SpasmaticAstroturf

Just missed this by 3 days.  That is an incredible amount of rain!  

April 4, Wednesday, Fort Lauderdale tallied 25.91 inches in a 24-hour period, according to preliminary reports from the National Weather Service office in Miami.

Plan A Worked!  BTW, I did not mention our flight was from the Fort Lauderdale Airport.  We kept our original Delta flight and did not make any changes nor call to be placed on stand-by for later flights.  Flight was scheduled to leave at 9:05 am with 8:25 boarding.  I documented my disembarkation experience via my phone camera.  I set my phone alarm to wake up at 5:30. I was up a bit early and watched Celebration's progress via marinetraffic.com.  The ship entered the Government Cut in the Main Channel at 5:00 am.  

All am times Easter morning April 9th, 2023:

5:13 - Shipped passed by the docked RC Oasis by the Sea

5:33 - The Celebration rotated 180 degrees at the end of the Main Channel and headed to dock.

5:45 - The Celebration docked. (Heard from our Lyft driver from FLL to Miami hotel that the Celebration usually docks around 6:00 am)

6:30 - Entered the Grand Spectrum Theatre (Stored luggage just outside the theatre along with other Platinum and Diamond Cruisers).

6:35 - Set in the 4th row of the theatre and waited to be called to disembark.

6:50 - Allowed to Disembark (Originally scheduled for 7:30)

6:55 - Went thru customs (face recognition) - NO LINE

7:00 - Entered the terminal elevator for the first floor.

7:07 - Seated in the "only" cab in front of the terminal.  (The cab was an SUV - 30% surcharge added)

7:08 - Cab lesson learned, but worth the unexpected price.  

7:09 - Yes, I know I could have used Uber or Lyft.

7:37 - Cab dropped us off at terminal 2.

7:47 - Checked luggage at Delta Counter (Sky-Priority)

7:50 - Went thru TSA via Pre TSA-Boarding (NO WAIT IN EITHER LINE)

7:56 - Set down in Delta Gate D8 - waiting for plane.

8:30 - Boarded Plane with on time take off.

2:00 pm - HOME!!!!!!

It is possible to exit the Celebration and travel to the Fort Lauderdale airport, check-in, pass thru TSA screening, and make to the gate in 1 HOUR.  Could it work for you?  I don't know.  Sometimes things work out.  We had a great cruise.  Again, thanks for your all-prior comments! Drop me a line if you have any questions.

Thanks for all the replies!!!

We are platinum, so that helps.  I know it all depends when the ship docks, gets clearance plus any delays that could happen.

It seems I remember from a past cruise the ship docked before 5:00 am one time.  

The flights were outrageously high for this trip but lucked out getting 2 for 1 airfare with Delta Skymiles AMEX card.    Unfortunately, the flight back home was only for a mid-morning departure.  I can call Delta 24 hours before our flight to try and get a later flight since we are medallion members.  We are just getting our ducks in a row.  I don't mind the challenge.  Plus, we purchased the TSA pre check to skip the TSA line.  BTW, one of the Platinum Skymiles card benefits pays for the $78 registration fee.

Can you head down to the exit area around 6:30am?

Any anyone else has any suggestions, please feel free to jump the thread to help us out.

Thanks!

Any prior Celebration cruisers remember the earliest clearance given to disembark?  I know when Carnival suggested disembarkation times.  I was wondering if anyone specifically knew the disembarkation time from their cruise?  We have somewhat of an early flight and wanted to prepare ahead of time.

Thanks for any help!

Carnival offered the (rep called it the Owner's Suite) to me Friday for our October cruise. The rep I spoke with said it would an additional $2300. We are in a junior suite. My guess, it would be a total cost of aprrox. $4500 for the week. I was sent pictures of the room via email. The room looked nice.

We are leaving the 15th. We changed our plane reservations to arrive the same day as the cruise ship departures. No available hotels October the 14th. We had reservations at the San Juan Sheraton. They cancelled our reservation because they are shut until December. We are going to roll the dice that the planes get there on time. We are flying Delta, they have been GREAT! Delta changed our flights, no charge. Also, they called us wanting to know if we still planed to travel to San Juan. Carnival sent us 0 emails or texts or called us once since the hurricane hit 3 weeks ago. We finally got an update today, lees than a week from our departure.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8082

I just called Carnival about the Fascination. The article above states that the Fascination will not return to San Juan until October22. As of Monday, September25th at5:45pm, that is not true.

There is still a scheduled October 15th sailing from San Juan on the Fascination.