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Time frame to allow from port to airport


Heartcruizing
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40 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Ahhh, so if we are talking about Europe, Asia or South America we generally use another strategy which is to very seldom take a flight the day we get off ships (Civitavecchia has been one exception for a bunch of reasons).  Our norm will be to spend days or even weeks on land, after a cruise.  A majority of time it is just a matter of picking up our rental or leased car and driving off into the sunset :).  We also like to fly-in days or weeks early (sometimes to an airport far from our port) and enjoy land time before getting our cruise.   Not only does this take away all the stress of making a flight, but it allows us to spend significant time on land.   One interesting facet about Civitavecchia is that we have never been on a ship that docked late...and the Italians are among the most efficient (it hurts to say that the Italians do anything efficient) at clearing ships.  Since there are no delays for Customs/Immigration we have no hesitancy in booking later morning flights.

 

Hank

Yes- we almost always do different (and interesting) start and end ports with added land stays to max the benefit from air tix while also reducing scheduling stress.

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35 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

As I thought.  At least my response is relevant for the OP as it is based on actual experiences at that port and airport, not just an opinion based on some general rule. 

 

Enjoy your cruises.

Your statement assumes that, somehow, that cruise port and airport are not subject to the same delay issues experienced with regularity all over the rest of the world.

 

That said, I'd bet that well over a million air miles (business and pleasure) combined with a fairly comprehensive professional understanding of maritime port operations trumps "actual experiences at that port and airport," at least in terms of alerting OP not to rely on a flight decision where there is no Plan B and the only backup way "out of Dodge" could be far more costly (money and time) than a change fee now.

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22 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Your statement assumes that, somehow, that cruise port and airport are not subject to the same delay issues experienced with regularity all over the rest of the world.

 

That said, I'd bet that well over a million air miles (business and pleasure) combined with a fairly comprehensive professional understanding of maritime port operations trumps "actual experiences at that port and airport," at least in terms of alerting OP not to rely on a flight decision where there is no Plan B and the only backup way "out of Dodge" could be far more costly (money and time) than a change fee now.

I make no assumptions and only state my experience.   That is a dangerous word as you know - and you assume I have none of your stated worldliness to combine with my experience at those ports.

 

Oh well.....

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26 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

I make no assumptions and only state my experience.   That is a dangerous word as you know - and you assume I have none of your stated worldliness to combine with my experience at those ports.

 

Oh well.....

Nothing personal meant by that comparison. Rather, and it is a tremendous shortcoming of CC posts, a lot of folks buy the advice here with no consideration of whether the source is based on anecdotal local or data-driven industry-wide experience.

 

If that ship's arrival is delayed for anyone of a host of "not unusual" reasons (e.g., weather, mechanics, emergency,  [i.e., med evac] or the airport offers few alternatives for plan changing if you do miss your flight, or local blah blah blah throws you a monkey wrench, what your past experience THERE may have been - is irrelevant.

 

Of course, disembarkation risk-taking is not quite the same issue as is embarkation where a misstep or delay could cost you a cruise. But, a disembarkation misstep can be fairly costly as well- far moreso than the savings realized by that early flight.

 

 

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Based solely on personal experience: 13 cruises in a row, leaving Port Everglades on what might be one of the busiest travel return days of the year (last Sunday of the two week Christmas break for most public schools and universities in Canada, US), usually no less than 7 other ships disembarking with us, picking up our own bags, Uber or taxi. With flights varying in departure time from 11:00 am to 12:10 (as it was this past Jan 6)...no issues to this point (and only had advantage of Global Entry card on one  of those cruises as not everyone in the party always had one). Could that change next year? Absolutely. Will I base next year’s travel plans out of Port E on those 13 personal experiences or the possible what-if? Definitely on past experience. Typically takes us 90 min from walking off the ship to being at our gate. Just one family’s experience, though. 

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First thing to alway consider is that by booking a return flight before 12 noon after returning to Port Everglades, your travel insurance will not cover any flight issues because you disregarded the cruise line recommendation return light times.

There are times at FLL that you walk in, right up to the service counter, check your bags and head towards security.  And then you have times where there are 9 ships docking including two of the mammoths, dropping 50, 000 passengers out, not to mention thousands coming from POM.  Those times they won't let you even get into the counter line until you are within 2 hours of your flight and then they start pulling out of line people whose flights are less than a hour because that line is 60 minutes .  Without that escort through security, you can be stuck 30-60 minutes there.  The good news is at FLL, you can get to the gate as fast as you can run, no trams.  

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My husband and I have cruised out of FLL many times and we always are among the first to self-disembark and get a flight around 11am to go home. Typically we are at the gate at FLL by 8:30 - 8:45 am.  We have experienced no problem making our flights whatsoever through well over 20 cruises.  Having Pre-Chk is extremely helpful with the security line at the airport. When you come out of the terminal, there will be a sign for taxis - which are usually lined up across the street from the terminal. 

