Disembarkation Day in Fort Lauderdale

[BillnBev]

On disembarkation day we have until 20.45 for our flight home to UK, what time will we be taken off ship, what happens to the luggage, what can we do for the day? Suggestions please if anyone has experienced similar?

[Gonzo70]

Generally they want everybody off the ship by 9:30am-10:00am at the latest.

 

Are you going to the airport on your own, or do you have transfers through the cruise line?

[Goldiedog]

You will be off the ship no later that 9.30am, you will also need to be at the airport 3 hours before takeoff, we don't normally fly home to the UK on the same day as the ship docking, usually have a hire car, so can't really help you on things to do, the ship should have excursions you can book with a drop off at the airport.

[BillnBev]

Thank You for the speedy reply we have transfers to the airport included with the cruise line.

[Suzy Smith]

If you have a late flight and have booked a inclusive fly/cruise, you will normally be offered a day room at a hotel, with a transfer to the airport in time for your flight. The details will be on your booking confirmation from Celebrity.

[dkjretired]

Thank You for the speedy reply we have transfers to the airport included with the cruise line.

 

Celebrity usually offers excursions during debarkation day, usually doing the Everglades, they are pretty nice, they take care of you and your luggage. Don't make a decision based upon the transfers, most experienced cruisers in FLL don't get transfers since it only costs about $15 for a cab and you go when you want. As someone else stated if the line doesn't offer you one, many get day rooms.

[Sloop-JohnB]

Hi BillnBev,

 

As mentioned Celebrity offers Excursion Packages for Fort Lauderdale and Southern Florida as well (a day in the Everglades seems to be popular)

 

Personally, we found the day we came off the ship we were quite tired (having to get up so early is certainly a downer)

 

So you may want to just relax a bit... and take in a few of the local sights at your own pace.

 

If you have the time to do a bit of sightseeing / exploring in Fort Lauderdale, I can highly recommend the local watertaxis that ply the Intracoastal Waterway.

 

An all-day pass is $ 20 per person... and you can hop-on or hop-off as much as you like. The stops are covenient to many of the BIG Hotels (just 2 or 3 blocks to walk) and it is a fun way to spend the day.

 

The Watertaxi Guys & Gals do a commentary along the route... and there is lots to see... very entertaining. Fun to see "how the other half lives"... lol, we never tire of this.. we've done it several times while in Ft L... one of the best ways to see the city IMO.

 

Here then are some photos to wet your appetite... (taken January 23, 2012)

 

1- La Maison Blache (The White House) - the most photographed house in Ft Lauderdale

2- Another Mega Mansion... YES that really is all one house !!

3- 160+ Ft - "Aurora" (owner Andy McKelvery of Moster dot com)

4- 168 Ft - "Gallant Lady" (owner the late Jim Moran who introduced Toyotas to the USA)

5- 282 Ft - "7 Seas" (owner Steven Spielberg)... this is the 39th largest Yacht in the world

 

Hope this is helpful,

 

Cheers!

[BillnBev]

Thanks all, checked booking and it states the pre night in hotel but no mention of day room on last day. thanks for the info re excursions great idea do they offer this when we are on board or do we have to book before we leave?

[Sloop-JohnB]

Thanks all, checked booking and it states the pre night in hotel but no mention of day room on last day. thanks for the info re excursions great idea do they offer this when we are on board or do we have to book before we leave?

 

Hi BillnBev,

 

BOTH...

 

You can find them online on your MY CELEBRITY Pages...

 

They were certainly offered onboard as well... saw them printed in "Celebrity Today" one day... you can make arrangements with the Shore Excursions Desk.

 

Hope this is helpful,

 

Cheers!

[BillnBev]

great photos, yes thanks this is very helpful. If we stay local and do our own thing What do we do with our luggage?

[dkjretired]

great photos, yes thanks this is very helpful. If we stay local and do our own thing What do we do with our luggage?

 

You pretty much have to carry them around with you thus the advantage of a day trip or a day room. On the water taxis, you will have to carry your luggage...

[Retired civil servant]

Hi BillnBev,

 

We recently had a cruise on the Constellation and when we docked at Fort Lauderdale we were off the ship by 09:30hrs. We located our cases pretty quickly and were through customs shortly afterwards. We had a Celebrity airport transfer arranged to Miami airport. Once on the coach we sat on it for at least another 45minutes whilst others got on board going to different terminals and also the Miami port area. The result was we didn't arrive at our US airways airport terminal until 12:30hrs, so be prepared for this if you are going to Miami airport.

 

Next time we would use taxi's to and from the ship and not use Celebrity's service.

 

As you have a late flight I would suggest you use the new service Celebrity have introduced on the ship to arrange the transfer of your cases / luggage to your final UK destination airport. Your cabin steward will leave a leaflet in your cabin during the cruise. Its a nominal charge for the service and quite honestly we thought it was worth it, it gets over the problem of dragging your heavy cases around with you all day if you have a late flight. We spoke to a couple who had used the service to Gatwick and they had no problems at all. The only reason we didn't use it was because we were not sure if it covered connecting flights, but it does. We would certainly use it next time.

 

Hope this helps.

Regards

Geoff

Nr Cambridge

UK

[Project_gal]

As you have a late flight I would suggest you use the new service Celebrity have introduced on the ship to arrange the transfer of your cases / luggage to your final UK destination airport. Your cabin steward will leave a leaflet in your cabin during the cruise. Its a nominal charge for the service and quite honestly we thought it was worth it, it gets over the problem of dragging your heavy cases around with you all day if you have a late flight. We spoke to a couple who had used the service to Gatwick and they had no problems at all. The only reason we didn't use it was because we were not sure if it covered connecting flights, but it does. We would certainly use it next time.

