Fort Lauderdale things to do

[oratheeexplorer]

After disembarking from our upcoming cruise in the morning, our flight home is not until 7:30 pm.  Any suggestions for what to do for a day in Fort Lauderdale? Also, what do we do with our luggage?  Will have 8-9 hours to spend.  Thinking about the Fun Center and renting a Scoot Coupe.  We did this in Cozumel and loved it!  Is a Segway hard to balance on?  Would love to do the Venice of Italy boat ride by the millionares homes too.  

 

Would a taxi be the cheapest way to go do something?  Im wondering if the Fun Center has a place to store your luggage.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Colo Cruiser]

2 minutes ago, oratheeexplorer said:

Would a taxi be the cheapest way to go do something?  

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

Uber and Lyft.

[Valiamo]

You also might want to look into renting a car for the day, and seeing some of the sights.   You could still go out to the Fun Centre, do some shopping at the Galleria (all in the same area), and then drop you car off at the Airport.

 

The Everglades are very close, and you can put your luggage hidden in the trunk while you are out enjoying your day.

[Ep010835]

Agree. Lyft.

If you decide to go to the airport early and check your baggage, remember that you are allowed to check your baggage (on AA, anyway) no more than 4 hours before flight time. This the voice of recent experience at FLL that you are hearing. 

[Crystal04]

I check in my luggage if I can. There is also a place you can check pay to have your bags stored but you have to be back by 5. I get an Uber or Lyft to the beach and hang out there. I have rented a car before, but prefer getting an Uber.

Edited January 5, 2019 by Crystal04

[Colo Cruiser]

6 minutes ago, Crystal04 said:

I either check in my luggage if I can. 

Some airlines at FLL will not let you check earlier than 4 hours prior to the flight.

[Crystal04]

3 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Some airlines at FLL will not let you check earlier than 4 hours prior to the flight.

I had that happen to me with JetBlue so I just paid the $7 to check my bag in at the storage area.

[AF-1]

Doesn't the cruise line offer a luggage service in FLL, where they take your luggage from the ship to the airport for you and you pick it up at baggage claim when you get home.  I believe if your flight leaves anytime after 12 noon this can be arranged.  We did this last year at port of seattle.

[coconut cruiser]

We had the same problem and we signed up for the Princess excursion that included Los Olas and then a boat trip around millionaires homes.  They put your luggage in the storage area under the bus and it stays there while you are on the boat.  Then they deliver you and your luggage to the airport.  When you consider the cost of transportation to the airport, it isn't much more and we had a great day.  

[skynight]

8 hours ago, oratheeexplorer said:

After disembarking from our upcoming cruise in the morning, our flight home is not until 7:30 pm.  Any suggestions for what to do for a day in Fort Lauderdale? Also, what do we do with our luggage?  Will have 8-9 hours to spend.  Thinking about the Fun Center and renting a Scoot Coupe.  We did this in Cozumel and loved it!  Is a Segway hard to balance on?  Would love to do the Venice of Italy boat ride by the millionares homes too.  

 

Would a taxi be the cheapest way to go do something?  Im wondering if the Fun Center has a place to store your luggage.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

Although we have been to F.L. many many times, can't really say I know anything about the Fun Center. But here is some other information.

Luggage. If your airline participates in the EZ Check program then you can have your luggage picked up outside your cabin the evening before disembarkation and it will be delivered to your destination airport. In the past participating airlines are/were AA, Delta, Jet Blue, United, Alaska, Southwest. This may have changed. Maybe someone recently off a Princess ship in FL has better information. That would take care of your luggage issue. Assuming you can take care of your luggage issue here are some suggestions.

Water Tour. The Ft. Lauderdale Water Taxi is a hop on hop off service that provides transportation and narration along the inland waterway as well as up the New River to the downtown riverwalk. Cost is $28/adult, $23/senior, $14/child. The dock is right on SE 17th St. literally next to pier two by the Hilton Marina Hotel. You will have to walk out the pier entrance and back down to the water or take a cab, $10. You can search this on line.

The Sun Trolley stops at the corner of SE 17th St, and Eisenhower Blvd. An all day pass I think is $5. You can take it downtown to the beach area, into downtown Ft. Lauderdale, over to the Galleria Mall.  It's a good way to get around. The beach area is a nice place to stroll and lots of sidewalk lunch selections. Any time your ready you can grab a cab/uber, whatever your preference, over to the airport.

There are organized tours to The Everglades which you can search on line.

You can rent a car, store your luggage in the trunk assuming there is a trunk, and do any of the above. If shopping is your thing you can head over to Sawgrass Mills Mall. It used to be a really nice mall, very large, but with malls losing their stores all over the country not sure how great it is now.

 

[capriccio]

Skynight and others have given you lots of good advice but I want to add the Fort Lauderdale Tourist website that includes lots of information on attractions (and transportation, etc.):  www.sunny.org.

 

Regarding the sun trolley information I have one clarification - the sun trolley is $1/ride; $3/day pass - and one caution - make sure you check the web site for the schedule. Some major changes were made in early December.

