Typical Flights for Embarking/Debarking in FLL.....

[sail7seas]

KK wrote the following post in another thread and has referred to this before. It made me curious to what lengths some of us travel (fly) to get to FLL for cruises. I know European and certainly Asian flights are a whole different thing but in this thread, I'm interested in your home to FLL and back home.

 

 

 

 

Well -- we have been retired for quite a few years.

At one time we could book closer to cruise dates and get cabins we wanted. And we had tons of flights of direct flights to chose from.

Well -- those days are gone for us. Now to get the cabin we want we need to book about 1 1/2 years in advance and as soon as the flights open up, we have to book them right away to get the refundable tickets and we have very few flights to choose from and nothing is direct.

 

 

 

How early do you leave your home? (usually)

How long a flight to first connection if you have to connect?

How long to FLL if you can fly direct?

How long between flights (usually) if you are connecting?

How long until you finally get to FLL?

 

How about getting home?

 

Edited January 29, 2015 by sail7seas

[tooalto]

Our home airport is quite expensive and we would need to make connections. We fly JetBlue non-stop from Newark which only a little over 2 hours from our home. We drive down the night before our flight, which is always a day before we sail, stay in an airport hotel which offers free parking and free transfer to the airport in the morning. We do the same in reverse, with out the stay over. As long as our flight is a decent time, we will be home at a reasonable hour the same night.

[DAllenTCY]

From San Diego, we have to connect somewhere. With the time change we have to go a day early. I did a red-eye once a loooong time a go from LA to Miami on National Airlines....never again will I arrive at 6am, although American has a night nonstop from San Diego now to MIA.

I've flown Delta (via Atlanta), American (via DFW or Chicago), Southwest (stops in New Orleans and Tampa eastbound.....Orlando and Houston westbound), United (via Chicago or Houston).

On the return, we book flights after 11:30 am. United has the most convenient (shortest stopover in Houston) that has been my favorite....either from FLL or MIA.

I've flown to Miami, and overnighted there....taking the Tri-Rail to FLL (and the reverse), also have tried cruise shuttles from the airport, or private cars suggested by the hotels.

 

David

Edited January 29, 2015 by DAllenTCY

[PatsyAnne]

From Bend, Oregon, it takes us at least three flights and pretty much all day. Of course, we're also going from PT to ET (3 hours).

 

 

Trish

[sail7seas]

I suspected some go to much effort to arrive at Port Everglades. It's all worth it. :)

 

[cruz chic]

It's a pain. I usually start out super early in the morning and if I'm lucky I'll be in Florida by 7 or 8pm. Even though I stay overnight I don't seem to get home before midnight on the way back. There are no non stop flights from calgary.

[taxmantoo]

Buffalo to Fort Lauderdale direct on Southwest. Only 3 hours AND two free bags each ... great for formal night :D

We usually spend 3-4 days in Fort Lauderdale before the cruise and the same after.

[bshow]

Typical is 1hr to ATL, then 1hr layover, then 2hr to FLL. No direct flights. Can also go through CLT, but ATL usually cheaper. We fly day before, so try to arrive FLL mid afternoon. Pretty boring stuff. On last trip, the hotel shuttle to ship took forever, as we visited five ships before ours. May just try a cab next time.

[Vict0riann]

We have always gone to Toronto, either non-stop or through Vancouver. We overnight in Toronto, (or more) and then take an afternoon flight to FLL. We like to spend 20 or 3 nights in FLL. Coming back, westwardly, we can make it in one day.

[Friend100]

How early do you leave your home? (usually)

How long a flight to first connection if you have to connect?

How long to FLL if you can fly direct?

How long between flights (usually) if you are connecting?

How long until you finally get to FLL?

 

How about getting home?

 

From Toronto, we drove to Detroit and Cleveland each time once and flew out of the airport there. Price difference (as compared to flying out of YYZ) was significant enough to get my family of 6 another 7-night cruise.

 

We left home the day before, stayed at the airport hotel for a night before flying out the next day. Then stay at Fort Lauderdale for one more night before embarkation.

