Fort Lauderdale Disembarkation

We will be getting off the Spirit in April 2016 and will be flying to New York same day.

Anyone any idea what time the earliest flight would be safe to book.

I would look for something at Noon or later to be on the safe side.

Keith

Agree with Keith if from Miami but if FLL I would be happy with 11.00.

I split the difference when I booked flights home for our upcoming cruise - 11:30AM.

It also depends some on when you're ship is scheduled to arrive in port. Ours is 7:00AM, which gives us 4 1/2 hours.

It also depends on whether or not the ship stops at Key West the day before which is not the case on the original posters cruise and other factors include the day you are arriving, including how many ships are in port, whether you are flying domestic or international and even whether you are flying coach or business class/first class.

Fort Lauderdale Airport can be a zoo depending on time of year.

Keith

I am with Keith, after 12 N.

I am with Keith, after 12 N.

D.T. Has it right. Also in Ft. lauderdale if there are a lot of cruise ships disembarking, it becomes a zoo there.....

And getting thru customs at the port can be easy or awful. Add to that getting thru the security line at FLL.

I suggest leaving time for all of that at the day of disembarkation so you don't feel overwhelmed and stressed out.

We've cruised out of Ft Lauderdale probably a dozen times or more and finally, after a couple of stressful near misses, settled on 11:30 AM or later flights. Funny thing is the only flight home we've ever missed was a 1:30 PM flight. Between weather, mechanical, and finally some ship wide Immigration and Customs issues we didn't get off the ship until nearly noon. After claiming our luggage, clearing Immigration and Customs, and grabbing a cab we didn't get to the airport before the airline's cutoff check in time. Luckily we caught a 3:30 PM flight so we got home that same day without any further hassle. Stuff happens. We're coming back through Ft Lauderdale next March off the Wind and have booked a 12:05 PM return flight.

So far you have gotten good advice but if you wanted to catch an earlier flight than you need to look at the date and answer a few questions. I had a horrible experience in Fort Lauderdale but it was in March on a weekend with 12 ships in port. April is slow month, so I am guessing only a few ships and if it is a weekday maybe no others. If it is the only ship then Customs will want to get it out of the way so there should be no hang up with them. How much luggage do you have? If you don't check it and can take if off you can get off between 7 and 8am. Otherwise you might have to wait for your luggage to be taken off the ship.

Preprint your boarding passes the night before so you go directly to baggage check. Most airlines operate these lines very fast except for discount ones.

Remember Fort Lauderdale airport is 15-20 minutes from the time you get in the cab.

I have caught a 10 am flight from FLL and was at the airport at 815 getting off with checked luggage.

I just wanted to add an additional comment.

Some of this comes down to stress.

I don't care for stress on something like making a plane. Too often I see people spending part of their cruise worrying about this and I can't see letting something like this distract me from enjoying my cruise and I don't want to be a crazy person making a mad dash off the ship.

Unfortunately, things happen and some of them are out of the ships control. What? I have seen a work stoppage by the union responsible for taking the luggage off the ship. I have seen very large lines because of insufficient immigration personnel and also have seen them show up late. On the other hand I have seen things go well. But to me it's no different than flying in the day of the cruise. Some will make it but all it takes is one time that something go wrong and they will never do it themselves.

I have been on a few cruises arriving back to the USA and seen people getting emotional because something went wrong and they were going to miss their flights. I will just add that Fort Lauderdale can be a madhouse and a ship could arrive later than planned because someone had to be evacuated the night before or because the pilot showed up later than planned.

I will be on the Spirit arriving back to Fort Lauderdale in January. I could have booked a late morning flight but for all of the reasons I mentioned I didn't. I went with an afternoon flight.

Like most things in life, each person has to figure out what works for them.

Having flown extensively over my career and seen so many things go wrong and also with all of our cruises and as someone who just doesn't want to deal with the stress (I had too much of it with business travel) I error on the side of lots of pad. I do the same when it comes to arriving to the airport and connecting flights. But some people don't mind any of this and don't get stressed.

So each person needs to figure out what works for them.

Keith

It helps if you've thought ahead of time about your plan b and plan c in case something does go wrong. This will also help you decide whether to take a chance.

It also helps if you're able to fly first class. You'll get through most of the lines quicker, and you'll get service quicker and accommodated better if you need to change flights.

For our cruise, when I booked the 11:30am flight I already knew there were 1:40pm and 3:30pm flights on the same airline I could potentially switch to.

We also always take a few extra days worth of meds just in case.

It also helps if you make your reservation through Silversea (which we frequently don't). If the ship is delayed, they will take care of getting you on the next available flight.

I don't like stress either, so we frequently book a 1:30 flight or later, but if we get to the airport early enough, we try to change the reservation to an earlier flight. Sometimes we can do that for no extra charge.

Thank you all for the advice which has been very helpful