10:05 AM Flight Out Of Tampa after Transatlantic

[sasset]

Ship scheduled to arrive at 5AM. Can I make a 10:05 flight out of Tampa. This would be on a Sunday. Never cut it this close but saw a great fare.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by sasset
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[Happy Cruiser 6143]

The ship may arrive at 5 but no way you're getting off then.  And you're coming off a TA, so you have Customs & Border Protection to deal with.  So, you might make it, you might not.  Do you want to roll the dice?

[cruisestitch]

will you be doing Express walk off, meaning that you can move all your luggage off the ship with no assistance?  
 

if you will be putting your luggage out the night before, are you in a suite so it will be offloaded first?

do you have Global Entry?

 

Do you have any airline status that would help you get through lanes quicker? Will you be flying first class or coach? And do you have TSA pre-check?

 

What is your plan B if you miss the flight? How much will it cost you to fly standby later in the day? How many flights are there later in the day that you could catch? What is the load on those flights at this time because if they are already sold out or nearly so, you won’t have much of a chance of getting a seat.

 

how well do you handle travel stress?  Will this plan cause you more stress than you can handle?

 

These are just a few of the questions you need to consider before you book that flight

Edited July 27, 2022 by cruisestitch

[Denny01]

Airport is 8mi away and depending on day of the week, you’ll be in heavy traffic. As @Happy Cruiser 6143 says, its a roll of the dice and all has to go with no hiccups.  If you carry luggage off and get through customs, lets say 830am it’ll be ~20min or so taxi with the traffic, you’ll get there close to an hr prior. 

 

WIth the current full flights, if you have issues, you’ll have Big Issues. And I always remind those doing such that you’ll be checking weather, flight and airport status and so on days prior and adding Stress after a fantastic low-stress TA.

 

Your call. And thats why its a cheaper flight. 

 

Den

 

[RosieRoo]

Lived in the area and sailed in and out of Tampa many times. Tampa sometimes has issues with fog. I’ve been on a ship that wasn’t able to enter the channel due to fog. The ship didn’t dock until noon and lots of people missed their flights. Not saying it happens often, but definitely something to consider when booking flights. 

[sasset]

Like I said, never do this early. I know TPA is only about 9 miles and I would think Sunday morning would be light traffic. Our last TA was in October 2019. I don't remember if they had customs on at the last port, Nassau, so customs could be done on the last sea day. We've been watching flights in the 11:45 to 12:30 time frame but just saw this one pop up at roughly half the price. Also just the Celebrity ship in port.

Just thought I'd see what others have experienced.

[sasset]

8 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

will you be doing Express walk off, meaning that you can move all your luggage off the ship with no assistance?  
 

if you will be putting your luggage out the night before, are you in a suite so it will be offloaded first?

do you have Global Entry?

 

Do you have any airline status that would help you get through lanes quicker? Will you be flying first class or coach? And do you have TSA pre-check?

 

What is your plan B if you miss the flight? How much will it cost you to fly standby later in the day? How many flights are there later in the day that you could catch? What is the load on those flights at this time because if they are already sold out or nearly so, you won’t have much of a chance of getting a seat.

 

how well do you handle travel stress?  Will this plan cause you more stress than you can handle?

 

These are just a few of the questions you need to consider before you book that flight

No express walk off.

In a FV.

Global Entry yes.

Flying first with loyalty status and TSA pre-check.

Plenty of later flights.

 

 

[Denny01]

I wasn’t speaking, well posting……, from direct experience. Just experience in other ports. Personally, after a real hassle in Seattle, I’ve been thinking about staying one night after the cruise to just made life a bit easier. 

 

Light traffic on Sunday means 14min instead of 20min.

 

Den

[mahdnc]

HI, sasset.  I think we are on the same cruise.  If you do self-walk off (which is critical to the plan), you should be able to make that 10 am flight although there is not a large allowance for things to go wrong. I know it's just one data point at a completely different port, but we got off Solstice in Sydney (self walk off) and got to SYD via taxi by 7:37 am (7-8 miles away from the cruise port).  The self walk off line can be long (a lot of people looking to get off early for various reasons), so you will want to get to the assembly point earlier than what is stated on the disembarkation newsletter.

 

My understanding is that the Tampa cruise terminal does not use Global Entry which isn't that big of a deal if you are among the first to get off via self-walk off.  

 

Daylight savings time ends on that Sunday we pull into Tampa, so we will have an extra hour of sleep before we get thrown off the ship.  It doesn't help with the disembarkation schedule, but at least you will be well rested.