[TracieABD]

We will occasionally rent a car and go to SawGrass Mills or the Casino. We have luggage storage and can get around. It costs us about $50 for the day.

We Uber to the airport, pick up the car- then drop it back at the airport before our flight.

 

[hllwdcruiser]

Hot Scooters and wave runners on East Sunrise Blvd is an alternative to Fun center and a little less expensive, I think. We have friends who have rented from there and had a really good experience.

[oratheeexplorer]

3 hours ago, TracieABD said:

We will occasionally rent a car and go to SawGrass Mills or the Casino. We have luggage storage and can get around. It costs us about $50 for the day.

We Uber to the airport, pick up the car- then drop it back at the airport before our flight.

 

So the Uber to the airport and the rental car for the day only runs about $50?

[TracieABD]

49 minutes ago, oratheeexplorer said:

So the Uber to the airport and the rental car for the day only runs about $50?

Uber to the airport runs around $10 to 15.

 

My partner has “elite status” with one of the rental companies- so it is always pretty cheap for us to do an 8 hour rental.

[metrolady]

 

We had 10 hrs to wait before our flight home in Dec.  We bought a Resort Day Pass at the Westin Hotel- right on the beach in FLL.  Best $30 / person we ever spent!!  There is a limited amount of passes per day.

  They store your luggage, and you have access to all of their amenities for the day ( but  you don't get a room.)  They offer a shuttle back to the airport for $28 for 3 ppl.    

We have also rented a car for the day in the past,  but this  Westin day pass was a  much nicer way to end our vacation.

[BNBR]

On 1/5/2019 at 5:36 PM, oratheeexplorer said:

So the Uber to the airport and the rental car for the day only runs about $50?

 

I would plan for about $75 to rent a car for the day at the airport (with taxes, etc.).  Could be less.

[Paulinda]

I found that you can save quite a bit if you have a Costco Card or Sams Club Card and go thru their online travel depts.  I recently rented a car using Costco.  Initially I rented a car using the airline website that we were flying on.  My wife suggested one of sites above and much to my surprise they were offering an upgraded car at a much lower rate.   Just a suggestion if you haven't thought about it. The savings on this one transaction paid for our membership fee.  

[New_To_Cruisin]

On 1/9/2019 at 8:57 PM, metrolady said:

 

We had 10 hrs to wait before our flight home in Dec.  We bought a Resort Day Pass at the Westin Hotel- right on the beach in FLL.  Best $30 / person we ever spent!!  There is a limited amount of passes per day.

  They store your luggage, and you have access to all of their amenities for the day ( but  you don't get a room.)  They offer a shuttle back to the airport for $28 for 3 ppl.    

We have also rented a car for the day in the past,  but this  Westin day pass was a  much nicer way to end our vacation.

That's a fantastic idea! We have a 6:30pm flight back to Toronto, and I really don't feel like going shopping with the exchange rate that we have right now!! Great tip! 🙂

 

[metrolady]

7 minutes ago, New_To_Cruisin said:

That's a fantastic idea! We have a 6:30pm flight back to Toronto, and I really don't feel like going shopping with the exchange rate that we have right now!! Great tip! 🙂

 

Ha!  We were on the same 6:30 flight back to Toronto , and really enjoyed our day at The Westin pool and the beach. There were a lot of restaurants and shops in this area also.

[chellecruise12]

On 1/5/2019 at 1:42 AM, Crystal04 said:

I check in my luggage if I can. There is also a place you can check pay to have your bags stored but you have to be back by 5. I get an Uber or Lyft to the beach and hang out there. I have rented a car before, but prefer getting an Uber.

I guess Bags to Go is still at the airport to hold the luggage?  Looking for a close beach/area to go to for lunch with a view.  Is the mall area close? Not sure where to tell the Uber/Lyft to take us..lol  Thanks for any suggestions!

[JohninDC]

You can still pay to store your bags at FLL.  www.sunny.org has lots of area tourist info and maps.

32 minutes ago, chellecruise12 said:

I guess Bags to Go is still at the airport to hold the luggage?  Looking for a close beach/area to go to for lunch with a view.  Is the mall area close? Not sure where to tell the Uber/Lyft to take us..lol  Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[chellecruise12]

1 minute ago, JohninDC said:

You can still pay to store your bags at FLL.  www.sunny.org has lots of area tourist info and maps.

 

Thanks!  It looks like Dania Beach Pier is close..May check that out..

[JohninDC]

3 minutes ago, chellecruise12 said:

Thanks!  It looks like Dania Beach Pier is close..May check that out..

Riding the water taxi and stopping someplace fun for a boozy lunch is a great way to spend a few hours.

[kjonescat]

My cruise on the Allure arrives in Port Everglades at 6:15 am.  My flight home doesn’t leave until 7 pm.  Will I have time to go to Las Olas to eat and shop?  Can you only store luggage at FLL airport until 5 pm?