 

Direct flight to FLL about 2.5 to 3 hour ... once with Delta and once with United. Both on time. Getting home same thing.

[Scrapnana]

I always fly in at least one day in advance. There is only one non-stop flight between RIC and FLL (with inconvenient times) so I change in ATL. It takes about twice as long (over 4 hours compared to just over 2) but the choices of airlines and prices by changing planes is worth it to me. The connection time varies. I sometimes fly home the same day the cruise ends, sometimes I stay over.

[RuthC]

I've only sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale once, and it was so long ago I don't remember the details on time. I know I left home in the morning for a flight to Baltimore, where I changed to the connecting flight to FLL. I do remember it took until suppertime to arrive.

 

I've come home from there more often, and better remember the times. I was at my gate by 8:20 for my 11:45 flight to Baltimore. There was a long layover there, before I boarded my flight home. Got in sometime around 7:00 PM.

Its a long day for what should be an easy flight.

[RMLincoln]

The day before the day before departure....

We get up, have breakfast and then drain all the water lines in the house, leaving 2 5-gallon buckets of water for last toilet flushes. We hope there isn't too much snow on our 4 mile dirt road down the mountain to the pavement to give us issues.

In the afternoon we drive 90 minutes to a motel near the Albuquerque airport, check in and have supper and try to get an early sleep.

We often take an early morning flight out so may have to get to the airport at 4:30am or 5am for a 6 or 6:30 flight through (hopefully) Houston or Dallas, which are only a 2 or 2 1/2 hour flight, but could be Tampa which is more like 3 1/2 hours. Layover could be anything from 45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. Once the Houston stop-over was delayed with a flat tire on our plane! so we weren't sure if we'd make it to Tampa in time for the connection. Thought about driving a rental car from Tampa to Ft Lauderdale, ugh.

Upon arrival in FLL we call for an airport shuttle pickup to the motel for a night to just breathe and be glad we made it! The next day will be much easier!

 

Albuquerque isn't a hub for any airline so we always have to connect somewhere. Flying eastbound always takes all day. Flying home is "quicker" but we stay the night in an airport motel anyway so that we can drive up to the house in the daylight because we have to heat the house up then get the water system going again. Better not to attempt it "cold, dark and hungry" after a long day of travel. Last trip (we came home in December) and good thing we came up in the daytime - we had a door lock jam, the door to the basement that we had to get into to open the valves for the water system. Had to do some creative breaking and entering. Never a dull moment living in the mountains! m--

[Krazy Kruizers]

To add a little more ........

We do not live near Pittsburgh International Airport, we have to stay at a hotel near there the night before we fly out.

We stay in a hotel 2 or 3 days before we get on the ship.

I always try to get 3 hours between flights since both Delta and US Airways require that people who need wheelchair assistance be the last ones off the plane and our connecting flight is always in a different terminal.

For our upcoming cruise we have had several changes in flights. The most recent one came at the end of December and now we only have 1 hour and 10 minutes instead of 3 hours between our flights getting to Ft Lauderdale.

Coming home -- no choice but to stay over a night in Ft Lauderdale as our first flight is early in the morning. Still have 3 hours between flights. After collecting luggage and then getting to the car we stay in a hotel before we drive home the following day.

[GeriatricNurse]

I suspected some go to much effort to arrive at Port Everglades. It's all worth it. :)

 

 

It's a pain. I usually start out super early in the morning and if I'm lucky I'll be in Florida by 7 or 8pm. Even though I stay overnight I don't seem to get home before midnight on the way back. There are no non stop flights from calgary.

