Amtrak Tampa to Fort Lauderdale for Holland Cruise

[Floating_view]

Has anyone taken Amtrak from Tampa to Fort Lauderdale?  Just moved to the Tampa area and trying to figure the best way to get to Fort Lauderdale for our cruise.  When we lived on the coast we would just fly, but now living as close as we do we were thinking of taking Amtrak for our Holland cruise December 12th of this year.

 

Thanks for any input.

John

[rafinmd]

Unless you go the day before I would not recommend it.  A great experience but the train starts in New York and there are usually delays, often several hours by the time the train gets down to Tampa.  I would recommend the reverse direction.

 

Roy

[CruiserBruce]

Ask over on the Florida Departures board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/

 

Lots of local knowledge there...more appropriate place. The Mods might move it over there.

 

I agree with the earlier comments. Its towards the end of a longer run. Amtrac builds in "catch up time", but it can still be affected by many little things.

[zgscl]

I echo what has been noted about traveling the day before - something can very easily happen up route and you will be out of luck. I travel in the day early for all cruises even if the port is a few hours away. Well worth the extra night in a hotel. 

[oofroggie]

I live in the Tampa bay area and if the cruise is leaving on a Friday, Sat or Sunday I take the cruise connection bus from Clearwater. It will leave you off at your cruise ship . It also runs both ways so depending on your return date you could go both ways. I have also taken the train but it does not get in untill after sailing time so you have to stay one night in a hotel. Also the cab fare from the port to the train station is close to $ 50. I also have a friend that rents a car each way so they do not have to pay for parking.  These are a few options for you to explore.

[Caribbean Chris]

Good options above from oofroggie, and it’s worth comparing the differences. Depends on the cost and convenience and factors like the length of the cruise. The connector bus (south of Tampa from our Sarasota area) is often pricier for two people round trip than simply driving and parking across the street from the pier. 

[Tampa Girl]

14 hours ago, Floating_view said:

Has anyone taken Amtrak from Tampa to Fort Lauderdale?  Just moved to the Tampa area and trying to figure the best way to get to Fort Lauderdale for our cruise.  When we lived on the coast we would just fly, but now living as close as we do we were thinking of taking Amtrak for our Holland cruise December 12th of this year.

 

Thanks for any input.

John

 

If you do decide to do it, please post your experience.  We have also been considering taking the train.  I have forgotten what the schedule looks like.  Is there only one train a day for that route?

[Fred321]

We're in Pinellas County and still like to leave a day or two early just to make it feel longer. If you don't mind driving I would recommend doing it that way. About 4 hours total of driving. We generally take longer cruises so we usually rent a car one way and drop it off when we get to FLL. If it's prime snowbird season the drive on 75 South can be a pain.  In the past we have driven 3 hours and stopped for the night in Naples. A few nice hotels right off 75 just before Alligator Alley. That allows us to get up early the next morning for the drive across the state usually with little traffic. You can still drop your car off well within the 24 hour limit. Then we cab or Uber to the hotel. 

Would be leary about the train. We had a relative who won't fly take it down from N.J. and it arrived almost half a day late. Agree with others that suggest if you want to take a train do it at least a day early.

[St Pete Cruiser]

I have used Amtrak many times returning from a cruise as it leaves Ft Lauderdale at 12:30 and arrives in Tampa a little after 5PM.  Going down, you have to go a day early as it doesn't arrive in FTL until 5PM or later.  Uber/Lift from pier 26 to the station was about $15 last time, Nov 2019, my last cruise.  We are using it later this month. Fare is $85 for both of us, would have been $70 if we had booked earlier.  

Tampa's Union Station.  

[Tampa Girl]

3 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

I have used Amtrak many times returning from a cruise as it leaves Ft Lauderdale at 12:30 and arrives in Tampa a little after 5PM.  Going down, you have to go a day early as it doesn't arrive in FTL until 5PM or later.  Uber/Lift from pier 26 to the station was about $15 last time, Nov 2019, my last cruise.  We are using it later this month. Fare is $85 for both of us, would have been $70 if we had booked earlier.  

Tampa's Union Station.  

 

That sounds enticing.  A nice way to start of a WC!  The only time that we took the Cruise Connect bus, or whatever it is called, we vowed never to take it again. Going to the port was o.k.  But we had to sit in FLL  for at least 3 hours on the return, until the bus made the rounds of all the cruiselines.  Henceforth, if it was a short cruise, we would drive and park the car at the hotel.  The last couple of times, back from a repositioning cruise, we rented a car to drive back to Tampa.  The idea of boarding a train the day before sailing, full of anticipation for a long cruise, sounds much better.  And since all of our luggage, except a carryon, will have been shipped, no problems with lugging heavy bags. I assume that reservations are necessary?

 

Thank you for your sharing your experience.

[ShipWalker]

Like Cruise Critic check out amtraktrains.com (Guest Forum) for all questions about Amtrak. Good bunch of people there. (Site not affiliated w/Amtrak)

[FlaMariner]

For what it's worth....last Wednesday we got off the Rotterdam TA in Fort Lauderdale and took Uber to the Fort Lauderdale Amtrak station and rode the Amtrak Silver Meteor to Orlando....Easy, on time, comfortable and inexpensive.....The train left Fort Lauderdale at 8:50am.  Self-disembarkation began at 7:30am. Easy peezy.

[Floating_view]

Thanks for all the good advise and ideas.  Ended up booking a flight to Miami with miles and will go in a day early.  Then booked Southwest direct from FLL back to Tampa for $59pp.

Will defiantly do all or partial train next time.

 

Thanks again.

[irb33785]

Definitely go down a day early.  I fly down a day early and take the train back usually.  Train leaves at 12:30 which makes for a no rush morning and I don't hang around the airport all day waiting for my flight.  I will say in July the train became very nasty on our way back and people coming out of the pandemic had forgotten about using headphones with their devices.  Easy and inexpensive way to travel

[rkacruiser]

On 11/8/2021 at 2:25 PM, ShipWalker said:

Like Cruise Critic check out amtraktrains.com (Guest Forum) for all questions about Amtrak. Good bunch of people there. (Site not affiliated w/Amtrak)

 

Or Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum which is also like Cruise Critic and the site is not affiliated with Amtrak and well moderated.  

[ShipWalker]

On 11/8/2021 at 11:25 AM, ShipWalker said:

Like Cruise Critic check out amtraktrains.com (Guest Forum) for all questions about Amtrak. Good bunch of people there. (Site not affiliated w/Amtrak)

 

1 minute ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Or Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum which is also like Cruise Critic and the site is not affiliated with Amtrak and well moderated.  

 

Same site. 😀

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, ShipWalker said:

 

 

Same site. 😀

 

Thanks.  Didn't realize that they were the same.  I have learned much from that site and am sometimes able to make a few contributions to the discussions that I think have been helpful to some.