Late departure - Oasis/Eastern Med

I've searched around but not found much on this.

My DW and I have a 1:30pm flight out of Ft. Lauderdale the day our August cruise ends. We're in a suite and so I think that means we could get off the ship quickly if we wanted.

However I have no real desire to disembark at 7-8am, go to the airport, and hang out for several hours (the United Club there isn't that great, either). I've read RCI occasionally offers "late departure" - how late is late? How long will they normally let us stay on the ship given that they probably start boarding it again around 11am?

And if we do stay until the last possible minute are the customs lines pretty bad at that port? Ideally we'd take it easy, sleep in, disembark around 9:30-10 after a quick last bite to eat but I'd hate to then go stand in line for an hour then rush to the airport.

Any experiences to share? We'll have luggage of course so bumming around Ft. L in a cab doesn't sound appealing either.

Haha, our flight was not until 4:30, so your plan was our plan. ;)

See attached for the Departure schedule. When we disembarked on June 7th, at the beginning they were 15 minutes behind, but by shortly after 10 they were on schedule.

We asked for the latest bag numbers our stateroom attendant could get us and ended up with 58. At 10am we were asked (not by our attendant) to leave our room so they could work on getting our hall and room cleaned.

Getting off was a breeze much better than in Galveston where we stood in line on the ship for an hour, but we did wait about 30 minutes to get through Customs - although the line was moving so it wasn't horrible - and some crew members said they were down 1 or 2 agents. So not too bad.

I agree the FLL airport is a little less than ideal to kill time in. Pretty boring. Check in there was SLOW at American Airlines. Good luck!

Oasis Departure Info 6.2014.PDF

Not meaning to sound rude but do you mean Eastern Caribbean:confused: the med part in the title confused me.

If you want to check on departure times just email the concierge on board. There is a thread that is easy to find on how to email concierges on each ship. Even on internal flights you would want to be a good hour before hand at the airport for security. Cruise days are always more manic than normal.

Even though you are in a suite, whilst that pretty much guarantees getting off at whatever time you want, it doesn't get you through immigration or luggage collection any quicker either, so that needs to be considered as well.

Personally for a 1:30 flight I would go for a 9:30 disembark. I'd rather have time to spare at the airport than cut it fine due to long lines!!!!!!!!

I've searched around but not found much on this.

 

My DW and I have a 1:30pm flight out of Ft. Lauderdale the day our August cruise ends. We're in a suite and so I think that means we could get off the ship quickly if we wanted.

 

However I have no real desire to disembark at 7-8am, go to the airport, and hang out for several hours (the United Club there isn't that great, either). I've read RCI occasionally offers "late departure" - how late is late? How long will they normally let us stay on the ship given that they probably start boarding it again around 11am?

 

And if we do stay until the last possible minute are the customs lines pretty bad at that port? Ideally we'd take it easy, sleep in, disembark around 9:30-10 after a quick last bite to eat but I'd hate to then go stand in line for an hour then rush to the airport.

 

Any experiences to share? We'll have luggage of course so bumming around Ft. L in a cab doesn't sound appealing either.

Your plan to disembark around 9:30 is an excellent one.

At least you have access to an airport club. Most of us don't. ;)

Some itineraries offer the late check out you've mentioned; Oasis on a Caribbean run is not one of them, I'm afraid. Honestly, they want everyone off as soon as possible and aim for a 9:30 am zero-count (that is their goal, anyway). They need the time to turn the ship around, as you know. It's a huge task.

I would also depart as late as possible and head to the airport. Personally, I would rather be safely inside the airport, checked-in and through security than wondering how to kill time elsewhere. Remember that 5000 of your newest, bestest buds are also disembarking and many of them are also going to the same airport as you.

As stated, at least you have lounge access and there is free WiFi there. It's something. :)

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Some itineraries offer the late check out you've mentioned; Oasis on a Caribbean run is not one of them, I'm afraid. Honestly, they want everyone off as soon as possible and aim for a 9:30 am zero-count (that is their goal, anyway). They need the time to turn the ship around, as you know. It's a huge task.

 

I would also depart as late as possible and head to the airport. Personally, I would rather be safely inside the airport, checked-in and through security than wondering how to kill time elsewhere. Remember that 5000 of your newest, bestest buds are also disembarking and many of them are also going to the same airport as you.

 

As stated, at least you have lounge access and there is free WiFi there. It's something. :)

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FIVE thousand? HA! There will be Princess ships and Carnival ships and who knows what other ships dumping their passengers at the Fort Lauderdale airport that morning!

Karen, you are SO right about just having the peace of mind of being checked-in and situated, rather than worrying about making a flight.

:)

FIVE thousand? HA!

Yes, I was thinking from Oasis, alone. You're right there are more total pax than that.

Ugh. Just thinking about it makes me cringe. :D