Early morning flight question

[emsff02]

Hello all, I am sailing on Navigator of the Seas out of Miami at the end of September. My question is for the people who get off the ship early. We are heading to Orlando after the cruise. Has anyone had experience getting to Ft Lauderdale airport early in the morning. There is a flight from there to Orlando at 10. How quickly have people been able to get off the ship and through customs? I am considering hiring a ride service to arrive at 8am, which should get us to the airport by 9. Is this doable, or am I being too optimistic.

 

Any thoughts?

[Clarea]

Just now, emsff02 said:

Hello all, I am sailing on Navigator of the Seas out of Miami at the end of September. My question is for the people who get off the ship early. We are heading to Orlando after the cruise. Has anyone had experience getting to Ft Lauderdale airport early in the morning. There is a flight from there to Orlando at 10. How quickly have people been able to get off the ship and through customs? I am considering hiring a ride service to arrive at 8am, which should get us to the airport by 9. Is this doable, or am I being too optimistic.

 

Any thoughts?

 

I would so self-assist disembarkation and get in line about an hour before scheduled arrival.  That way you should be off the ship around 45 minutes after arrival. 

[time4u2go]

1 minute ago, emsff02 said:

Hello all, I am sailing on Navigator of the Seas out of Miami at the end of September. My question is for the people who get off the ship early. We are heading to Orlando after the cruise. Has anyone had experience getting to Ft Lauderdale airport early in the morning. There is a flight from there to Orlando at 10. How quickly have people been able to get off the ship and through customs? I am considering hiring a ride service to arrive at 8am, which should get us to the airport by 9. Is this doable, or am I being too optimistic.

 

Any thoughts?

If you wouldn't be getting to the airport until 9, that's very tight.  You'd still have to check luggage (I presume), and go through security, which can get backed up.

[voyager70]

I would give myself two hours to get through security at FLL.  September shouldn't be as busy as winter months but it can still be quite time consuming.

 

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, voyager70 said:

I would give myself two hours to get through security at FLL.  September shouldn't be as busy as winter months but it can still be quite time consuming.

 

 

I missed that the OP was flying out of FLL.  In that case, I would not book a 10am flight unless I knew I could be off the ship and in the car service vehicle by 7am.

[ShillyShally]

If you have CLEAR and TSA Pre you shouldn't have as much issue - FLL now has CLEAR and it made getting through a breeze but my son and his GF got through quickly with just TSA Pre (we had both and beat them through).  But since you are docking in Miami and flying out of FLL I don't know that I'd risk it unless I self disembarked and was only doing carry-on luggage on the plane!

[emsff02]

Thanks everyone for the input, looks like we will be going with our original plan and drive to Orlando. We are booked in a grand suite, so we can still get off the ship pretty early, get our rental car and be in Orlando before the next flight leaves FLL.

Edited March 25, 2019 by emsff02

[cruiseguy1016]

I was going to question why you were going to fly from Ft. Lauderdale to Orlando. I would think renting a car would much cheaper and probably quicker. It looks like that's the decision you have made.

[emsff02]

20 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

I was going to question why you were going to fly from Ft. Lauderdale to Orlando. I would think renting a car would much cheaper and probably quicker. It looks like that's the decision you have made.

Actually, the flight was only $65 a person, (southwest) and only an hour long, whereas driving is almost 4. We would be renting a car in Orlando anyway, so when I priced it out to only have an hour of travel time vs 4, and not having to drive, for about $150 more it seemed like a good idea.

[time4u2go]

7 minutes ago, emsff02 said:

Actually, the flight was only $65 a person, (southwest) and only an hour long, whereas driving is almost 4. We would be renting a car in Orlando anyway, so when I priced it out to only have an hour of travel time vs 4, and not having to drive, for about $150 more it seemed like a good idea.

To be fair it's not really 1 hour versus 4.  You'd spend almost 1 hour getting from Miami to FLL.  Then you would presumably arrive at the airport maybe 1.5 hours before the flight, followed by the flight itself, followed by waiting for your luggage in Orlando.  So it's pretty much the same in terms of overall duration.  Hopefully this will help you feel a little better about choosing to drive instead of fly. 

Edited March 25, 2019 by time4u2go

[ONECRUISER]

47 minutes ago, ShillyShally said:

If you have CLEAR and TSA Pre you shouldn't have as much issue - FLL now has CLEAR and it made getting through a breeze but my son and his GF got through quickly with just TSA Pre (we had both and beat them through).  But since you are docking in Miami and flying out of FLL I don't know that I'd risk it unless I self disembarked and was only doing carry-on luggage on the plane!

Good suggestion, saw they had CLEAR when there in Dec. Not the norm I've got to FLL and security line was out the door at least 3 times. Fly First Class so helps, but took others while. To OP, I'd do later

[Medic5emt]

Traffic in Miami is bad, and it is a timely drive to FLL. I would say it is a gamble.

[Snit13]

13 hours ago, emsff02 said:

Actually, the flight was only $65 a person, (southwest) and only an hour long, whereas driving is almost 4. We would be renting a car in Orlando anyway, so when I priced it out to only have an hour of travel time vs 4, and not having to drive, for about $150 more it seemed like a good idea.

