Advice needed - August Bahamas Cruise

[Janandmike30]

My husband and I are looking to book a Bahamas cruise in August.  We have specific dates ( August 8-15).  We have to fly out of Fort Lauderdale 8/15 at 4:00 pm. We are flexible on which airport we will fly in to.   We have cruised several times on RCCL (Monarch sized)  Celebrity Summit and Carnival Destiny.  Hubby didn't love Carnival, but there were parts I liked.  

I have narrowed it down to 6 cruises.  A few out of Miami and a few out of Port Canaveral. 

RCCL Mariner, Navigator (both 3 nights)

NCL Sun, Sky ( 3 nights)

Carnival Liberty (3 nights)

Carnival Elation ( 5 nights) Port Canaveral.

We will be in Florida for the length of the trip, so a shorter cruise means a few more hotel nights.  

 

So so we could play it safe and pick a RCCL ship. , we could try NCL with open bar,  also wondering if there is any way we could pull off the 5 night Elation.  The cruise docks the day we have to fly out of Fort Lauderdale, so there has to be 5 hours to allow for drive time and getting to the airport 2 hours prior.  

 

I would love some opinions.  Thanks in advance. 

[JohninDC]

5 hours is about the minimum needed, counting on the drive, time to pick up and drop a rental car off, and make the flight - you have almost zero flexibility in your schedule.

 

Too risky for me. I would choose one of the cruises out of Miami or PE.  Your call.

[Janandmike30]

Thanks for the reality check.  

Do you have an opinion on the other ships?   Mainly the NCL and RCCL ships?

[BNBR]

A 4PM flight?  You could easily make the drive from Port Canaveral to FLL with hours to spare. On the road at 9AM. Arrive in FLL around noon. That gives you several hours to simply drop off a car.  No reason you couldn't do that sailing. 

[JohninDC]

9 hours ago, BNBR said:

A 4PM flight?  You could easily make the drive from Port Canaveral to FLL with hours to spare. On the road at 9AM. Arrive in FLL around noon. That gives you several hours to simply drop off a car.  No reason you couldn't do that sailing. 

BNBR is correct!  I misread and thought your flight was at 2:00. Go for 5 nights. 😎

[Janandmike30]

I booked the 5 night cruise. Hopefully it won't cause me a ton of anxiety. 

 

[JohninDC]

7 hours ago, Janandmike30 said:

I booked the 5 night cruise. Hopefully it won't cause me a ton of anxiety. 

 

Please come back after your cruise and let us know how it worked out.

[BNBR]

10 hours ago, Janandmike30 said:

I booked the 5 night cruise. Hopefully it won't cause me a ton of anxiety. 

 

 

Why would it cause anxiety?  You have 7+ hours to manage a 3 hour drive.  People all over the country live 3 hours from airports and don't leave anywhere near that early to make flights.  I wouldn't even be a tiny bit anxious about it.  Heck, when we were overseas this winter, the airport was about 3 hours away.  We left 5 hours before the flight.  Dropped off the car and still sat around waiting long enough to grab lunch at a restaurant in the airport.  You are fine.

[Janandmike30]

Wanted to follow up on my original post. 

We booked the 5 night on Elation.  We booked a suite so we had priority disembarkation.  We were off the ship before 8 am, rental shuttle was right outside terminal and we made it to FLL by 11:30 for our 4 pm flight.  

So glad we didn't pass on the opportunity because of the logistics. 

[BNBR]

4 minutes ago, Janandmike30 said:

Wanted to follow up on my original post. 

We booked the 5 night on Elation.  We booked a suite so we had priority disembarkation.  We were off the ship before 8 am, rental shuttle was right outside terminal and we made it to FLL by 11:30 for our 4 pm flight.  

So glad we didn't pass on the opportunity because of the logistics. 

 

Worked out as expected! That's always good.  Love it when people come back with updates. Glad you had a great trip.