me. But I learned a lesson. There were also 6 of us, 2 may have been easier to get places. They gave us Aqua 3 which was the second or third set off the ship. I would tell the purser's desk your flight is earlier than what it is, to get to be first off the ship. Hate to tell you to lie, maybe just tell them you need to be there extra early, etc.

[sunluva7]

Thanks for your help. I think for our peace of mind, we're going to book the later flight and perhaps rent a car for the day. Has anyone done this?

[jerseygirl3]

I think you're making the right decision booking the later flight. We always fly Spirit, and our choices are 11 a.m. or 7:50 p.m. I hate having to wait around all day for that later flight, but I figure the last thing I want to do after a relaxing vacation is worry whether or not we'll make our flight. Chances are we would, but statistics means nothing if you're the one in a million whose ship is delayed or debarkation is held up. We solved the problem this year by using our Marriott Reward points and getting a free hotel room after we get off the ship. We'll have an extra day of vacation and take the morning flight the next a.m.

[mbw1024]

I made the 11am Spirit flight to AC with no problem and time to spare. That was 10/31. I wasn't really stressed about it.. if I missed I missed it. But really there was no worry.

Oh as a pre caution, my BF insisted we get a car service to the airport. We got right off and he was waiting for us.

[delgado]

We just returned from the Star Princess on Nov. 28th with a 9:30 a.m. flight out of Fort Lauderdale and we made it. Got early disembarkation luggage tags,(they were red), got off ship around 8:20 a.m., grabbed a porter to grab our luggage, had him grab us a cab, got to curbside check-in (there were no people in line this early), and had boarding passes in hand by 8:50 a.m. Now, I don't recommend this on a normal basis, but we had no choice on the flight back to Ohio with Delta (we booked our own flights) due to heavy post Thanksgiving travel, we gambled and we made it. We avoided the heavy crowds later in the morning and the long wait at the airport with flight delays everywhere, etc. After this experience, I would say there would be no problem with a flight around 11:00 a.m. out of FLL, although you would run into the disembarking crowds from all the ships returning...that could slow you down a lot.

[jerseygirl3]

MBW, I wish I could take your attitude "if I miss it, I miss it." When I called Spirit to inquire what would happen if we missed an 11 a.m. flight out of FLL, they told me there was no guarantee that there'd even be seats open on the 7:50 pm flight, as that flight is notoriously overbooked and people get bumped on that flight all the time. In addition, she told me that if there were seats open, we'd have to pay the prevailing rate, which was outrageously expensive since we'd be purchasing new tickets with less than 24 hours to spare. Spirit does not work the same as other airlines in that you just pay a change fee of $100 per ticket, or go standby for free for a later flight. When I heard that, and realized if we couldn't get out that night we'd be scrambling for a last minute hotel room PLUS be paying the difference in the cost of the ticket to get a later flight, I decided it just wasn't worth the worry. I agree that most times you'll make that 11 a.m. flight with no problem, but my luck I'd be the one whose ship was delayed. I've been on ships that didn't even clear customs til after 10 a.m., so for us it wasn't worth the chance.