Flight from FLL or MIA to Toronto - what is a good time for return flight home?

Norwegian Escape out of Miami port on Jan 6th/18...

Most the times I'm seeing are 12:30pm flights out of MIA or FLL.... just don't know if that is giving ourselves lots of time to get to the airport and not miss flight home. International flight and 3 kids in tow.... and I'm someone that hates to end a vacation by running for our plane

Any info from fellow Canadians that are flying home. I know Miami is a closer airport but pricing might have us flying out in/out of Fort Lauderdale instead.

Flights are pretty pricey right now. Still 9 months away....

Leslie

12:30pm is fine. FLL can get very busy on Saturday and Sunday afternoons with security and check-in lines. But 12:30pm, if you get off the boat early, you can be there early enough.

For MIA 12:30pm is not an issue at all.

12:30 from MIA is no problem as long as you are off the ship by 9 am ish

we have been at the airport at 9:30 am plenty of time for security & a coffee ;)

Leslie, I am not Canadian so hopefully you will here from them.

Whatever you do, please followup with the airline that you are looking at taking to verify the check in requirements.

If you are required to check in three hours before there is some risk particularly for getting to Fort Lauderdale by 9:30 AM and some risk for Miami airport as well.

The port itself will be busy the day with five ships in port including yours.

Like you I don't like to rush off the ship the last day. It's a terrible way to leave the ship IMHO. Also, I don't want to worry about things.

I would expect both airports will be crowded that day as it is part of the busy Florida season.

If three hours is really a requirement, consider a later flight or even staying over one night.

Keith

Checking in at Terminal J with AC it NOTHING like checking in with American carriers at MIA

Even at 10 am the line was minimal

Norwegian Escape out of Miami port on Jan 6th/18...

 

Most the times I'm seeing are 12:30pm flights out of MIA or FLL.... just don't know if that is giving ourselves lots of time to get to the airport and not miss flight home. International flight and 3 kids in tow.... and I'm someone that hates to end a vacation by running for our plane

 

Any info from fellow Canadians that are flying home. I know Miami is a closer airport but pricing might have us flying out in/out of Fort Lauderdale instead.

 

Flights are pretty pricey right now. Still 9 months away....

 

Leslie

We'll be flying out tomorrow to and from FLL out of Ottawa, live in Montreal, but sailing from Miami. Such is life on Aeroplan ;o( I've researched it quite a bit, and ended up booking, post-cruise, a limo service from the Port of Miami direct to FLL Terminal 2 for an AC flight back at 11:00AM. Pretty tight, but I believe we should be OK. We're walking off with our bags as early as possible, and should be with the limo by 8:30 or 9AM, barring fog or a Customs and Immigration meltdown. I'm told the drive early on a Sunday should only be a 30 minute drive up to FLL. If there's a line in Miami for US/non-US passengers in Customs, that should help a lot. and if you're NEXUS, then that should speed things up even more, as I believe that NEXUS MAY have finally arrived at the Port of Miami, as it's been at Port Everglades for a while now. IOW, a 12:30 flight out of FLL should be fine, and out of MIA even better. Have a great cruise eh.

We'll be flying out tomorrow to and from FLL out of Ottawa, live in Montreal, but sailing from Miami. Such is life on Aeroplan ;o( I've researched it quite a bit, and ended up booking, post-cruise, a limo service from the Port of Miami direct to FLL Terminal 2 for an AC flight back at 11:00AM. Pretty tight, but I believe we should be OK. We're walking off with our bags as early as possible, and should be with the limo by 8:30 or 9AM, barring fog or a Customs and Immigration meltdown. I'm told the drive early on a Sunday should only be a 30 minute drive up to FLL. If there's a line in Miami for US/non-US passengers in Customs, that should help a lot. and if you're NEXUS, then that should speed things up even more, as I believe that NEXUS MAY have finally arrived at the Port of Miami, as it's been at Port Everglades for a while now. IOW, a 12:30 flight out of FLL should be fine, and out of MIA even better. Have a great cruise eh.

Even on a Sunday morning, that trip will be closer to an hour.

I drive this drive often, at all times of day and night and it has never taken me less than an hour.

We'll be flying out tomorrow to and from FLL out of Ottawa, live in Montreal, but sailing from Miami. Such is life on Aeroplan ;o( I've researched it quite a bit, and ended up booking, post-cruise, a limo service from the Port of Miami direct to FLL Terminal 2 for an AC flight back at 11:00AM. Pretty tight, but I believe we should be OK. We're walking off with our bags as early as possible, and should be with the limo by 8:30 or 9AM, barring fog or a Customs and Immigration meltdown. I'm told the drive early on a Sunday should only be a 30 minute drive up to FLL. If there's a line in Miami for US/non-US passengers in Customs, that should help a lot. and if you're NEXUS, then that should speed things up even more, as I believe that NEXUS MAY have finally arrived at the Port of Miami, as it's been at Port Everglades for a while now. IOW, a 12:30 flight out of FLL should be fine, and out of MIA even better. Have a great cruise eh.

