Airport Transfer

[tigervixxxen]

I have taken the cruise ship transfer from Ft Lauderdale and it was fine. As others have said the airport is very close so there shouldn’t be much concern with not getting to the airport on time. In our experience we took the transfer to Miami airport and from Ft Lauderdale there was only one bus for that route and we waited nearly an hour until it was full to depart. To the FLL airport they should have multiple busses and will depart once one gets full. 
 

In General I am not comfortable with a flight after a cruise that departs before noon. In most cases you can easily arrive at the airport even with more of a ride from the cruise port between 9-10am. One time departing a Princess cruise from Galveston we didn’t get on the shuttle bus until 11am, it was horrible but that’s the outlier. Some folks on the boards here will even book 10am flights after a cruise but that’s cutting it too close for me. 
 

Another thing to keep in mind there are a lot of cruises that depart from Ft. Lauderdale meaning after a cruise on certain days there’s a sudden influx of thousands of people making it very busy at the airport. Might be worth checking into exactly how many ships are in pier that day and planning accordingly.

 

Long story short, if you want to use a transfer they are in some ways easier, someone tells you where to go and you get to the airport just fine. I would not have a problem with a 1pm flight out of FLL. 

[wrk2cruise]

The other issue with FLL is many airlines won't take your luggage until 4hrs prior and recently with Delta it was 2-3 hrs.  They said they don't have enough room for the luggage.  So they don't let you checkin and you have to wait outside of ticketing where there is no seating.  Even Skycap wouldn't take the luggage.  If you have a long wait at the airport I'd use Luggage Valet from the ship if available.