Last ones off the boat

[Snit13]

58 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

We are generally are linger-as-long-as-possible kind of people too. Just off the Liberty a few weeks ago and they asked everyone off by 10 am. We had a 6:30 pm flight from Hobby so we lingered around Galveston for a bit. Head over to the Gulf Coast Departure Port topics for more info on things to do in Galveston.

 

Also, I've read some stories about winter fog in Galveston delaying Liberty's return by several hours. You might not have as much free time as you think.

Was wondering why all the posts about FLL.  Went back and read OP's post and sure enough he is flying from Texas to Michigan, not from Florida.

Ask your room attendant for the latest luggage tags and thus you exit the ship last.  We always ask for tag 1 to get off and hit the road for the drive home.  Enjoy your cruise.

[Cheezus]

I'd much rather hang out at the airport than a cruise ship on the last day.  At least you are AT your next destination and have that out of the way.  Airport has restaurants, bars, etc.  Cruise ship you sit in a lounge or whatever as everything is closed and a sense of "get out" in the air.

[sailingduo]

On one of our last b2b cruises,  those of us that were on the next sailing were waiting patiently in the lounge as required before disembarking and re-boarding the ship.  We were unable to do this because a couple of people decided they wanted to wait on ship as long as they possibly could.  At this point ship officers asked those in the lounge if we were on the next sailing.  Once they got to this couple - and found out they weren't they were told at that point they "had to leave.'  Yes, they were the last people off the ship - but also left the rest of us that were waiting to start our next week of vacation at a stand still because a couple of people decided it would be better to wait on the ship as to make other plans for when their cruise was over.

[kalliekae]

6 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

It's happened to us at FLL once, flying Southwest.  They said they have limited space at the gates.

 

This happened to us when we flew American a couple of years ago. They said the same thing....not enough room at the gates. Personally, I wish FLL would expand. It is just too small for all the passenger traffic.

 

 

 

 

[Cheezus]

14 minutes ago, kalliekae said:

 

This happened to us when we flew American a couple of years ago. They said the same thing....not enough room at the gates. Personally, I wish FLL would expand. It is just too small for all the passenger traffic.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh they did expand. They added a controversial new runway to handle more passengers and flights. Big expansion.

 

Of course, the terminals are basically the same and the pickup and drop off lanes are the same. All too crowded and too small during busy times.  Used to be the smaller and easier airport.  But those days are long gone. No sure they will ever be able to fix it. 

[BigHouseFootball]

I’d say 9:30-10:00 is about as late as you can still be on the ship. 

 

Dont let everyone else get to you. There is no right or wrong way to cruise. Only YOUR way. You want to wait as long as you can? Go for it. You do t want to be in the craziness of getting off with everyone? Fine. You don’t want to spend hours at the airport? Good for you. 

 

Take it easy, grab breakfast then linger until it’s time to leave. 

[dswallow]

A shame they don't have some big lounge space where you can hang out after exiting through customs, for those who still have time before their next stop and/or those who still want to mingle with friends they met aboard. Prime opportunity to get more drink revenue, more food revenue, and maybe even another parking day of revenue. 

[alfaeric]

4 minutes ago, BigHouseFootball said:

I’d say 9:30-10:00 is about as late as you can still be on the ship. 

 

Dont let everyone else get to you. There is no right or wrong way to cruise. Only YOUR way. You want to wait as long as you can? Go for it. You do t want to be in the craziness of getting off with everyone? Fine. You don’t want to spend hours at the airport? Good for you. 

 

Take it easy, grab breakfast then linger until it’s time to leave. 

 

+1.  And if your stateroom attendant knows, you can also stay in the room past 8am.  Seeing many closed doors as we head out at 9am, I know we are far, far from the only ones who do that.  Kind of nice to have a slower morning than most in our cabin.  

 

And it's not as if we leave a huge mess to clean up- for the most part, the work for them is just change everything- much like every single day.

 

BTW, do remember the longer drive from Galveston to whichever airport.  So the wait time there isn't quite as bad as at FLL if you had a 3pm flight.

[Clarea]

7 minutes ago, dswallow said:

A shame they don't have some big lounge space where you can hang out after exiting through customs, for those who still have time before their next stop and/or those who still want to mingle with friends they met aboard. Prime opportunity to get more drink revenue, more food revenue, and maybe even another parking day of revenue. 

 

Problem is that they need space for thousands of arriving passengers.

[biomedbob]

We always get the earliest to get off luggage tags, but wait for several other groups to get called.  After a decent time, and before the next group get called, waltz down to an uncrowded custom area, find our luggage among few others left in the "2' area and go outside and meet our driver.  Did this again 2 weeks ago in Baltimore.

[Pipo]

You can stay on the ship until 10:30-11:00 am, but the cabin attendant's supervisor will knock the door of your cabin around 9:30 to "check the mini-bar", and he will kindly ask you to leave ASAP.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Pipo

[Russ Lomas]

When we have a late flight to catch and do not wish to quicken our return to the cold, snowy north, we hang out on the ship until around 10:15-10:20 and they are making their final disembarkation call.  One of the party in our group found one of their suitcases had been taken by someone else who disembarked earlier and it was 2 weeks before it was sent back to them.  From that point on we always do a self-disembark and just bring our suitcases up to the pool deck.  We have enjoyed the clamshell chairs in the solarium area while we wait.  There is not really anything to do on the ship other than relax at this time.

[JulieMcCoy]

I’m apparently in the minority, but when I’m flying back to the snowy north and have a late flight, I’d rather sit in the warm air on the pool deck and read a book than hightail it to the airport.

[HBE4]

38 minutes ago, JulieMcCoy said:

I’m apparently in the minority, but when I’m flying back to the snowy north and have a late flight, I’d rather sit in the warm air on the pool deck and read a book than hightail it to the airport.

