Opinions as to flight time, airline and airport on disembarkation pls

[Luckybee]

We have booked the Constellation for next April 23 out of Ft. Lauderdale. Following the cruise we will be flying to St Thomas for a week. On the day we disembark we have 3 flight options, first out of FLL on Spirit Airlines(I've never flown with this airline but this is apparently a budget carrier and Ive been told that one must get to the FLL airport 2 hours prior to make their flight) at 12:30 pm, out of MIA on AA at 12:00 or 5:30 pm. My original thought was that the 12:30 out of FLL was a no brainer and the obvious choice but having read some threads here about issues on dismbarkation Im wondering if we should book the later flight out of MIA although I must say I hate the idea of having to hang around all day when we could be in STT before we even take off from MIA.

If this helps in the decision we are in the Penthouse Suite so we would get priority dismbarkation(but not carrying off our own luggage since we did that once and it was far too difficult with 2 pieces each :)). Also we are Canadian and I dont know if we have to clear U.S customs and immigration seperately in Ft. L ???

[LOP]

Get later flight is my suggestion...We flew American in 2008 to St. Thomas from MIA and it was on-time although it was a late night arrival.

 

You will have to clear customs in Ft. Laud. upon disembark...

[blubionda]

In Jan 2010, RCCL had us off by 8:30 and at FLL before 9am (despite filling out the form that our flight didn't leave until 1pm our color was called super early for disembarkation).

 

Two weeks ago we came off Celebrity Solstice; again, we put down we had a 1:25p flight in FLL and our disembarkation time was before 9am. After you get your luggage, they have different lines for US Customs and Non-US Customs so I can't speak to how long the Non-US process took. However, we spent significantly more time with customs than we planned due to "same name" issue (we were pulled aside for about 45 minutes) and we still were at the airport by 10am.

 

So, while there are never any guarantees (customs can always hold disembarkation indefinitely, if appropriate), I can't imagine you would have a problem with a 12:30 flight out of FLL, especially if you asked to be one of the early groups off the ship. We always take a cab vs. using ship transportation since the fare to FLL from Port Evergladesis under $20.

 

Also worthy of note (IMHO), FLL (at least at the Delta terminal) can't accommodate a large volume of baggage or people in the terminal that cruise days create. As a result, you can only check in within 2 hours of your flight time. So, for our 1:25pm departure, we were not permitted to check in until after 11am; many folks spend hours sitting on the floor with their luggage until they are within 2 hours of flight time/can check in.

[Luckybee]

Thanks...for the info !