Is a 10:10am FLL Flight too scarey?

[uphotdog]

We are coiming in on the Alure of the Seas with Disembarkation of 7:00am with a 10:10am Flight out of FLL? Am I crazy or will be be in too much trouble trying to make it?:confused:

[jeffbrig]

In theory, 3 hours is plenty of time. Heck, I've left my house less than 2 hours before a scheduled flight from FLL. But there are a lot of IFs when you're talking about getting off a cruise ship. If the ship docks on time. If the ship clears customs on time. If you can self-disembark and hand carry all of your luggage. If you are able to leave the ship promptly at 7am (the Allure is a BIG ship, you may not be first). If the customs line is fully staffed and running efficiently. If there's a cab available when you hit the curb. Etc.

 

If all of those things go smoothly, you can hop into a cab and be at the airport 10 minutes later. Assuming you arrive at the airport by 8:45, check your bags with a skycap, you'll clear security and probably make your gate by the time boarding starts.

 

Notice that there are about 10 things that could go wrong to throw you off this schedule. And if something goes wrong, the delay is magnified because there could be 10k (or more) cruise passengers disembarking multiple ships, and most are rushing to the same airports to catch noon flights. I've been on some ships that disembarked promptly. I've been on others that were an hour or two late before the first passengers disembarked.

 

If you're a relaxed traveler and you don't mind the risk of missing your flight, go for it. Weight that against the possibility (however small) of spending all day at the airport to get squeezed onto an evening flight. For some people this is unconscionable. Others would take it in stride.

[CruiserBruce]

How do you know you will be able to get off at 7? I wouldn't book this tight. You might make it. But why spend your whole crusie worrying about making your flight home? That isn't a vacation.

[uphotdog]

I really don't know what I was thinking when I booked our flights...it was the most frustrating time I have ever had, I had started shopping before Xmas and the rates were horrible out of our local airport and I kept waiting for them to get better but to make a long story short they kept going up instead of down. I ended up booking out of Milwaukee (300 miles away) at $420 rt on Air Tran. The times leaving FLL were all either real early am or early evening putting us into MKE late? I finally gave in and booked the 10:10am out thinking we have left at 11:30 before with plenty of time to spare.

Yesterday I was doing my online registration and RCCL will not let me continue because my flight is too early? I wasn't nervous before but now my wife will kill me if we miss our flight!!! I looked today and the flights are another $150.00 + $75.00 change fee!!!

I should have just bit the bullet and flown out of here!

I need a cruise!

[BlueHerons]

I'd say your chances are decent of making this flight but as Jeff said, there are a ton of things that can delay you.

 

I'd say about 60/40 in your favor.

[uphotdog]

60/40 chance I could be divorced after almost 35 years too!

[Eng23]

We are coiming in on the Alure of the Seas with Disembarkation of 7:00am with a 10:10am Flight out of FLL? Am I crazy or will be be in too much trouble trying to make it?:confused:

Yup, it's scarry to me. I would never book a flight that early after a cruise. Some people are comfortable with the risk of doing so but I prefer to stay stress free after a stress free cruise.

[c-cruise]

If it makes you feel any better we just cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale a couple weeks ago and we were off the ship, through security and sitting at our gate at FLL by 8:15.

 

We were on HAL and used their Luggage Direct service which put us in the first group to disembark (around 7:30). RCCL has a similar service called Luggage Valet which you should look into if you are on a participating airline. It's $20 a person, but they will pre-print your airline boarding passes/luggage tags so you can skip the check-in at the airport and go straight to security. They also check your baggage on the ship so you don't have to deal with it in the morning and won't see it again until your final destination. Don't know about RCCL, but on HAL using this service puts you in the earliest disembarkation group which would give you the best chance of making your flight.

[pamp0227]

That's early to be flying out but I understand. We were on RCL last yr and leaving out of Oslo,Norway and a couple of wks before our cruise our flight was changed to 1130. As we were flying international we needed to be at the airport 3 hrs before the flight. We ask and were placed in the early departure group so we were processed thru customs first. It helped that there were a large number of people that were also on our flight so the cruise line scheduled a extra early shuttle to the airport.