 

I'm right there with you. By the end of a cruise, I'm in total relaxation mode and in not in the mood to fight the crowds & long lines to be first off the ship.

 

Plus, I'm not a morning person. I paid for 1 full week (168 hours) to be on the ship & I'm going to get every last minute in, darn it! LOL

[sjb317]

21 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

It's happened to us at FLL once, flying Southwest.  They said they have limited space at the gates.

Us, too.😀.  We’ve flown out of Ft Lauderdale 3 or 4 times, always on SW, and have always been told this is airport policy.    Once we were stopped at the entrance to security by a very surly TSA because we were outside of the 2 hour window, we were at 2 hours 10 min. 😳 

 

I’ve always thought Ft Lauderdale is a terrible airport, especially if you have to wait very long. Nothing to do and chairs were uncomfortable,.

 

Sherri🙂

[FrankNBrew]

Sounds like we can eat a casual breakfast, exit the ship avoiding the stampede, and not inconvenience anybody in the process. That's what I was looking for. Thanks for all of the great responses!! And the not-so-great ones, too!! 

[Biker19]

16 hours ago, Cheezus said:

No sure they will ever be able to fix it. 

The walkway on the secure side between terminals may help overcrowding in any single terminal - due to be completed in about 3 years.

[Biker19]

16 hours ago, Cheezus said:

No sure they will ever be able to fix it. 

Dupe.

 

CC fail +1.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Biker19

[Biker19]

16 hours ago, Cheezus said:

No sure they will ever be able to fix it. 

Dupe, CC fail +2

Edited November 29, 2018 by Biker19

[Biker19]

 

 

12 hours ago, Pipo said:

You can stay on the ship until 10:30-11:00 am, but the cabin attendant's supervisor will knock the door of your cabin around 9:30 to "check the mini-bar", and he will kindly ask you to leave ASAP.

The mini bars have been emptied for several months  - nothing to check.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Biker19

[Clarea]

27 minutes ago, sjb317 said:

Us, too.😀.  We’ve flown out of Ft Lauderdale 3 or 4 times, always on SW, and have always been told this is airport policy.    Once we were stopped at the entrance to security by a very surly TSA because we were outside of the 2 hour window, we were at 2 hours 10 min. 😳 

 

I’ve always thought Ft Lauderdale is a terrible airport, especially if you have to wait very long. Nothing to do and chairs were uncomfortable,.

 

Sherri🙂

 

At least they have free internet there.

[ryano]

16 hours ago, dswallow said:

 and maybe even another parking day of revenue. 

 

They already get that 🙂   At least at Port Canaveral anyway.   You will pay for 8 days of parking for a 7 day cruise.  

Edited November 29, 2018 by ryano

[PortSideCruzan]

36 minutes ago, FrankNBrew said:

 

Sounds like we can eat a casual breakfast, exit the ship avoiding the stampede, and not inconvenience anybody in the process.

 

That's what I was looking for. 

 

 

Hi FrankNBrew ☺️

 

My wife & I are the same. We always avoid the 7:30am to 9am debarkation rush. We typically wait until 9:30am or so and debark leisurely. 

 

I haven't seen this mentioned in your post here yet, so I'll take the opportunity to bring it up. When receiving debarkation luggage tags with luggage zone numbers, I always request new/replacement ones from my stateroom steward or guest services for higher zone numbers with later debark times, to avoid/prevent my luggage from sitting in the pick up area longer than necessary.

 

You'll receive these luggage tags in your cabin; extremely easy to request new ones. 

 

I'm going to use an example below from my previous Anthem Of The Seas sailing in effort to explain this better for you, so you'll know what I mean.

 

Hope this helps you some. Have a wonderful voyage!

 

 

 

 

😊

[Anita Latte]

I lived in Houston for over 6 years...moving in 2012, so...but based on my experience I would say that a 3:30 pm flight time doesn’t actually have a ton of leisure. It’ll be a nice pace. Houston traffic is unpredictable, you have about 70 miles of unpredictable between yourself and the airport. That’s easily over an hour of travel time...if you aim for being at the airport by 1:30 to allow for the two hours recommended than you are talking about needing to leave Galveston by 12 noon-ish.

 

As everyone has said, somewhere around 10 is pretty much as late as you can stay onboard but the atmosphere isn’t the best. Still, that’s only 2 hours of leeway or, as my DH puts it....margin for error. If you want to eat lunch before your flight...we’ll, boom...end of leeway.

 

I only sailed out of Galveston once. I don’t recall if there is much of interest nearby that would make for a nice early lunch place. It all depends on the weather I suppose and how much luggage you have but I would be figuring out your lunch plans and designing your debarkation day around those.

[tiger13]

IMO there is nothing wrong with staying on the ship to be last off, you are not delaying anyone and sitting by the pool is not interfering with any workers.  Just be off by the time they ask and dont have them need to announce your name.

 

As for FLL,  I too have flown home from there many times.  One time the line was so long it snaked around the entire airport.  I waited in this line only to finally get to the front and be told you are too early only flights within 2 hours are allowed past this point.  Lesson learned, next time I went to FLL and saw a long lone I went to the front and asked the "guard" if there were any restrictions and she said NO so I went and waited in the line.

 

Apparently FLL does put 2 hour restrictions on checking in when they feel they are overwhelmed with passengers and I assume this was a day when several ships had all got into port on the same day.

 

That being said, I would stay on ship as late as they allow  and no reason to go to airport so early, find something to do in the area.  BTW someone HAS to be last off the ship, so no one should feel guilty about being that person, unless of course they keep calling your name over the announcement, in which case they are trying to close out the sailing and you ARE indeed holding them up.  Enjoy your cruise !!