Port Everglades

[MWBearFan]

We have booked an 8 night cruise with Carnival sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale in spring of 2021.  Our general plan is to fly into FLL airport the day before embarkation day and book a hotel for that night.  Assuming we can get a shuttle from the Airport to the Hotel, then on embarkation day get a shuttle to Port Everglades.  After the Cruise we assume debarkation will be sometime in the morning so we are planning to book an evening return flight.  We'll have some time to kill from the time we get off the ship till we need to be at the airport for the flight home.  What are the best options for transporting our luggage and doing a little exploring before heading to the airport.  Other than the obvious taxi or uber.  There will be four of us (my wife and I and her parents).  As the trip is so far out we can't play with real flight times to know more exactly how much time we'll have to kill.  Our previous cruise my wife and I drove from Indiana to the port 19 hours on the road (not doing that again), so we had our own car there.  Is there public transit?  My concern is lugging our luggage around the Ft. Lauderdale area.  Should we seek to book a flight closer to when we disembark like say around 2pm or so and just get a shuttle from the port to the airport.  And then for our flight down book early enough that we can explore the area pre-cruise?   The positive is we have time to research and look at our options.  

 

Thanks in advance for any info or tips.

[CruiserBruce]

First of all, some reading on the board would be VERY advantageous.  Taxis and Uber are plentiful and cheap. Some hotel shuttles might be good for hotel to port and airport to hotel, but taxi/Uber is almost our first choice. 

 

Secondly,  you will be able to start getting off your ship as early as 7 or 7:15, and you could catch flights home by 10:30.

 

Yes, getting there as early as possible to explore is good. Your hotel will hold your bags even if you can't check in. Yes, there is several forms of transit. Water taxi is a great way to spend 2 hours to all day exploring. There is also a trolley. 

[Roz]

Does Carnival offer any post-cruise excursions?  Some cruise lines offer excursions that end at the airport.  Your bags go in the bottom of the bus, and you go to the Everglades or wherever, which believe me beats sitting at hot, crowded, and noisy FLL.  You will be off the ship around 8 or 9 am, so that's a lot of time to kill.

 

Roz

[teknoge3k]

You could always just rent a car. Then keep your luggage in your car and go anywhere you'd like. Then return the car to FLL when it's time to fly home.

[MWBearFan]

Definitely some good ideas.  I think on our last cruise we got off the ship early am after having breakfast on the lido deck. It could have been somewhere around 7/8 don't remember exactly.  So far on our cruise booking page excursions aren't yet listed but I may look around more on Carnival's site.  We definitely have the luxury of time to research.  Most hotels offer free shuttle from the airport and most offer shuttle to the port for a fee.  We'll have flexibility on booking flight times both coming and returning. 

[JohninDC]

If you have time you can pay to store your bags at ALL and then you are free to explore - water taxi, Las Olas, etc.

[capriccio]

4 hours ago, JohninDC said:

If you have time you can pay to store your bags at ALL and then you are free to explore - water taxi, Las Olas, etc.

To add to John's post, Bags to Go provides luggage storage in each terminal at FLL (www.bagstogo.net).

[aggiejade]

I have a Carnival cruise booked in 2020 from Port Everglade. I noticed a post cruise excursion for  an airboat ride through the everglades and an alligator show when I looked a few days ago. Bus takes you to FLL when finished. I think the price was in the $50 range.

[Roz]

30 minutes ago, aggiejade said:

I have a Carnival cruise booked in 2020 from Port Everglade. I noticed a post cruise excursion for  an airboat ride through the everglades and an alligator show when I looked a few days ago. Bus takes you to FLL when finished. I think the price was in the $50 range.

I did that excursion thru HAL, and really had a lot of fun.  I highly recommend it.  I even got to hold a baby alligator! His snout was taped shut - LOL! 

 

Waving at you from Nashville....

 

Roz

[Midwest Sunseeker]

On 2/19/2019 at 12:05 PM, MWBearFan said:

We have booked an 8 night cruise with Carnival sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale in spring of 2021.  Our general plan is to fly into FLL airport the day before embarkation day and book a hotel for that night.  Assuming we can get a shuttle from the Airport to the Hotel, then on embarkation day get a shuttle to Port Everglades.  After the Cruise we assume debarkation will be sometime in the morning so we are planning to book an evening return flight.  We'll have some time to kill from the time we get off the ship till we need to be at the airport for the flight home.  What are the best options for transporting our luggage and doing a little exploring before heading to the airport.  Other than the obvious taxi or uber.  There will be four of us (my wife and I and her parents).  As the trip is so far out we can't play with real flight times to know more exactly how much time we'll have to kill.  Our previous cruise my wife and I drove from Indiana to the port 19 hours on the road (not doing that again), so we had our own car there.  Is there public transit?  My concern is lugging our luggage around the Ft. Lauderdale area.  Should we seek to book a flight closer to when we disembark like say around 2pm or so and just get a shuttle from the port to the airport.  And then for our flight down book early enough that we can explore the area pre-cruise?   The positive is we have time to research and look at our options.  

 

Thanks in advance for any info or tips.

Southwest usually has a direct flight Fll to IND around 3:00pm. This allows you to book a post cruiseline excursion with airport drop off.