What is the latest time you've gotten off the Legend in Tampa?

[3redheads]

We're looking at flights at 11am out of Tampa. We've never cruised Carnival, but with other cruise lines, we're off the ship by 8am.

 

Wonder if 11 am is feasible?

 

Thanks for you response!

[cruisingtodive]

We had an earlier flight like yours when leaving the Legend. We kept our bags the night before and got off around 8 am. The airport is very close to the pier, so it worked out fine. There was a line to disembark, but you should be fine if you keep your bags with you.

[A&Jfamily]

10:30 and that was with self-assist. It was a nightmare. It was not CCL fault, but rather several selfish passengers who would not answer the pages to deal with Customs.

 

After that nightmare, I have decided that I would rather extend my vacation with a leisurely breakfast in the dining room, and a book on the Lido deck until CCL tells me I have to get off the ship! If that means I get a hotel, enjoy the port and fly home the next day, so be it. That 2.5 hours waiting in line with my handicapped mother and 2 small children was enough stress to almost negate the vacation!

[3redheads]

10:30 and that was with self-assist. It was a nightmare.

 

Oh no! That's just what I'm worried about. Sounds like a nightmare! :eek:

[GottaLuvCruising]

Ours was a piece of cake. We are platinum and used that for priority disembarkation. We were on the road by 9am.

[walkswife]

Had an 11:35 flight out of Tampa in 2006.... last night of the cruise took my documents down to the pursers desk .... they gave us different VIP tags because of early flights..... off the ship and at the airport by 9:30.... we had no customs issues and no delays though.... not sure I'd do it again it was just the only flight we could get without waiting till 6pm with 5 teenagers:eek:

[clearwatergirl]

We're looking at flights at 11am out of Tampa. We've never cruised Carnival, but with other cruise lines, we're off the ship by 8am.

 

Wonder if 11 am is feasible?

 

Thanks for you response!

 

I live in the Tampa bay area and have sailed twice out of Tampa's port. I would suggest you do a self assist off the ship at 8am. Please be advised that you could be detained due to custom issues. You never know. Also, there has been a massive road construction project around the airport for the past 2 years. Traffic could be a problem. It would be my opinion that you build in another 30 minutes just to address traffic. Security is a breeze. Sounds like 11 am flight might be cutting it just a bit too close. Take a later flight, stay on board, enjoy a leisurely breakfast and fly out after lunch. Hope you have a great cruise. :)

[CMM]

Glad you posted this question...

 

 

 

So far the latest has been 10:30 am. Anyone ever gotten off the Legend in Tampa any later?

[3redheads]

Thank you for the responses!

 

I was trying to take advantage of a great rate with Southwestern, but if I miss the 11am flight, there isn't another flight until theNEXT day :eek:

 

Still researching.

[crewsweeper]

In May, we put our luggage out the night before and were off the ship found the luggage, went through customs, called the shuttle back to the hotel where we parked, picked up the car, got gas and back on I-75 before 10 AM. SIL bought a ticket for the shuttle to the airport that morning after we were off the ship and she was through airport security by 10:15. We didn't have any VIP passes, just waited for our number to e called. Sounds like self-assist and get down to the main deck early to be early in line will help you the most. Plenty of taxi's waiting. Just make sure all your docs are in order so you don't delay yourself having to complete them or dig through your luggage to find them.

[3redheads]

Thanks again, all. Still looking at my options. Trying to save money, not spend too much time in the airport...and NOT MISS MY PLANE:eek:

[3redheads]

Found a great rate going down, but cannot find anything coming back.

 

The flights are either early morning or at night. I waited in an airport for a flight after our cruise last year for 6 hours.

 

I don't have much time left to figure this out. Any more suggestions?

[vacruizer]

Found a great rate going down, but cannot find anything coming back.

 

The flights are either early morning or at night. I waited in an airport for a flight after our cruise last year for 6 hours.

 

I don't have much time left to figure this out. Any more suggestions?

 

I have been pricing flights from Tampa next January and am running into the same thing. Going down is not too bad but any flights between noon and 5pm out are crazy expensive - probably because they know that's the time that's most popular on days a ship is in port. :(

 

I hate the stress of thinking I might miss a flight so looking at possibly staying over another night (which would cost about the same but be less stress) or just doing some sightseeing during the day and taking an evening flight back.

[BrendaB1]

DEaling with the same issue here with an already booked flight. They changed 11:30 flight to 10:35. We ent aheda & booked it now they have changed it to 10:15AM. :eek:

 

I did Inspiration out of Tamps in Jan. Used Platinum self assid. Off the ship at 7:59 & at the airport at 8:16. Hoping it will go this smooth again if I can't get AA to change my flight.

[3redheads]

I have been pricing flights from Tampa next January and am running into the same thing. Going down is not too bad but any flights between noon and 5pm out are crazy expensive - probably because they know that's the time that's most popular on days a ship is in port. :(

 

I hate the stress of thinking I might miss a flight so looking at possibly staying over another night (which would cost about the same but be less stress) or just doing some sightseeing during the day and taking an evening flight back.

 

We're both from Virginia! I'm right near Dulles so that's where I'm trying to fly to and from. Southwest has a great rate and it's non-stop. I may have to bite the bullet. Ugh!

