Fort Lauderdale Flight Times (2025)

Pinky3 said:

Does anyone have experience with flying out of FLL after Disney Cruise? Is it possible to make and 11:40am flight? Will we be rushed? BTW, we are taking the DCL transport to the airport
Thanks.

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A few weeks ago, we got off the ship at about 9:00, Uber arrived at 9:30, and we were at the airport by 10:00, which would have been plenty of time had our flight been that early. Not sure how the DCL transportation works though at PE. At PC, the buses leave as they fill up (as I understand it).

I'll echo @Calantha...we got in line to debark at 9 am, ordered a lyft and were at the airport by 9:40 for our 12:05 pm flight. We did debark on a Wednesday and I didn't notice other ships in port. I'm sure it's busier when more lines have ships in port.

If you have late dining you might want to go to Cabanas instead of the breakfast at the MDR, just so you feel in control of your own destiny.

FWIW, DCL says the earliest departure time is 11:00am: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/guest-services/ground-transportation/

Not DCL but we were on Odyssey of the Seas from Port Everglades 2 weeks ago. Our flight from FLL was at 10:40am. We did self-assist luggage, walked out of our stateroom at 6:45am and took a taxi to the airport (which is a flat $20 rate). We were sitting at our gate at FLL by 7:45am.

There are a few things that helped us get there so quickly:

1. The ship didn't have any delays getting into port that morning
2. We were in a suite so had the concierge walk us off (but the regular line was moving pretty fast)
3. Royal uses facial recognition for immigration so that took all of 2 seconds to get through
4. We have pre-check & Clear so we basically skipped the (very short) TSA lines

RedHead0186 said:

FWIW, DCL says the earliest departure time is 11:00am: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/guest-services/ground-transportation/

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Just tried the link. Did not see any information regarding not to book airline before a specific time when debarking to Ft Lauderdale. It used to be there and was sometime after 11;00 but do not remember the posted time. We are looking to book after 12:00 noon to be safe. I assume you still need to be at the airport about 2 hours early but we have not flown in awhile so not sure about that.

dwg said:

Just tried the link. Did not see any information regarding not to book airline before a specific time when debarking to Ft Lauderdale.

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It's there. You have to click the link for your "Sailing from...
location. Then scroll to "Guests Arranging Independent Air Travel" (below the "Luggage Tags" section) and see the 2nd bullet (italics and color is mine):

Guests Arranging Independent Air Travel​

​

For the Fort Lauderdale to Fort Lauderdale sailings in 2024, we recommend the following flight-time guidelines:​

That said, if using uber/lyft or taxi you can make an earlier flight. But DCL won't allow an earlier flight if taking DCL Transfers.

lanejudy said:

That said, if using uber/lyft or taxi you can make an earlier flight. But DCL won't allow an earlier flight if taking DCL Transfers.

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It's honestly kind of ridiculous that they won't leave any earlier than that. It's less than 5 miles to terminal 1. Surely they can run earlier and take advantage of people that want to go home earlier.

starvenger said:

It's honestly kind of ridiculous that they won't leave any earlier than that. It's less than 5 miles to terminal 1. Surely they can run earlier and take advantage of people that want to go home earlier.

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It's all about the risk of reimbursement for missed flights. DCL builds in enough cushion that they will not guarantee your arrival at the airport early enough for an earlier flight. By taking DCL Transfers, they are responsible for getting you to the airport in a timely manner.

If you want to do an earlier flight you are welcome to do so. But if anything delays arrival and/or debarkation, it's on you if you miss the flight. DCL will not assist or reimburse.

Fair point @lanejudy

jenushkask8s said:

We did self-assist luggage, walked out of our stateroom at 6:45am and took a taxi to the airport (which is a flat $20 rate).

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AFAIK, there is no negotiated flat rate for this route. It should be a little less than $20.

lanejudy said:

It's there. You have to click the link for your "Sailing from...
location. Then scroll to "Guests Arranging Independent Air Travel" (below the "Luggage Tags" section) and see the 2nd bullet (italics and color is mine):

Guests Arranging Independent Air Travel​

​

For the Fort Lauderdale to Fort Lauderdale sailings in 2024, we recommend the following flight-time guidelines:​

• Latest arrival time to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on embarkation day: 2:00 PM for domestic flights and 1:00 PM for international flights
• Earliest departure time from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on debarkation day: 11:00 AM

That said, if using uber/lyft or taxi you can make an earlier flight. But DCL won't allow an earlier flight if taking DCL Transfers.

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Thank you

MrMagoo said:

It is strange the earliest recommended departure time from FLL is listed for 11:00am with about a 10-15 minute drive but the earliest recommended departure time for MCO from Port Canaveral is 11:15 am with about a 50-60 minute bus ride!

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I think lanejudy put it quite well. They want to provide you a service but they also want to reduce liability, so they have shuttles that will allow you to take a mid-afternoon flight but not a midday flight where there is some - but realistically not much - risk of not making it.

hrhdhd said:

AFAIK, there is no negotiated flat rate for this route. It should be a little less than $20.

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We were told it is a flat $20 from both the taxi stand attendant and the driver.

I would go for it. We have sailed out of Miami several times post-covid restart with a 10:01am flight and still had time to sit at the gate. No need to eat a meal in the airport before boarding because we had just eaten breakfast.
It appears that FLL is even closer to the port than MIA.
We did self walk off, have TSA Precheck and our kids are grown so no children in tow, so those all help sway me in my decision making.

The next available non-stop flight home was at 2:30pm so I was not about to sit around the airport for another 4.5 hours just so we wouldn't ever have to rush a bit. I would do it again in a heartbeat.