That seems tight, let us know how you made out with making your flights, etc. What time did you have to walk off ship to get to FLL in lots of time? Hope you had a good trip.

That seems tight, let us know how you made out with making your flights, etc. What time did you have to walk off ship to get to FLL in lots of time? Hope you had a good trip.

Back home now, and everything worked out perfectly. The cruise was great. The return home yesterday was a long hard slog, very early wake-up and all (and that's the key), but disembarkation off the Getaway at Miami and getting up to FLL for a 10:55 flight went just fine, no issues whatsoever.

Based on comments on other threads about NCL's horrible management of the disembarkation process, we decided, for the first time ever, to do an early walk-off. NCL's disembarkation process is a joke, with virtually no staff around early in the morning and no direction as to how it worked. No paperwork in the cabin days before like on other cruise lines we've been on. Even finding the head of the line took a lot of searching. A BIG +1 to Princess and Celebrity for their disembarkation system, NCL's is pathetic. Postings on the one TV Screen we could find said that self-walkoff would start at 07:45, so we decided to be pro-active and get to the head of the line at 06:30. We were about the 20th people off the ship by doing that, and surprisingly, the walk-off actually started early, at 07:20. Absolutely no issues at Customs, and we were through and standing outside waiting for our limo driver at 07:30. NOTE TO CANADIANS: NCL's disembarkation off the Getaway at Miami (so I'm not sure if it applies elsewhere, it sure doesn't apply with Princess at Port Everglades) puts Canadians in with Americans for disembarkation, as opposed to "Americans in one line, rest of the world in another" which better balances the numbers. That means that you are in line with thousands of other people, and not in a shorter line for international passports. US and Canadian passports exit on one gangway, the others left at the other end of the ship. It didn't matter for us as we were off so early, but if you disembark later, you could see longer line ups at Customs because of this odd policy. I don't know if it is NCL's decision or ICE's.

Again, we were outside by 07:30, an hour earlier than our scheduled limo pickup, but I was able to call the dispatcher and managed to get the limo to us by 08:00. Note to the person above who insisted they had never done the POM to FLL in less than an hour, you are to be commended for being such a safe and cautious driver. Going from FLL to the Getaway a week ago, our shuttle bus did the run in 35 minutes, including a 5 minute pickup at a hotel near FLL. Coming back yesterday, we left the Getaway at exactly 07:30 and arrived at T2 at FLL at exactly 08:00, so 30 minutes each time, not an hour. The new tunnel from I95 to the POM is a great time saver.

Check-in at Air Canada in T2 at FLL was the usual Chinese fire drill, with the check-in kiosks not working properly, forcing many to stand in line to check in with the agents. 30 minutes lost there. TSA Pre-Check/NEXUS got us through security fast, and the bottom line is that we made our 10:55 flight home with at least an hour to spare. The VERY early walk-off the ship is the key to making an early flight, don't START your walk-off at 07:30 or 08:00 or it probably will take you hours, you need to wake up early and be near the head of the line. You can't have fog, Customs issues at the POM, traffic problems on I95 up to FLL, etc., but an early flight out of FLL is certainly feasible, we just did it, though it sure was tiring. Have a great cruise, eh

Originally posted by lx200gps

We'll be flying out tomorrow to and from FLL out of Ottawa, live in Montreal, but sailing from Miami. Such is life on Aeroplan ;o( I've researched it quite a bit, and ended up booking, post-cruise, a limo service from the Port of Miami direct to FLL Terminal 2 for an AC flight back at 11:00AM. Pretty tight, but I believe we should be OK. We're walking off with our bags as early as possible, and should be with the limo by 8:30 or 9AM, barring fog or a Customs and Immigration meltdown. I'm told the drive early on a Sunday should only be a 30 minute drive up to FLL. If there's a line in Miami for US/non-US passengers in Customs, that should help a lot. and if you're NEXUS, then that should speed things up even more, as I believe that NEXUS MAY have finally arrived at the Port of Miami, as it's been at Port Everglades for a while now. IOW, a 12:30 flight out of FLL should be fine, and out of MIA even better. Have a great cruise eh.

That seems tight, let us know how you made out with making your flights, etc. What time did you have to walk off ship to get to FLL in lots of time? Hope you had a good trip.

 

 

Back home now, and everything worked out perfectly. The cruise was great. The return home yesterday was a long hard slog, very early wake-up and all (and that's the key), but disembarkation off the Getaway at Miami and getting up to FLL for a 10:55 flight went just fine, no issues whatsoever.

