Leaving out of Fort Lauderale

[JrMafia90]

There is always a lot of ships out of Fort Lauderale, I didn't think there was so many ships. But does that make leaving out of Fort Lauderale a hassle? Does it take forever to leave, is there long lines? A lot of traffic? I would expect there to be more ships at Miami. Do you like leaving out of Fort Lauderale?

[Krazy Kruizers]

I assume that you are talking about flying out of Ft Lauderdale on the same day that the ship arrives back in port???

If so, Saturdays and Sundays are a zoo at the airport. Depending on how quickly you get off the ship, depends on how soon you get to the airport - get off ship, go through immigration, find luggage, turn in customs form, get cab and drive to airport - 1/2 hour at least. Sometimes the lines are long to check in luggage. Once that is done - then the long line to go through security. We have flown into Ft Lauderdale on Satursdays and Sundays and have seen the security lines snake all over the place.

Plan on an afternoon flight or stay overnight.

[Randyk47]

Actually, we kind of wondered the same thing ourselves when we sailed out of Ft Lauderdale with at least 6 other major cruise ships. When we returned a week later more or less so did the ships we'd left port with. We thought....OK....this is going to be interesting. Actually, we were pleasantly surprised on how well, at least back in March, the airlines handled the situation. Sure, there were lots of people but the airlines had special lines set up for people who were using cruise line air and we were in and out of line in a flash. The other lines really didn't look all that bad considering the huge number of people dragging bags, liquor boxes, etc., through the check-in lines. Was it busy....yes. Was it a major hassle....no.