Help on Ft. Lauderdale cruise

[willow surfside]

We need some help/advice. We will be driving to Ft. lauderdale for a cruise and would like to see if anyone could tell us if it's better to TRY to drive straight and stay in FL or stop fairly close and drive in the morning of the cruise. If you suggest stopping before FL could you tell us the best...ie..st.auguestine, or JUST outside of FL, etc. also hotels. Also, is there parking at the dock and prices.

THANKS

[crewsweeper]

Where are you driving from?

 

Are you planning on parking at an off-site lot (not at the terminal) or looking for a park-n-cruise rate?

 

If looking at a cheaper hotel and parking off-site I'd look at a stop somewhere under 2 hours drive from FLL. Coming down I-95 that's probably be Vero Beach or Port St Lucie. Using I-75 and the Turnpike, that be Fort Pierce or Port St. Lucie but you'll have to exit the turnpike. fort Pierce is where the turnpike and I-95 cross each other. Lots of places along that stretch. Look for hotels and motels along Okeechobee Road (Route 70).

 

If that area is further than 8 hours away from you, then look at a stop around Daytona or even Cocoa Beach. You'll have about a 3-4 hour drive down I-95 from there. For I-75 travel that'd be Ocala or Orlando, but add an hour to the next day's drive.

 

In FLL, Park N Go, on Eller near the airport gets good reviews. They'll shuttle you to the piers. You can book on line but don't confuse them with Park N Fly, their sister operation at the airport. And there are other places around for parking.

[JohninDC]

www.sunny,org has lots of FLL area tourist info as well as info on hotels that offer cruise parking deals.

 

www.parksleepfly.com and www.stay123.com are tow other sites with hotels offering cruise parking packages.

[OCruisers]

We like to break up our trip driving down so we always stay in a hotel several hours from FLL. :)

 

LuLu

[BlueHerons]

I would go ahead and drive all the way. You never know what could happen the morning of.

[RocketMan275]

We need some help/advice. We will be driving to Ft. lauderdale for a cruise and would like to see if anyone could tell us if it's better to TRY to drive straight and stay in FL or stop fairly close and drive in the morning of the cruise. If you suggest stopping before FL could you tell us the best...ie..st.auguestine, or JUST outside of FL, etc. also hotels. Also, is there parking at the dock and prices.

THANKS

 

It's not clear where you're coming from or the route your taking so giving specific advice is difficult. I'll give you some general advice and suggestions and tell you how we have done it and how we plan to do it in the future.

 

We've made the run from north Alabama to FLL twice. We've been driving to ATL where we pick up I75 and run south to Ocala where we pick up the Florida Turnpike. Total drive time including pit stops is right at 14 hours.

 

We have spent the night each time near Lake City Florida. Good hotels with decent rates. (You might want to use TripAdvisor to find hotels on your route. Once you find a couple, use googlemaps to actually look at the hotels and the neighborhood. You can also search for nearby restaurants, etc. If you need details ask and I'll provide.)

 

We drive from Lake City to FLL arriving the day before the cruise. So, for example, if the cruise leaves on Saturday, we leave home on Thursday driving to Lake City. We leave Lake City on Friday and arrive in FLL that evening. It's about 8.5 hours to Lake City from home and another 5.5 hours to FLL.

 

We've decided to do something different on our next cruise. We intend to drive a bit longer and stop over near Ocala on the first day. We intend to drive into FLL from there the morning of the cruise. For a Saturday cruise, we would leave home Friday morning and drive about 9.5 hours to Ocala. Saturday morning we would drive the remaining 4.5 hours to FLL to catch the boat. We're early risers so I fully expect to be at their pier around 11AM.

 

We expect that this change will save us around $400. We normally stay at the ES which with valet parking will cost almost that much. We won't spend as much for meals and there will be one less kenneling day. Two large dogs so that's another $25.

 

BTW, if you're following our route and intend to cruise a lot, suggest you look at a SunPass to avoid the toll lines on the turnpike. Google SunPass.

 

We always buy trip insurance too.

 

Lot's of folks will stay maybe an hours drive out from the port too. There are numerous hotels that fit this criteria. Use trip advisor and googlemaps to find them or just read the posts here.

Edited November 22, 2015 by RocketMan275