11:15a.m. Flight Out of Fort Lauderdale

[Bowie MeMe]

OP said that it seems to take more time for customs/immigration on a TA. How about a Panama Canal cruise that includes Columbia and Mexico Costa Rica, Aruba and Panama? We leave La and arrive PE.

 

As Pam says s*** happens. We were on a TA ending in NJ when Bush, Pallin, McCain and others spoke at the UN. Total chaos as the port was closed, the taxis were all in NY traffic jam and we were making lazy circles around the statue of liberty on a beautiful day. We missed our one o'clock train which was less than 1 mile away. Oh well a good story of how to get an up close view of the lady of liberty.

[Stevesan]

I like a challenge, and these things don't stress me out. I went into the flight booking knowing it could go either one of 2 ways... "miraculous success" or "spectacular failure". If I end up having to buy a full fare tickets so be it, although I believe that with my DL status I'll get on at some point.

 

Enjoy your day at the Fort Lauderdale airport terminal.

 

http://movies.about.com/od/theterminal/a/terminal061704.htm

[coops]

Thanks to every one for all your input. We decided to book the 11:15 since it is after Easter and spring break and it is on a Sunday with no Oasis at the port.

Happy cruising ,

Dawn

[kymbakitty]

Can you imagine what spending Saturday at FLL will be like? :eek:

Relieve your stress: rebook the same flight for Sunday morning.

A hotel will cost a lot less than the later time fares.

 

 

Everyone has their own comfort zones for various functions. Some people have no problems arriving at the airport with 10 minutes to spare while others are the type that they'd rather be 2 hours early than 10 minutes late.

 

But just the pure craziness of the hussle and bussle to get off the ship in the a.m., I have to agree with Stevesan.

 

As a rule, we now just plan on staying the night and flying out early the next a.m. That way, we get to have a very relaxing morning out on the balcony--let the fella or gal come in and clean the room (usually they don't even bother...they are busy with other rooms)...and we are virtually one the last couples to get off the ship. We take the hotel shuttle and then find a really nice restaurant to try later on the evening.

 

It's also nice to take a real early flight home since we live in California...so we don't get home around 10:00 p.m. or so and inconvenience one of our friends to have to drive to the airport that late....or later.

 

I say, life is too short to book your flight home that morning--not the other way around.

 

To each his own....there is enough room for all of us.

 

Dawn

[hazels]

I was in the same dilemma and didnt know whether to take the early flight or later one. I actually called Princess and they have a check list for ships coming into port and recommend not to take flights before a certain time. In my case, I am on emerald arriving back Feb 7th and was told not to book a flight anytime before 10:30. I then booked a flight leaving at 12:10 and it was actually very close to the same price.

[DeepWaterMariner]

OP said that it seems to take more time for customs/immigration on a TA. How about a Panama Canal cruise that includes Columbia and Mexico Costa Rica, Aruba and Panama? We leave La and arrive PE.

 

Shouldn't be any worse than round trip from PE. I think the key is that you leave and return to US ports, no matter what port calls you have in between unless you take on a lot of passengers in those non-US ports.

[tothemall&beyond]

The airport and port are literally next to one another, and it takes less only about 10 minutes to get from one to the other.

But if you're really nervous about it and are physically able, you could do a walk-off debarkation and you'll be off the ship first and almost certainly before 9am.