 

I'm fortunate in that I fly direct, non-stop, from Toronto Pearson (YYZ) to Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) via Air Canada (AC). I have always experienced enjoyable and pleasant flights with AC, with no issues related to lost/misdirected checked luggage! The flying time is just 3 hours. And I have always flown home from FLL to YYZ on the same day as the HAL cruise disembarkation, checking in at FLL for a (mid-afternoon) return flight to YYZ! :) (cruz chic, why don't you consider flying from Calgary to Toronto, then connecting to FLL)? :confused:

[sail7seas]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your sharing the efforts some go to in order to cruise. I respect when people are willing to tolerate inconvenience so they can do what they enjoy so much. I won't complain about my travel from Boston to FLL anymore. :o I've got it easy by comparison but hate air travel so much. Sigh...... :D

 

[cruz chic]

I'm fortunate in that I fly direct, non-stop, from Toronto Pearson (YYZ) to Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) via Air Canada (AC). I have always experienced enjoyable and pleasant flights with AC, with no issues related to lost/misdirected checked luggage! The flying time is just 3 hours. And I have always flown home from FLL to YYZ on the same day as the HAL cruise disembarkation, checking in at FLL for a (mid-afternoon) return flight to YYZ! :) (cruz chic, why don't you consider flying from Calgary to Toronto, then connecting to FLL)? :confused:

 

I have no idea what you are talking about. I have done this route before. You do understand that I live in Calgary, correct? When you go to the USA you preclear in Toronto or where ever you change planes. That means that you need to allow 2 to 3 hours to take care of this and account for flight delays. Flying from almost the western coast of Canada is quite different than flying from Toronto. I would rather go thru the USA because it's less painful than going thru Canada. Happy that your luggage has not been misplaced. I took many, many trips before it happened to me.

Edited January 29, 2015 by cruz chic

[ANSalberg]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your sharing the efforts some go to in order to cruise. I respect when people are willing to tolerate inconvenience so they can do what they enjoy so much. I won't complain about my travel from Boston to FLL anymore. :o I've got it easy by comparison but hate air travel so much. Sigh...... :D

 

I am at the point where flying is getting to be difficult enough that we have REtought cruise desires; That said -FLYING to a port in USA is MUCH preferrable that overseas; [i remember 2002/newly retired/ flying to Singapore for an HAL cruise. We left home midday/DEnver/ Los Angeles/ 3AM flight out -stop in Taipei -THEN another 4 HOUR flight into Singapore from there!!!!!!!!! We now do HAL Grand cruises in/out of USA ...WHEN WE CAN!

#1 we were a LOT younger in 2002

#2 we were LEARNING a lot and seeing SPECTACULAR things/places.

#3 We would do it again in a HEARTBEAT if the end result were more easily gotten to NOW![we notice 2016 will not have the Pacific/Asia/Aust -70-80 day cruise in the Fall on the Amsterdam]

#4 THIS whole thing is MUCH more OUR problem [age] than HAL's Problem -They are a BUSINESS and we understand that!

 

That said -We discussed what we WANTED on our "Bucket List" and WORLD travel was it -AND we've had it MOST on HAL [ over 800 days -actual days] we are 1000+ 5-star cruisers on HAL. THEY [HAL] have fulfilled our GREATEST wishes and then some!!!!

THANK YOU Holland America! from Colorado

[HealthyTouch101]

Krazy Kruisers: I live in the same area and used to always fly out of Pittsburgh. However, I can now get a non-stop (about 2.5 hours I think) flight out of Latrobe to FLL and there is free parking at the airport. However, there is often only one flight available per day. So, in winter weather we fly up to 2 days early to Florida to allow for re-routing/transferring us to another flight. Worth the breathing space before the cruise.

 

We also stay over one more night after the cruise to lessen the mad rush and often pay less for the flight. This last RT ticket from Latrobe was $283. Very comparable with PIT, but free parking, non-stop flight. That is a significant improvement.

[Vict0riann]

I'm fortunate in that I fly direct, non-stop, from Toronto Pearson (YYZ) to Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) via Air Canada (AC). I have always experienced enjoyable and pleasant flights with AC, with no issues related to lost/misdirected checked luggage! The flying time is just 3 hours. And I have always flown home from FLL to YYZ on the same day as the HAL cruise disembarkation, checking in at FLL for a (mid-afternoon) return flight to YYZ! :) (cruz chic, why don't you consider flying from Calgary to Toronto, then connecting to FLL)? :confused:

 

As Cruz Chic said, it's not easy to connect in Toronto (it's such a big airport!) - we have always spent a night in Toronto before flying onward to FLL, it used to be in a hotel near the airport; now, yay, we have a daughter in Etobicoke, we can visit her for a few days.:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Krazy Kruisers: I live in the same area and used to always fly out of Pittsburgh. However, I can now get a non-stop (about 2.5 hours I think) flight out of Latrobe to FLL and there is free parking at the airport. However, there is often only one flight available per day. So, in winter weather we fly up to 2 days early to Florida to allow for re-routing/transferring us to another flight. Worth the breathing space before the cruise.

