Disembarking from the Breakaway in Miami question

[TheycallmeFlip]

We're taking the Breakaway out of Miami in May and I am looking to book airfare from Boston - Miami roundtrip.  The itinerary has the ship at port at 7:00 AM.  My past two cruises were on the Pearl and they did a "virtual" customs/immigration check in on the ship so we could get off the ship, grab our luggage and head home. (The last stop on the cruise was Bar Harbor ME which may be why they do it that way.) Do they do that on the Breakaway?

I'm thinking of looking for the flight home to depart the airport around 12:30 and trying to figure out if I am giving us enough time to get off the ship and head to the airport for that time frame.

 

Thanks,

Flip

[cruiseny4life]

I can't answer your question about a virtual customs...I do know we did facial recognition when getting off Joy in Miami back in March. Our flight left Fort Lauderdale airport at 11:30 AM post cruise and we arrived at the terminal (using NCL's shuttle) at about 9:30 AM, so had plenty of time to get through security. But, you never know what'll happen day of. I think you'll probably be ok though.

[adidreh1234]

I just got off the Gem two days ago in Miami, and going through customs was a breeze.  We had a later flight out of FLL so there was no big rush to get to the airport.  We carried our own bag off the ship around 8:30 after breakfast, and customs had a facial recognition thing like @cruiseny4lifesaid.  It was super easy, didn’t even have to show passport.  We had no issues getting a Uber outside terminal B, and was at the FLL airport 45 minutes later.  I think you will have plenty of time to get to the airport if you carry your own bags off.  They started letting people off around 7:30am.  Hope this helps.

[cruiser2015]

On 2/14/2024 at 1:07 PM, TheycallmeFlip said:

We're taking the Breakaway out of Miami in May and I am looking to book airfare from Boston - Miami roundtrip.  The itinerary has the ship at port at 7:00 AM.  My past two cruises were on the Pearl and they did a "virtual" customs/immigration check in on the ship so we could get off the ship, grab our luggage and head home. (The last stop on the cruise was Bar Harbor ME which may be why they do it that way.) Do they do that on the Breakaway?

I'm thinking of looking for the flight home to depart the airport around 12:30 and trying to figure out if I am giving us enough time to get off the ship and head to the airport for that time frame.

 

Thanks,

Flip

We were off of the Bliss in Miami 4 weeks ago.

Carry off of our baggage was not a good option for us, so took the earliest available time of 8:45.

They actually called us at about 8 and I was very pleased.

Except that the process of disembarking got stalled and we did not hit the street until about 10:15.

Then my Lyft was delayed for a bit, then cancelled and replaced.

So, hit the terminal at about 11 - and missed our 11:20 flight.

Fortunately, we were able to catch a 1:45 by waiting on a long line to get to a Delta agent; one we were texting with through their app on the way to the airport out us on a connecting flight through Atlanta to NYC nearly 6 hours later than we arrived.

Bottom line, generally 12:30 should be okay - but you never know for sure.

For me, part of the choice depends on what's the next flight you can grab after that - if it's much later, go for the 12:30.

 

[TheycallmeFlip]

Thanks for the insight!  I have some research to do@

 

Flip

[BirdTravels]

On 2/14/2024 at 1:07 PM, TheycallmeFlip said:

We're taking the Breakaway out of Miami in May and I am looking to book airfare from Boston - Miami roundtrip.  The itinerary has the ship at port at 7:00 AM.  My past two cruises were on the Pearl and they did a "virtual" customs/immigration check in on the ship so we could get off the ship, grab our luggage and head home. (The last stop on the cruise was Bar Harbor ME which may be why they do it that way.) Do they do that on the Breakaway?

I'm thinking of looking for the flight home to depart the airport around 12:30 and trying to figure out if I am giving us enough time to get off the ship and head to the airport for that time frame.

 

Thanks,

Flip

12:30 is ample time. Disembark early to mitigate the risk of delays at the airport

 

We normally book an 11:00 am flight. 

 

The Breakaway has the ability to interface with the Customs and Border Patrol system such that when you scan off the ship (using facial recognition), you are also clearing customs. 

 

The alternative is to walk as from the ship and pause for a few seconds to do a facial recognition scan in the terminal. 

[Seas2mountains]

We disembarked from the Gem on Monday at about 7:05am. They called for those carrying their own bags at 7am. We did have priority disembarkation with a concierge and did carry our own bags. 
 

There weren’t many people in front of us and it was really fast. We were in a taxi by 7:15am and at the Miami airport by 7:35pm as there was little traffic except at the airport with it being a holiday. 
 

We made a 9:35am flight but knew our ship could be delayed and had a back up plan in mind if we were to miss that flight. 
 

I would not recommend an early flight like ours to others because of the risks but we needed to be home early that day.