What's the best time to arrive at Miami port?

I'm sure this question has been addressed, but the search function isn't working, and I looked back through several pages What is the best time to arrive at the Port of Miami for a 4 PM Carnival cruise? It seems that Carnival is encouraging people to come late, but I also have read posts about people arriving at 11 and getting onboard to eat lunch. We are staying in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale with an 11 AM checkout. If we leave then, we will get to the port around noon. Is that too early, or should we leave FL even earlier and get to the port by 11 or 11:30?

I would appreciate any advice from anyone who has traveled on Carnival from Miami recently.

I've gotten on by 11:30 in Miami with Carnival, and I've also waited in a 2 hour line by getting there at that time ... it's really a crap-shoot. They tell you to arrive late so that they are pretty sure they'll be ready. The basic rule ... if you want on early, arrive around 11:00-11:30 and you'll probably be OK ... but don't be upset if you have to wait (becaue after all, you did arrive early). ;)

Thanks for the reply, silentbob. I think we'll get our shuttle to pick us up at 11 and go to the port.

We left our hotel in Fort Lauderdale between 9:30-9:45. We got to the port of Miami between 10:15 and 10:30. With no wait, we got in the terminal, went through security, got our sail and sign cards, and waited in the air conditioned terminal. We boarded in zones. Because we were there early, we got zone 1. We were one of the first people on the ship around 11:30. Time went by fast. My husband and I told each other we will always come early from now on.

We just returned from our cruise out of Miami (Carnival Liberty). We arrived at the port at 11:00 and the lines were not too bad and moved quickly. We were in boarding group 8. We were on board by 12:00. If we had gotten there by 10:30, we may have gotten on a little quicker but not much. They didn't call anyone to come on board until about 11:30-11:45. Hope this helps.

We left our hotel in Fort Lauderdale between 9:30-9:45. We got to the port of Miami between 10:15 and 10:30. With no wait, we got in the terminal, went through security, got our sail and sign cards, and waited in the air conditioned terminal. We boarded in zones. Because we were there early, we got zone 1. We were one of the first people on the ship around 11:30. Time went by fast. My husband and I told each other we will always come early from now on.

That's exactly what we do, I'd much rather wait in the comfort of an air conditioned waiting area than stand outside in the Miami sun in a long slow moving line:eek:

I'm sure this question has been addressed, but the search function isn't working, and I looked back through several pages What is the best time to arrive at the Port of Miami for a 4 PM Carnival cruise? It seems that Carnival is encouraging people to come late, but I also have read posts about people arriving at 11 and getting onboard to eat lunch. We are staying in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale with an 11 AM checkout. If we leave then, we will get to the port around noon. Is that too early, or should we leave FL even earlier and get to the port by 11 or 11:30?

 

I would appreciate any advice from anyone who has traveled on Carnival from Miami recently.

We too are staying in FLL 2 nights prior (Pier 66) to our CCL cruise out of Miami. What's the recommendation on transfers from Pier 66 to POM??

in the past it s always been rush and wait for lunch:o

this time around i really want to take it easy..i ve read that

other s have arrived later and gotten on without any wait s

at all..:confused:

I'm the OP of this thread, and I thought I would report back. We left our Fort Lauderdale hotel (Hampton Inn) at 11 and got to the Miami port at about 11:30-11:40. The porters made us fill out more tags and attach them to our bags (in some cases the third ID tag on the bags), which seemed like a big waste of time. After that, however, we got right through security and check-in with few delays and were onboard shortly after noon. The lines were reasonable at that time. Seems like a good time to arrive.

Disembarkation was a whole nuther story, however. It took a LONG time to get off the ship and through customs and get back to the FLL airport. Much more painful than arrival.

At the port of Miami, which terminal is for Carnival? The port map has them marked b, c, d, e, f & g, but doesn't say which cruise line.

Thanks

Last month we got to the terminal at 11:30 or so and the terminal was packed. We didn't get on the ship until 1:00.

You need to get to the port no later than 10:30. That will have the shortest wait time. When we looked off the ship at 1pm the line was so long that you could not enter the terminal. The later you arrive the longer you will wait.

How did you get from the hotel to POM and how much did it cost?

Thanks

We used SAS Transport. They picked us up at our Ft. Lauderdale hotel and took us to the Miami port. We had six people, and the charge was $90 plus tip. We also used SAS to go from the POM to FLL after the cruise. SAS kept in touch by cell phone both times. We were very pleased.

http://ridesas.com/