11:35 flight off the Reflection, out of FLL

[lisakoivu]

Will I make an 11:35 am flight from FLL getting off Celebrity Reflection? I know it's better to take a later flight, but they're more and a lot later. I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has done this and also anyone who has been on Reflection recently who can tell me what time they actually start to disembark (I know the website says 7 am). I've never cruised Celebrity before, but their breaks for we poor, underfunded Canadians are unbelievable right now, so they may have a convert. Also, I'm a Canadian teacher, so March break is my only option.

[dmp223]

We just recently had an 11:10am flight from FLL and were on Reflection. Mind you, we flew domestically and I don't know what, if any, extra "steps" you might have to go through with flying to Canada.

 

We were off the ship by 7:15am or so. We also did self-disembark and had ALL of our bags with us. We were out of our stateroom by 6:30am, had a quick breakfast at Luminae and walked off the ship and down to customs around 7am.

 

Had a private car service pick us up at 7:45am and arrived at FLL around 8:40am.. (we hit some traffic coming out of Miami).

 

Hope this helps! :)

[Bo1953]

I just self-disembarked from Silhouette this past Sunday, 14 Feb 15, in FLL. You will need to be in your designated area of the ship (provided night before docking) with your luggage ready to go at the designated time.

 

We were told to be at the lower Grand Cuvee dining room entrance at 7a, which we were and dis-embarkation started about 7.30a with us clearing customs by 7.50a where we had a 90 second walk to meet the minivan which made a few stops before leaving the port and arrived at the airport 8.20a.

 

Our flight was at 10.40a with check in not opening until 9.30a... plenty of time, unless there is a challenge with customs clearance... please note we only had to check in luggage as we did the flight check in on board the day before.

 

This is doable, where I was skeptical before, then again, everything went smoothly - there is only one (1) flight a day to my local airport, so to have missed the flight would have been a slight issue... ;-)

 

bon voyage

Edited February 15, 2016 by Bo1953

[lisakoivu]

Thank you both for the info. I do understand that it is "risky", but just wondering what traffic and such was like on the Saturday morning, and as I said, how soon you actually get off. Would either or both of you be so kind as to tell me what shuttle services you used?

[bEwAbG]

Off the Reflection this past Saturday, February 13. We kept our suitcases with us and carried them off the ship ourselves. Went to breakfast at 7:15am and returned to our stateroom to pick up our bags at 7:45am. We wheeled our bags to the Deck 5 debarkation point and walked right off into the terminal. We then walked right through customs as there was no line and were in a cab at 8:02. Differences from your situation are that we flew out of MIA so I cannot speak to that drive to FLL (though it was less than 10 minutes to MIA with no traffic), and we are US citizens.

 

As long as you handle your own baggage, it appears that you can leave whenever you want. I would suspect that if you're in that group of people who need to be the first ones off, the customs situation may be a little different in terms of lines.

[lisakoivu]

Off the Reflection this past Saturday, February 13. We kept our suitcases with us and carried them off the ship ourselves. Went to breakfast at 7:15am and returned to our stateroom to pick up our bags at 7:45am. We wheeled our bags to the Deck 5 debarkation point and walked right off into the terminal. We then walked right through customs as there was no line and were in a cab at 8:02. Differences from your situation are that we flew out of MIA so I cannot speak to that drive to FLL (though it was less than 10 minutes to MIA with no traffic), and we are US citizens.

 

As long as you handle your own baggage, it appears that you can leave whenever you want. I would suspect that if you're in that group of people who need to be the first ones off, the customs situation may be a little different in terms of lines.

 

Well, I have no trouble grabbing a coffee and being first in line - my normal wake-up time at home is 4:45 to get to the gym before work! Your info is very helpful - thank you. Am hoping to flush out anyone who has been on recently and the ship docked late. But based on all the posts so far, feeling optimistic that it's doable.

[Bo1953]

Thank you both for the info. I do understand that it is "risky", but just wondering what traffic and such was like on the Saturday morning, and as I said, how soon you actually get off. Would either or both of you be so kind as to tell me what shuttle services you used?

 

There was no 'real' traffic at that hour. More traffic in the port picking up passengers than going to the airport, itself.

 

It was less than 15 minutes to the FLL airport for us.

 

Yet I was going on Sunday not Saturday... sorry for not addressing that first.

 

bon voyage

[lisakoivu]

There was no 'real' traffic at that hour. More traffic in the port picking up passengers than going to the airport, itself.

 

It was less than 15 minutes to the FLL airport for us.

 

Yet I was going on Sunday not Saturday... sorry for not addressing that first.

 

bon voyage

 

Thinking Sat would be similar though, not a conventional "work" day....thank you!

[Bo1953]

Thinking Sat would be similar though, not a conventional "work" day....thank you!

