Anyone with experience with early flights out of Miami?

[AlohaLivin]

We had no real choice but to get a 10:30 am Delta flight from the Miami airport on our upcoming Miami-based B2B Explorer cruise. I am trying not to panic 

Normally we get a sit-down breakfast and go out on one of the last concierge escorted debarkations. This time I hope that we can at least grab a continental breakfast in the suite’s lounge and not leave at the crack of dawn. I would like to know what others’ experiences have been as an early, quick exit may be the one area of cruising with which we have no experience.

We will have the option of a concierge assisted departure, but in my experience the first escort time is 7:30 am (although usually at a much faster pace than we could do on our own). Our last exit with the concierge at the Miami port was super fast (but Nadja rocks!). Can we leave at 7:30 am with the concierge and get out of the facility by 8 am and to the airport by 8:30?

Positive points - We have both CLEAR and TSA PreCheck.

Negative points -

1. We will have 2-3 large pieces of luggage with 2 carry on’s. All of that would be pretty difficult to take out on our own.
2. Our last Miami departure we saw a looooong taxi line as we were leaving (no idea if that is typical, but that was later [around 8:45 am]).

Thanks  

[Ampurp85]

The port isn't that far from MIA but baggage check is going to kick your butt. 10:30 flight means you need to complete boarding by 10:00am.  I wouldn't say this is feasible even with TSA precheck because you would only have 90mins. Even less if things don't go your way with disembarkment. 

[wordell1]

56 minutes ago, AlohaLivin said:

We had no real choice but to get a 10:30 am Delta flight from the Miami airport on our upcoming Miami-based B2B Explorer cruise. I am trying not to panic 

Normally we get a sit-down breakfast and go out on one of the last concierge escorted debarkations. This time I hope that we can at least grab a continental breakfast in the suite’s lounge and not leave at the crack of dawn. I would like to know what others’ experiences have been as an early, quick exit may be the one area of cruising with which we have no experience.

We will have the option of a concierge assisted departure, but in my experience the first escort time is 7:30 am (although usually at a much faster pace than we could do on our own). Our last exit with the concierge at the Miami port was super fast (but Nadja rocks!). Can we leave at 7:30 am with the concierge and get out of the facility by 8 am and to the airport by 8:30?

Positive points - We have both CLEAR and TSA PreCheck.

Negative points -

1. We will have 2-3 large pieces of luggage with 2 carry on’s. All of that would be pretty difficult to take out on our own.
2. Our last Miami departure we saw a looooong taxi line as we were leaving (no idea if that is typical, but that was later [around 8:45 am]).

Thanks  

My biggest concern would be your luggage.  It sounds like you are in a suite, but there are potential delays with getting your bags at the cruise terminal.  If you can manage to self carry, you could easily be out of the terminal and in a taxi before 8am.

The next issue is checking your bags at the airport.  This can be a long line depending on the airline these days.

Getting through security with TSA Pre/ Clear will make that part easy.

I think you are cutting it a little too tight - keep in mind that boarding will begin at 10am and the doors will shut at 10:20.

 

[Allen2]

Too many "ifs" for a busy airport.  Also consider how many ships will be in port upon your return.

[AshleyDillo]

Check for later flights out of FLL maybe?

[AlohaLivin]

During Covid we lost a lot of Delta companion tickets and those that they rolled over expire in Sept. The prices for flights from ATL to MIA have been crazy high and virtually no availability for companion tickets. This one finally opened up and I took it - I was determined to save what we could with all these super high fares and lots of flying to FL. So really no way to alter it at this point (to my knowledge).

Looks like we are going to have to figure out how to travel for 2+ weeks with two suitcases somehow since walking off with luggage is our best bet (unless this time the suite concierge  for explorer takes a group before 7:30 - on Symphony it was no more than 15 min from when we left the coastal kitchen until we were out the door with the concierge, but then I wouldn’t want to bet on it happening that way this time).  From what I have read, the airports are much less crowded early since most people are getting off after the walk off’s - I hope that is the case. Even on the Easter week cruise this year around 10 am the Miami Airport was a breeze. Fingers crossed.

[AshleyDillo]

Use backpacks as carry-ons to get yourself some more packing space and plan to self-assist. They didn't let anyone off the ship until 730 on Mariner this morning. Voyager class debarkation feels like it starts much later than Oasis class for some reason!

[AlohaLivin]

14 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Use backpacks as carry-ons to get yourself some more packing space and plan to self-assist. They didn't let anyone off the ship until 730 on Mariner this morning. Voyager class debarkation feels like it starts much later than Oasis class for some reason!

Hubby always takes a backpack, it definitely helps. I don’t think we hace been on Voyager class out of Miami come to think of it. Definitely will try to discuss this with the concierge and hope for the best!

[Reigert2008]

I don’t fly with Delta, so I don’t know what happens if you miss your flight.  Is that ticket just gone or do you get a credit?  Will they let you fly later in the day without extra charges?  If it was me, I would weigh all these things and determine if the savings are worth the stress.  We live by the rule of being at the airport 2 hours before the flight for domestic travel and even at our “little” home airport in Louisville, we’ve seen people miss flights by showing up less than 2 hours.  For us, it’s worth it to “sit around” post security and not deal with rushing through.  
 

good luck!

