Flight Home from Fort Lauderdale?

[riclop]

You should be fine and arrive at the airport with plenty of time.

[DISFANS3]

Just back from the Allure, Jan 6th sail. Major delay for us getting off ship, we had a high number and there was a problem with customs getting people of the ship. We had a 12 pm flight out of Ft lauderdale so I thought there would be no problem getting of ship in time. We were still up stairs at 10 : 15 waiting for our number to be called. I went to talk to people calling numbers and told them our flight time, they said to go ahead and go down stars. We then had to wait down stairs, 10 or 15 mins. Down stairs we go race to find the bags, pick up bags off to the line to customs, 10 mins here clear customs then find a taxi to FLL airport. Made it to airport at 11 ; 10 am, check bags out side off to security . We made it to gate with 15 min to spare, to close for us. We might rethink the flight time next trip. Same cruise back in May, carried bags off at 6:45 am was at FLL airport by 7:30 am, made the 9 am flight no problem.........

[cruisinfanatic]

Can you name one time the Oasis or the Alllure didn't make it in at 5 am, and anyone not make it to the airport by 9 AM?

last September we didn't get off until after 10. We had #42, hardly a late number

[Lionesss]

Now I am sad, I wish this thread would have been posted a couple weeks ago.

Being the nervous nilly I am, I booked the later flight home and the flight is scheduled for 12:30----here I could have made the 10:30 flight.

Oh well, know of any good books to read?

Thanks

Later

[Big_G]

Can you name one time the Oasis or the Alllure didn't make it in at 5 am, and anyone not make it to the airport by 9 AM?

 

[lysolqn]

Now I am sad, I wish this thread would have been posted a couple weeks ago.

Being the nervous nilly I am, I booked the later flight home and the flight is scheduled for 12:30----here I could have made the 10:30 flight.

Oh well, know of any good books to read?

Thanks

Later

 

Look at it this way, those two hours are your insurance against nervous clock-watching, nail-biting or need for a last minute scramble in the unlikely event the remotely possible becomes increasingly probable - and it does happen on occasion, despite protestations to the contrary! Enjoy your cruise!

[loman]

If you can carry off your own luggage , you should not experience any delays if you do a self dis-embark. The wind jammer buffet opens at 5:30am . You can have breakfast and get off the ship by 6:30am , breeze through customs and catch an awaiting cab and be at the airport by 7:00am . There aren`t any lines at this time of the morning. I have done this twice ( both times in September ) . I would rather be waiting at the airport than in lines later on in the day , so i choose to do it this way . Ya , something could go wrong , but the chances they wont will be in your favor.

[Big Feet]

Hate to rain on your $109 parade but while it's likely you'll have no problem making a 10:15 flight, a late arrival into port for whatever reason or a customs delay could throw a wrench into the works. Admittedly those events don't happen often but as long as you're aware of the possibility and have Plan B in place you should be fine.

Columbus took a chance............... just an ol saying.

[labadooze]

Made that timeline many times in FLL. You should be fine.

[FedEx Guy]

I am sure I am like everyone else on this board and want my cruise to be as stress free and enjoyable as possible. I would guess that the majority of time people can make it off the ship to the airport for earlier departing flights saving a few dollars. But delays do happen even though people who have responded to this thread have been fortunate and have not experienced them.

 

I know that I would worry not only before the cruise but during the cruise if a problem was going to arise that would prohibit me from making my flight on time on disembarking day.

 

I would book a later departing flight as well as use the luggage valet. You want your cruise to be perfect from beginning to end and it's not worth a few dollars to spoil it by missing it over an early flight.

[springaussie]

If you can carry off your own luggage , you should not experience any delays if you do a self dis-embark. The wind jammer buffet opens at 5:30am . You can have breakfast and get off the ship by 6:30am , breeze through customs and catch an awaiting cab and be at the airport by 7:00am . There aren`t any lines at this time of the morning. I have done this twice ( both times in September ) . I would rather be waiting at the airport than in lines later on in the day , so i choose to do it this way . Ya , something could go wrong , but the chances they wont will be in your favor.

It took me 50 minutes with self dis-embark to leave the Oasis December 2012. 0835 I was on the gang way and 0925 in a taxi to FLL. Next time I will leave earlier if I am on a 1155 flight. I was lucky no issuses with Customs, account issues or unexpected death etc. The line came to a stand still for 30 minutes at one stage. I read a report for a another cruise ship in at Port Everglades that day where passengers doing self dis - embark had a 3 hour wait.

