10:05 a.m. flight....can I make it???

I have a 10:05 a.m. flight out of Ft. Lauderdale after our cruise with Carnival on the Freedom.....anyone think I can make the flight????

While you may make the flight ... if there are many ships in port, delays in clearing your ship, long checkin or security lines at the airport, you likely will be SOL. If you miss the flight you have, the airlines probably will accommodate you on the next flight with available seats. The way the carriers are cutting capacity, it could be a day or more before you fly out, should you miss the flight you now hold. If you bought that early flight because it was cheaper than other later departures ... there's a reason for it, that is, the airlines are betting the hoardes of cruisers won't be able to take advantage of that low fare.

I have a 10:05 a.m. flight out of Ft. Lauderdale after our cruise with Carnival on the Freedom.....anyone think I can make the flight????

I sure hope you are planning on doing "Self-Assist Debarkation".

Good Luck !!!

Joanne

I am doing self-debarkation...plus I called Carnival before I booked it and they said they let early flights off first.

Does anyone know if AirTran in Ft. Lauderdale has outside bag checks like in Tampa?

If it were me, I wouldn't take the chance! That is really cutting it too close. If there are any delays getting off the ship, and that has been known to happen, you won't make it. But, that's just my personal opinion. Good luck.

Don't hold your breath, for all the other reasons the other posters mentioned.

FLL, as I posted on a similar thread, IMO, had one of the worst checkins in the world..compared to everywhere else I've been. I avoid flying out of there as much as possible.

Barring no accidents at the port, no immigration clearance issues from the ship, you are first off, no other hassles and an easy check in through the security in, MAYBE you will make it.

But if you don't you lose your right to complain. Didn't you read the fine print in what your cruise tix said about the recommendation to book a flight after 12??

Good luck.

I have a 10:05 a.m. flight out of Ft. Lauderdale after our cruise with Carnival on the Freedom.....anyone think I can make the flight????

if there are a lot of ships in port....no! say there are 5 ships x 2000 pax..that's 10000 people x 2 (going and coming) PLUS those going to sail from MIA flying into/out of FLL, PLUS all the rest of the tourists....

FLL isn't a BAD airport but check in is brutal and the ticket counter area gets PACKED as all the people with late flights who are 4 hours too early to check in just CONGREGATE all over the place...

i wouldn't do it...............

I am doing self-debarkation...plus I called Carnival before I booked it and they said they let early flights off first.

 

Does anyone know if AirTran in Ft. Lauderdale has outside bag checks like in Tampa?

Noticing your dates, if you are sailing over Easter Break, forget it. You have a better chance of catching the space shuttle than catching your 10:05 flight.

FLL/Hollywood Airport is horrendous on days where there are a lot of ships in port.

We just got off the Noordam on 02/22 and the port had a problem with allowing everyone's luggage off the ship. No one was allowed to leave until somewhere around 8:30, not even those who were expedited. As long as you have a backup plan for missing the flight you will be fine but if you don't then good luck. At the airport those going to New York were on waiting lists all day and then some. I think you may be cutting it a little too close and it is going to require that nothing goes wrong. Even then there is no guarantee.

in December, I made a 9:35 flight --- and even had a nap. We are platinum and did self-assist. We were 2nd in line for a cab and at the airport and checked in by 7:45 --- Hubby and I took an hour nap before the flight. It was jet blue. We know everything went perfect and were willing to accept our fate had it not worked out, but since it did, we booked a 10:05 flight home out of Miami on 4/26.

Thank you Lisa!!! You give me hope. I plan on printing our boarding passes on the ship, self-debarking, grabbing the first taxi we can, and check our bags at the bag check outside at the taxi stop. The airport is ten minutes from the port. This is our ninth cruise and we've always been off the ship before 8:30 (with self-debark) and that was without getting off first. I called Carnival and they let early flights and platinum guest off first. I plan to be off the ship by 8:00ish, and at the airport by 8:45ish with luggage all checked. The latest check-in is 9:15.

If we don't make it we'll fly stand-by....it's not a tradgedy.

Also....it's not Easter break.....Easter is April 12.

Thank you Lisa!!! You give me hope. I plan on printing our boarding passes on the ship, self-debarking, grabbing the first taxi we can, and check our bags at the bag check outside at the taxi stop. The airport is ten minutes from the port. This is our ninth cruise and we've always been off the ship before 8:30 (with self-debark) and that was without getting off first. I called Carnival and they let early flights and platinum guest off first. I plan to be off the ship by 8:00ish, and at the airport by 8:45ish with luggage all checked. The latest check-in is 9:15.

