How early out of FLL?

Hi everyone...I hope those of you experienced with flying out of FLL can advise me. My husband and I will disembark from a cruise on the Sea Princess on Saturday 3-17-07. Only part of the ship will disembark due to 2 embarkation ports. I have searched this web site and have noticed that people ask if specific flight times are doable at FLL. As I have not booked flights yet, let me ask....what is the earliest flight that you would recommend I book out of FLL?

We would like to leave as early as possible since we will be flying cross country to the west coast and there is no direct flight to our destination.

Thanks so much for any helpful hints.....Judith

In general the recommendation is no earlier than noon, but a lot of people have been able to easily make 11am flights from FLL when sailing from Ft. Lauderdale. I looked and Sea Princess is one of 5 ships in port that day, so I wouldn't go any early than that.

We have been on multiple cruises using this airport. The cruise docks are about 10 minutes from the airport. Approximately $10-$12 cab ride each way.

We have scheduled flights as early as 11 AM with no problem.

It really depends on the number of ships pulling into port when you get off the ship. The more ships, the longer the lines at the airport. Our cruise last January, there were 6 ships pulling in at once, we got to the airport gate at 10:40am thanks to the very long lines in the airport terminal. Luckily our flight was at 12:20pm. Some will say pick a 11am flight but I would say pick one after 11:30am just to be safe.

Should be no problem with anything 11:00 a.m. or later. We flew post-cruise out of FLL last week and were checked in and through security by 9:10 a.m.

I just booked our return flight for March11th...I was tempted to book the 11:50am flight because it would get me home earlier and when I've cruised before I have gotten off the ship pretty early at times. But, I checked with the online travel agent we booked with and he suggested that was cutting it too close. I know I could try to get off the ship with the first group but all in all, I decided not to take the chance and booked the 12:45 flight out.

I guess if we're off the ship by 9a ( like sometimes can happen) I will be kicking myself!

Perhaps you will be lucky and make an 11:00 AM or even noon flight. However, I can tell you that last year we came into FLL on a Saturday and there were 4 or 5 ships in the same day. We must have been one of the last ships coming in because when we got to the airport the lines were out the door and down the street (Delta Airlines). We got in line with the "crowd" and it took us about 2 1/2 hours to get to the Kiosk to check in. Then we took our bags and got in another line that took about 20 minutes to drop our bags off with TSA. Next, we had to go through security which was a good 45 min to 1 hour wait. We got to the airport at about 8:30 or 9:00 for a 1:00 PM flight and we barely made it. So, try a 11:00 AM or noon flight if you are a lucky person. Perhaps things have changed since last year and it might be better. If it was me, I would think about a slightly later flight if you can still make connections.

Thanks everyone for all the responses.

After reading your responses and researching flights, the best flight for us in terms of expense would be on US Airways leaving FLL at 11:20 AM. That would get us to our home airport at 7 PM. The next flight would be at 4:30 PM and get us home at 2 AM! I think we will book the earlier flight and take our chances. I sure appreciate all the tips on how to get to the airport early. Am hoping disembarkation goes quicly. As I said before, this cruise has 2 embarkation/disembarkation ports with most people (British) using Barbados. That should hopefully speed us up somewhat. I am assuming from the feeback that there is no trouble getting a cab at the port in Fort Lauderdale.

Judith

When you walk into the luggage termional, hold up a $10 for a porter. He will get your bags abd a taxi in no time...Always works great. :p

Thanks for the tip, I will remember to do that. We will also go to the Purser's desk and make sure that we get off with the first group.