First time FLL cruise .... have many many questions

[Funbobby68]

Hey All

Going to be sailing out of Fort Lauderdale in early January, First time to Florida, and trying to make sense of where to stay ... close to airport , close to port ?

Will be coming in 2 days before the cruise , so have some time to explore

Looking for a nice hotel recommendation, nothing to fancy , just a place to sleep , with maybe a shuttle service

Don’t really want to rent a car so close to shopping and restaurants would be idea , not so much shopping malls but street window shopping,and good seafood

And as always is there thing that are must do while there , the don’t miss attractions

As alway all help is appreciated

 

 

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[CruiserBruce]

Have you looked down the board? Dozens and dozens of threads on every one of your questions.

 

Second recommendation (you will see mentioned here very frequently- check out sunny.org, a listing of all the hotels in the Ft Lauderdale area, with their amenities, like shuttles. But, as commonly recommended here, don't overly focus on free shuttles...the distances in the area are short, and taxis are plentiful and inexpensive, along with Uber.

[JohninDC]

Hey All

Going to be sailing out of Fort Lauderdale in early January, First time to Florida, and trying to make sense of where to stay ... close to airport , close to port ?

Will be coming in 2 days before the cruise , so have some time to explore

Looking for a nice hotel recommendation, nothing to fancy , just a place to sleep , with maybe a shuttle service

Don’t really want to rent a car so close to shopping and restaurants would be idea , not so much shopping malls but street window shopping,and good seafood

And as always is there thing that are must do while there , the don’t miss attractions

As alway all help is appreciated

 

 

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www.sunny.org has lots of FLL area hotel and tourist info. We like to stay in the downtown/17th street area with several nearby dining options, plus shopping and easy access to the port.

 

Prices in January will be high - book something now that you can live with and can be cancelled without penalty - then keep shopping!

 

Budget, number travelling, and dates would help the suggestions to be closer to your target. Peak season prices and demand will be higher closer to the holiday weekends.

 

No need to rent a car - Uber & Lyft are widely available in the FLL area.

[Funbobby68]

Will be flying in Jan 3 sailing on the 5th , 4 in total all adults ( how can both my kids be adults) , no real budget , but with that said not looking to spend a fortune, being Canadian, already a bit of deficit dollar wise so would prefer a hotel at about a 175-225 usd price point

 

 

 

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[lajbec]

The FLL airport and cruise terminal are nearly on top on one another, relatively speaking. No more than 10 minutes away from one another.

Car rentals in FL are also inexpensive (relatively). I have found FLL beaches to be horrible so if beaching is what you want, I would head to a different beach town for a day.

My very first cruise in 1991 I had a post cruise stay "ocean front," it was a cross a busy highway to a narrow strip of sand to the beach...

Flying down with my family some 20+ years later, we booked a Hampton (not on beach) with a shuttle to the pier. We felt completely stupid. We paid per person (there are 3 of us) to ride the shuttle. We had to wait to load our bags, wait until the shuttle was full, and slowly make our way to the pier stopping at the various different ships departing that day. For less than a half of what we paid for 3 of us, we could have gotten a taxi, thrown our bags in the trunk and been at our ship about an hour sooner.

Have a great a great trip!

[Roz]

There's not much around the airport, so I would head to the 17th St. area, unless you want to use Uber and Lyft to get around. I've sailed from Port Everglades numerous times, and have never rented a car. I'm able bodied and have been able to walk to stores and restaurants.

 

January is peak season, so be prepared for high prices on hotel rooms.

 

Roz

[jb456]

Here's a thought.

 

Check out vrbo dot com. You can rent apartments,condos, houses. I just looked quickly for your dates and some are not that expensive like $130 USD a night. (Not including taxes, cleaning fees and refundable security deposit) I just checked quickly didn't go through the steps to see final price.

If you look more in the Deerfield/pompano area lots more options at a decent price.

 

I know you don't want to rent a car but if you think about VRBO option you kind of would need one depending what area you select. It's more convenient in my opinion. Come and go as you please, maybe someone wants to go somewhere and the other wants to just relax.

 

If your a Costco member. You get 2nd driver free with Alamo. Just book on Costco travel Canada site. I just looked at the site quickly don't know your times so just did two full days and a full size with 2nd driver free for your dates with Alamo is $135USD. Plus prices always change do you can cancel reservation and rebook new price till jan1st if you see a better price. Also Alamo has all kinds of promo codes for discounts. You just have to search online.

