Ft. Lauderdale excursion on disembarkation?

[Ronsangel]

Has anyone done an excursion in Ft. Lauderdale upon disembarkation? We're on the Ruby April 23-May 1. Our flight doesn't leave until 3pm and we don't want to hang around an airport all day...but we'll have lots of luggage with us and don't want to haul it around. Any ideas?

[paul929207]

Princess offers excursions that end at the airport. Info is distributed during the cruise. There was a cutoff time for flights, so I am not sure yours was late enough

[Rob & Beckys mom]

The cut off time for us was 11:00 am for the airboat excursion. Got to the airport around 1:00 pm. Think about doing the Ez luggage option, I think that is what it is called. Fantastic!!!

 

Jan

[DrivesLikeMario]

If I were you, I'd rent a car at the port, drive to Everglades Holiday Park and do a boat tour of the Everglades, then drive to the airport and drop off the car.

 

Do a search for "Everglades Holiday Park" and it should come up. We all had a fantastic time there! We had people ranging in ages from 9 yrs. to 72 yrs. and all of us had a super memorable experience.

[CentennialColoradoCruiser]

We have done the airboat ride excursion through Princess. It was excellent. They keep your luggage in the bus safe and sound and 300pm flight will give you plenty of time... It really beats sitting around at the airport all day ......

[KruzPrincess]

I did the Fort Lauderdale tour that included the cruise on the Carrie B paddle boat. It was a nice leisurely way to spend a couple hours before the flight. We did a coach tour of the city and then you get on the Carrie B. The cruise takes you through the canals and then into the port area. It was a good opportunity to get pictures of the cruise ships from the water side. Not real exciting, but I enjoyed it more than sitting at the airport. I also recommend the EZ Check option to get rid of you luggage. I love that.

[OnlineMom]

I did the Fort Lauderdale tour that included the cruise on the Carrie B paddle boat. It was a nice leisurely way to spend a couple hours before the flight. We did a coach tour of the city and then you get on the Carrie B. The cruise takes you through the canals and then into the port area. It was a good opportunity to get pictures of the cruise ships from the water side.

 

We did a very simliar tour after getting off the Oasis last fall and I agree - very easy (no worries about luggage or anything) and a much better way to kill time before a flight than sitting at FLL all day!

[Toto2Kansas]

I scanned the post cruise tour sheets from last spring, and they have usually offered the same ones year after year. It has all the information you are looking for about post cruise tours through the cruise lines. Your luggage will go right along with you on the bus, so no worry as to where to store it. You will be dropped off at the airport with your luggage after the tour.

Here is the sheet and a link to it online, which is a bit more readable.

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2444718190046132864gpribi?vhost=travel

There is one offered we have taken before to the Everglades and Flamingo Park..............it was a pretty good tour and drops you off at the airport about 1:30.

[Coolmama_1]

We have done the Everglades Airboat and Flamingo Park twice with different folks. The first time ( in January) it was cold ( about 48degrees) and the airboat was a tad nippy!:D The second time was also in January and it was close to 80 that day. Go figure.

 

Anyway, we had a good time, did not have to worry about luggage or getting to the airport. I would recommend this tour.

[juggles]

Yes we went to the everglades and then they take you to the airport. A great excursion

[bbenson]

Another option that you can do is check with some of the local hotels, they will offer "Day rates" and some even allow you use of their facilities with a drink and food package you can purchase....we did this last year getting off Oasis.... checked our bags on the ship and just carried off what we needed for the day and essentials... 10 minute taxi ride to the hotel and had use of their pools/resturaunts etc.... until we had to head to the airport to catch our flight.

[caribill]

On our May cruise that ends in Rome, the Personalizer now lists tours available on disembarkation day. This is the first time I have ever seen these tours listed in advance of the cruise.

 

Hopefully Princess will start doing this for all other disembarkation ports.

 

The OP may want to check the personalizer to see if the FLL tours are posted for booking.

[Vexorg]

On the trip we just completed last week, a number of people in our group went out to Gator Park in the Everglades for an airboat ride. It appears some cruise lines offer post disembarkation tours here, but I don't think Princess does this one (we did this on our own, as most of our group was flying out the next day.) The airboat ride was interesting, but a bit short, and the whole place was a serious tourist trap.

[hillslife]

Just did the Everglades Airboat ride when we got off the Star end of March. Fun excursion, but the boat ride was only 30 minutes - could have done more. It was also VERY commercial....so keep that in mind. But we did see gators, fish, sea turtles, etc. There is a gator show included after the ride.

 

Cost was $49/pp with drop off at the airport - they handled all the luggage...so it was easy...but a bit pricey for what we got, IMHO...but still better than sitting in the airport.

 

Info was distributed on the ship a few days before disembarkation - you signed up just like a regular shore excursion and got a ticket in your cabin.

 

There was also a Paddle boat ride and a Airboat and the Flamingo farm combo offered.

 

Enjoy

[Ronsangel]

Thank you everyone for the information! Nice to hear the feedback on the different options...anything has to be better than spending the day in the airport!