 

Actually, remember it is S Florida and tourist are on vacation... LOL

[Cruise a holic]

As long as you do not mind self carry off- and leaving ship early, it shouldn't be a problem. It might be difficult or impossible to get an elevator for your departure so remember you might have to carry your luggage down many (depending upon your deck) down to the departure exit. You can grab a cab and head to the airport. Of course if the ship has any delays, such as customs, you are cutting it close. I believe you are supposed to check in 1 1/2 hours before your flights departure time.

 

Enjoy your trip.

[bEwAbG]

It was less than 15 minutes to the FLL airport for us.

 

OP is going from the port in Miami to the airport in Fort Lauderdale. That is typically a 30-45 minute drive. How did you get there in 15? It's at least 25 miles away.

[dmp223]

Thank you both for the info. I do understand that it is "risky", but just wondering what traffic and such was like on the Saturday morning, and as I said, how soon you actually get off. Would either or both of you be so kind as to tell me what shuttle services you used?

 

We had a private car with Larry's Limo, $85.00 + $17.00 gratuity which automatically gets added on to the charge.

 

We were in heavy traffic as soon as we got on I-95; the driver got off a few exits later and took local a secondary road for awhile before getting back on.

 

Another point I would like to add, we took all of our luggage when we left our room at 6:30am. Had no problem getting an empty elevator (which as many will concur, elevators on disembark day can be a bit of a nightmare!). Once we were done with breakfast, we headed back up to deck 5, (again no elevator issues) and off we went.

[Georgia_Peaches]

You will be fine if you follow the advice of the other posters. Keep your luggage and carry it off. We had a 10:45 flight out of FFL back in November off the Constellation and made it to the air port in plenty of time. It's an early rise morning for sure. There are plenty of cabs waiting outside the terminal and the ride is only about 10 minutes. Good luck!

CM

[Lois R]

There was no 'real' traffic at that hour. More traffic in the port picking up passengers than going to the airport, itself.

 

It was less than 15 minutes to the FLL airport for us.

 

Yet I was going on Sunday not Saturday... sorry for not addressing that first.

 

bon voyage

 

Hi Bo, 15 minutes from the port of Miami to the Ft. Lauderdale Airport?:eek:

Did you take a helicopter ride?:D....even on a Sunday, I can't imagine

it only taking 15 minutes.

[monicajay]

FYI Off the Summit last year Celebrity said that only American Citizens could do self -disembark, we had never seen this before. As we have done it on every other cruise and only travel with small carry-on luggage we 'broke the rule' or 'ignored it' and walked off anyway. Nobody questioned it or gave us a hard time. I'm a teacher too, and not normally not a rule breaker but I could not see why only US Citizens could get off early.

[frak]

had a noon flight out of fll off of the refection this past december. walked off the ship at 8:15 with luggage. took a taxi.got on 95 and the traffic stopped!!!they were doing some road repair. cabbie used the berm of road to get off the next exit and took alternate route to airport. total time was about 1 hour 10 minutes.made it to fll with plenty of time to spare.

[SeaHunt]

had a noon flight out of fll off of the refection this past december. walked off the ship at 8:15 with luggage. took a taxi.got on 95 and the traffic stopped!!!they were doing some road repair. cabbie used the berm of road to get off the next exit and took alternate route to airport. total time was about 1 hour 10 minutes.made it to fll with plenty of time to spare.

 

Was this the December 12 sailing (flight 12/19)? We were in a big traffic jam on I 95 that day after leaving the Reflection/port parking garage.

 

We had friends who sailed with us who were flying out of FLL (11:20 flight with Delta, booked through ChoiceAir), and we were really worried that they wouldn't make their flight due to the traffic - but they called us when they got back home and said their shuttle driver just zipped through back streets and got them to the airport in plenty of time.

 

They used SAS shuttle (ridesas) @ $15pp both coming from FLL airport to our pre-cruise Miami hotel (JW Marriott Marquis Miami, wonderful), and then back from Miami to the FLL airport.

 

We all did self disembarkation, and left our rooms around 6:15 with all luggage (no breakfast on board for us this morning). My husband piggybacked two wheeled cases and I wheeled one. We went to the designated place and waited quite a while, then out on deck and waited again in another line. Pretty chilly that morning too. Finally allowed off (have your seapass with you, they scan it right before you get to the gangway - some people ahead of us had left theirs in their cabin and were having quite a conversation with an officer, don't know outcome of that). Off the gangway it was like the Indy 500 - everyone in quite a hurry - probably because of everyone with early flights).

 

We got to an area with an elevator and an escalator down to customs. I have a wonky knee and thought I'd better use the elevator, but there was quite a line, so I went on the escalator instead. I looked back at my husband behind me when the guard started saying - AFTER my husband was already on the escalator - that "if you have more than one suitcase you must use the elevator". Oh well, husband's two piggybacked cases were already on, can't turn around now.