[Va4fam]

Backpacks have been extremely helpful to make us more travel efficient.

Try to walk off the ship with your bags and get off as early as possible.

Take UBER/Lyft instead of taxi.

You may be able to check your bags with the skycap/outside porter.  They still have this service in DC, maybe they do in MIami too?

TSA Pre would save you time in the security lines.

If none of this works, you would have to let Delta know you are running late and they should get you on a later flight.

 

 

[wordell1]

1 hour ago, AlohaLivin said:

During Covid we lost a lot of Delta companion tickets and those that they rolled over expire in Sept. The prices for flights from ATL to MIA have been crazy high and virtually no availability for companion tickets. This one finally opened up and I took it - I was determined to save what we could with all these super high fares and lots of flying to FL. So really no way to alter it at this point (to my knowledge).

Looks like we are going to have to figure out how to travel for 2+ weeks with two suitcases somehow since walking off with luggage is our best bet (unless this time the suite concierge  for explorer takes a group before 7:30 - on Symphony it was no more than 15 min from when we left the coastal kitchen until we were out the door with the concierge, but then I wouldn’t want to bet on it happening that way this time).  From what I have read, the airports are much less crowded early since most people are getting off after the walk off’s - I hope that is the case. Even on the Easter week cruise this year around 10 am the Miami Airport was a breeze. Fingers crossed.

What day of the week are you getting off?  

[AlohaLivin]

21 minutes ago, wordell1 said:

What day of the week are you getting off?  

Sunday. Apparently we are set to arrive at 6 am.

 

1 hour ago, Reigert2008 said:

I don’t fly with Delta, so I don’t know what happens if you miss your flight.  Is that ticket just gone or do you get a credit?  Will they let you fly later in the day without extra charges?  If it was me, I would weigh all these things and determine if the savings are worth the stress. 

 

We usually are quite conservative with our flights, this time it was just impossible. If we missed the flight we will lose the companion ticket by my understanding. The change fee would be $200 a ticket plus the flight difference (and they don’t have any flights out for companion tickets that day at any later time, only earlier times, show the price difference would be staggering 5 days out. I will need to chant or something Thanks for the well wishes!

[Va4fam]

Just FYI and NOT AT ALL encouraging people to follow what we do...........

Multiple cruises to Miami but we fly in/out FLL.   Successfully navigated disembarking and taking UBER to FLL in time to catch 10:30 and 11:00 AM flights on multiple occasions.   Checking bags each time.   

Our issue has been lack of reasonable flight times....they either leave early morning (can't make those), late morning, or early evening.   Instead of waiting around airport all day, we have been lucky to catch the late morning flights out of FLL.   Miami is closer and might give you a small cushion.   Or it might not.  

[wordell1]

30 minutes ago, AlohaLivin said:

Sunday. Apparently we are set to arrive at 6 am.

 

We usually are quite conservative with our flights, this time it was just impossible. If we missed the flight we will lose the companion ticket by my understanding. The change fee would be $200 a ticket plus the flight difference (and they don’t have any flights out for companion tickets that day at any later time, only earlier times, show the price difference would be staggering 5 days out. I will need to chant or something Thanks for the well wishes!

Sunday is the best day.  I think you have a good shot to make it - but I would try for self walk off.  I had an 11am out of Miami on a Sunday and made it easily, but we were literally the 1st people off the ship, breezed through customer (face scan) and grabbed the first taxi to the airport.

[AlohaLivin]

Thanks for the input everyone

[AlohaLivin]

Update - I emailed the concierge and the short story is that he said he would help us make it happen! My psychic abilities tell me that he has a handsome tip coming his way  I feel so much better knowing that, fingers crossed the ship is on time

[J3N]

I booked a 10:30 flight out of Miami ( AA).  Hubby and I took our bags with us 2 carryons 1 checked bag.  We got off the ship by 7:30  grabbed an Uber.  Got to aiport in 20 minutes self checked bag and was at gate by 9:00 a.m.  ( we did not have TSA precheck)  This was on a Sunday.   We had plenty of time but that was before all this craziness with flights now.

 

Good Luck.

 

 

[PurdueFlyer]

I work for Delta and have actually been ONBOARD the 810AM MIA-ATL flight after getting off the ship that morning.  . You will have PLENTY of time to make a 1030AM!  

 

 

[AlohaLivin]

2 hours ago, PurdueFlyer said:

I work for Delta and have actually been ONBOARD the 810AM MIA-ATL flight after getting off the ship that morning.  . You will have PLENTY of time to make a 1030AM!  

 

 

Great! As a Georgia native, I have always been #teamDelta (except for an angry few weeks I had after flying to meet my biological sister for the first time in Florida and Delta decided to have that computer meltdown on the heels of a hurricane/tropical storm maybe 5 years back - we caught that coming and going!). Thanks for that info, I have to now figure out how to pack more lightly than I have ever done in my life.  See you at Hartsfield Jackson.