FYI, this is solely our experience. I am not speaking for anyone else, or guaranteeing you will have the same experience, but thought some people might be interested! We had second seating for dinner. So, we were scheduled to have breakfast at Parrot Cay (the last restaurant in our rotation) at 8:15am. The early seating had their breakfast at 7:00 am. After breakfast, we walked off the ship with our carryon luggage (our disembarking group had already been notified it could leave) and one suitcase we had kept with us overnight. We proceeded through the baggage claim, and waited for our bags to come out the conveyor (like at the airport). There were plenty of people around, but it wasn't a madhouse. Maybe we just got lucky. We had our bags within about 10 minutes and then went through customs. We did not get a porter, but we only had our one suitcase and a small carryon each. Customs was easy, just looked at our form, and waived us through. We went outside and called our shuttle service. We used SAS Transportation. I had reserved it a few months before, and per the instructions, called him when we got outside. He described the van and said he would be there in a few minutes. He pulled up about 5 minutes later and we were on our way to FLL. (The passenger pick up area was sort of a madhouse, but in a controlled chaos sort of way?) We got to the airport in Ft. Lauderdale by about 10:00 am. SAS Transportation was great. Friendly, helpful and responsive. It is $15/person to FLL. They do not go to MIA. I think they sometimes pick up other passengers? but today it was just us. Usually, Disney has you put your luggage by your door the night before, and you pick it up in baggage claim. But, if you need to disembark early, you can keep your luggage with you, and walk off the ship at around 7:00 am or when the boat clears customs. Ours cleared at about 7:16 am.
Thanks for the information. We kept our bags with us when we got off the Magic in NYC in September and it worked out great. We got off the boat right around 7:30am. We had a ton of luggage too, since we had a 2 week total vacation. This time its just 4 nights, so we will definitely carry off again. This time no planes, we can just go to breakfast and drive right on home. I can get use to this.......
From a slighter different point of view, we did use a porter and got a cab (rather than no porter and shuttle). Our experience was the same. They were calling luggage tags to disembark and it seemed to be arranged by seating time since our tag was called when we were almost done with breakfast (sit down, in Triton's). As such, we walked right off the ship. There's a bit of a trek from the ship into the terminal luggage area, but I have to say, I LOVE the Miami luggage area. As Elangen mentioned, the luggage comes in on conveyor belts just like at airports. No random mess of luggage in groups on the floor. We got a porter who took us and our luggage to the customs area, our forms were checked, our passports scanned and we walked right through without any problem. The porter then led us outside and across the way to where there was a taxi line. There was a person there who would ask how many people, assess the luggage and call up a taxi from the waiting line of them for you. We were in and on our way. Have to say, I was quite pleased with disembarking in Miami - it went very smoothly.
Thank you Elangen and Cruise! We are relieved now! Originally, we had planned on carrying off our luggage since we are 2nd seating. In your opinion, should we put out our luggage, and go to breakfast, and then get off the ship like Normal? We were concerned we wouldn't make a noon flight. I appreciate your input.
Thanks for the info. We are going next week and I wasn't sure what to expect. Sounds like it is good. We will be driving our own car. Anyone know how that works? We have only cruised out of Port Canaveral.