 

Good Luck!

[jackdiamond]

60/40 chance I could be divorced after almost 35 years too!

That is a possibility.

[metpro]

We were off the Oasis after our first cruise feb 4th and were at FFl at 7:45am,for a 11:00am flight. carrying our own luggage off ship.. It was so easy so early we thought we did something wrong..

 

Metpro

Marthas Vineyard

[danfiveoh]

I think you will be fine. If RCCL has the baggage service available, use it. We used the Princess service with Southwest, had our boarding passes delivered the night before we departed, took our time getting off of the ship, grabbed a cab and we were at our gate by 9am. And, that happened to be a day when there were 7 ships in port everglades, so it was a busy day.

[Langley Cruisers]

It's up to you of course, but I wouldn never book a flight home that early. The stress would worry me too much and undo everything the previous week's vacation had just accomplished. ;)

[JLC@SD]

Keep in mind that when the Allure is in port (Sunday).......5, 6 or 7 other ships will be in port at the same time.....competing for taxis and heading to the airport...;)

[Gathina]

Don't forget "that other port" nearby too..

 

Keep in mind that when the Allure is in port (Sunday).......5, 6 or 7 other ships will be in port at the same time.....competing for taxis and heading to the airport...;)

[c-cruise]

They key is getting into that first disembarkation group (luggage service, carry off your own luggage, etc.). There were 7-8 ships in port when we disembarked a few weeks back and there was no wait for a cab at 7:45 in the morning.

[aarep]

We were off the Solstice at approx 8:00am last November for a 10:40 AA flight. We were checked in and through security and at the gate by 9:30.

[Gathina]

Of course, there are always going to be the ones who "insist" you can because after all, "they" did..

 

Someone needs to start a thread about doing that and how they ended up missing their flight in the name of saving a few dollars.

[anthk333]

I have seen a couple of mentions of the cruise lines luggage programs in this thread - just be aware that if your departure time is not in the "recommended" time frame, you can not use those programs.

 

I think you are cutting it a tight, but it is doable if you take all the advice of getting up early and trying to be one of the first off with self disembark and take a taxi from the pier to the airport. The earliest I have ever booked is 1045AM, and I made it with plenty of time to spare, but YMMV.

[c-cruise]

I have seen a couple of mentions of the cruise lines luggage programs in this thread - just be aware that if your departure time is not in the "recommended" time frame, you can not use those programs.

 

That's a good point. On HAL your flight had to be after 11:30 to use Luggage Direct. The OP would need to plan on carrying off your own bags for a 10:10 departure. Would also be a good idea to use the Internet Cafe to check-in and print your boarding passes the night before.

[duck addict]

Saturdays and Sundays are CROWDED in Fort Lauderdale. What airline you are flying can make a difference.

 

Two years ago I flew American and would NOT have been able to make a flight that early. It took 1 1/2 hours to get to check my luggage/get boarding pass, and then back out to the sidewalk and another 45 minutes to get past security. They only had one scanner line is this terminal.

 

This year I flew Continental/United and it was about 15 minutes in security as I already had my boarding pass/pre sent my luggage. If you have to wait in line Good Luck:o (Security in this terminal had more scanner lines.. )

[uphotdog]

We are flying Air Tran and am going to try to reschedule today...I know it is probably going to cost us more than it would have costs to fly from home but at least we won't have to worry all cruise.

[Langley Cruisers]

...but at least we won't have to worry all cruise.

 

Exactly. Hope it works out for you. :)

.

[MICHLEV1974]

Thanks for posting this thread. I am going to be getting off in Miami on Friday morning and booked a 1010 am flight out of FLL and I have Southwest so no luggage valet service for me. Any last minute scare tactics for me so I can cough up $200 to book a later flight? btw: i am not checking a bag and am 1 person in my group. any thoughts would be appreciated.

[ragtiki2004]

Sounds so stressfull. I never book a flight leaving before noon. The last 2 cruises out of Fll I actually stayed over an extra day, so relaxing. Bob