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Is this flight time okay...or not?

luv2go1

By luv2go1,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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cruzn buckeye

cruzn buckeye

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Cruising out of Miami on the Liberty, and flying out of Fort Lauderdale. Finding airfare that doesn't break the bank is turning out to be a challenge. I'm thinking of booking a 12:15 flight. Is this too early?

I just got back from the Liberty. I would never book this early of a flight now. It used to be, no problem. But something went on in Belize, that is causing extra screening in customs. So when we returned, we had long long lines in the customs area. Over an hour long. Our flight was delayed , so it worked out okay for us. Very close though. There were still people debarking as late as 12:30. Look some more to see if you can find a flight later. At this point, I would not book a flight earlier than 1:30. There were several times when they stopped debarking because the lines in customs were so long, and it made it easier for the passengers to wait comfortably onboard as to stand in line for hours at the customs line.

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cruzn buckeye

cruzn buckeye

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We just did the Liberty cruise 2 weeks ago. We had a 1220 flight out of FLL and made it with PLENTY of time to spare. You should be fine.

If you had been on our cruise and debarked this past Saturday, there is a good chance you would have missed your flight. Normally, you could get off the ship very early, but somethings happened and now it is causing many delays. Not just on our sailing, but on any sailing that has Belize in the itinerary. They were doing extra screening on passengers that were not from the US. Including handprints and photos.

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luv2go1

luv2go1

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Thanks for the responses, I really appreciate the advice! I think I will keep looking. I found a good price from Milwaukee to Fort Lauderdale on Airtran that I booked already (130pp), but I'm having a harder time finding a flight home. We would prefer flying into Milwaukee since we live 15 minutes from the airport, but can fly into Chicago O'Hare also.

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mrsd912

mrsd912

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I just got back from the Liberty. I would never book this early of a flight now. It used to be, no problem. But something went on in Belize, that is causing extra screening in customs. So when we returned, we had long long lines in the customs area. Over an hour long. Our flight was delayed , so it worked out okay for us. Very close though. There were still people debarking as late as 12:30. Look some more to see if you can find a flight later. At this point, I would not book a flight earlier than 1:30. There were several times when they stopped debarking because the lines in customs were so long, and it made it easier for the passengers to wait comfortably onboard as to stand in line for hours at the customs line.

 

We were on this same cruise and we got to the airport in Miami at 9:00. However, we had Faster to the Fun and had priority disembarkment. The only issue we had at customs was that they were funneling two lines of people to one agent, and of course that's the line that we were in.

This is just my .02 though.

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cruzn buckeye

cruzn buckeye

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We were on this same cruise and we got to the airport in Miami at 9:00. However, we had Faster to the Fun and had priority disembarkment. The only issue we had at customs was that they were funneling two lines of people to one agent, and of course that's the line that we were in.

This is just my .02 though.

We also had fttf and platinum priority... but our flight was not until 1:30 so we decided to hang out on the ship for a bit so we would be able to check our luggage when we got to the airport. We planned on leaving the ship at 9:00. Well, they made an announcement that they were holding off on any more debarking until the line in the customs area went down. That way the passengers would not have to wait standing in line but instead could enjoy the comfort of the ship. We had heard this same announcement earlier. We got off the ship at around 9:30 and waited in line for nearly an hour and a half. The line was not moving. It has something to do with Belize . One passenger in line was told it was a Federal government matter. We have also read here on this board, that it will affect any cruise that has Belize in the itinerary. I don't know how true that is. All I know is, we could have missed our flight... I had originally booked a 12:00 noon flight. The airline changed our flight time to 11:30. We called and asked them to move it later because we did not want to chance missing our flight. I am glad we did. Had we taken advantage of our priority debarkation, maybe there would not have been a problem. But why worry about it.. why not just book later and enjoy not having to stress out about making the flight?

it takes 25 to 40 minutes from Miami to Fll... depending on your ride to the airport... And with security lines... you should be at the airport no later than 10:45 for that 12:15 flight... which means you would need to leave Miami by at least 10:10. Doable, if nothing goes wrong.. but much too stressful

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mrsd912

mrsd912

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We also had fttf and platinum priority... but our flight was not until 1:30 so we decided to hang out on the ship for a bit so we would be able to check our luggage when we got to the airport. We planned on leaving the ship at 9:00. Well, they made an announcement that they were holding off on any more debarking until the line in the customs area went down. That way the passengers would not have to wait standing in line but instead could enjoy the comfort of the ship. We had heard this same announcement earlier. We got off the ship at around 9:30 and waited in line for nearly an hour and a half. The line was not moving. It has something to do with Belize . One passenger in line was told it was a Federal government matter. We have also read here on this board, that it will affect any cruise that has Belize in the itinerary. I don't know how true that is. All I know is, we could have missed our flight... I had originally booked a 12:00 noon flight. The airline changed our flight time to 11:30. We called and asked them to move it later because we did not want to chance missing our flight. I am glad we did. Had we taken advantage of our priority debarkation, maybe there would not have been a problem. But why worry about it.. why not just book later and enjoy not having to stress out about making the flight?

 

it takes 25 to 40 minutes from Miami to Fll... depending on your ride to the airport... And with security lines... you should be at the airport no later than 10:45 for that 12:15 flight... which means you would need to leave Miami by at least 10:10. Doable, if nothing goes wrong.. but much too stressful

 

Jeez! I'm glad we got off early then. I wanted to hang out for longer but DH was afraid we had to be off the ship by 7:30 or we'd be kicked off (weirdo). Thank goodness I didn't fight it though, I would have gone nuts waiting that long for customs!

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cruzn buckeye

cruzn buckeye

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Jeez! I'm glad we got off early then. I wanted to hang out for longer but DH was afraid we had to be off the ship by 7:30 or we'd be kicked off (weirdo). Thank goodness I didn't fight it though, I would have gone nuts waiting that long for customs!

I am glad for you too. I am one that usually books early flights and gets off the ship as soon as possible so not to fight the crowds. The one time, we hang onboard.... oh well, it worked out since our flight had been delayed due to mechanical problems... But I have to say, all of those giving advice to do the early flight... now may not be a good time to do that.... I would hold off on that until whatever it is going on with Belize, settles down, so customs does not take so long... it was pretty unbelievable.... I have never seen it like this in 24 cruises... well, I take that back... it was like that on the week of 9/11, and yep, we were on a cruise that week.

I read the Valor had a similar problem at customs... well not really a problem... just an issue with whatever was going on that caused the extra screening in customs... but thats okay with me.... keep me safe..:)

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