What is the EARLIEST time you have gotten off of the ship?

Our flight has been changed coming home from the NOS in July. I know that the cruise line says not to book a flight home before noon, but I am wondering what time you can "really" get off if you need to

thanks

Suzanne

Last March we had a 11:25 flight out of FLL. We received white tags (earliest) to debark the Navigator in Miami. We were off the ship at 7:10 and in a cab to the airport at 7:30!!

I've never gotten off a ship later than about 10 am, even when we were in the "own transportation-no rush" group. Expect to spend about 20-30 minutes walking through customs/immigration, finding your luggage, finding a porter, and getting to a cab/bus.

You need to remember that sometimes ships arrive a little late due to many different factors, and that the disembarking is dependent on customs clearance. On one of our cruises, to Hawaii, the custom folks, who fly in from a different island the morning of our arrival had problems getting to us....delayed us by a couple of hours.

Earliest I´ve been off the ship was I think 5:00 am:eek: .

On the other hand latest was about 3:30 pm.

Both times have been for itineraries that said something like the usual 07:00a, or 08:00 am arrival.

I admit both have been extremes. the early one was because of arriving in Ensenada and the ship departing the next cruise from San Diego, so they had to throw us of the ship early to reach San Diego in time for the next pax to board.

The late departure was extreme too but I´ve been on quite a number of cruises with delayed debarkation because of several reasons like customs, late arrival due to several reasons, CDC Inspections, Coast guard Inspections.

All these held the debarkation and (not sure if it´s the norm) nobody was allowed to debark before the inspections had been completed.

My personal golden rule is to have no flight before 2:00 pm earliest and of course only if there is no chance for me to put in another night or two post cruise.(JMH Opinion & experience)

I was on the Mariner September 5th cruise that had to be based out of Miami instead of the usual PC because of Hurricane Frances. We got off the ship at 6:30 am and we were about the 5th color! I was very surprised, I was hoping to catch up on some sleep :)

I always book my return flights for before noon and I always make it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

I'm going on the Explorer this Sunday. I book my return flight for 11:15am leaving from Miami.

Question specific to this thread: We are sailing on the NOS starting Apr 30. I have a 1:15pm flight out of MIA on May 7th. Should I try to get 'esclated' so I can leave the ship earlier? If so, how do I do this? Also, is a porter just someone who handles the luggage and hails a taxie? Sorry for the newbie questions.

Thanks!:D

On my first VOS cruise out of Miami, our flight was at 12:30 and we made it with plenty of time, including time to sit and eat lunch, and talk to all the people from the Norway to find out what had happened that morning to the Norway.

My 2nd VOS cruise out of Miami, my flight was scheduled for 11:40, but due to being put in the wrong group for departure (I had it changed to an earlier one but I still wasn't put in one of the 1st groups), delays at customs, and RCCL putting one of my bags in the wrong place, I didn't make it to the airport until after 1:00pm (thanks to my airline, no thanks to RCCI who WAS supposed to help me, I made it home that day).

If you are going to have a flight before noon, I recommend you make sure you are in one of the first group to disembark. The best thing would be to go in one of the express groups where you carry off your own luggage.

During my cruise in January, one of my bartenders told me that the week before it was 2:30pm before they finished clearing everyone off the ship because they had an extremely large contingent of foreign passengers and there was only 4 customs agents for the entire (full) ship.

Our flight has been changed coming home from the NOS in July. I know that the cruise line says not to book a flight home before noon, but I am wondering what time you can "really" get off if you need to

thanks

Suzanne

You don't happen to be flying Airtran are you? We are going on the Navigator in July. We are flying from PHL to FLL and our return flight got moved up. I am still in the process of deciding what to do.

Question specific to this thread: We are sailing on the NOS starting Apr 30. I have a 1:15pm flight out of MIA on May 7th. Should I try to get 'esclated' so I can leave the ship earlier? If so, how do I do this? Also, is a porter just someone who handles the luggage and hails a taxie? Sorry for the newbie questions.

 

 

Thanks!:D

I was just on the NOS 0409 sailing and had a 130 flight out of Miami. We were given Red tags and were called at 815...by 930 we were in the bus for the airport and sitting at the gate around 1045 or so. Made for a long wait. Take that for what its worth.

