The pier and airport are 15 minutes drive time from each other. Should not be a problem, especially if you got the cruise lines tranfers. If you did not get the tranfers , still no problem, just grab a taxi.
__________________ Ready to Steer towards another cruise
I'd forget the cruise line transfer and just grab a cab. Your timetable is a little bit tight with increased security, etc. Waiting around for a bus to get loaded, etc. might be a problem. Of course, GETTING a taxi at the piers in FLL is its own adventure.
We were on the Mercury in Ft Lauderale a year ago and the ship was late clearing customs(who knows why because we were on time) and we could not get off until 11.15 AM. Thank goodness I did not book the noon flight out because the lines at the airport were incredible.... Just food for thought.... We have been delayed in Miami, and Vancouver a couple times too....Best of luck...we try to book for a flt out after 1.30 pm.........less worry.......
The usual reason for a delay in a ship clearing is immigration, not customs. There really should be a more efficient way of identifying foreign nationals and expediting the process. This is especially true for people whose first language is not English and may not understand the announcements.
The lines at the airport in Ft Lauderdale can be egregious.
We all want to get home, but booking a too-early flight that doesn't build in time for the unexpected could be a mistake.
Thanks Pamda, your correct, immigration is the usual delay. Why don't most of the cruiselines change the deparking process to address this immigration issue with other nationalities. It seems to happen on most every cruise.(at least the ships we have sailed).
Maybe the govt is calling the shots, I don't know.
Because we don't want to cause our foreign friends to feel put upon, no matter the inconvenience to us homebodys. When we are over there, we have to respect their customs, they don't give a rats about ours. When they are over here, we have to respect their customs, they don't give a rats about ours. Don't get me started.
I booked our flights about 7:00p.m. We will rent a car and some things in FLL (Riverwalk etc) That way there is no rush and tension aand all the cruisers should be departed by then.
1. We see posts on these boards all the time from Americans who feel they shouldn't even need passports to travel outside the country. They want to do it with drivers licenses, birth certificates and Blockbuster video cards. People of other lands have always understood that they need proper documentation to travel in our country.
2. Many of the problems on cruise debarkation day are obvious language issues. On balance though, what percentage Americans are multi-lingual compared to citizens of other lands? When Americans go abroad they expect to communicate in English--and more often than not it works! That's because the folks we visit have usually learned our language, but it's rare when we've learned theirs.
3. In 40 years of domestic and international travel I've been embarrassed far more frequently by the behavior of Americans abroad than by foreign visitors in this country. We are fundamentally arrogant, which is a fairly natural by-product of being a young and very strong country. As Ed Murrow once said, "as a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age." This fact shows up in a great many positive ways, but there are negatives too, and our national arrogance is one of them. It has a lot to do with why we're not as universally loved as we think we deserve to be.
And please, don't give me any of the "if you don't like it, move," stuff. I'm as proud an American as anybody else. I just think that part of being a citizen of both the nation and the world requires occasionally stepping back to see ourselves as others do.
So when there are problems with immigration clearance, you'll most likely find me enjoying an extra cup of coffee out on deck in the nice sunshine. And if that means catching a later plane, so I catch a later plane. Big deal.
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