11:59am FLL - too early?

[chattkis]

Hi :) Our ship docks at 8am. Would an 11:59am flight be pushing it or will that be fine?

 

Thanks

[spbflseas]

The airport is right there at the port, so this should not be too big of issue, unless there is a delay from customs or something that delays your arrival back into the port. Try to get one of earlier departure luggage tags if you need some additional comfort zone. However, the end of the FLL runway is at the Port.

[ZZROX]

You should make it w/o any problems.

[wrp96]

If you are sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale, it should be fine. If you are sailing out of Miami, no.

[nancyox]

we had an 11 AM flight out of FLL and had no problem whatsoever..just get the luggage tags that enable u to be first off.

 

nancy

[Firefighterhoop]

We had a 1130 flight, and were bored at the airport by 9:00..

 

Scott

[fanofseas]

The op ship got in at 8:00am. Mine gets in at 7:00am but in Miami can I make a 11:59 out of FLL ?

[heartofamerica]

IMHO...11:59 can be stressful...not because you have any problem clearing customs or anything like that, but imagine the airport when 7 or 8 cruise ships disgorge about 2,000 people each, and 90% of them head to the airport. The airport check in is a madhouse.

[J&SLowery]

Fanofseas,

 

My answer to you is...yes, you will probably make it. I wouldn't book anything any earlier, but I am confident you could make it. You have to provide yourself the safety factor of identifiying options should you miss that flight. ie. available flights later in the day.

----

We have ported out of Miami numerous times and never had a problem making a flight at approx. 1130 out of FLL. Both Jetblue and Spirit fly into the DC metro area and have flights that depart between 1100 and 1200. In fact, we have made a 0950 flight on Jetblue, as we made it to the airport by 0900 as a previous poster said. We hadn't booked that flight, but asked if there was space, and we got lucky. Otherwise we too would have been bored for a couple of hours at the airport. If available, we always book our flight between 1100 and 1200.

 

Ultimately, this comes down to your comfort level with travelling. If your pretty laid back and accept that, yes , there is a chance you may miss an 1130 flight, I would say go for it. I think it is more likely than not that you will be just fine.

 

Jay

[dougp26364]

We had an 11:59 flight out of FLL. The airport was not a madhouse and was reasonably well organized. We used curb side check in as the lines indoors were pretty long. We had our luggage checked, boarding passes and were at the gate probably 90 minutes to 2 hours early.

 

Keep in mind that nothing went wrong and the ship docked as scheduled. Last October when we were in the med., the port was blocked by a fishermans strike. Almost everyone missed their flights unless they were booked the next day. Last year there was a plane that went down blocking the port entrance. If that had happened when ships were trying to get in rather than out, you and a lot of other people would be in trouble.

 

There was also a medical emergancy on a Celebrity cruise ship on the west coast last year that caused the ship to arrive late. All the early flights were missed because they got in later than expected.

 

So, if everything goes as planned, and it usually does, then you'll be fine. But we learned the hard way everything doesn't always go as planned and I'll be very hesitant to book the earliest possible flight out ever again. In fact, my thinking is I need a day post cruise as well as a day pre cruise. Of course, that's not always possible but I'm hoping I can plan my vacations so that I can do that a majority of the time. At the moment, the next two cruises I have are planned that way.

[sea_breaze]

The op ship got in at 8:00am. Mine gets in at 7:00am but in Miami can I make a 11:59 out of FLL ?

 

Just did this last month without any problems other then the $80.00 cab fare as the shuttles were not leaving for FLL yet.

[raerae]

The op ship got in at 8:00am. Mine gets in at 7:00am but in Miami can I make a 11:59 out of FLL ?

 

We just cruised out of Miami and flew out of FLL earlier this month. Our flight was 11:10am and we had no problems. We got the beige luggage tags and were off the ship by 7:30am.

Enjoy your cruise.

Cindy ;)

[kitty1]

Are are booked on a 12:10pm flight out of FLL and we bought cruise air. We're coming from port of Miami.

 

You should have plenty of time, just make sure you get off in one of the early waves. If you purchased your own air, go down to the Guest Relations Desk and request early departure. If you don't have any checked luggage, you can also walk off the ship in the first group by carrying all your luggage.

 

On our last cruise we also had a 12pm flight out of FLL and hit a hugh traffic jam coming out of Miami. Our bus driver got off of I-95 and went down some side streets to make sure that we got to the airport in time. We arrived at FLL by 10am even with the traffic jam.

[erisajd]

can't believe I'm saying this , but - go up to the suites and liberate a couple of #1 0r #2 lugage tags the night before departure.

 

Actually, we docked at Tampa, and we spent 2.5 hours WAITING on our plane to leave - you'll have LOTS of time. . .

[Vyhanek]

You will make it with HOURS to spare. Don't worry about a thing!

 

I was just on the Enchantment out of FLL in January. The ship began disembarcation at 8:15am. By 8:45 I was off the ship, cleared thru customs, in a cab and completely checked in at the airport. CHECKED IN AT 8:45 am.

 

Then I sat at the gate for 3 hours waiting on my flight. I was traveling with a large group of women. Most of them are much more conservative than me and they were booked on a later flight (just to be safe) back home. They were so envious of me because when you are ready to go home you are just ready. What else is there to do in an airport all day?

 

So, they went to the ticket counter to try and fly stand-by on my flight. It was sold out so no stand-by's unless they wanted to pay $180. So, they all sat and waited much longer.

 

You will not have any issues at all making your 11:59 flight. None, relax and enjoy.

[wrp96]

You will make it with HOURS to spare. Don't worry about a thing!

 

I was just on the Enchantment out of FLL in January. The ship began disembarcation at 8:15am. By 8:45 I was off the ship, cleared thru customs, in a cab and completely checked in at the airport. CHECKED IN AT 8:45 am.

 

But Enchantment sails out of Ft. Lauderdale so is maybe 10 minutes from the airport. The OP is sailing out of Miami.

 

I've got to disagree about making it. I missed an 11:40 am flight out of MIA last January coming off of Voyager in Miami. Unless you can carry all your bags off, I wouldn't risk booking an 11:59 flight out of FLL sailing out of Miami.

[mav]

I jst booked the 11:59 flight out FLL. I'm docking in Miami and I feel confident we'll make it.

[ILoveScotland]

I'm a bit confused about who's docking where, but here's what I've done based on what RCCL customer service told me and what I've been advised on another thread.

Advice given by all was that since we'll be docking at Miami at 7:00 a.m. next November we should not book a flight out of either airport before 12:30 p.m. because delays do happen at times. In order to get the best fare we've opted for a 4:30 p.m. flight out of FLL. We will probably rent a car at the Port of Miami, do some sight seeing and then turn the car in at FLL. This won't cost much more than transportation from Port of Miami to FLL and will save us sitting around the airport for hours.