 

If we don't make it we'll fly stand-by....it's not a tradgedy.

 

Also....it's not Easter break.....Easter is April 12.

I sure hope you make it. Personally, the last thing I want to do after a nice, relaxing vacaction is rush off a ship, worrying that I might miss my flight.

Carnival can be notoriously slow debarking passengers. I've been on Carnival ships that didn't even clear customs until 10:30 a.m. (if one of your port stops is Jamaica, for obvious reasons, your departure may be delayed!!!).

Flying standby is tricky these days...just be prepared to spend an overnight if you miss the ship and can't get on another flight that day. As I said, I do truly hope you make it, but rushing after a vacation is just not my style.

Jo-Ann

I just got off the Freedom yesterday. We went down to deck 3 with our luggage around 6:35 am (there was a paper in our room that told about this), and we were directed to the Victoriana show lounge. Within 5 minutes, we were told we could disembark by a crew member. So we were at the airport before 7.

So my advice is... get up early and go down to deck 3 to wait. Be one of the first off the ship. Checking your bags outside is a great time saving tip, the lines inside were horrendous!

HTH

Letsgocruise.....you're my hero!!!!

I am on the Carnival Freedom as well. Did you report to them that you had an early flight.....did you print your boarding passes....were there taxis waiting that early....did you have to check your luggage at the airport???

Please give me details.....thanks!!!

You might want to read this thread just posted by someone on Cruise Critic:

I made a 10:05 flight in FLL, but wouldn't recommend it ;)

Hi everyone ... I know that since a common question on this boards is about flights after debarkation, I'd mention my experiences last week. Now, by my post counts and obnoxious confidence about cruising, you can be sure that I'm on CruiseCritic a lot. You can also bet that I knew booking an early flight out of Fort Lauderdale was a risky proposition, but circumstances (as they usually do) made me think I could get away with it to save quite a bit of money.

Here's the scoop ... the Navigator was to dock in Port Everglades at 8:00 AM. From my time on her in November, I knew that she was actually supposed to arrive earlier and be cleared by 8 AM. This would still mean, however, that customs/immigration would have to be quick, I'd have to carry my own bags off, I'd have to hope there would be enough cabs, and I'd have to hope for short lines at the airport.

Well, it kind of worked that way, but my small insurance policy was that I only had a carry-on bag ... essentially giving me the full time, until 9:50 or so, to get on the plane and allowing me not to have to worry about getting my bags checked by a certain time.

So what actually happened?

Well, Navigator did dock early, but there was a small delay in customs/immigration. Those doing Express Walkoff 1 and 2 were supposed to meet in Studio B before 8 AM. Of course, those who arrived early were doomed to be the last ones out of the meeting area as those who arrived closest to 8 lined up by the doorway, blocking all exits incidently, instead of finding a seat in the room. At around 8:20 passengers were allowed to leave, which meant exiting Studio B and making your way down congested stairwells full of people who could barely manage the huge bags they were trying to carry off. Those who were a bit more sly did some photo shopping until it was evident that the ship was cleared, then slipped into the line as no one was keeping order, nor was anyone checking the express departure tickets that they were so adamant that everyone have.

Once off the ship (and yes, as they constantly announced, you do need your SeaPass in hand), there is the long walk down the length of the ship to the warehouse where customs is located. This walk really makes it clear as to who shouldn't have done express debarkation as many people had to stop, rest, readjust, and otherwise could not easily travel (though to be fair, I will say that Royal does not let passengers know just how long of a distance they will have to manage the bags). As I finally entered the customs building, there was quite a bit of looping around cattle-chutes, but there was almost no wait once finally reaching a customs agent and, in an admittedly quick fashion, I was cleared by 8:45.

At this point, there was a line for a cab. However, cabbies seemd to become aware that the ship was now unloading for, as soon as I took a few steps towards the line, 6 cabs pulled in to pick up passengers. By the time I made it up to the line there were only a few people there. A driver signaled me, I signaled him back, and some quick driving later, I was standing in the Fort lauderdale airport by 9:05.

Now I had heard that the Fort Lauderdale airport was a madhouse, but I'd never really experienced it because I'd only flown out later in the afternoon. I'd also never flown Southwest out of FLL. Both of those realities came crashing down on me as I looked at the Southwest ticket counter which was absolutely mobbed with people (I had counted on getting their earlier most passengers ... obviously not the case on a Monday morning with all of the weekend ships dumping their passengers in Miami and three ships letting loose in Fort Lauderdale). Luckily, however, I actually had forseen this (hence the carry-on and pre-printed boarding pass from the ship), so I proceeded to security for shock number two.