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I wouldn't hesitate to book any flight after 10am out of FLL.

I would NEVER use the cruise line's transfer system, though, no matter how much time I had before my flight.  They use a big bus and the bus doesn't leave until it's full, so you have to wait for everyone else to get their bags and get on the bus.  PLUS, it's usually way cheaper to get a cab, anyway.  

 

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On 1/17/2019 at 4:22 PM, SuiteTraveler said:

My husband and I have cruised out of FLL many times and we always are among the first to self-disembark and get a flight around 11am to go home. Typically we are at the gate at FLL by 8:30 - 8:45 am.  We have experienced no problem making our flights whatsoever through well over 20 cruises.  Having Pre-Chk is extremely helpful with the security line at the airport. When you come out of the terminal, there will be a sign for taxis - which are usually lined up across the street from the terminal. 

Fantastic...relieved to know you have had success with this. I mean, I know anything could happen but chances are we should make out ok. Do you know how we would go about getting off the boat within the first 2 groups?  Would it be first come, first serve?  If so how far in advance should we go wait in line?  Do we need to register for a time to get off?  I am sure we will learn all this when we board but a little bit of professional advice would be appreciated 😊

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On 1/12/2019 at 6:02 PM, h-sar said:

Based solely on personal experience: 13 cruises in a row, leaving Port Everglades on what might be one of the busiest travel return days of the year (last Sunday of the two week Christmas break for most public schools and universities in Canada, US), usually no less than 7 other ships disembarking with us, picking up our own bags, Uber or taxi. With flights varying in departure time from 11:00 am to 12:10 (as it was this past Jan 6)...no issues to this point (and only had advantage of Global Entry card on one  of those cruises as not everyone in the party always had one). Could that change next year? Absolutely. Will I base next year’s travel plans out of Port E on those 13 personal experiences or the possible what-if? Definitely on past experience. Typically takes us 90 min from walking off the ship to being at our gate. Just one family’s experience, though. 

Thank you. You are giving me hope. 

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20 hours ago, brillohead said:

I wouldn't hesitate to book any flight after 10am out of FLL.

I would NEVER use the cruise line's transfer system, though, no matter how much time I had before my flight.  They use a big bus and the bus doesn't leave until it's full, so you have to wait for everyone else to get their bags and get on the bus.  PLUS, it's usually way cheaper to get a cab, anyway.  

 

Uber or cab it is. Thank you 

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On 1/10/2019 at 4:20 AM, MicCanberra said:

It took us less than 1/2 hour to get the airport from the port but we were off early and there were many cabs. I would allow at least an hour and then another to get through security.

Great!  That’s fast!!  How would I go about trying to get off the boat in the first 1 or 2 waves?

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2 hours ago, Heartcruizing said:

Great!  That’s fast!!  How would I go about trying to get off the boat in the first 1 or 2 waves?

Instead of querying folks who've flown that route a couple of dozen times in a lifetime, it's too bad you can't query someone who's flown that route two dozen times in a year. 

The experiences of air commuters vs casual travelers are very different and much more reliable.

Whatever you ultimately choose to do, recognize that the cost (in time, effort and money) to rebook a missed flight in TODAY's air travel environment will definitely cost you far more than the price difference in flights from morning to afternoon in airports that serve large numbers of cruisers/tourists. But, that is your risk to take.

Think about it:  Given the number of variables in this type of statistical analysis, the actual odds of making THAT flight on THAT day on THAT airline are essentially 50/50. Nonetheless, airlines do offer the lowest prices in those locations in the AM, because their records probably show an overall higher income from rebooking fees.

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When it comes to flying out of FLL after a cruise that docks in Port Everglades, we are comfortable with flights as early as 10am.  Yes, there is a risk but based on our own experience it is negligible.  We agree with others that its wise to use express disembarkation along with a taxi, Uber or Lyft to the airport.   This generally gets us to FLL between 7 and 7:30.  Most of our cruises are docked by 6am and start letting express folks off by 6:30.  Another advantage to this early scheme is that the security lines at FLL are relatively short that early in the morning but can grow to long lines very quickly as more and more ships disgorge their passengers.   There is no doubt that the risk of missing a flight is less for later flights so what you do really depends on your own risk tolerance (comfort level).  Over the decades I have spent too much time cooling my heels at FLL, which is an airport I dislike because of the lack of decent lounges :(.

 

If you are on a ship that is scheduled to dock at 7 (there are a few) then we would not be comfortable with a flight before 11.

 

Hank

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4 hours ago, Heartcruizing said:

Great!  That’s fast!!  How would I go about trying to get off the boat in the first 1 or 2 waves?

I am not sure how Carnival operate there but here if you walk your own bags off you can be off the ship before the first groups are even called. When we did it there on X, that was also what we did.

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