arriving back at the port

[PC GUY]

unfortunalty for me, I am at the mercy of the Canadian charter airline schedule.

I have sailed out of Miami 3 times, twice I flew into FLL on a Canadian Charter arline Skyservice, and
once I flew AA into MIA.

Skyservice only has one flight per day from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale leaving about at 8:00 am. The flight lands in FLL at 11:30 and then turns around and flies back to Toronto at 12:15.

(my last flight I flew down the day before, because Carnival's air was sold out and there was a great rate to fly the day before !)

[Leigh]

We just returned from Carnival cruise on Monday. We waiting in a line to clear customs for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Not sure what was going on, I guess the two ships that docked were trying to clear at the same time but it is something to keep in mind. I would think that the earlier you disembark the better to avoid any mishaps. I was sure that last Carnival cruise I took we cleared customs in a room then went to the garage to get our luggusge then we were on our way. We cleared in the big garage? Oh well we got off and to our plane on time which left at 1:30 but from Miami. Good luck and have a great cruise.

[SaultB]

Just returned Monday to Tampa. We are Canadians so we are not permitted to self-embark. We were one of the first off the ship when finally allowed - that was at approximately 9:15 or so...there were still quite a few people behind us. I would guess the last people off would have been close to 10:00.

[Pupiczech]

We just returned from our cruise this morning (actually Friday morning in Miami). We had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room. By then all the self-debarkation folks had pretty much made their way off the ship. They had also told us at the debarkation talk that if you had an early flight to meet in the library and they would get you off the ship fast. Anyway, we had our breakfast, went back to our room. Made our way off the thip and to our luggage, got it, cleared customs and were in our rental car after taking a bus to the Miami airport by 10:15 a.m. Our first cruise and VERY happy with Carnival and how they treated us. (The BEST room stewardess ever!)

[TimRuth]

There is an early disembarking but only for passengers that have booked early flights, early is defined as anything before 1:30pm. If your flight is at 1:31 then you cannot get off early. Then there is the self assist which honestly is a joke at the bigger ports and larger ships. We did this on the Inspiration the first time and it was ok, second time we did regular. We also did regular on the Glory in October. The self-assist people were freaking out about missing their plane out of Orlando. My advice, if you can, book a late flight or even the next day to avoid the possibility of missing it.

And if I may. If you have those gigundus wheeled bags, put them out the night before. Nothing like holding up everyone else because you want to carry your stuff off.

Oh yeah. When we did the self-assist on the Inspiration, they shut down ALL the elevators. We were told you had to actually carry, not roll your bags. There were crew members taking bags from people that were rolling them and they had to wait for the bags in the baggage claim area, and some missed flights because of it. On the Glory. They only shut down the glass elevators, that made it hectic to say the least.

Basically, plan your flights with this in mind.

Tim

[tncruiseman]

This was my first cruise where the "self-assist" program was available for disembarkation. My original plan was to have the luggage outside the door the night before and pick it up in the lugagge holding area after exiting the ship, then going to the theater after breakfast where the early flight passengers meet for disembarkation. Would have worked great that way BUT NO! One of our group members went to the disembarkation talk which said if we had a flight before 1:00, self-assist was the only way to get there. Why argue, right? Our floor was called about 8:15 and it was 9:30 before we were outside the port building. On the way out, I peeked in the theater and it was empty. THEY GOT OFF FIRST and didn't have to carry any of their own luggage. LONG STORY SHORT - DONT TRY THE SELF ASSIST! I never will again for sure. Someone is really going to wind up getting hurt in this awkward procedure. If they could/would enforce the floors being called, it might work better but in reality - it was a free-for-all.