Flight schedule

[Jenrausch84]

Hey,

My husband and I are taking a trip without the kids on our first cruise, and first Disney cruise. He booked us on a Southwest flight that lands in Fort Lauderdale at 11:40. Will that give us enough time to get to Miami port? It looks like it's an hour commute give or take depending on traffic. I know it's not ideal but since we're leaving the kids our options are limited. When is the latest they'll let you get to the ship in case we incur delays? Thanks!

 

[MomOTwins]

The all aboard time will be listed on your cruise itinerary for day 1. It is typically 4pm in Miami. Even assuming all goes entirely on time, it takes some time for the plane to taxi and passengers ahead of you to board and walking through the airport to ground transportation, let's say 40 minutes . I'm going to assume you do not have checked bags and are only carrying on because otherwise you would have to wait at baggage claim. What is your plan for transportation from the airport to the port? Let's say you do the fastest option of taxi/uber/private car, going to estimate 10 minutes there to wait at the taxi stand or meet up with your private car/uber. Then an hour drive to the port. Then at least 30 minutes to get through port security and check in for your cruise. So BEST case scenario with everything on time puts you on the ship at 2pm.

Pretty much any delay--flight delay, delays after you land with the plane waiting for a gate, checked bags taking a while to show up on the baggage claim if you check anything, traffic or accident on the road to the port, and you could easily miss your cruise. I think that is wayyyyyy too close, personally.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I've had way too many flight delays to feel comfortable flying in the day of a cruise. If everything goes perfectly and your flight is not delayed, you will land in plenty of time to get to the port. But it doesn't leave you a lot of wiggle room if there is an issue with your flight. My very first cruise, I flew in the morning of. It was a direct flight landing at MCO at 9:00am, and everything went perfect. Our next cruise, we planned to flight in the night before. Long story short, we had 5 hours of flight delays and didn't get to our hotel near MCO until 1am when we should have been there by 7pm. After experiencing that, I've never booked flights for us coming in the day of a cruise. It's not like a land-based trip where flight delays may delay the start of your trip but you'll still get to enjoy your vacation.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Wow, pretty tight if something happens. We flew a full day ahead to FLL for a Celebrity cruise. DFW closed because of high winds. All flts were diverted to San Antonio. No checked luggage was taken off the planes, because there was no place to put it. Got a rental and drove to DFW, finally got rebooked. Flt landed in FLL and we were the last ones boarding the ship. Even the best laid plans can fail.

 

[Dug720]

IF everything goes perfectly (never has with me and Southwest which is why I refuse to fly them anymore), it would still be too tight for me. Because you are also betting on no traffic between FLL and Port Miami (not a bet I would take).

Change it to the night before at the latest.

 

[tankin]

My rule of thumb is that I always want another set of flights on my airline that get me there in time... I doubt that's true on SW that late. I'd fly in the day before...

 

[Jenrausch84]

Thanks everyone, unfortunately flying in the night before isnt an option but I think we're going to try and change it to the earlier flight. It will land us at 9 am so it at least gives us more buffer room for incidentals. Plus it's the first flight of the day so I think there will be less issues with waiting for a plane etc. I think we're just going to have to hope for the best after that.

 

[lorimay]

We flew Southwest FLL to MCO in February for our WBPC cruise this year. We took the early flight 7am.
Just as we thought we were going to start boarding, an announcement came over the loud speaker saying, "Southwest is on a maintenance ground delay fleet wide." They didn't have a time for how long this delay would be, they would keep us informed.
We were ok, since we were spending the weekend in Disney before the cruise, so we had a couple days before the cruise, plus it was just a 31/2 hour drive so we could rent a car if necessary.
The delay was less than hour, but it could have been longer, they just didn't know.
Just be aware that unforeseen things happen, I would hate for you to miss the ship.
Definitely look into cruise insurance, in case.

 

[Jenrausch84]

I know. It makes me nervous as hell. I would really rather go the night before but with leaving the kids and work it just isnt an option. We're trying to look into insurance but the TA kind of just gave us the cut and paste...check here if flight delays cover it. So we're going to have to call and make sure its covered. I kind of wish she'd been more involved. We've never done a cruise before and I thought she would help us with flights and transportation to the port but she kind of left us on our own, a little disappointed. I guess at this point I have to just hope for the best.

 

[starvenger]

Thanks everyone, unfortunately flying in the night before isnt an option but I think we're going to try and change it to the earlier flight. It will land us at 9 am so it at least gives us more buffer room for incidentals. Plus it's the first flight of the day so I think there will be less issues with waiting for a plane etc. I think we're just going to have to hope for the best after that.

Going first flight the day of is probably the best risk mitigation given your situation. If you're landing on a weekday then a 9am arrival will see you miss the bulk of rush hour, so that's a good thing.

I've always found FLL to be pretty quick getting bags out, so hopefully that won't set you back too much time. If you're getting a car service, make sure you've got your details set before you take off for FLL.

If, for whatever reason, you decide to take a cab, make sure you specify Port of Miami. Port Everglades is only 5 minutes away, but you don't want to accidentally go there.

 

[Wmuflyguy]

As a reformed passanger airline pilot, I would take the earlier flight. The 11:40 arrival leaves no slack even for small items that crop up. If I had a dollar for every silly paperwork, passanger, or airport issue that delayed us 15-20 minutes I would be retired. I'd be a nervous wreck taking that flight. Take the earlier one and give yourself some breathing room.

