Disembarkation Time At Miami

[bennob66]

Hi. We are looking to arrive in Miami on the 2nd May on the Liberty Of The Seas and the ship docks at 6am. I am wondering how long it would be to disembark and what do people think would be the earliest I should set a flight to return to LAX? I am flying from Fort Lauderdale (Not Miami) and so there would be a transfer time as well. I was thinking maybe 10.30 am?

[andrzej5914]

Hi. We are looking to arrive in Miami on the 2nd May on the Liberty Of The Seas and the ship docks at 6am. I am wondering how long it would be to disembark and what do people think would be the earliest I should set a flight to return to LAX? I am flying from Fort Lauderdale (Not Miami) and so there would be a transfer time as well. I was thinking maybe 10.30 am?

 

When customs and immigration is involved, nobody can give you a real estimate. Anything can happen and sometimes it does. (many years ago, we arrived in San Francisco for a day stay from Canada and I had my friends meet me at the pier. Unfortunately, the custom and immigration computers were down and we could not get off the ship until ~noon, instead of 8 am, so I called my friends, told them to go home and later I used BART train to get to their house)

 

That said, I would give myself at least 4-5 hours in your situation. Just because the ship docks at 6 am it does not mean you will be off the ship at 6:15 am. You should think 7 am at the earliest and probably 8 am as realistic.

[trish1c]

Things can & do go wrong. Customs could get backed up. A taxi broke down in the line yesterday. There was another taxi accident just outside the port causing delays.

I'd say from FLL the earliest I would book would be 1 pm.

Another thing I realized the hard way yesterday on the way to the AP from my 1st cruise in a while that required flying. You put your bags out the night before but you keep your toiletries; mine included more than 3 oz of liquid . . . so once you pick up your bags after disembarking you have to factor in time to repack.