Flights from Tampa after Rhapsody Transatlantic

[skrapngal]

Arriving in Tampa on Nov 9th at 5AM (according to cruise schedule). What time is it safe to book a flight to Canada? Most flight options seem to leave between 11:30 and 1PM. Is 11:30 too early?

[Namelocg]

I am also on this TA but you need to check your dates. My confirmation shows departing Barcelona on Nov 9th, arriving in Tampa on Nov 22nd at 5 AM. You should not have a problem catching a flight between those hours, especially if you do self debarkation.

[StanleyandGus]

It’s actually the 23rd. 

 

I am starting to look at this too. I thought I might try Air2Sea.

[Clarea]

1 hour ago, skrapngal said:

Arriving in Tampa on Nov 9th at 5AM (according to cruise schedule). What time is it safe to book a flight to Canada? Most flight options seem to leave between 11:30 and 1PM. Is 11:30 too early?

 

You will probably be OK with an 11:30am flight.  However, you should know that a transatlantic cruise can have delays at arrival in the US because of CBP procedures with every crewmember, US Public Health inspections, and Coast Guard inspections.  These activities can consume both CBP agents and crewmembers and potentially delay the disembarkation process.

 

I usually book no earlier than 1pm for the flight after a transatlantic arrival, but could have easily made an earlier flight when we arrived in Tampa after transatlantics on Vision and Brilliance.

[Namelocg]

16 minutes ago, StanleyandGus said:

It’s actually the 23rd. 

 

I am starting to look at this too. I thought I might try Air2Sea.

That's what happens when I type on my tablet but at least the 22nd is closer to the 23rd than the 9th. I've used air2sea on my last 2 TA's and it worked out great. 

[skrapngal]

My bad.. it is actually the 23rd LOL... I will try to favor the 12:30 or 1PM flights but it might well depend on price. Right now, they want more money than the Transatlantic flight to Barcelona which seems crazy!!!

[JohninDC]

Winter fog in Tampa is another issue that sometimes delays ship arrivals.  I would be safe and look for flights leaving after 1:00 but it is your call.

 

Have a great cruise. 

Edited January 1, 2019 by JohninDC

[FLACRUISER99]

11 minutes ago, JohninDC said:

Winter fog in Tampa is another issue that sometimes delays ship arrivals.  I would be safe and look for flights leaving after 1:00 but it is your call.

 

Have a great cruise. 

Dom't forget this years TA was rerouted to Port Canaveral and passengers were then bussed to Tampa. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Tampa 

on the Rhaspody Nov 2017 TA , they only had about 3  custom agents  working 

we did not get off until about 2 pm , also there was no cabs around , a lot of people missed their flights 

it was so bad the ship opened up the buffet for lunch 

i will try to skip Tampa in the future 

 

 

[Clarea]

1 hour ago, FLACRUISER99 said:

Dom't forget this years TA was rerouted to Port Canaveral and passengers were then bussed to Tampa. 

 

Even though that particular event was not fog related, it goes to show that weather can disrupt the schedule and ports.

[jean87510]

57 minutes ago, Airbalancer said:

Tampa 

on the Rhaspody Nov 2017 TA , they only had about 3  custom agents  working 

we did not get off until about 2 pm , also there was no cabs around , a lot of people missed their flights 

it was so bad the ship opened up the buffet for lunch 

i will try to skip Tampa in the future 

 

 

lol.  Its the reason we do afternoon and evening flights after a transatlantic.  That was horrendous! Luckily that day we were staying in Tampa overnight (Eagles had a Sunday night game - not in Tampa but my husband didn't want to be watching it on the plane or the airport because we can be a little boisterous) so we weren't worried about the flight but that was a disaster I will never forget.  I felt so badly for people who had morning flights.  I remember a woman who was dancing every day in the zumba class in the atrium who was actually pretty good being pushed out in front of everyone in a wheelchair.  

[OBX-Cruisers]

17 hours ago, skrapngal said:

My bad.. it is actually the 23rd LOL... I will try to favor the 12:30 or 1PM flights but it might well depend on price. Right now, they want more money than the Transatlantic flight to Barcelona which seems crazy!!!

Prices for flying from the US to Canada are horrible.  You can often fly to Europe and diagonally to the other end of the US cheaper which does indeed seem insane

[OBX-Cruisers]

30 minutes ago, OBX-Cruisers said:

Prices for flying from the US to Canada are horrible.  You can often fly to Europe and diagonally to the other end of the US cheaper which does indeed seem insane

In your case it would be useful to know WHERE in Canada you want to fly to.  I saw some very reasonable one way fares to several major eastern Canada cities after my reply above.  For me, it is very expensive to fly from ORF to almost any Canadian city but FL appears to have much more reasonable fares at least from Tampa from what I saw

[skrapngal]

flying from TPA to YQM. We are waiting it out for the moment, hoping for some kind of seat sale. Plan B might be to rent a car, get an evening flight from MCO with an overnight stop in YYZ. Even with the car rental AND the hotel, we would still save approximately $100 each

 

Plan A is still TPA-YQM, on the 2:15 flight.

[StanleyandGus]

Thanks fo posting this, Skrapngal. Until responses started to come in, I had assumed that a noon flight would be fine; now we are considering an overnight stay, just to be safe.

[mo&fran]

36 minutes ago, StanleyandGus said:

Thanks fo posting this, Skrapngal. Until responses started to come in, I had assumed that a noon flight would be fine; now we are considering an overnight stay, just to be safe.

 That is what we have always done when we had to fly home after cruising.  Much less stress , not having to worry about getting to the airport in time.

[ONECRUISER]

On 12/31/2018 at 5:09 PM, Host Clarea said:

 

You will probably be OK with an 11:30am flight.  However, you should know that a transatlantic cruise can have delays at arrival in the US because of CBP procedures with every crewmember, US Public Health inspections, and Coast Guard inspections.  These activities can consume both CBP agents and crewmembers and potentially delay the disembarkation process.

 

I usually book no earlier than 1pm for the flight after a transatlantic arrival, but could have easily made an earlier flight when we arrived in Tampa after transatlantics on Vision and Brilliance.

Agree, even the Repos I cruise take 1-2hrs longer getting everyone off ship then my regular cruises on same ship. On those out of Tampa I usually just fly out after Noon myself so dont have to rush.

[RosieRoo]

This just happened four days ago.  Tampa is notorious for fog delays. 

 

 

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-hillsborough/heavy-fog-leads-to-back-ups-at-port-of-tampa-bay-ships-and-passengers-still-waiting

[skrapngal]

so, since the choice TPA-YQM flights are at 2:15PM (later flights would cost even more $$ and still require an overnight in Toronto), would it be wiser to rent a car and drive to Orlando to catch a 9:30PM flight? Would need to be at the airport. Google maps says it's about a 2-hour drive max., which means we would need to depart Tampa cruise port by 5:30 at the latest.

 

I don't know Florida, but I wouldn't think traffic would be too heavy on a Saturday late afternoon/early evening. And I cannot imagine that we wouldn't be off the ship by 5!!!!

Edited January 4, 2019 by skrapngal