You are right, the early in the day the flight the better then chance it will be on time. Especially with a company that runs as tight a schedule as SouthWest. Just the plane being late inbound to MCO could delay your flight. Chances are for the earlier flight the place arrives the night before and stays overnight from your departure point, so that is one less thing to go wrong. Also, thunderstorms are less prevalent in the morning hours, so one is less likely to pop up and delay a flight.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Flying in the day of! No.. Too many things can go wrong. Weather delays either at your airport or the airport where your flight is coming from. Remember there are two parts that require a flight to happen. One is having an aircraft to fly on the other is the crew. Most of the time the crew is coming from a totally different city than your plane is. Florida is nitrous for having storms and when there is lightning within 10 miles of the airport they close down the tarmac and no flights can be directed into the gate nor can the luggage be removed from the flights because the make all employees come inside because or the weather. If you are flying the day of I would highly suggest you get insurance. A friend of mine was on a cruise & saw a family coming onboard with their luggage when they were pulling into the first port of call. Come to find out this family book their flight the same day the cruise left. Well there were issues with the plane and they missed the cruise. They contacted the cruise line about the issue and Delta did get them on a flight to the first port of call since it was a mechanical issue. They missed one day of the 4 day cruise.

 

[Bonnie1222]

I know. It makes me nervous as hell. I would really rather go the night before but with leaving the kids and work it just isnt an option. We're trying to look into insurance but the TA kind of just gave us the cut and paste...check here if flight delays cover it. So we're going to have to call and make sure its covered. I kind of wish she'd been more involved. We've never done a cruise before and I thought she would help us with flights and transportation to the port but she kind of left us on our own, a little disappointed. I guess at this point I have to just hope for the best.

Definitely get insurance!

 

[ScooterScott44]

Some good advise so far. The best advise is to get that day buffer by flying in the day before but since you seem to really be locked into the day of travel due to child care wanted to give some feedback.

What month/season (or specific dates) of your cruise? That might influence thing a little.

As mentioned morning flights tend to have less delays so that is a bonus. If you could get out a little earlier that might help also. Taking the flight out of the equation, leaving Fort Lauderdale at 11:30 ‘ish and making the cruise should not be a problem. Will it be fun, probably not, it may even be a little stressful and you are decreasing the ship time that first day.

If the flight is on time even small delays in taxiing, deplaning or baggage should not be long enough to cause you to miss the sailing. (I’m being generous there as FLL is probably my least favorite airport and worst logistics of any place. That is only my opinion but FWIW I travel about 120-140 flights a year for work.) That leaves the flight itself as the big “what if”. Nothing is ever certain but you can check check websites like flight tracker and flight aware.

Good luck.

 

[Wmuflyguy]

Also, FLL has only one runway open right now. The other one is torn up for repaving. Not sure when it is slated to reopen.


So delays are even more likely right now there. Since they need more space in between landing airplanes to allow other aircraft to takeoff. There were delays when we were departing last week in the morning.

Found it, runway slated to reopen in October.


https://nbaa.org/aircraft-operation...losure-fort-lauderdale-airport-begins-june-3/

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Hey,

My husband and I are taking a trip without the kids on our first cruise, and first Disney cruise. He booked us on a Southwest flight that lands in Fort Lauderdale at 11:40. Will that give us enough time to get to Miami port? It looks like it's an hour commute give or take depending on traffic. I know it's not ideal but since we're leaving the kids our options are limited. When is the latest they'll let you get to the ship in case we incur delays? Thanks!

We did a Galveston cruise a couple months ago landing in Houston at 11:15. Houston to Galveston is a much longer commute than FL to Miami. We waited for luggage, and the shuttle bus, had major traffic delays and were still on the ship by 1:45. I wasn’t stressed, I knew we’d make it but I wouldn’t do it again. I think you’ll be fine time wise and if that’s the only way you can make the cruise work, I wouldn’t stress too much about it.

 

[starvenger]

IAH (Bush) is deceptively far from everything, even downtown Houston. I used to live near Rice Village, and it always felt like a long drive back from there.

HOU (Hobby) is much closer to the port, being south of the city.

 

[Wmuflyguy]

Here is a link that lists the current airport closures, departure and airrival delays, and ground delay programs.

https://www.fly.faa.gov/ois/
It is a more detailed version than the standard

Fly.faa.gov website

Times are listed in UTC. Subtract 4 hours to get Eastern Daylight time.

 

[Jenrausch84]

Some good advise so far. The best advise is to get that day buffer by flying in the day before but since you seem to really be locked into the day of travel due to child care wanted to give some feedback.

What month/season (or specific dates) of your cruise? That might influence thing a little.

As mentioned morning flights tend to have less delays so that is a bonus. If you could get out a little earlier that might help also. Taking the flight out of the equation, leaving Fort Lauderdale at 11:30 ‘ish and making the cruise should not be a problem. Will it be fun, probably not, it may even be a little stressful and you are decreasing the ship time that first day.

If the flight is on time even small delays in taxiing, deplaning or baggage should not be long enough to cause you to miss the sailing. (I’m being generous there as FLL is probably my least favorite airport and worst logistics of any place. That is only my opinion but FWIW I travel about 120-140 flights a year for work.) That leaves the flight itself as the big “what if”. Nothing is ever certain but you can check check websites like flight tracker and flight aware.

Good luck.

We're going on the Dec 7 5 night merrytime cruise from Miami. We moved the flight up so we should land at 9 am. If there are problems it gives us a little more buffer room. We did also get the insurance. I'm just hoping for the best, I think it's probably our best bet given our circumstances.

 

[allison0523]

I think you made the right choice switching to the earlier flight to give you some extra time. Many people will not fly in the day of their cruise but it's really a personal decision based on your risk tolerance and personal circumstances. We prefer to fly in the night before but I have flown into FLL the day of a Miami cruise and had no issues. We only had carry ons, grabbed a taxi and headed to the port. Have a great cruise!