 

Hope this helps.

Regards

Geoff

Nr Cambridge

UK

 

Geoff

 

Was the UK luggage transfer service available if you did not book flights through Celebrity? It sounds really useful.

 

BillnBev

 

If you have booked your flights throug Celebrity and your flights leave after 18:00, I believe that they will offer you a day room at an airport hotel. If you have booked your own flights, it is possible to book your own day-room independently.

 

Sue

[Retired civil servant]

Hi BillnBev,

 

In answer to your question, I don't think it mattered if you had booked your flights through Celebrity or not, but don't quote me on that.

 

From what I remember from a quick read of the leaflet it is a straight forward baggage handling service for an extra charge for Fort Lauderdale or Miami airports. They collect your luggage on the last night of the cruise like everybody else's, except the labels are different. You have to have all the details of your return flights to hand etc. but you would anyway.

 

Then you don't see your cases again until they hit the baggage carousel at your UK destination airport. So no US customs or dragging them onto the transfer bus. The only thing you need to think about is clothing and cosmetics that you or your partner might use in the morning of your last day on the ship because you will have to dispose of the liquids before you go through airport security.

 

I would just to make sure by sending a quick e-mail or ring Celebrities UK call centre and just ask for details.

 

Regards

Geoff

Nr Cambridge

UK

[Project_gal]

Hi BillnBev,

 

In answer to your question, I don't think it mattered if you had booked your flights through Celebrity or not, but don't quote me on that.

 

From what I remember from a quick read of the leaflet it is a straight forward baggage handling service for an extra charge for Fort Lauderdale or Miami airports. They collect your luggage on the last night of the cruise like everybody else's, except the labels are different. You have to have all the details of your return flights to hand etc. but you would anyway.

 

Then you don't see your cases again until they hit the baggage carousel at your UK destination airport. So no US customs or dragging them onto the transfer bus. The only thing you need to think about is clothing and cosmetics that you or your partner might use in the morning of your last day on the ship because you will have to dispose of the liquids before you go through airport security.

 

I would just to make sure by sending a quick e-mail or ring Celebrities UK call centre and just ask for details.

 

Regards

Geoff

Nr Cambridge

UK

 

Geoff

 

Many thanks. Hope they are still offering this in December.

 

Sue

[Retired civil servant]

Hi Sue,

 

Sorry, I just noticed you posted the question and not BillnBev.

 

I am pretty sure the service will be still operational when you go, can't see why not. Just remember about the cosmetics side, we had a discussion about it with the couple who had used it.

 

They just threw their partially used stuff away in the cabin as they were a "wash & go" couple; their words, not mine.

 

Have a great cruise, we are looking at booking our second with Celebrity around the Eastern Med in June next year, we really have got the bug big time!!!. Have you done that cruise before?

Regards

Geoff

Just south of Cambridge

UK

[sharks48]

So, how do you find day rooms in FLL? We, too, have all day before our flight.

 

Not sure that the luggage service will work with Southwest airline - does anyone know?

 

From reading the boards, it looks like the Riverside Hotel on Las Olas will hold your luggage for a small charge. We will be staying there this weekend pre-cruise and will ask about this.

[dblane]

We've used the Luggage Valet service before. Most of the major airlines have it, depends on the port. $20/pp and you have your boarding pass in hand and don't see your bags till you get to your home airport. Love it!!

[CFamilyWales]

We just came off Solstice on Sunday. We were in one of the later batches off the ship, called at 9:10....off ship and in queue for Customs clearance at 9:15 and eventually through Customs and onto bus ready for transfer at 10:45

However there were 42 people for transfer.....we had to wait a further 45 minutes for the last passenger and we eventually arrived at Sheraton, Miami airport just before noon.

Not blaming Celebrity, their organisation and the hotel was fine, we had lunch and chilled out around the pool/outside bar area, just sheer volume off the ship and in line, there were approx 6 Customs officials processing 2,800 people.

We had the evening flight with Virgin so in no real hurry....

[Project_gal]

Hi Sue,

 

Sorry, I just noticed you posted the question and not BillnBev.

 

I am pretty sure the service will be still operational when you go, can't see why not. Just remember about the cosmetics side, we had a discussion about it with the couple who had used it.

 

They just threw their partially used stuff away in the cabin as they were a "wash & go" couple; their words, not mine.

 

Have a great cruise, we are looking at booking our second with Celebrity around the Eastern Med in June next year, we really have got the bug big time!!!. Have you done that cruise before?

Regards

Geoff

Just south of Cambridge

UK

 

Geoff

 

No problem - I got the answer! I can work round the cosmetics issue if I can forget about the luggage for a day.

 

Once the bug bites you are lost ....

 

No, we have not done a Med cruise yet. We are saving them for when Richard fully retires. We are looking at the Black Sea cruises this time but are also interested in seeing how they get Constellation from Amsterdam to Istanbul.

 

Sue

[Project_gal]

So, how do you find day rooms in FLL? We, too, have all day before our flight.

 

I search around the Internet and had quite a bit of difficulty. The only one easy to book online is the hotel actually in Miami airport but it gets poor reviews on TripAdvisor. There is a Belgium website that takes bookings for the Miami Sofitel but they do not take a deposit or credit card number to guarantee the room and I thought that was a bit risky. Most airport hotels did not respond to emails. However, the Sofitel which looks really nice, did respond and I was able to book by email [faxing my CC number to them].

 

Sue