 

 

Based on comments on other threads about NCL's horrible management of the disembarkation process, we decided, for the first time ever, to do an early walk-off. NCL's disembarkation process is a joke, with virtually no staff around early in the morning and no direction as to how it worked. No paperwork in the cabin days before like on other cruise lines we've been on. Even finding the head of the line took a lot of searching. A BIG +1 to Princess and Celebrity for their disembarkation system, NCL's is pathetic. Postings on the one TV Screen we could find said that self-walkoff would start at 07:45, so we decided to be pro-active and get to the head of the line at 06:30. We were about the 20th people off the ship by doing that, and surprisingly, the walk-off actually started early, at 07:20. Absolutely no issues at Customs, and we were through and standing outside waiting for our limo driver at 07:30. NOTE TO CANADIANS: NCL's disembarkation off the Getaway at Miami (so I'm not sure if it applies elsewhere, it sure doesn't apply with Princess at Port Everglades) puts Canadians in with Americans for disembarkation, as opposed to "Americans in one line, rest of the world in another" which better balances the numbers. That means that you are in line with thousands of other people, and not in a shorter line for international passports. US and Canadian passports exit on one gangway, the others left at the other end of the ship. It didn't matter for us as we were off so early, but if you disembark later, you could see longer line ups at Customs because of this odd policy. I don't know if it is NCL's decision or ICE's.

 

 

Again, we were outside by 07:30, an hour earlier than our scheduled limo pickup, but I was able to call the dispatcher and managed to get the limo to us by 08:00. Note to the person above who insisted they had never done the POM to FLL in less than an hour, you are to be commended for being such a safe and cautious driver. Going from FLL to the Getaway a week ago, our shuttle bus did the run in 35 minutes, including a 5 minute pickup at a hotel near FLL. Coming back yesterday, we left the Getaway at exactly 07:30 and arrived at T2 at FLL at exactly 08:00, so 30 minutes each time, not an hour. The new tunnel from I95 to the POM is a great time saver.

 

 

Check-in at Air Canada in T2 at FLL was the usual Chinese fire drill, with the check-in kiosks not working properly, forcing many to stand in line to check in with the agents. 30 minutes lost there. TSA Pre-Check/NEXUS got us through security fast, and the bottom line is that we made our 10:55 flight home with at least an hour to spare. The VERY early walk-off the ship is the key to making an early flight, don't START your walk-off at 07:30 or 08:00 or it probably will take you hours, you need to wake up early and be near the head of the line. You can't have fog, Customs issues at the POM, traffic problems on I95 up to FLL, etc., but an early flight out of FLL is certainly feasible, we just did it, though it sure was tiring. Have a great cruise, eh

Thanks for your reply. Glad your trip and return to home went well.

lx200gps:

Thanks for returning to share your experience.

We are a group of 5 and cruising with NCL Escape in January. We are looking at flying from either MIA or FLL around noon gong to Ottawa. Disembarkation starts at 8am....can we do this off such a big ship. Will we need to do early walk off and then would taxis just be there waiting for us. Looking at flying with West Jet.

We are a group of 5 and cruising with NCL Escape in January. We are looking at flying from either MIA or FLL around noon gong to Ottawa. Disembarkation starts at 8am....can we do this off such a big ship. Will we need to do early walk off and then would taxis just be there waiting for us. Looking at flying with West Jet.

It depends. Being from Ottawa, I personally would not book a flight before noon. I have cruised out of FLL on RCI's Oasis and we were delayed getting off due to customs officer shortage. We were scheduled to disembark at 9 but did not actually get off until 10. But that was 4 years ago. We also cruised out of Miami and flew out of FLL in Dec 2015 and got to the airport about 11am. We hired a shuttle for about $15 pp. We got off an hour earlier than scheduled.........even though our flight was at 7pm (A.C. delayed our direct flight twice)

We are a group of 5 and cruising with NCL Escape in January. We are looking at flying from either MIA or FLL around noon gong to Ottawa. Disembarkation starts at 8am....can we do this off such a big ship. Will we need to do early walk off and then would taxis just be there waiting for us. Looking at flying with West Jet.

We left the Getaway in Miami not long ago, and flew AC out of FLL, also to Ottawa IIRC. As I mentioned earlier in my pretty long-winded response, if there are no weather issues delaying arrival, no traffic issues on the I95 and no issues with the US Customs, then making a noon flight from either MIA or FLL is a no-brainer. We found we could have made a 10AM flight out of FLL if there had been one available.

We found that compared to the other two cruise lines we have used, Princess and Celebrity, NCL's disembarkation process is horrible, so the only way we would EVER leave an NCL ship is walking off first thing, and that means being in line well before walk off is scheduled to start. From what we experienced, and what I've read on many threads here on CC, once NCL scheduled disembarkation starts, it can easily turn into pandemonium, with huge delays past your appointed time. Walking off early also helps you be among the first in line at Customs, though clearance after our trip was among the quickest we've ever experienced with US Customs, anywhere.

As to transport, when we disembarked the Getaway we were outside the Terminal at 7:30AM and the taxis were everywhere. Absolutely no issue getting one. With a small group, you should definitely consider a dedicated limo or van, probably more reliable than a taxi, and possibly cheaper.

Have a great trip.