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Getting off ship in Miami

pmcantrll

By pmcantrll,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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wantocruisemore

wantocruisemore

Posted
Posted (edited)

But we ended up in a very slow line at customs and did not get out of port til around noon. It really varies. We were spending an extra night so it did not matter, but couple behind us were having a fit due to a flight.

 

My recommendation is to get off ship early, just to be safe.

Edited by wantocruisemore
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FTLCruiseGal

FTLCruiseGal

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I would self-debark so that you are one of the first off the ship. Whether you are flying out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale, you should have time to get to either airport. Also, unless you have a rental car, I would recommend taking a taxi and not a shuttle as the shuttle will not travel until full.

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sayaguru

sayaguru

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If you do self disembark it's better.

 

When we were on the message came up at 6.50am to say you could disembark. We got out bags and were off at 7.10. We got a cab and were at the airport at 8.05am.

 

We were booked for a lunch time flight. Luckily Delta let us get an earlier flight.:D

 

If you leave it later customs starts to bank up.

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A&Jfamily

A&Jfamily

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I can tell you that the airport checkin can be a wreck if tons of ships have come in that morning; Saturday and Sunday are awful. In the past, I can tell you with certainty that we would have missed a 1230 flight because we barely made our 130. The ship was late getting to port, slow to clear customs etc - it seemed what could go wrong did.

 

So please be prepared for the possibility that you "could" miss your flight. If that risk is worth it and you can go with the flow if Plan A falls thru then at least you won't be stressing the whole time. But there is nothing worse that people getting angry because they chose to book an early flight and due to circumstances it is too tight for comfort.

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Namelocg

Namelocg

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If you are on the Glory, Breeze, Splendor or Vista go to the Carnival web site and look up luggage express. For $20 per person the ship will pick up your luggage the evening before departure and you won't have to deal with it until you get to your final destination. It applies to Air Tran, Delta, American, US Airways, Untied and Southwest. Then 6 of you can easily fit in one cab with only the stuff you are hand carrying.

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  • 4 weeks later...
kelkel2

kelkel2

Posted
Posted (edited)
My last cruise out of Miami, I was off the ship and at the airport sitting at my gate by 9:30AM for an 11:30 flight. I used Luggage Express and was one of the first ones off the ship.

 

Did you fly from Miami or FLL?

 

Our last cruise out of Miami, we did self disembark and had FTTF and were some of the first ones off the ship. We were at the FLL airport by 8:30 maybe? We were early enough we couldn't check our luggage yet. This year we booked an 11:30 our of FLL for our Miami cruise and are flying from FLL.

The key to customs is to leave the ship early before the lines have the chance to back up. If you have an early flight you need to use self disembarkation or go to guest services and ask for group 1. If you are later on in the afternoon the lines get long and start to back up. We have done self disembark with all of our cruises and have never run into bad lines.

Edited by kelkel2
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FTLCruiseGal

FTLCruiseGal

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Do the taxi's from the port to FLL take credit cards or are they cash only?

 

Also, approx. cost of a cab from port to FLL?

 

Thanks!!

 

Some take credit cards, some don't. Just make sure to check with them before having them load all your luggage.

 

Cost of cab from Port Everglades to FLL is approximately $10. Cost of cab from Port of Miami to FLL is probably going to cost about $80. If you are cruising from Miami, I would recommend a car/shuttle service or Uber. You will save a lot of money.

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SMSACE6

SMSACE6

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I have a noon flight from FLL. I also have FTTF. Do I get off the ship with other self assist people or earlier with FTTF or something else:confused:

 

with fttf, you can pretty much do as you wish. You will recieve zone one disembark tags, but you can also do self assist as long as you can take all your baggage with you without needing assistance.

 

Last month I had zone one, and went after self assist, but this was the largest amount of self assists I had ever seen disembarking, I mean it had to be half the ship passengers, so when I got down to customs it was a madhouse.

 

The lines moved though, so I still got to Miami airport by 10am. FLL of course is further.

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reno3

reno3

Posted
Posted (edited)
Did you fly from Miami or FLL?

 

Our last cruise out of Miami, we did self disembark and had FTTF and were some of the first ones off the ship. We were at the FLL airport by 8:30 maybe? We were early enough we couldn't check our luggage yet. This year we booked an 11:30 our of FLL for our Miami cruise and are flying from FLL.

The key to customs is to leave the ship early before the lines have the chance to back up. If you have an early flight you need to use self disembarkation or go to guest services and ask for group 1. If you are later on in the afternoon the lines get long and start to back up. We have done self disembark with all of our cruises and have never run into bad lines.

 

What time did you get off the ship, I'm assuming around 7:30? Did you stay in your cabin or buffet area or somewhere else and wait until they called self assist and then got off? Did you take a shuttle to FLL? Not sure if I should book the 8:00 or 9:00 shuttle?? Just trying to get my ducks in a row.

Edited by reno3
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reno3

reno3

Posted
Posted
with fttf, you can pretty much do as you wish. You will recieve zone one disembark tags, but you can also do self assist as long as you can take all your baggage with you without needing assistance.

 

Last month I had zone one, and went after self assist, but this was the largest amount of self assists I had ever seen disembarking, I mean it had to be half the ship passengers, so when I got down to customs it was a madhouse.

 

The lines moved though, so I still got to Miami airport by 10am. FLL of course is further.

 

Thank you for the information.

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kelkel2

kelkel2

Posted
Posted (edited)
What time did you get off the ship, I'm assuming around 7:30? Did you stay in your cabin or buffet area or somewhere else and wait until they called self assist and then got off? Did you take a shuttle to FLL? Not sure if I should book the 8:00 or 9:00 shuttle?? Just trying to get my ducks in a row.

 

We did not stay in our cabin. We woke up, got dressed, gathered our things and headed down towards the gathering area for self assist passengers. Then one of use went to get some items for us to eat and brought it back for both of us. We were literally the first few people off the ship and it was for sure befor 8am. I had a shuttle booked with sas and then I called them when I was walking off the ship, they said they would be ready for us when we left customs. We had to have been on that shuttle before 8, but we did stay and circle a few times for wait for more passengers. We were at the airport by 9, I would try for the 8am shuttle! And yes we did take the shuttle to FLL.

We have this same exact plan in place for our cruise in January.

Edited by kelkel2
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reno3

reno3

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Posted
We did not stay in our cabin. We woke up, got dressed, gathered our things and headed down towards the gathering area for self assist passengers. Then one of use went to get some items for us to eat and brought it back for both of us. We were literally the first few people off the ship and it was for sure befor 8am. I had a shuttle booked with sas and then I called them when I was walking off the ship, they said they would be ready for us when we left customs. We had to have been on that shuttle before 8, but we did stay and circle a few times for wait for more passengers. We were at the airport by 9, I would try for the 8am shuttle! And yes we did take the shuttle to FLL.

We have this same exact plan in place for our cruise in January.

 

Thank you very much for the information. I think I now have my ducks in a row :D

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kelkel2

kelkel2

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Thank you very much for the information. I think I now have my ducks in a row :D

 

You're welcome! One bit of advice. The elevators are going to be so terribly insane all morning long. Either be prepared to carry luggage down the stairs, which isn't doable for all, or hit the down and the up button and get on whatever elevator you can. If you wait for an elevator you can fit on wit luggage, that's also going down, you'll wait forever. We were on deck 7 and this was our experience. So many people coming from decks above. By the time they got to us they were full every time. So get on one going up and then ride the elevator up, then back down. Just preparing you for what embarkation is like when you have your luggage with you...

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