We got off our Disney cruise before 8 a.m. I was pleasantly surprised as that had never happened to me before. Normally it is at least 10 a.m.

One thing though-now more and more ships are offering self assist-early debarktation-so if you are willing to take your luggage off yourself you can get off sooner. I bought more luggage, all wheeled, so I can take advantage of this.

We got off our Disney cruise before 8 a.m. I was pleasantly surprised as that had never happened to me before. Normally it is at least 10 a.m.

 

One thing though-now more and more ships are offering self assist-early debarktation-so if you are willing to take your luggage off yourself you can get off sooner. I bought more luggage, all wheeled, so I can take advantage of this.

If you wheel off your own luggage does Customes still have to search it? Now that I'm worried, but will it still delay you?

emilymad,

yes, my husband is on airtran july 16th (return) we are on seperate flights because we have a 2 year old and dont want to fly together (she is staying home) is that the flight you are on?

Suzanne

The earliest we have ever gotten off (in the first bunch) was 830 AM.

Emilymad,

our flight situation is turning into a disaster (there are 8 of us total)

email me and let me know what you are doing about airtran.

thanks

Suzanne

sdnpsu@comcast.net

I don't understand why people want to rush to be off FIRST. I don't mind having a leisurely breakfast and sitting by the pool a little bit longer!

Last March 2004, We were off the Mariner of the Seas, Port Canaveral at 8AM with white tags. You can't always count on getting off early. Some people hold you up by not taking care of their bill. Sometimes Customs doesn't board on time. There are a lot of factors so I feel if you are booking a flight don't make it too early as you might miss it if there is a delay. You are better off going and hanging out at the airport or taking a short excursion when you get back to Fla. Just my opinion! Ike

We got off the Grandeur on April 16th at 8:00am.For some reason they seemed to be rushing.The driver we hired was surprised that we got off that early.He said the earliest he ever saw was 8:30.We were the first off as diamond members and we were told to wait in the Viking Crown.Didn't make any sense why we were going to be the first off and they sent us as far from the disembarkation deck as possible.We barely got up there and they called our tags.Maintainance was tearing up carpeting and putting new stuff down on the 11th deck.We figured that may have been why they were rushing people off.In light of recent events on the Grandeur new carpeting is hardly an issue

I agree with MrsPete! I have always thought the concept of getting 2000 people off the ship in a matter of an hour or two, then to load it back up immediately is crazy! It would be less frantic and frustrating to have a more leisurely disembarkation, takes some time to allow the crew to rest their smile muscles, then allow the new passengers on the ship no earlier than 2 pm.

I know there are a lot of "I wanna be the first person on the ship and squeeze every possible minute ouf this cruise"-type people who will disagree with me.

We've decided that the best way we've done it was to book an RCCL side trip if you have a late flight and want to get off the ship early. When we do that, we're off early, luggage is taken care of, and we have a great time doing something fun waiting for our flight rather than sitting in an airport.

The WORST we've ever had was our last cruise on the Enchantment. Our "own transportation" tag color was called (FINALLY) and we got in a line of people about 11:30 - at ONE FIFTEEN we got off the ship. ew.

If you wheel off your own luggage does Customes still have to search it? Now that I'm worried, but will it still delay you?

If your last port was a non-US port, then yes you will have to go through Customs and Immigration. It can go very fast, but as has been noted, it all depends on how many agents there are, if there are pax who haven't settled their onboard accounts, if there are any problems, etc.

beachchick

I have been very fortunate with 3 past cruises. I have typically made air arrangements early, either because they were cheaper or because I had a long commute home. In each instance, I simply showed my flight information at the desk and was off the ship and in the air with no problems.

Sailed NOS 4/2. Had 130 Miami - chicago flight. With all the Springbreak travelers I wanted to definately be at airport by 1130. told guest relations desk and they gave me white tags. off ship by 7:10. AMERICAN AIRLINES HAS Pierside check in which was the GREATEST. Claimed luggage, gave to porter ($1 a bag) took to AA Check in and got boarding passes at pier. cab to airport by 730 and at our gate by 800 a.m. Had a long wait to kill time at the gate but no worries about missing a flight.

In the past SPriing break flights Miami departures and airport check ins were horrendous (LINES OVER 2hours just to go through security)