At first glance, the line was fairly short. Then I realized that the reason it was short was because it was broken up into several sections because the area was so small. There was one section right in front of the screeners. There was another section off to the right, Off of that second section, the overflow then ran down a long hallway that otherwise contained a people-mover. So yup ... I had to take a people mover to get to the end of the overflow-security line. Let me tell you, that was a GREAT feeling with 50 minutes left until the flight and as I shook my head, I told myself that I really did know better, but of course the siren's song of cheaper flights (there's a reason why they are cheaper) had befuddled my mind.

Now ... the story takes a positive turn, thank goodness. The security line was super-long, but it also moved super-quickly as those agents were good at getting people screened and through. That huge line only lasted about 20 minutes or so which meant that I was at my gate about 10 minutes before boarding started. So all of that ... a combination of things going right and wrong ... and I still only had about a 20-30 minute cushion.

So the moral of the story, you ask? Well, first, add an hour to your "best possible" projection of getting off the ship and to the airplane. Second, don't be lured by an early flight ... they may be cheaper, but emotional stability is probably worth something too.

I hope that perhaps someone finds this helpful ... and others find it enjoyable. Cheers.

We did it on Feb 22. We did self assist. We went down to the Pursers desk. They gave us #1 baggage tags. We were out of there, grabbed a cab right outside and were at the FLL airport by 7:20. We couldn't check in outside because it was too early for 12:30 flight. We were worried about catching that one. If we had been earlier, we could have caught the 7:20 or so flight. We went back in line at 8:30 for 12:30. No problem at all. I don't know if I would do it all the time but it was easy. Last time we left out of FLL, it was a mess because 8 ships had arrived. We were there all day.

Thank you....that makes me feel better.....did you print your boarding passes on the ship???

This is like the only post I've ever read on this topic where someone made sense.

Someone needs to start a thread titled, "I was assured by other posters I'd make an early flight and I didn't":D

You might want to read this thread just posted by someone on Cruise Critic:

 

I made a 10:05 flight in FLL, but wouldn't recommend it ;)

Hi everyone ... I know that since a common question on this boards is about flights after debarkation, I'd mention my experiences last week. Now, by my post counts and obnoxious confidence about cruising, you can be sure that I'm on CruiseCritic a lot. You can also bet that I knew booking an early flight out of Fort Lauderdale was a risky proposition, but circumstances (as they usually do) made me think I could get away with it to save quite a bit of money.

 

Here's the scoop ... the Navigator was to dock in Port Everglades at 8:00 AM. From my time on her in November, I knew that she was actually supposed to arrive earlier and be cleared by 8 AM. This would still mean, however, that customs/immigration would have to be quick, I'd have to carry my own bags off, I'd have to hope there would be enough cabs, and I'd have to hope for short lines at the airport.

 

Well, it kind of worked that way, but my small insurance policy was that I only had a carry-on bag ... essentially giving me the full time, until 9:50 or so, to get on the plane and allowing me not to have to worry about getting my bags checked by a certain time.

 

So what actually happened?

 

Well, Navigator did dock early, but there was a small delay in customs/immigration. Those doing Express Walkoff 1 and 2 were supposed to meet in Studio B before 8 AM. Of course, those who arrived early were doomed to be the last ones out of the meeting area as those who arrived closest to 8 lined up by the doorway, blocking all exits incidently, instead of finding a seat in the room. At around 8:20 passengers were allowed to leave, which meant exiting Studio B and making your way down congested stairwells full of people who could barely manage the huge bags they were trying to carry off. Those who were a bit more sly did some photo shopping until it was evident that the ship was cleared, then slipped into the line as no one was keeping order, nor was anyone checking the express departure tickets that they were so adamant that everyone have.

 

Once off the ship (and yes, as they constantly announced, you do need your SeaPass in hand), there is the long walk down the length of the ship to the warehouse where customs is located. This walk really makes it clear as to who shouldn't have done express debarkation as many people had to stop, rest, readjust, and otherwise could not easily travel (though to be fair, I will say that Royal does not let passengers know just how long of a distance they will have to manage the bags). As I finally entered the customs building, there was quite a bit of looping around cattle-chutes, but there was almost no wait once finally reaching a customs agent and, in an admittedly quick fashion, I was cleared by 8:45.

