Late departure from a ship

[mamaofami]

We went to Port Everglades on Saturday to pick up friends who were getting off Emerald Princess. There were only 3 Or 4 ships in port that morning. They

Finally got off at 11am and were told it was because there were too few customs officials on duty. A really good reason not to make early plane reservations.

[kevingastreich]

We went to Port Everglades on Saturday to pick up friends who were getting off Emerald Princess. There were only 3 Or 4 ships in port that morning. They

Finally got off at 11am and were told it was because there were too few customs officials on duty. A really good reason not to make early plane reservations.

 

I'm hearing that more and more. Experiencing it too!

[sail7seas]

Thanks for the heads up, Carol.

A good lesson for those who continuously think they can make an early flight out of FLL.

[janmcn]

Yes, we were delayed with our disembarkation a bit over a week ago due to only 1 Custom Officer being available...more were added at 8 AM, but by then there were quite a few disgruntled passengers. (Only one other ship in port also.)

 

Definitely don't plan on any early morning flight...safest to be after noon. Sometimes inspections of the ship take longer, too.

[regnig]

Yep only 1 Customs official until 800am. We were on that same disembarkation. Listening to the announcements it sounded as if passengers were not following directions and creating congestion for the color/numbers being called. That always adds to a delay. Even with all that we were only 15 minutes behind being called to disembark and once into the terminal things seemed to be moving smoothly but a bit slow. We encountered something similar last spring.

 

Since this seems to becoming the norm any one would be foolish to book a very early flight. Long gone are the days when you could book a 900a-1000a flight.

[Cruising-along]

We went to Port Everglades on Saturday to pick up friends who were getting off Emerald Princess. There were only 3 Or 4 ships in port that morning. They

Finally got off at 11am and were told it was because there were too few customs officials on duty. A really good reason not to make early plane reservations.

 

Thanks Carol for posting this. I just read it to DH as a reminder :p

We usually try to stay at a hotel post cruise, but that isn't always possible. Great reminder.

[jhsocal]

Article in Travel section of our local newspaper on Sunday indicated Port Everglades is one of three ports with largest number of cruise ship passengers. I believe the other two are also in Florida. Good advice on booking afternoon flights.