What is a safe time to book a flight home on disembarking day?

[mcchane1]

We will be on the IoS and flying out of FLL. Not sure what is an "safe" time to book a flight home. Now I know things can happen and there is never a for sure answer, but under normal circumstances what is a good time to book the flight home?

[Clarea]

We will be on the IoS and flying out of FLL. Not sure what is an "safe" time to book a flight home. Now I know things can happen and there is never a for sure answer, but under normal circumstances what is a good time to book the flight home?

I'd be comfortable with a flight at noon or later.

[mcchane1]

Thanks! Flights aren't available but if current flight times hold true my choices are 11:15 or 4:30, guess we better watch the later one.

[DHADEN]

Do yourselves a favor and book your flight in the afternoon. We always look for flights around 1:00 or 2:00.

 

There is no need to be rushing and adding a bunch of stress to your lives. Relax that morning and have another cup of coffee. Go say "Bye" to all your new-made friends, thank the crew again, etc.

 

Then around 10:00 or 10:30, when they announce "By Now, Everyone should be off the ship!", you can meander down the gangplank, and still be at the airport by 11:30 - latest. ;)

 

Hope This Helps.

[Cruisin Dave]

After the fiasco with customs today, I would not book anything before noon and would advise that you think about a later time. There were only two customs officials for debarkation of the NOS. I know one couple barely made it to the airport in time for their 11:50 am flight. We had a debarkation time of 8:15 but was delayed until 9:15 then it took forever to get through the line at customs.

[Langley Cruisers]

Remember that thousands of people, on your ship and possibly other ships, are also making their way to FLL with various flight times. This means line ups to check in for flights and for security as well. I would be comfortable with a flight in the afternoon, say 1:00 or so if that becomes available.

[mcchane1]

I think your flight has to be after 11:45 to use the luggage valet which we do plan to use so I guess later is better. That way there is no hurry or stress.

[GUT2407]

I'd leave it as late as possible.

 

I'd rather have to kill time than stress over missing my flight, or even worse, actually miss it.

[Frik]

We always spend the night and leave the next day

[yogimax]

We always spend the night and leave the next day

 

 

 

That's nice, but not everyone can stay an additional day. There is also the extras cost of the hotels, transfers, etc..

[mcchane1]

Staying overnight is at least another $500 I don't want to spend.

[Desert Cruizers]

Frik, we have never flown out of Galveston but after reading may posts, for our planned cruise with friends next year, we will spend one night then leave in the morning. We did that this year out of FLL and were home in So Calif by 11:30 AM. Less stress. I am looking at renting a car from IAH and spend the 1 night pre & post cruise in Houston.

Edited February 15, 2016 by Desert Cruizers

[4cats4me]

Depends what day of the week and what month, how many ships disembarking, ET cet.

For example, we've been fine on Mondays during, say, April and have made it to the airport by 8:00 am

This is with no more than two ships (5,000 combined passengers)

However, I would think it might be too ambitious to book a morning flight on a morning like 4/10 when seven ships will be in port. Also, on Sats and Sundays the Oasis and or Allure will be in port and that ship alone is around 4-5K, so we always fly home on Mondays in order to avoid a chaotic FLL

Edited February 15, 2016 by 4cats4me

[4cats4me]

We always spend the night and leave the next day

 

 

That is what we do now, too. And airline tix for us are way pricier to fly home from FLL on Sat and Sun, so even if we have to spring for a hotel room at 250-300, it is significantly cheaper than what the extra airfare would have cost us to fly out on a weekend .

[akowilm]

We have 10:45 flights :eek:because they were the only ones available. We plan to self disembark VERY early and make it in time. Did the same in January in Miami after sailing on the Reflection and had no issues. Hope to do the same, but fingers will stay crossed....

[Keith1010]

I would recommend noon.

Keith

[yuvraj]

Thanks! Flights aren't available but if current flight times hold true my choices are 11:15 or 4:30, guess we better watch the later one.

 

I like to play it safe and go for a late afternoon flight. Will allow for most eventualities like late arrival, delays on disembarkation, delays in customs etc.

 

It also means that you can enjoy breakfast and leave the ship at a leisurely pace around 10:00 am.