You also were presuming the Southwest flight was going to be on time, no mechanical issues, crew out of time, etc.  Things happen to airplanes which are out of control of the airline.  We have driven that route many times.  Relax and enjoy the drive.

[waterbug123]

15 hours ago, emsff02 said:

There is a flight from there to Orlando at 10. How quickly have people been able to get off the ship and through customs? I am considering hiring a ride service to arrive at 8am, which should get us to the airport by 9. Is this doable, or am I being too optimistic.

 

 

I realize you've already made the decision to drive instead, but for others who may be reading and considering this...

 

Arriving at the airport at 9:00 for a 10:00 flight is risky.  There could be lines to check bags, and even if you are able to travel with carry-ons only, you still have to go through security.  I fly through FLL frequently and security is hit or miss.  Often there is no line, but other times I've seen the line wrapped around the building.  Keep in mind that the boarding door may close 5-10 min before the scheduled departure time, AND you are generally required to be in the boarding area at least 30 minutes before boarding or you risk losing your seat to a standby passenger.  That would mean being at the gate no later than 9:30, which means only 30 minutes to check in, go through security and reach the gate.  Easy to do if there are no lines, but if there are lines it's another story.  

[bar1068]

5 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

 

I realize you've already made the decision to drive instead, but for others who may be reading and considering this...

 

Arriving at the airport at 9:00 for a 10:00 flight is risky.  There could be lines to check bags, and even if you are able to travel with carry-ons only, you still have to go through security.  I fly through FLL frequently and security is hit or miss.  Often there is no line, but other times I've seen the line wrapped around the building.  Keep in mind that the boarding door may close 5-10 min before the scheduled departure time, AND you are generally required to be in the boarding area at least 30 minutes before boarding or you risk losing your seat to a standby passenger.  That would mean being at the gate no later than 9:30, which means only 30 minutes to check in, go through security and reach the gate.  Easy to do if there are no lines, but if there are lines it's another story.  

and all of that is assuming you are able to GET to the airport by 9am coming from POM, thats the part I won't gamble on. We've done a handful of cruises out of POM, and have always flown in and out of FLL. On 3 separate occasions that I recall, we were way delayed due to traffic issues on 95. Couple of times heading to POM/Miami, and another from POM back to FLL. But we pretty much always arrive the day prior to most of our cruises, and the time we were delayed heading back to FLL, we had a flight scheduled for early afternoon. Once thing I'll never trust is traffic/road conditions/driving to meet a tight schedule.

[Joseph2017China]

I missed a flight once and was rescheduled.  I arrived 2 1/2 hours at the parking lot and I MISSED THE FLIGHT.  So if you really want to arrive at 9:00 for a 10:00 flight, go for it.  It does not matter if others made it, because the day of your flight is a unique day, and you are going to roll the dice.  Good luck. The odds are never in your favor in the casino and at airports.

[LeeW]

Drive is boring, but better than spending three hours getting to airport and gate, waiting for luggage and renting car in Orlando.  Have a friend who now drives 10 hours to Kansas City rather than take a 1.5 hour flight there.  And last trip son dropped us off at Newark and drove home to central Michigan.  He beat us home flying to Colorado.

[Missymo]

Driving is the best method to Orlando.  From my home (which is 22 minutes South (longer)from POM to the Orlando area is 3.5 hours.  You will be home by the time you get to the airport, security, flight, get luggage and out of the airport. My kids and grandkids go up there for their dance at ESPN almost every other week.  Once you're on the turnpike, traffic should be very easy.  

Edited March 26, 2019 by Missymo

[casone]

We are looking at booking an 11:45 am flight on the day we arrive back from our Allure cruise in August. The difference is that are coming into the port at FT. Lauderdale, not Miami. There are 6 of us. Wondering if that time is doable?  We bought The Key, so I’m not sure if we would be able to enjoy the breakfast that morning. (We may end up cancelling The Key....waiting to see more reviews).  

Edited March 27, 2019 by casone

[Clarea]

40 minutes ago, casone said:

We are looking at booking an 11:45 am flight on the day we arrive back from our Allure cruise in August. The difference is that are coming into the port at FT. Lauderdale, not Miami. There are 6 of us. Wondering if that time is doable?  We bought The Key, so I’m not sure if we would be able to enjoy the breakfast that morning. (We may end up cancelling The Key....waiting to see more reviews).  

 

If you are flying from FLL and arriving into Port Everglades, an 11:45an flight should be easy to make.

[ShillyShally]

4 hours ago, casone said:

We are looking at booking an 11:45 am flight on the day we arrive back from our Allure cruise in August. The difference is that are coming into the port at FT. Lauderdale, not Miami. There are 6 of us. Wondering if that time is doable?  We bought The Key, so I’m not sure if we would be able to enjoy the breakfast that morning. (We may end up cancelling The Key....waiting to see more reviews).  

From leaving MDR breakfast w/Key to checking our baggage at FLL was 25 minutes - getting off the ship was a breeze using the Key and also was quicker getting bags and getting through customs - it was so quick we didn't even use our global entry to help speed anything.  We left the MDR at 9AM so you'd have plenty of time to do both and will know morning of if you need to adjust based on when the ship clears/starts disembarking.  I do think it was smooth moving for all that morning but the Key really made our experience effortless!

[JamesEM]

As a thought, have you consider staying the night in FLL and flying out the next morning?