Hi! We're currently booked on the 2021 Thanksgiving cruise on the Magic out of Miami. If we do express walk off do you think we could make a 10:20 am flight out of FLL, the Saturday after Thanksgiving?
TIA!!!
You could certainly make it, yes. It would be cutting it close, though.
I personally would only do it if I were not traveling with a large group or multiple small children, were not checking bags, if I had the boarding pass on my phone and with TSA Pre-Check because FLL can get overwhelmed on holidays. It takes about 30 minutes to get from the cruise port to FLL. As long as you're off the ship by 8:20am (under normal circumstances that isn't hard to do), getting to FLL by 9:20am shouldn't be a problem even with traffic, and that has you arriving an hour in advance of your flight once you reach the airport. With TSA Pre-Check and not checking bags and your boarding pass on your phone, that is typically plenty of time for a domestic flight, but since this will be Sunday after Thanksgiving, FLL might be slammed, so expect things to take longer than usual. That's why it's so important to have no checked bags, to already have your boarding pass, and to also have TSA Pre-Check. Seriously, I can't emphasize that point enough. As long as you can bypass the bag check and check-in lines, you'll probably be just fine. But if you have to get in an endless check-in / bag check line that stretches all the way out the front door from inside (I experienced that at FLL returning from a New Year's cruise), forget it.
It could easily go faster than that, with you arriving at FLL well before 9am. Or problems could occur and it could take longer. So only do it if you have some tolerance for risk. Personally, I would take the flight because I'm risk tolerant and know the odds are well in my favor as long as I have efficient transportation, am not checking bags, and have my boarding pass ready and TSA Pre-Check. I wouldn't dilly dally the morning of departure though- forget about breakfast in the MDR, grab a quick breakfast from Cabanas instead when they open at 6:30. I'd then line up very early for disembarkation so as to be among the first to leave the ship. I'd also make sure I was very comfortable with my transportation option.