 

My mom said the Sarasota airport is about an hour away from Tampa. Might try looking for something there. Have to keep our options open.

[smile44]

I'm from Virginia too and we're going to drive. Probably about 8 hours on the way there, use priceline to stay over cheap somewhere, and then drive the rest of the way the next morning. Or do a sleep and cruise package in Tampa but I dont really want to drive the whole 12 hours in one day. Overall, it's going to be cheaper than 2 plane tickets from Dulles by about $200.

[vacruizer]

We're both from Virginia! I'm right near Dulles so that's where I'm trying to fly to and from. Southwest has a great rate and it's non-stop. I may have to bite the bullet. Ugh!

 

My mom said the Sarasota airport is about an hour away from Tampa. Might try looking for something there. Have to keep our options open.

 

I'm jealous of having southwest - we are in Roanoke so everything is a connection for us in either Charlotte or Atlanta usually. We do have Allegiant air from here but they usually only fly on Mondays and Fridays and I don't want to take the extra vacation time for that -need to just be gone a week.

 

Forgot to add - I have also flown to Sarasota for a wedding - at least from out here it's much cheaper to go into Tampa than Sarasota. Although our airfare is almost never cheap since we are a small regional airport.

 

I'm from Virginia too and we're going to drive. Probably about 8 hours on the way there, use priceline to stay over cheap somewhere, and then drive the rest of the way the next morning. Or do a sleep and cruise package in Tampa but I dont really want to drive the whole 12 hours in one day. Overall, it's going to be cheaper than 2 plane tickets from Dulles by about $200.

 

We've done the drive to Tampa before when we spent a week at the beach there. We drove down in two days stopping in Savannah on the way down. We did the drive back in one day and it was about 13 hours. I'm not a good road trip person so it was torture to me but if you don't mind a road trip it's not too bad especially if your car gets good mileage. We were able to drive round trip (just over 1500 miles) to Cape Canaveral and back in January on 3 tanks of gas but I have a hybrid.

 

 

Good luck to both of you!

[smile44]

Vacruizer - if you don't mind me asking, is Savannah very far out of the way from Virginia to Tampa? Trying to locate a good stopping point, I'm actually not very familiar with the east coast at all. Haven't lived in Richmond all that long. Are there any other good places to stop along the way? I did a mapquest so I kind of know, but some direction would be helpful. Thanks!

[bobandkelly]

We have sailed out of Tampa on the Legend twice. Both times we were at the airport by 9:30am. Our flight the last time was an 11am flight. I would not hesitate to book that time again.

 

Of course there is always the chance that something could go wrong. But I don't worry to much about that on the way home. Now on the way down, that's another story.

[3redheads]

We have sailed out of Tampa on the Legend twice. Both times we were at the airport by 9:30am. Our flight the last time was an 11am flight. I would not hesitate to book that time again.

 

Of course there is always the chance that something could go wrong. But I don't worry to much about that on the way home. Now on the way down, that's another story.

 

Did you take your own bags off of the ship?

How long of a trip is it to the airport?

 

Thanks so much!

[jessemon]

Just to let you know since lving in Tapma have cruised out of here often.

Have been delayed getting into port due to weather (fog) conditions. Also as others have said there can be customs issues and other things happen to. Like the knothead standing on a rail of the ship coming in a few weeks ago to take a pic of the pilot boat. Guess what....he fell off the ship.....

I never when flying like to cut it close......

Why end your vacation in a big rush.....

[3redheads]

He fell off of the ship? What a doofus!

 

Still looking. Unfortunately, the airfare went up last night. Wonder what will happen in the next 8 weeks. I hate to wait.

 

Thanks!

[camperhawk]

He fell off of the ship? What a doofus!

 

Still looking. Unfortunately, the airfare went up last night. Wonder what will happen in the next 8 weeks. I hate to wait.

 

Thanks!

 

Have you looked at Jet blue flights? I believe they have flights from Tampa to Dulles and are usually quite reasonable in pricing? Just a thought!

[surmy555]

When looking at alternative airports I check out Orlando. Lots of flight options, I think about an hour and a half drive. Thats usually my back up if i can't find something that works to/from Tampa

[Sophiesmom2]

We're looking at flights at 11am out of Tampa. We've never cruised Carnival, but with other cruise lines, we're off the ship by 8am.

 

Wonder if 11 am is feasible?

 

Thanks for you response!

 

When are you crusing? Traffic differs in the Tampa Bay Area according to the time of the year. And if you're cruising during Hurricane season there could be a delay in the ship arriving back in the port and clearing customs. (That happened to us 1x in FLL) However, normally, since you'll be leaving on a Sunday it probably won't be much of a problem. I've flown out of Ft Lauderdale and Puerto Rico on 11AM flights because that was the best $$$. I simply advised the Pursor's desk of the early flight, was given "O1" luggage tags and disembarked after the priority members, which was about 8:00AM. Our bags were checked the night before but were available as soon as we got off the ship. We simply grabbed a porter, found our bags, cleared customs and were in the taxi within 30 minutes (really!) . Since the Tampa airport is located very close to the pier the taxi can get you there within 20 minutes, easily. I would book the 11AM flight...and don't stress!!!