 

Hopefully you do not incur any unfavorable changes in departure time with your flight which is something else to watch out for.

 

I think it is worth the risk as long as long as you can adjust if things go wrong and you need to catch a later flight.

 

David

Edited July 27, 2022 by mahdnc

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, sasset said:

No express walk off.

In a FV.

Global Entry yes.

Flying first with loyalty status and TSA pre-check.

Plenty of later flights.

 

 

Plenty of later flights now, but as the airlines keep trimming their schedules that could change.  We went from a lot of direct flights for October from DFW  to JFK to catch a international flight to 0.  Then 4 connecting flights changed due to cancellations.

A few direct flights to JFK added recently but none that arrive in time for our flight to Spain. So as of today we will have to fly in a day ahead so hopefully 1 of the 4 flights will go and we are on it.  
 

We cut it close for years but not these days.

 

[grandgeezer]

One other thing to keep in mind is all the crew have to go through customs also. How much that affects things I don’t know. We’ve done six transAtlantics but never scheduled early flights so we didn’t worry about it. None of them were returning to Tampa.

[chemmo]

Is the money saved worth the worry? 

How much extra cost/trouble will you have if you miss the flight?

Is the additional cost for a more comfortable flight time enough to make you gamble?

 

 

[keesar]

On one of our cruises, we had officials come aboard as there were issues with several of the crew and passengers.  The first departures did not occur until a little after 8:30.  The line was quite long to leave the ship.  Luckily, our plane was leaving at 2 pm.  

[Provence55always]

We are on the same cruise. Our flight has been changed from an afternoon flight. We now fly out of Tampa at 11.30 am to Boston then 3.40 wait in Boston for our onward flight to Dublin. We plan to self walk off.

 

 

 

 

[LadyBerard]

When we disembarked this past Nov. on the Constellation in Tampa, there were NO taxis.  I don't know why, but we had to arrange an uber.

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

In 2017 , it took hours to get get off the. Rhapsody of the Sea

They had to open up the buffet for people to eat 

There was only 3 custom officers working 🙄

will be get off the Conny TA in November 2023 , will not be an early flight 

Edited July 27, 2022 by Ex-Airbalancer

[Provence55always]

Now you guys have me worried😱😱

[newtocruisingcdn]

Remember life is a gamble, always have a backup plan.. try put a dollar value on the additional stress…

[SbbquilterUT]

Do you have any stop at a US port before Tampa?  We had a stop at SanJuan so Border Patrol came on board to clear us all before we could depart the ship that day.  Made Tampa an easy depart.

[mahdnc]

24 minutes ago, SbbquilterUT said:

Do you have any stop at a US port before Tampa?  We had a stop at SanJuan so Border Patrol came on board to clear us all before we could depart the ship that day.  Made Tampa an easy depart.

 

No.  Our last scheduled port before Tampa is Nassau.

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, Provence55always said:

Now you guys have me worried😱😱

 

Our domestic flight out of TPA is right now scheduled for 11:43 am.  We have not decided whether we will do self walk off or not.  

 

I forgot to mention that there will be a big (American) football game being played in Tampa (vs LA Rams!) on the day we disembark.  I am thinking that it will not affect things.

[G&G]

Here is my two cents. I live in the Tampa area. It appears your ship arrives on 10/22/22. Fog is usually not an issue in Tampa Bay until the winter months, sometime after Thanksgiving. But Holland America stop sailing out of Tampa three years ago due to the fog; but their ships did not start sailing until late November. I would suggest you have pre TSA to make flight. Airport has been busy this summer but very efficient to get through security to gates. If it was me, I would book after 12 noon.

[Denny01]

11 hours ago, sasset said:

No express walk off.

In a FV.

Global Entry yes.

Flying first with loyalty status and TSA pre-check.

Plenty of later flights.

 

 

With no walkoff, the ‘normal’ start of off-loaded luggage on other ports Ive been on is 8-8:30. And there may be ‘plenty of later flights’ but are you ready to accept not flying 1st Class. 

 

Den

[FLCruiser97]

What @mahdncsaid about the Bucs game could actually impact the route to TPA. The stadium is right down the street from TPA and the tailgaters are huge for the Bucs. 

[JimVB]

6 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

In 2017 , it took hours to get get off the. Rhapsody of the Sea

They had to open up the buffet for people to eat 

There was only 3 custom officers working 🙄

will be get off the Conny TA in November 2023 , will not be an early flight 

We were on that cruise.  That experience made a lasting impression.  We barely made a 2pm flight.