San Diego to Charlotte, enought time?

[impcinder]

Ok, we went with Carnival's air (including the additional deviation cost, it's several hundred dollars less than what we could find). The flight to Honolulu from Charlotte is perfect, the return from San Diego to Charlotte - may not be so perfert. The return flight is scheduled from San Diego at 11:00 am. I have questioned the Carnival Air people - several different ones, and they said it is a legal time, we should have no difficultly making the flight. How far is it to the airport? For those of you who have made the crossing, what is the delay like early in the morning?

 

What is your opinion? It seems awfully short to me - if the ship is late returning to Ensenada or Mexican customes is slow.... We do have confirmed reservations - I wonder who would be responsible if we miss the flight?

 

I am not to worried yet, most likely American will be changing flight time by September.

[wrp96]

Are you returning to San Diego or Ensenada? If it's Ensenada, IMO that flight time is too early. 11am would be fine if you were disembarking in San Diego, but Ensenada is 70 miles south of San Diego plus having to cross the US border at one of the busiest if not the busiest border crossing in the country.

[kenish]

From the Carnival website, it looks like the ship arrives in Ensenada at 8am on 10/10/09 which is a Saturday. I don't know what the Carnival folks are smoking in their hookas, but the chance is high you will not make your flight.

 

Drive time from Ensenada to San Diego airport is about 90 minutes. Allow only 1 hour check-in instead of the recommended 2 hours (probably OK at SAN on Saturday morning) and that leaves 30 minutes to disembark, load luggage onto the bus, unload at the airport, AND cross the border! Unless the bus is pre-cleared (something similar to US Direct at Vancouver and you never legally "enter" Mexico), I don't see any way this will happen in the amount of time you have.

[SelectSys]

From the Carnival website, it looks like the ship arrives in Ensenada at 8am on 10/10/09 which is a Saturday. I don't know what the Carnival folks are smoking in their hookas, but the chance is high you will not make your flight.

 

I would agree. This is just insane unless the luggage is already loaded on the bus, you leave earlier than 8, and you have special processing at the border. Sometimes even the approach to the border can be backed up quite a bit. I would definitely call and see what they say...

[impcinder]

Thank you for your responses! IMHO - docking at 8 am in Ensenada and leaving at 11 from San Diego did not seem reasonable to me. I have contact Carnival air and spoke to 3 different people, the all say it is sufficient time.

 

Three hours to leave the ship, find the luggage, board the bus, drive 70 miles, go through border patrol, clear security at the airport, and board the plan -- sounds impossible.

 

Oh well, I will keep checking with the airline - maybe the flight time will be later. And check with Carnival - thank goodness for insurance!

[impcinder]

I finally was able to speak to a supervisor at Carnival concerning our return flight. Originally, she kept saying 3 hours was enough time. I explained that it was 70 miles between the ship and the airport, the border crossing can be very busy, and could they guarantee that us and our luggage would be first off the ship? Finally 'checked' with someone else when I explained they/Carnival would be responsible for paying for a missed flight because they selected the flight.

 

We now leave at 1:10pm. Hopefully this will be enought time!

 

Many thanks to all who gave information.

[kenish]

The change to 1:10pm sounds a lot better. BTW, don't be too concerned about the State Department travel warnings about the area. Since you will be on a bus that will presumably take the toll road it should be fine. Just don't stray outside the immediate "tourist" area in Ensenada if you do have some time ashore.

[wrp96]

Thanks for the update. 1:10 definitely is a better time. Let us know how the flights (and the cruise) work out.