Glen

[lisa70]

Thanks i will just do express walk off

[hsaroya]

Booked on the Oasis of the seas March 30th Booked our Flight home for 10:15am

Do you think we will miss the flight?

 

We were on Oasis at Christmas and people were disembarking by 6:15; definitely try to pack light so that you can carry your own bags off and save that time. Wow $109!! You Americans are so lucky - about a thousand dollars per person for me return from north western Canada to FLL. Happy sailings!

[macruisefan]

The only people who find that "tone" misleading and alarmist are people who have no experience with delayed debarkation... I would wager that if it has happened to you, you probably aren't going to take the chance again...

 

There's more to it than whether or not the ship arrives on time and many a poster begins their inquiry by stating: if the ship arrives at x time can I make a y flight time without any thought as to what can happen after the ship arrives tha can delay your timely arrival...

 

In my experience at FLL, the ship arrived on time but customs did not clear the ship for debarkation until 9:30... At this point, the ship is filled with irritable passengers all stressing about getting off the ship on time... Tensions are high and tempers are flared...

 

Then the ship is cleared and EVERYONE is pushing and shoving their way off the ship...

 

Now, you're off the ship and cabs are struggling to keep up with the demand...

 

Then you're at the airport with a crowd of folks you would not have seen had the ship debarked under normal circumstances... The line to check in is long, some have now missed those early flights so they're trying to get a new flight... The security line is insane...

 

A delayed debarkation creates a bottleneck that causes further delay...

 

So when someone asks about early FLL flights I see nothing alarmist about relaying that experience... Then let the OP determine if the savings is worth the possibility of that hassle...

 

It's a gamble that the individual needs to decide if they are willing to take... Hopefully, hearing both sides allows them to make a more educated gamble within their comfort zone...

 

I think people make the inquiry looking for both experiences...Of course they realize there could be a problem but maybe they don't see the bigger picture that delayed debarkation is...

 

I think it's a disservice to say: Yeah, no problem ... Without also providing accounts of the "it happened to me"...

 

I have in fact experienced delays. But we are SPECIFICALLY talking about Allure and Oasis here. To date, there has not been a single person to come on here and say that self debarkation was significantly delayed.

 

Oasis and Allure are unique. I recently sailed Celebrity Silhouette out of Ft. Lauderdale, and I wasn't comfortable with a 10:30 flight, so I switched it to 1:00pm. However, when on Oasis this fall, I will be just as confident with a 9:30 flight as a 1:00 flight.

 

The OP didn't ask "am I 100% guaranteed to make my flight?". He or she wanted to know what is "reasonable". And making that flight is a reasonable expectation. This isn't open to debate.

 

As for why the cruise lines say that, it's simply to avoid the headaches. It's just like them saying on their documents boarding time of 1:30 or 2:00, when everyone seems to know you can get on by noon.

[Big_G]

The only people who find that "tone" misleading and alarmist are people who have no experience with delayed debarkation... I would wager that if it has happened to you, you probably aren't going to take the chance again...

 

There's more to it than whether or not the ship arrives on time and many a poster begins their inquiry by stating: if the ship arrives at x time can I make a y flight time without any thought as to what can happen after the ship arrives tha can delay your timely arrival...

 

In my experience at FLL, the ship arrived on time but customs did not clear the ship for debarkation until 9:30... At this point, the ship is filled with irritable passengers all stressing about getting off the ship on time... Tensions are high and tempers are flared...

 

Then the ship is cleared and EVERYONE is pushing and shoving their way off the ship...

 

Now, you're off the ship and cabs are struggling to keep up with the demand...

 

Then you're at the airport with a crowd of folks you would not have seen had the ship debarked under normal circumstances... The line to check in is long, some have now missed those early flights so they're trying to get a new flight... The security line is insane...

 

A delayed debarkation creates a bottleneck that causes further delay...

 

So when someone asks about early FLL flights I see nothing alarmist about relaying that experience... Then let the OP determine if the savings is worth the possibility of that hassle...

 

It's a gamble that the individual needs to decide if they are willing to take... Hopefully, hearing both sides allows them to make a more educated gamble within their comfort zone...

 

I think people make the inquiry looking for both experiences...Of course they realize there could be a problem but maybe they don't see the bigger picture that delayed debarkation is...

 

I think it's a disservice to say: Yeah, no problem ... Without also providing accounts of the "it happened to me"...

 

What ship were you on?