Has anyone ever taken the Everglades tour through Costa?

[boatdrinx]

On the day of return from our cruise, the ship docks at 8am. Our plane is at 3:45pm and we will not have a car. I thought that a way to kill time and also get a lift to the airport would be to sign up for the Everglades tour. Has anyone tried this and is it worthwhile? Any other suggestions for filling the time? Thanks.

[blowers]

I am thinking exactly the same thing!!

[itsmlf]

Ive done that tour thru Royal Caribbean and think its probably about the same. Really did enjoy it and would do it again

[shades]

We took Costa's last year, thoroughly enjoyed it, recommend it.

Shades.

[dogger]

We took Costa's last year, thoroughly enjoyed it, recommend it.

Shades.

 

We fly out at 8:45pm and need to kill the day.

 

What's done with your bags?

 

How long is the excursion?

[quimmee]

I think you book it under excursions, Ft.Lauderdale. I saw it posted there the other day. We are flying out at 7pm and are trying to figure out what to do all day. So far, we are renting a car and driving to Sawmill Recreational Park, to do the everglade tour. It is only a 1/2 tour. From what I remember, the tour , if booked through Costa, will drop you back off at the airport by noon. That's way too much time for us to sit around. By renting a car, we can tour around, have lunch, beach it a little, etc. Then drop the car back off at the airport before flying out. I think Costa was charging $59 per adult. It is only $60.00 to rent a van from Budget for the day.

 

Another great option is to get a day rate from a local hotel. We have been told that the chances of that are about next to nil for March Break. That is our first choice.

 

Either way, it will be a great day.... THanks

[nauticaz24]

I am thinking of doing this tour as well. Does anyone know what time they drop you off by, as my flight leaves at 430pm I believe. Also, what time would you have to be off of the boat by to meet the tour?

[kasi1979]

Hi, we took the Everglades Tour last november with costa on our stop-over day in Ft. Lauderdale. I believe we started around 9 am (got off ship faster due to the ecursion booked otherwise non-americans have to wait quite a bit), and were back at the airport at 12. It was great to see as I´ve never been there before.

Afterwards we took a taxi to Ft.Luderdale beach and spent a lovely afternoon there.

[mom07]

We took the Everglades Tour last year & loved it (except for one French lady who would not stop putting her hand in the water & made the air boat driver leave a baby alligator because she would not stop splashing it).

got back to the airport before noon.

 

This year our flight left at 7 so we checked our luggage (not with the airline but at the airport for $6 per bag - it is next to Dunkin Donuts) and took a taxi into town. Went to the movies, ate lunch, etc.

[jct]

We booked the Everglades tour through Costa when we just returned on the 9th of March. I have mixed feelings about it for several reasons.

 

1. We wanted something to do other than sit at the airport and we didn't want to have to rent a car since there were so many of us and renting/taking back etc all takes quite a bit of time. So, the tour was good in that it did give us something to do for roughly 3 hours, but they dropped us off at the airport by noon and we still had to wait at the airport for 3 hours. I thought it would have been a longer excursion, but that being said, there really wasn't much to see/do at this particular everglades airboat place. So, it helped kill some time but not enough to warrant the price, imo.

 

2. We've been to the Everglades before after our first cruise a few years ago. We went to the Billie Swamp Safari and it was MUCH NICER, imo than the one that is closer to Port Everglades where the cruise ship will take you. There wouldn't be time to go to Billie Swamp Safari, but having been there I was disappointed in the air boat ride and animal life at the closer one.

 

If you've never been on an airboat everglades tour before you will probably enjoy it, but since we had previously had a much better experience at Billie Swamp Safari this one wasn't very impressive. Again, for a first timer it would probably be fine.

 

FWIW

 

Cynthia