 

I felt pretty good that we were on safely when BOOM... the escalator came to an immediate stop with people screaming. OMG what happened? Someone down further in front of us had fallen, and then more people had fallen over them. Everyone else just stayed where they were so others at the bottom could help clear the steps (apparently no one was injured, or at least I didn't see anyone taken away).

 

Finally the guard down at the bottom of the escalator yelled that we were going to have to walk the rest of the way down, so people started walking down the steps. Remember my wonky knee? Ugh. I s-l-o-w-l-y started down like a sideways crab, pulling/lugging my heavy suitcase down behind me on each escalator step (kaBOOM, kaBOOM, kaBOOM) followed by my husband and his kaBOOMBOOM, kaBOOMBOOM. The guard at the bottom was watching me struggle and then came up a few steps when I was almost down and helped me the rest of the way.

 

I can't remember if I even thanked her, but I really did appreciate it! I'd like to apologize if I held anyone behind me up also. What an exit! :o

[dodger1964]

...

 

I felt pretty good that we were on safely when BOOM... the escalator came to an immediate stop with people screaming. OMG what happened? Someone down further in front of us had fallen, and then more people had fallen over them. Everyone else just stayed where they were so others at the bottom could help clear the steps (apparently no one was injured, or at least I didn't see anyone taken away).

 

Finally the guard down at the bottom of the escalator yelled that we were going to have to walk the rest of the way down, so people started walking down the steps. Remember my wonky knee? Ugh. I s-l-o-w-l-y started down like a sideways crab, pulling/lugging my heavy suitcase down behind me on each escalator step (kaBOOM, kaBOOM, kaBOOM) followed by my husband and his kaBOOMBOOM, kaBOOMBOOM. The guard at the bottom was watching me struggle and then came up a few steps when I was almost down and helped me the rest of the way.

 

I can't remember if I even thanked her, but I really did appreciate it! I'd like to apologize if I held anyone behind me up also. What an exit! :o

 

I've heard of making a "grand entrance", but not sure I've heard of a "grand exit"!!

:rolleyes:

[Jobeth66]

We are on the Connie waiting to disembark. Storms rolled through after we docked with high winds and tornado warnings and possibly a water spout. We watched deck chairs fly off the top deck past our balcony. There is an area - wide blackout, they had to disconnect the gangway. And the customs officials have no power for their computers. It's now 9am and they have no idea when we'll be able to get off the ship. We have a 2pm flight and did luggage valet, so my bags will be on our plane and I just have my carry on. Luckily we have Global Entry, so we'll get through customs quicker, and we have TSA PreCheck, so we'll get through security quicker at the airport, but I would never book a flight before noon. Just not worth the stress for me. Is this perfect storm situation likely? Nope. But it happens.

[frak]

Was this the December 12 sailing (flight 12/19)? We were in a big traffic jam on I 95 that day after leaving the Reflection/port parking garage

 

 

 

yes, we were flying out dec 12

[RJHNorthyorks]

We disembarked from Reflection last Fri. Our official leaving time was 9.30 but we didn't actually clear immigration until 11.30. There were big queues in immigration although US citizens were going through much more quickly.

[port msp]

Will I make an 11:35 am flight from FLL getting off Celebrity Reflection? I know it's better to take a later flight, but they're more and a lot later. I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has done this and also anyone who has been on Reflection recently who can tell me what time they actually start to disembark (I know the website says 7 am). I've never cruised Celebrity before, but their breaks for we poor, underfunded Canadians are unbelievable right now, so they may have a convert. Also, I'm a Canadian teacher, so March break is my only option.

 

You'll probably make it, just get your ducks in a row;

 

1) carry off your own bags, which means packing light

2/ leave the ship as soon as you can

3) I'd pre-arrange for a car service to take you from Port of Miami to FLL. Check the port boards, there will be lots of suggestions for car services. No waiting for a cab. I'd personally avoid the van services. You'll be as fast as the slowest person who arranged for the same van.

 

We got off Reflection a couple weeks ago, self disembarked, and were in the cab line by 7am-ish. We actually waited 10 minutes for a cab, which I thought was odd.

 

But I've also arrived in port 5 hours late and missed a 1230 flight. One never knows. You'll probably be fine. Enjoy.

[cmstl97]

Our experience a few weeks ago on a Saturday had me a little alarmed at first. The traffic map on my phone was bright red everywhere you could see. Highways and major side streets were stopped everywhere. We made it only a few miles north of POM before we got into heavy traffic. This was around 10:45am. The Uber driver took us on a 'scenic' route through several residential neighborhoods and it seemed like it was taking forever. According to my app the total travel time was only 53 minutes. On the way down with no traffic it only took about 30 minutes.