 

We also stay over one more night after the cruise to lessen the mad rush and often pay less for the flight. This last RT ticket from Latrobe was $283. Very comparable with PIT, but free parking, non-stop flight. That is a significant improvement.

 

 

We know about that one flight from Latrobe. It is not to our liking.

We also prefer to have our car parked in a covered garage (The Parking Spot) since we are gone anywhere from 3 to 5 weeks.

[sapper1]

I have no idea what you are talking about. I have done this route before. You do understand that I live in Calgary, correct? When you go to the USA you preclear in Toronto or where ever you change planes. That means that you need to allow 2 to 3 hours to take care of this and account for flight delays. Flying from almost the western coast of Canada is quite different than flying from Toronto. I would rather go thru the USA because it's less painful than going thru Canada. Happy that your luggage has not been misplaced. I took many, many trips before it happened to me.

 

Totally agree. I have had it take two hours from the time we landed in Toronto, walked a mile to US customs, cleared customs and then faced US security clearance. It is not as simple as just changing planes. We always book a four hour connection time in Toronto to cut down on stress and to allow time to have something to eat after the hassle of customs and security.

 

However, there are frequent fog delays in leaving Saint John and AC, in its wisdom, will often change our flights and give us a short connection in Toronto. Sometimes they even change our seats and separate us on the plane to make it more fun for us. It gives our TA more work to do to straighten out the messes they create.

 

It may be an easy matter if you live in Toronto or environs but for those who have to connect it is a total cliff hanger every time.

 

At present, we have a nice four hour connection through Montreal to Fort Lauderdale in April. So far we have been separated on the Saint John to Montreal leg and had that straightened out. We will see what else AC has in store for us this time.

[debsjc]

I am flying direct from London to Miami, picking up a rental car, and having 4 night in Fort Lauderdale pre-cruise (dropping the car back at FLL)

 

For those of you with difficult connections, have you tried flying to MIA instead of FLL. Might be easier to have a 1 hour drive when you arrive, rather than taking connecting flights. Having worked at airports I saw how many people came in late, and missed connections, and some of them cruises too.

[cruz chic]

I am flying direct from London to Miami, picking up a rental car, and having 4 night in Fort Lauderdale pre-cruise (dropping the car back at FLL)

 

For those of you with difficult connections, have you tried flying to MIA instead of FLL. Might be easier to have a 1 hour drive when you arrive, rather than taking connecting flights. Having worked at airports I saw how many people came in late, and missed connections, and some of them cruises too.

 

For a couple of months westjet flew non stop from Calgary to Miami. That ended as quickly as it started. There are no nin stop flights from Calgary period, not just on airlines I like best or choose to fly.

[kazu]

I am flying direct from London to Miami, picking up a rental car, and having 4 night in Fort Lauderdale pre-cruise (dropping the car back at FLL)

 

For those of you with difficult connections, have you tried flying to MIA instead of FLL. Might be easier to have a 1 hour drive when you arrive, rather than taking connecting flights. Having worked at airports I saw how many people came in late, and missed connections, and some of them cruises too.

 

For a couple of months westjet flew non stop from Calgary to Miami. That ended as quickly as it started. There are no nin stop flights from Calgary period, not just on airlines I like best or choose to fly.

 

none from here either and actually the connections are usually worse.

 

We prefer to fly into FLL. In fact on our O cruise in November which disembarks in Miami, we are going to FLL to fly out of there. Much better.

 

As to how long it takes, etc. You don't really want to know.

 

In the time it gets to get to FLL, to allow for connections, security and customs, I could be flying to Europe nearly.

 

why we rarely will do a 7 day cruise although with the upcoming storms, I am sorely tempted. :p