Can I make a 11:15 am flight at Fort Lauderdale?

[tak2]

I will be taking my first Regent cruise on Navigator in March 2009, Fort Lauderdale roundtrip. A long flight home to Calgary, probably via Toronto if I go with ff points. Best flight time is the 11:15 am departure. With only 490 passengers and the airport being so close, is this a fairly safe assumption that I'll get there 2 hours before flight?
Thanks.

[Iamboatman]

Assuming the ship is not delayed you should be able to make it. Be sure to let them know when you are filling out your disembarkation materials. Also, you may want to consider carrying off your luggage, but the ship will advise you what is best.

FLL is one of the only airports I might try to connect that closely.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Regent wouldn't put us on a similar flight, they insisted on booking us on a later flight thru Montreal. It turns out we made the earlier one, and AC put us on it. With connections, I'm not sure that strategy would work. It's probably plenty of time--it's a 15 minute cab ride, and you're usually off the ship by 8 or 8:30. (Then again,, the year before, we got caught in a lineup at the AC counter and almost missed our flight, but did make the earlier flight still, barely.)

[Charsie]

Tak2, in February we made a 10:45 flight with no problem whatsoever, loads of time to spare, and we weren't even the first ones off the ship. As Iamboatman said, this is the only airport I'd consider doing this with, mind you!

[CruiserPK]

In December, customs took a very long time to clear the ship and several people were worried about making flights. I think you could do this providing you have no mobility issues AND you wait where you disembark so you can be amongst the first off the ship. Cabs are waiting and it is a short ride to the airport.
Cheers, Pam

[TedC]

We always try to get something after noon to alleviate the stress factor in case the ship is delayed by weather, mechanical problems etc, or a possible delay in clearing the ship. Stuff happens!

If everything goes smoothly an earlier flight is no problem - but there are no guarantees.

[Host Dan]

I have always booked a 10:45AM ( or about) out of Fort Lauderdale. Especially if your not on a huge cruise ship. I wouldn't worry at all, and go for it!

Host Dan

[RachelG]

Just carry your own luggage off the ship and you should be fine.

[Travelcat2]

I agree with most posters -- Regent does a good job of getting your off the ship early. The drive time to the airport is only about 10 minutes.... I wouldn't worry about it.

[goldenrod]

We were on the Navigator a few years ago it docked in Fort Lauderdale we had an 11am flight, we were about to get off at 8:30 when here comes 9 guys with five dogs from Homeland secuirity they even had scuba divers going under the ship it was just a surprise check for drugs, well after one and a half hours they finally let us off and we still made our flight so you should have no problem:o

[Charsie]

That Ft. Lauderdale "security" in my opinion, are more helpful than a lot of airports. They have people checking boarding passes at the START of the line-up, and if you're rather late for a flight, they let you pass through quickly. This happened to me once, and I went through the "crew" line. It isn't, of course, an invitation to dawdle so you get special treatment, but it's a nice back up when you're truly stuck (like if SCUBA divers are going under your ship for an unexpected 90 minutes - LOL - great story!!)j

Also, by the way, I have never kept my luggage with me...but maybe I am a risk taker? It's always been there waiting, though, when I do get off the ship. And as mentioned - a quick 10 minute cab ride, bada-bing bada-boom, at the airport, heading back to miserable old Toronto in no time.

[DebbieH103]

In December, I was on Navigator, and we could have easily got off a lot earlier, but we stayed on the ship until 9:10 and were at the airport before 10 even wiating in line for a cab. My flight was at 12:30. This time, our flight is at 11:15 but is nonn-stop. Otherwise, to go non-stop, we would have had to wait till 3:30. We did not take our own luggage off.

[JDF]

Just got off the Mariner on March 24 and had reservations for a 10:20 A.M. flight back to Newark. Customs took a while clearing the boat even though we docked at 6:00 A.M. Cleared customs and immigration and got to the airport by 9:20 A.M.

[tak2]

:)

I'm very appreciative for all your quick responses and helpful suggestions.
I asked this question too late....... the 11:15 am flight only has one business class seat left for ff points.
However, I got the 12:10 to Ottawa, and with a longer connection time will get home to Calgary later than I would like, but in the big scheme of things, it's still very nice to be able to travel business class.:D

[Jim B]

Here is the only thing I worry about.

We have been on three cruises where for some reason we had people not going down and walk thru customs when they are suppose to.
One time was a couple where the husband was in a wheel chair and they just thought it did not apply to them.
Second time a group of four were sitting around having coffee and just did not get around to it.
Third another group of four thought that because they were not getting off the ship they did not have to go down.
All delayed us! 1st time about one hour 2nd time almost 1 1/2 hours and the 3rd one almost two hours!
They called there names over the PA. Walked thru the halls yelling out their names, and checking the cabins.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

Last year we arrived at the airport at 9:30 after the crossing. We had a 1:30 flight. Fortunately, we met a friend that lives there and we went to Atlantic Blvd after checking our bags otherwise, we'd have been twiddling our thumbs. That said, I'd rather twiddle than be stressed out. Security lines at FLL can be time consuming when several ships have returned to the port so I would allow some extra time there for getting though.

[Donaldm]

We were on the Navigator a few years ago, and disembarkation was slow. We did not request an early time and our number was called around 10 am. Another time, however, we were actually in our Ft. Lauderdale rental car at 9 am.
You should check to see what other ships will be in port that day to see how crowded the airport will be. One of the cruise calendar websites should be able to tell you. If the ships are not yet posted for March 2009, try the same day of the week with an earlier date.
Good luck.
-Don in Sacramento

[tak2]

We were on the Navigator a few years ago, and disembarkation was slow. We did not request an early time and our number was called around 10 am. .....You should check to see what other ships will be in port that day to see how crowded the airport will be. One of the cruise calendar websites should be able to tell you. .-Don in Sacramento

Good point. Thank you.
What time does the ship personnel want all passengers off the ship? Now that my flight is 12:10 pm, I think staying til 8:30 should be safe.

