Getting off the ship

[kam2718]

I am in the process of booking my return flight after our cruise and I was wondering how long does it take to get off the ship. I have sailed carnival before and I remember being placed in a zone and having to wait until that zone was called. Is that still how its done? If so is there a way to let carnival know of an early flight?

 

We will be on the Liberty for the Halloween cruise and flying out of Ft. Lauderdale. The 2 flights I am looking into are at 2:35PM or 5:10PM. I want to get on the 2:35 flight because its a direct flight. Do you think we will have enough time from the cruise terminal to Miami Airport?

 

Thanks.

[okgirl]

I am in the process of booking my return flight after our cruise and I was wondering how long does it take to get off the ship. I have sailed carnival before and I remember being placed in a zone and having to wait until that zone was called. Is that still how its done? If so is there a way to let carnival know of an early flight?

 

We will be on the Liberty for the Halloween cruise and flying out of Ft. Lauderdale. The 2 flights I am looking into are at 2:35PM or 5:10PM. I want to get on the 2:35 flight because its a direct flight. Do you think we will have enough time from the cruise terminal to Miami Airport?

 

Thanks.

 

There is more than enough time to make either flight. If you want to get to the airport early then use the self debark option. But frankly the FLL airport isn't much to brag about. I would do regular zone debark then take an SAS shuttle from the pier to the airport. The ride is about 35min.

 

The Liberty also offers Express Luggage from FLL, that's where you get your airline boarding pass and luggage stickers the last night of the cruise and when you put your luggage out you don't see it until you arrive at baggage claim in your home airport. The service is well worth the cost and makes check in at the airport so easy. You go directly through the security line and to your gate, you don't even have to check in at the gate.

[stargate fan]

I am in the process of booking my return flight after our cruise and I was wondering how long does it take to get off the ship. I have sailed carnival before and I remember being placed in a zone and having to wait until that zone was called. Is that still how its done? If so is there a way to let carnival know of an early flight?

 

We will be on the Liberty for the Halloween cruise and flying out of Ft. Lauderdale. The 2 flights I am looking into are at 2:35PM or 5:10PM. I want to get on the 2:35 flight because its a direct flight. Do you think we will have enough time from the cruise terminal to Miami Airport?

 

Thanks.

 

You will have plenty of time. Too much, in fact. The latest people can stay on the ship is around 10:00. FLL is only 15 minutes away from the port. Airlines do not allow check-in more than five hours pre-flight. I can tell you from experience that hanging around FLL with our luggage for five hours is horrible, terrible, painful, boring, (insert additional negative adjectives here.).

 

On the bright side, see if you can book an Everglades tour through Carnival. You will and your luggage will load a bus. After the tour, you and your luggage will be brought to the airport in plenty of time. A couple from our cruise did that and loved it. While we waited five hours, they enjoyed themselves and did NOT have a horrible, terrible, painful, boring wait. (We ran into them at the gate.)

[kam2718]

There is more than enough time to make either flight. If you want to get to the airport early then use the self debark option. But frankly the FLL airport isn't much to brag about. I would do regular zone debark then take an SAS shuttle from the pier to the airport. The ride is about 35min.

 

The Liberty also offers Express Luggage from FLL, that's where you get your airline boarding pass and luggage stickers the last night of the cruise and when you put your luggage out you don't see it until you arrive at baggage claim in your home airport. The service is well worth the cost and makes check in at the airport so easy. You go directly through the security line and to your gate, you don't even have to check in at the gate.

 

Thank you for the response. A few questions:

With Self Debark where you specify you want to take that approach?

If I want to do the express luggage is that something I can setup before the cruise or do you take care of that once on board? More than likely we are flying AirTran and I saw in a previous post that support the express luggage.

[Froufie]

For self assist debarkation you just 'do' it - don't put your luggage out the night before and simply get off the ship once this option is announced. But really I can't imagine why you would want to do that with a 2:30 flight - unless you are renting a car and doing some sightseeing or something? (It's only around 45 from fll port to MIA and everyone is off the ship by around 10 am so even with that you should be at the airport around 11-11:30 am).

 

For the Luggage express option the required 'paperwork' will be dropped off in your cabin a couple of nights before the end of the cruise - only good for 'participating airlines'.

[okgirl]

For self assist debarkation you just 'do' it - don't put your luggage out the night before and simply get off the ship once this option is announced. But really I can't imagine why you would want to do that with a 2:30 flight - unless you are renting a car and doing some sightseeing or something? (It's only around 45 from fll port to MIA and everyone is off the ship by around 10 am so even with that you should be at the airport around 11-11:30 am).

 

For the Luggage express option the required 'paperwork' will be dropped off in your cabin a couple of nights before the end of the cruise - only good for 'participating airlines'.

 

I love luggage express and do it in every port that it is available. What I found odd on the Glory this past February was that I originally had a debarkation tour of South Beach booked since my flight from FLL wasn't until after 5pm. There were actually 4 of us doing the tour.

 

Well, as soon as I found out that they were offerring EL we went and signed up for that, but they made me cancel my excursion!!!!!! They wouldn't give me any explanation only that if you participate in Express Luggage you cannot go on any post cruise excursions.

 

Sister and I cancelled the excursion and went with EL, but our other two friends went ahead with the SB excursion and airport transfer, then we met up with them for a drink before our respective flights left.

 

I wonder if it's a Homeland Security thing or what?

 

Like I said though FLL isn't the greatest airport to just hangout in. There are only 2 sit down restaurants and you can't sit there if you aren't eating and they rush you out pretty fast.

[nin7474]

I'm also on the same cruise as you. Now you got me thinking too lol.

I got a 3pm flight from MIA Int.;)

[kam2718]

I'm also on the same cruise as you. Now you got me thinking too lol.

I got a 3pm flight from MIA Int.;)

 

Ahh I notice that now in your signature.

 

Have you been on a halloween cruise before? I have heard many good things about this cruise.

[semichigan]

Hi! I am on the same Liberty cruise over Halloween! I see some of the posters have listed different travel times between the cruise port and the airport - so for clarification, can anyone tell me the times between:

 

Port of Miami and Miami Int'l Airport

Port of Miami and Ft Lauderdale Airport

 

Thanks!!

[LBumb]

you could be the last person off the ship and still make 235 flight

[yogimax]

SAS Shuttle is the way to go at an economic price. No problem!

[okgirl]

Hi! I am on the same Liberty cruise over Halloween! I see some of the posters have listed different travel times between the cruise port and the airport - so for clarification, can anyone tell me the times between:

 

Port of Miami and Miami Int'l Airport

Port of Miami and Ft Lauderdale Airport

 

Thanks!!

 

POM to MIA is approximately 20 minutes and the flat cab rate is $24 I think.

 

POM to FLL is approximately 35ish minutes and I don't know what the cab fare is. 4 of us took an SAS shuttle to the hotel in MIA pre-cruise we had booked online pre-cruise and it was $14 per person. The Carnival transfer back to FLL was around $8 to $10 per person I think.