 

At this point, there was a line for a cab. However, cabbies seemd to become aware that the ship was now unloading for, as soon as I took a few steps towards the line, 6 cabs pulled in to pick up passengers. By the time I made it up to the line there were only a few people there. A driver signaled me, I signaled him back, and some quick driving later, I was standing in the Fort lauderdale airport by 9:05.

 

Now I had heard that the Fort Lauderdale airport was a madhouse, but I'd never really experienced it because I'd only flown out later in the afternoon. I'd also never flown Southwest out of FLL. Both of those realities came crashing down on me as I looked at the Southwest ticket counter which was absolutely mobbed with people (I had counted on getting their earlier most passengers ... obviously not the case on a Monday morning with all of the weekend ships dumping their passengers in Miami and three ships letting loose in Fort Lauderdale). Luckily, however, I actually had forseen this (hence the carry-on and pre-printed boarding pass from the ship), so I proceeded to security for shock number two.

 

At first glance, the line was fairly short. Then I realized that the reason it was short was because it was broken up into several sections because the area was so small. There was one section right in front of the screeners. There was another section off to the right, Off of that second section, the overflow then ran down a long hallway that otherwise contained a people-mover. So yup ... I had to take a people mover to get to the end of the overflow-security line. Let me tell you, that was a GREAT feeling with 50 minutes left until the flight and as I shook my head, I told myself that I really did know better, but of course the siren's song of cheaper flights (there's a reason why they are cheaper) had befuddled my mind.

 

Now ... the story takes a positive turn, thank goodness. The security line was super-long, but it also moved super-quickly as those agents were good at getting people screened and through. That huge line only lasted about 20 minutes or so which meant that I was at my gate about 10 minutes before boarding started. So all of that ... a combination of things going right and wrong ... and I still only had about a 20-30 minute cushion.

 

So the moral of the story, you ask? Well, first, add an hour to your "best possible" projection of getting off the ship and to the airplane. Second, don't be lured by an early flight ... they may be cheaper, but emotional stability is probably worth something too.

 

I hope that perhaps someone finds this helpful ... and others find it enjoyable. Cheers.

Letsgocruise.....you're my hero!!!!

 

I am on the Carnival Freedom as well. Did you report to them that you had an early flight.....did you print your boarding passes....were there taxis waiting that early....did you have to check your luggage at the airport???

 

Please give me details.....thanks!!!

No, we did self disembarkation. My friend is VIP and we had a letter in our stateroom saying we could come down to deck 3 at 6:30 (I am not sure if this was a VIP thing or not, but nobody was checking) Anyway, we went down bit past 6:30 and there were maybe a dozen people waiting in the lounge. A crew member came a few mins later and told us we were free to go. They hadn't even announced it over the PA system.

We were # 3 and 4 off the ship, so no lines for Customs. And basically the guy looked at me, looked at my passport and sent me on. Now in Port Canaveral they ran everything thru a computer but not here. We walked out of the terminal and were pointed in the direction of the taxis. There are signs up for them..just look straight ahead when you walk out. The first taxi of the day pulled up and we were on our way. (yes they were there waiting).

I checked my bags at the stand outside and the guy printed my boarding pass for me. (I flew southwest and the line inside became massive by 7:30. I highly recommend checking at the stand). Security lines weren't very long and I went right on thru then to my gate.

So yes we made it in plenty of time. My friends flight was at 10 and mine at 10:55. I know we were lucky as this doesn't happen all the time, but I actually had nearly 3 hrs to kill. So I got out my blanket and small pillow that I carry for flights and took a nap.

I hope everything goes smoothly for you. Just make sure you are up early and beat the rush!

Where did you go on deck 3???

Thanks for all the information!!!!

Where did you go on deck 3???

 

Thanks for all the information!!!!

We went down by the Purser's desk, and there was a sign saying to go the show lounge, which is very close by.

*make sure you do go early as the elevators were starting to get very busy around the time we left.

Thank you....wish me luck!

I've checked other flights for stand by just in case. The 6:00 p.m. flight is not full....so we'd stand by for that one.

We flew Air Tran out of FLL after our Navigator cruise last month. We did express check out and all was going well. However, when we got to the airport the line for the curbside check in for Air Tran took us 45 minutes to get through. They were walking the line and asking for people on earlier flights to step to the front. Good luck - it's a toss up.

my husband got our return flights out of Ft lauderdale at 12:37 :eek:we port in miami. will we make the flight? what are our chances of getting a taxi from port to ft lauderdale airport? I am scared spitless we will miss the flight.

Anybody done this before?:confused:

please tell me i am going to make this flight.

w8ingtocruise.....did you make your flight??? and what time was your flight???

What is Navigator???