[Jim B]

Our choices for return flight currently are 1:30 pm or 3:45 pm.
Really does not matter because when we get to Minneapolis
we only have one flight availible anyway.

[dfb]

tak2,

Pasted below is our blog entry the day we disembarked Mariner recently. Hope it helps, Debbie

Day 61 - March 4, 2008 - disembarkation
We arrived at Port Everglades early, around 6am. Docked on the starboard side by 6:30am. Breakfast is served in LaVeranda starting at 6:30am and at Compass Rose at 7:30am. We are to be out of our cabins by 8:30am. Disembarkation is to begin at 9am and we should all off the ship by 10:30am.

[tak2]

. We are to be out of our cabins by 8:30am. Disembarkation is to begin at 9am and we should all off the ship by 10:30am.

Thanks, Debbie.
If one decides to carry own luggage, as suggested by an earlier post, then there's at least a 30 minute wait in the public area and rather immobile due to luggage. Would 490 passengers , with at least carry on luggage for most, really crowd up the public places ( enough chairs? )

[Travelcat2]

The first thing you may want to do is find out how many other ships will be in port when you arrive (there was only one other ship in port when we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale -- we got through everything in 5 minutes). "cruisecal.com" used to give that information free -- it just started charging. With a little searching on the web, you will be able to find out -- it does help to know what you're faced with (just did that with our cruise for next month -- it was a relief to know that we'll be the only ship when we arrive at our destination:-)

[dfb]

tak2,

OK, sorry, here is the next entry in the blog!

A few final notes about disembarkation. All passengers were indeed off the ship by 10:30am. We ate a final breakfast in Compass Rose and only the starboard side of the restaurant was open. We were out of our cabin for only several minutes after the 8:30am deadline before the first group (us) was called to disembark. It was all quick and painless.

We each had at least 3 pieces of hand luggage when we disembarked, I would imagine that we had the equivalent of normal 1-2 weeks cruisers' luggage as our hand luggage as we left the ship after 2 months onboard! I remember that our original target that morning had been Constellation Theater since the most seats would be there. It was locked shut! So, we went through the Atrium and sat in the Mariner Lounge. But, we barely got settled there before the first disembarking group was paged. So, we did not see any really crowded public areas and I cannot comment on whether there were any or not since we left so early. We did see a lot of available cabs sitting out at the curb that appeared to be waiting to see if people needed rides after we exited the Terminal building and there were at least 2 other cruise ships there that morning that we saw. (We had arranged for a friend to pick us up and they had some delays and difficulties and forget their cell phone and so we sat out by the curb on a bench for almost 2 hours and lots of time to observe the goings on and the environment!)

My final comment is that you would probably save yourself at least several minutes by carrying your own luggage. We found the searching and retrieving our luggage in the terminal building process to be crazy! If you could indeed just walk through there with all your luggage in hand, I would think you would be doing yourself a big favor. Good luck, Debbie

[Iamboatman]

I think there is a lot of worry when there is not much in the way of logistics to worry about. This is Regent. There are not people lined up with colored tickets in hand crowding the gangway long before they are to disembark. It is all relatively civilized and quick.

While this is a great thread about how to avoid stressing yourself out (and undercutting the warm wonderful feel from your cruise) so that you might save an hour or so at the airport, though. In other words, for those who stress, unless it is really urgent to make an early flight...Don't Do It. (I'm getting stressed just reading all the concerns.;) )

[SuzCruise]

Just got off the Mariner this AM. Our flight isn't until 4 pm. Fpl TSA will not allow you to check bags until 3 hours before your flight departs. That means u sit by the door to the airport and wait with your bags. We had planned to wait in the Continental lounge. No such luck. We were at the airport before 10am.

[BILLP1]

We also left the Mariner today. We were off the ship at 845AM and through security at Ft Lauderdale at 915AM.

By the way the cab fare from dock to FLL airport was
$11.50. plus tip.

[tak2]

.... That means u sit by the door to the airport and wait with your bags. We had planned to wait in the Continental lounge. No such luck.....

Pardon my ignorance, why can't one go inside?
Do you mean we have to sit curbside until we get checked in at the door of the airport departure building?:eek:

[ladymadeline]

We were at the airport by 9:35 am yesterday and disembarkment was a breeze. If you request getting off with the first possible group, you should make it no problem. As this was our first time with Regent, we weren't sure what to do and booked a later flight. We could have easily made an earlier one. :rolleyes:

[SuzCruise]

You can go inside the airport - just not past the security check. So you can't go to your gate, the airline lounges, restaurants or shops. You can sit by the door (the only place to sit) and wait. And there isn't much seating and there are lots of folks waiting - so it would be more accurate to say if you are lucky you can sit and wait. We spent some time standing until a seat opened up as well.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

We were able to check our bags at 9:15am for a 1:50pm flight in November without an issue. We were told by American Airlines we could check bags as early as 6 hours before our flight and it was Thanksgiving week. Took us 1.5 hours though to go through security lines.

[LindaandJeff]

Delta in Fort Lauderdale only permited us to check baggage 2 hours prior to departure...they even had special signs up saying that they limited it due to the number of cruise ship passengers. Supposedly too many people were dropping bags early in the morning and then leaving airport property for the day and then coming back later in the day for their flight...lots of "unattended baggage" is a security risk.