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Will I make my flight? - Fort Lauderdale


RadCruiser

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I've taken this exact gamble for my cruise in February.  All previous FLL cruises, there was plenty of time so I'm hoping the same then.  One thing that is making me feel ok about it is that I have status with my airline and there are more flights later in the day.  I know if things are looking tight I can call them and they will switch me. 

If all goes well, and it most likely will, you will be absolutely fine.  If there is some highly unusual situation where the ship can't dock on time, you'll want to at least know who to call at the airline and ask for help.  And as others have said, walking off with your luggage will give you the most margin.

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I mean....if all goes well...I don't see why not...? Closer than I'd like to cut it but you can probably make it work so long as you keep things in your control as much as possible. That means:

  • Do self-carry departure and leave as soon as the gangway is down.
  • Call your own uber or lyft vs any type of shuttle service.
  • Do flight check-in stuff via whatever mobile site or app they use.

While getting off the ship does tend to go pretty fast and the Fort Lauderdale port uses facial recognition scanning for customs, the thing that I think would take the most time and be cause for delay would actually be traffic in and out of the port. Earlier is probably better than later (and by later I mean 8AM) because you probably won't have too many people milling around calling for shuttles and what not.

And the airport is very close - like...10 minutes or something. You can literally see the port and airport from the other and close enough to read the planes taking off or see tiny stick figures milling around the pool deck. Lol

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We did okay with a 10:20 flight on a Miami cruise (similar distances involved) - we walked off the ship first and we had plenty of time (but we also had CLEAR and TSAprecheck. We had lots of extra time. But, cutting it that close is not our preference, that was an unusual situation.

 

P.S. Getting the key or being in a suite will help ensure that you can be with the first group off.

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It's all about your tolerance for risk.  😀  Ft. Lauderdale airport and cruise port are very close so, if everything goes according to plan, you should be fine. But if there are any delays in getting back to port or disembarking, you're not going to have a lot of margin for error. 

As for tips for getting off faster, opt to carry your own bags off the ship. That way, you can leave at your convenience and head straight out instead of having to go find your luggage when your group is called. 

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I have flown out of FLL 4 or 5 times over the past couple/three years...earliest fight time was 9:45am, latest was 11:30 and in January my time is 10:45...never had an issue. I will grant that the last two were December & January post Covid and the ships weren't full...about 2/3rds perhaps...but the others were full. Self assist and never had a problem.

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9 hours ago, RadCruiser said:

Why would winter make a difference? Going in February.

It's busier in general January through March/April.  There are many "snowbirds" who are in residence during this time.  Also a lot of Vacationers from the colder parts of the country.

My Parents live near Ft Lauderdale and I visit 4 - 5 times a year.  The airport is always busier during that time a year.

I still think you should be OK, it's just one more concern.

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I once did a 9:30 am flight departure out of FLL.  That was only because there were really no other flight options until like 2-3 pm and I didn't want to wait that long.  I was anxiety ridden the whole time and was also very surprised by how many people were doing self-disembarkation.  Anyways, we made it with time time to spare, but I vowed after that I would never do a flight before 10:30 again.  I wouldn't sweat 10:45 at all.     

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16 minutes ago, BB1 said:

Is it that much easier to fly out of Fll? I asked the same question about disembarking and flying out of Miami  and people thought I was cutting it close at 11:15.

I flew last February out of Miami airport on a Saturday morning after a cruise on Symphony that left at 9:50AM.  We did not have TSA pre check at that time.  We self disembarked and were off the ship by 7:15AM.  Walked completely the wrong direction for where the Lyfts were (it's opposite the taxis).  Then, got stuck in a lot of air port traffic.  Walked into the airport around 8 am, quickly checked a bag.  But got stuck in a full 1 hour regular security line.  We still made it to our terminal with prob 20 minutes to spare.

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16 minutes ago, need2cruz said:

I flew last February out of Miami airport on a Saturday morning after a cruise on Symphony that left at 9:50AM.  We did not have TSA pre check at that time.  We self disembarked and were off the ship by 7:15AM.  Walked completely the wrong direction for where the Lyfts were (it's opposite the taxis).  Then, got stuck in a lot of air port traffic.  Walked into the airport around 8 am, quickly checked a bag.  But got stuck in a full 1 hour regular security line.  We still made it to our terminal with prob 20 minutes to spare.

I thought it sounded reasonable but that was the majority of responses I got. I guess there's always risk and it really is hard to know what to do sometimes.  Thanks

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28 minutes ago, BB1 said:

I thought it sounded reasonable but that was the majority of responses I got. I guess there's always risk and it really is hard to know what to do sometimes.  Thanks

I was surprised at how many people were taking this flight from our ship.  It was obvious at the time because that was back when you had to wear the vaccinated bracelets.  We had green bracelets showing that we were vaccinated and we saw a lot of other people waiting at the airport gate that had these bracelets on, too.

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2 hours ago, BB1 said:

Is it that much easier to fly out of Fll? I asked the same question about disembarking and flying out of Miami  and people thought I was cutting it close at 11:15.

Miami is a bit further of a ride to the airport. It's probably 20 minutes without traffic from Port of Miami to get there. The Miami Airport is also way busier from my experience with long TSA lines. Even the pre-check line was insanely long. It's also a larger airport so just walking to a gate takes longer than FLL.

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12 hours ago, BB1 said:

Is it that much easier to fly out of Fll? I asked the same question about disembarking and flying out of Miami  and people thought I was cutting it close at 11:15.

I have only done Miami once after a cruise and we had a late flight...won't do that again...but as others have said it is further, subject to more traffic delays, and also a bigger airport.

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15 minutes ago, mpoole3 said:

Everyone knows you can make an 8:30AM flight out of FLL on oasis class, I've done it twice now!

My 2x D+ sister, who is my cruise idol, did a 7 day with her husband out of FLL, took two carry ons and a backpack only, walked off and did an 8:30. No checked bags and TSA. Love that TSA line.

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11 minutes ago, Mike n Ky said:

My 2x D+ sister, who is my cruise idol, did a 7 day with her husband out of FLL, took two carry ons and a backpack only, walked off and did an 8:30. No checked bags and TSA. Love that TSA line.

I love hearing that!  I'm doing it again next year, get home early and sleep! 🙂

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  • 3 weeks later...
10 hours ago, Myboys said:

17 cruises and I never remembered seeing a slip with the tags and times to disembark. Is the sheet for all RC out of the US ports? Also anyone have the latest time they ever left off the ship?

They leave it on your bed with your luggage tags. I've gotten it on all my cruises. Maybe you thought it was the compass and three it out accidentally. 

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I know this is well after the original post, but I just got off Harmony of the Seas in Fort Lauderdale yesterday. I booked the airport transfer to FLL and was given a 7:30 departure time from the ship. We had The Key so our bags were separated but I don't think that really made a difference. We were at the airport with bags checked in by 8:30 so I wish we'd had a 9:30 flight (but I would be too anxious to ever actually book that early).

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On 11/13/2022 at 7:29 AM, _Quinn_ said:

I know this is well after the original post, but I just got off Harmony of the Seas in Fort Lauderdale yesterday. I booked the airport transfer to FLL and was given a 7:30 departure time from the ship. We had The Key so our bags were separated but I don't think that really made a difference. We were at the airport with bags checked in by 8:30 so I wish we'd had a 9:30 flight (but I would be too anxious to ever actually book that early).

Appreciate the info!

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