How early of a flight can I safely book?

[princessluna14]

My husband and I are taking a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas with Royal Caribbean after the Princess Half in February and I'm starting to look at flights now. We will be arriving back to Miami on Friday Feb 26th and flying out of Fort Lauderdale to Philly. Would I be pretty safe to book a 11:30am flight out? Would that give me enough time to debark and travel to the airport? My only options pretty much are 11:30am or 7:30pm and I would reallllly prefer the 11:30am.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

My husband and I are taking a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas with Royal Caribbean after the Princess Half in February and I'm starting to look at flights now. We will be arriving back to Miami on Friday Feb 26th and flying out of Fort Lauderdale to Philly. Would I be pretty safe to book a 11:30am flight out? Would that give me enough time to debark and travel to the airport? My only options pretty much are 11:30am or 7:30pm and I would reallllly prefer the 11:30am.

In a word, no. At least not with a lot of stress and risk. Miami to FLL can be a good 60-90 minutes depending on traffic. Even though they're only about 30 miles apart, traffic on a weekday morning can be a nightmare (and there really is only one road (95) that gets you there directly without a zillion stop lights or going 10 miles out of the way (turnpike). All it takes is one fender bender (and 95 is notorious for the frequency of accidents down there) and you're completely SOL. I'd suggest either flying out of Miami, or resigning yourself to the later flight.

If the RCL ship gets in on time (which doesn't always happen), you're looking at ~8;15-8:30 before you can get off the ship; add another 30-45 minutes getting through customs, and you're well after nine before you even get to the curb to try and find a cab or shuttle. FLL on weekdays is a zoo, so you need to get there a good 90 minutes before your flight, which means if you aren't stepping out of the cab in FLL by 10-10:15 you're cutting it too close for comfort.

 

[ludari]

When ever I have to fly to catch a cruise I like to leave one sometimes two days before just to avoid any potential problems with delays or lost luggage. The only exception I made to that was when my flying time was less than 2 hours and they where multiple flights arriving all day starting at 730AM and of course I took the first one out.

 

[Donna3271]

I have flown out of FLL as early at 10:20 and made the flight with no issues... Time to spare. I've gotten to the airport as early as 8:30 with SAS transportation. The airport is small and security lines are short.

Others will have different opinions and tell you no. I have an 11:30 flight out this November as well. I am not concerned.

 

[princessluna14]

I decided on an 11:45 out of FLL with Southwest, so keeping my fingers crossed that there are no disasters to delay us that morning!

 

[Donna3271]

I decided on an 11:45 out of FLL with Southwest, so keeping my fingers crossed that there are no disasters to delay us that morning!

You will be FINE!!! TRUST ME!

 

[Frozen2014]

You can do self disembark to get off early.
Our flight is 11:20am (but our ships is at Fort lauderdale, flying out of the same city).
Have an awesome cruise.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Just a quick follow up. We just got off Enchantment on Monday, and we were two hours late getting back to port due to a propulsion problem - had to be assisted into the dock by tugs Passed by OIA exit (25 miles from port) about 10:30, and would never have made an 11:30 flight. Last January, we were delayed coming into Tampa because of dense sea fog - didn't finally dock until 2PM. To quote Clint Eastwood, "are you feeling lucky?"

Others will tell you that you will be fine, but there are always risks - especially with a 20+ year old ship sailing in an area of the Atlantic that is notorious for sea fog in the winter months.

 

[Laz]

Just a quick follow up. We just got off Enchantment on Monday, and we were two hours late getting back to port due to a propulsion problem - had to be assisted into the dock by tugs Passed by OIA exit (25 miles from port) about 10:30, and would never have made an 11:30 flight. Last January, we were delayed coming into Tampa because of dense sea fog - didn't finally dock until 2PM. To quote Clint Eastwood, "are you feeling lucky?"

Others will tell you that you will be fine, but there are always risks - especially with a 20+ year old ship sailing in an area of the Atlantic that is notorious for sea fog in the winter months.

Also remember that Customs and Immigration could slow or even prevent disembarking for any number of reasons. It is not common but it has happened to my DW and myself.

 

[princessluna14]

Well, like I said, the flight is already booked. So I hope I get lucky!

 

[mommypenguin29]

Hopefully you should be fine... we only had issues one cruise where it took us about 2 hours to disembark and we didn't get off until around 10:30... if you can - I would do an early walk off carrying your luggage and you should be fine!

 

[kamik86]

With SW I wouldn't worry too much. I have moved flights last minute with them on several occasions. (supposed to fly out that day at 6:30 but my meeting is running over and I now need to take the 8:00 flight home for example)

 

[alliecat523]

Helpful tip, if you pay for the porter when you disembark, you go through a faster customs line. Most people self assist when they disembark and wait in the ages long customs line. If you tip the porter, you zip right through.

There is always a risk with traffic, port or ship issues. I think you'll most likely be fine with the 11:45 flight. SW can rebook you on the later flight if there is an issue.

 

[princessluna14]

With SW I wouldn't worry too much. I have moved flights last minute with them on several occasions. (supposed to fly out that day at 6:30 but my meeting is running over and I now need to take the 8:00 flight home for example)

Helpful tip, if you pay for the porter when you disembark, you go through a faster customs line. Most people self assist when they disembark and wait in the ages long customs line. If you tip the porter, you zip right through.

There is always a risk with traffic, port or ship issues. I think you'll most likely be fine with the 11:45 flight. SW can rebook you on the later flight if there is an issue.

Thanks for the tip about SW rebookings... makes me feel a bit better!