6:30pm flight from FLL after disembarkation - Ships tour or car rental?

[Vexorg]

I am currently booked with my wife for a cruise in December out of Fort Lauderdale, and our flight from FLL after disembarkation doesn't leave until 6:30pm. I've been looking at some of the tour/airport transfers offered by Princess, but it seems like those generally only last a couple of hours and would leave us sitting for a good 4-5 hours at the airport before our flight. Another option to look at would be taking the rental car shuttle to FLL, renting a car from there for a few hours and bringing it back there afterward. I've done this before, but that was with a return flight the next day. Would something like this be worth doing for the relatively short time we'd have? I do have Elite status on Princess, which would get us priority disembarkation if we need it.

[GweninTX]

We have the same dilemma!

 

 

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[capriccio]

OP - of the two options you discussed, definitely do the car rental in order to minimize your wait time in the airport and to give you more time to sightsee.

 

There are two other alternatives you might consider:

 

• Getting a day room at a local hotel to use their pools and facilities. Rodeway Inn, the Riverside, and the Hampton Inn Las Olas/Downtown are mentioned on this board (just search this forum for day rooms Fort Lauderdale or by hotel name).
  
• The Sun Trolley (http://www.suntrolley.com) offers a free route from the airport to downtown ("the Airport Link") and return if you are disembarking on a weekend. You can store your luggage at Bags to Go (http://www.bagstogo.net) in each terminal and then take the Sun Trolley downtown to visit the restaurants, galleries, etc. on Las Olas Blvd, possibly take a cruise on the Carrie B (http://www.carriebcruises.com) on the New River and the Intracoastal, hop a water taxi (http://www.watertaxi.com) to also see Fort Lauderdale from the water, etc.
  

[BNBR]

This company, www.wildlimeadventures.com does a full day Everglades trip. They pick you up at Port around 8 am and then you go out to see the real Everglades, including the National Park, you then go on a small capacity one hour airboat ride, continue on to Big Cypress National Preserve and then board a second boat trip for an exploration into the 10,000 islands. It includes lunch and then they take you back to airport at about 4:45

 

Clearly you are involved with this company.

[nhraformula00]

We just cab it to Hilton Marina and leave our bags with the bell hop as if we are staying there. Then hop on the suntrolly for $1 each to the beach. Go back and get our bags later in the day and head to the airport. $ 20 total cost.

[imlulu]

We rented a car right at the port.(outside gates). Shuttle was right at port. I think it Thrifty? It was super easy. We parked car down near Radssion? And took the water taxi to Los Olas. We had a late lunch and walked around. We then drove over to where you can watch the ships leave the port. THat was pretty incredible when the waves come up. :o We then dropped off at FLL. It was really easy.