 

I just don't know if fll car rentals offer free shuttle to cruise port like mia does. But fll cruise port is not that far from airport so uber is probably cheap.

 

Benefits of VRBO you won't be stuck in a small hotel room for two nights with 4 adults.

[capriccio]

Check out vrbo dot com. You can rent apartments,condos, houses. I just looked quickly for your dates and some are not that expensive like $130 USD a night. (Not including taxes, cleaning fees and refundable security deposit) I just checked quickly didn't go through the steps to see final price.

If you look more in the Deerfield/pompano area lots more options at a decent price.

 

Benefits of VRBO you won't be stuck in a small hotel room for two nights with 4 adults.

 

A word of caution about rental condo apartments. Many south Florida condo buildings have minimum rental periods (frequently 3 months) and homeowners agree to that restriction at purchase. Every now and then there are articles in the paper about unsuspecting short term AirBnB or VRBO customers either not being allowed in their rental unit or kicked out of their rental unit when other owners complain. Do your research before confirming a rental!

[cynbar]

We enjoy staying on 17th Street, where you'll find an assortment of hotels and restaurants. It looks out on the cruise port (not walking distance, though.) There are a couple of casual seafood restaurants there too, and a Sun trolley that runs up and down 17th St to the beach for a very low rate, I think it was $1.00 per ride. You'll also be close to the water taxi which is a lovely way to send an afternoon, sightseeing and getting off at various stops including downtown shopping. Embassy Suites is popular and includes free breakfast and evening happy hour. We have also stayed at the Renaissance and Hyatt Place, enjoyed both --- you'll just have to check prices for your dates. You don't need a rental car unless you want to see more of the area, taxis and Uber are plentiful and reasonable.

 

Edit: Las Olas Boulevard is the downtown shopping area I was referring to, there is a stop on the water taxi that will take you there.

Edited August 10, 2018 by cynbar

[Funbobby68]

I’m embarrassed to say I have never used Uber or other ride service... I use to be so trendy .... what happened to me :D

 

 

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[cynbar]

I’m embarrassed to say I have never used Uber or other ride service... I use to be so trendy .... what happened to me :D

 

 

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I was unsure about Uber until I tried it -- now we love it! So easy to use, and it has the advantage of coming to you wherever you are --- no need to look for a taxi. Download the app and register a credit card. The, when you want to hail a ride, log on and punch in your destination. It knows where you are already. The app will quote you a price and show you Uber cars on your area. You accept the price and then the app tells you which car and driver will pick you up, and when. At the end of the ride, just get out (perhaps adding a tip online) and the fare is automatically charged to your credit card.

[BNBR]

We have basically 2 areas you would want to be in for window shopping/walking. Hollywood Beach and Las Olas. Hollywood Beach has lots of boutique hotels that are right smack on the water and under $200. Lots of Canadians, too :) Excellent walking and location.

 

Las Olas will have better shopping and food by a mile, however. Plus the riverwalk is pretty cool. Fort Lauderdable Beach is also an area you may want to consider and check out some rates.

 

Outside of that, pretty much any hotel will require transportation and have very little to walk to. Since you don't know the area, these are basically your "walkable" areas in Fort Lauderdale.

 

For "don't miss attractions" - I think the water taxi is about it other than driving out to the Everglades for an airboat ride. Plus I think Hollywood Beach is pretty awesome, especially in the early evening as there is usually live music at the clamshell (next to Margaritaville). You can get on the water taxi at Hollywood or Las Olas, which makes it easy to do both if you like by using the water taxi.

[BNBR]

I was unsure about Uber until I tried it -- now we love it! So easy to use, and it has the advantage of coming to you wherever you are --- no need to look for a taxi. Download the app and register a credit card. The, when you want to hail a ride, log on and punch in your destination. It knows where you are already. The app will quote you a price and show you Uber cars on your area. You accept the price and then the app tells you which car and driver will pick you up, and when. At the end of the ride, just get out (perhaps adding a tip online) and the fare is automatically charged to your credit card.

 

Once you use Uber, it's very difficult to go back to anything else! Very affordable in South Florida, too. The app also shows where your car is on the map as it's coming your way, so you know exactly how far they are and when they'll arrive, which direction they are coming from, etc.