 

We disembarked the Oasis in FLL only a few weeks ago around 9:30. Was chaos and it took about 20 minutes to navigate through the crowds. Badly organised so beware. Also, quite a long queue at customs.

[mcchane1]

Thanks for all the replies, staying another night in Ft Lauderdale just doesn't make sense for us. There are 5 of us so we need 2 hotel rooms and that with all the extra cab fares and meals is a rather large expense. We also fly home on Saturday and go back to work on Monday, I don't want to fly home on Sunday and work on Monday, nor does the rest of the family. I think we could be one of the first people of the ship since we are in a suite but I think playing it safe and waiting till afternoon is best.

[cb at sea]

11:15 if fine...it's a 10 min. drive to the airport! There is rarely a need to stay an extra day AFTER a cruise!!!

[pjnj40]

it best to book later in the afternoon. the FLL price is outrageous in the morning of the disembarkation. Why pay so much so you can get home? anyway as time go by it get less and less cheaper. it also good reasons for some other post as well. When i was on the Allure in 2010, we had a shuttle to take us to the airport meanwhile we was slow getting out of the terminal and waited a long time for the shuttle to come and get us. That shuttle company thought they was finished the disembarkation but they said we was in a lingo with embarkation pick up time. So yo can see numerous thing can go wrong.

[ecormier]

For years now, we have been doing self-disembarkation. We are one of the first to leave the ship when it is cleared. Usually around 7:00 am. It's a 10 minute or so taxi ride to the airport and we end up waiting to check in. I have had a flight as early as 10:30 am and was waiting for the airline check-in folks to set up!

 

I know things can happen, but if you are willing and able to take your own bags off the ship, earlier flights are doable.

 

Cheers, Betty

[truffles2]

I think your flight has to be after 11:45 to use the luggage valet which we do plan to use so I guess later is better. That way there is no hurry or stress.

 

11:30 to use luggage valet....worth it!

[milkman55]

We did the self-disembarkation off Allure at FLL in January and were at the airport by 8:30 am for our 11:20 am flight. We always pack light and can handle our own bags.

 

Basically two choices, go early and handle your bags or take it easy with a mid-afternoon flight and use the baggage service RC offers and let them get your bags to the airport.

 

Also, we use a pre-booked shuttle which costs $10 and picks us up right in front of Customs.

[Artemis908]

I think Ft. Lauderdale Airport had to be the worst/most disorganized airport I have ever been to. We came back on a Saturday along with tons of other ships and they wouldn't even let you check in and go through security until 2 hours or less before your flight. So we stayed on the ship as long as we could and then had to stand around for an hour before we could even go through security. Also had the pleasure of standing in a very long line for the bathroom and watch airport employees consistently cut the line. Good times :P

 

So I would shoot for 1-2 and hopefully avoid a long airport wait.

[HeidiHo]

After the fiasco with customs today, I would not book anything before noon and would advise that you think about a later time. There were only two customs officials for debarkation of the NOS. I know one couple barely made it to the airport in time for their 11:50 am flight. We had a debarkation time of 8:15 but was delayed until 9:15 then it took forever to get through the line at customs.

 

We are the couple Dave is referring to. This was my 4th time sailing from Port Everglades but the first time we had a flight before noon (11:52 to be exact). The other three times we sailed from Port Everglades we were off the ship and at the airport by 9:00/9:30ish so I figured this flight would be fine. Well, as Dave already said, it was NOT fine. We did get to the airport in time but only because we skipped taking the shuttle we had already paid for because we might have had to wait a while for it. It was the same shuttle that we took from our hotel to the pier. They don't give you a set time, they just pick you up when they are dropping others off. We were given stickers to put on our clothes so that they would know to stop for us. Rather than take a chance on having to wait a while for a shuttle we jumped in a cab. There was a shared van/cab that was ready to go and had room for two more.

 

There was also a long line for security at the airport. It took us 20-30 minutes to get through it but we were still fine because we had taken the cab. There was a guy at security checking peoples flight times and sending them to different lines depending on when their flights were. We were sent to the "long" line but that was ok because by that time we knew we were OK. I think he was sending people who had less time to make their flights to a shorter "express" line.