First time at Ft Lauderdal

[Shogun]

Hi Folks,

 

Boarding next week at FT L. was planning on going late as want spend as much time seeing the area, is this a good idea or should l board early and come back off the ship.

 

yours Shogun

[DFD1]

If it were me, I would not plan on disembarking the ship after going aboard. I would rather wait until later in the afternoon to board. I believe you can board up until an hour or so before sailing time.

 

Just my opinion based on lots of sailings over the years.

[cdnguy]

Boarding next week at FT L. was planning on going late

What??? and miss 1/2 day and lunch on the ship?:)

[cruiseapril]

Hi Shogun- When we boarded Princess in Fort Lauderdale, our hotel shuttle took us over at 12:30- then it took about 20 minutes before boarding. We then had lunch at the buffet. It was a relaxed embarkation.

 

Due to traffic and possible long embarkation lines (ours was early and short)-you do want to allow plenty of time to board. Fort Lauderdale is a busy place-best to be early than late.

[eljaydj]

See Ft. Lauderdale and board 1/2 hour before sailing. They don't pull up the ladder until sailing time.

Larry

[nho9504]

Judging by the luggages I saw people brought with them, I dont know how you can sightsee with a 26" + a 20" + a tote for each person on tow (the average number of luggages people brought...)

 

Or you could drop off your luggages first, then take a cab back out to town (or beach area, both are not too far away from Port Everglades), and come back an hour before sailing time. Just remember to make allowance for the traffic, esp the draw bridge could be drawn up for sailing boats while you are sitting in the cab with only 45 min to spare - then it would be very stressful!

[cruiseapril]

Hi again Shogun- In your Princess contract it may state that you should be at the ship two hours before sailing time. It states this in my previous contract and also on the Princess website.

 

As the poster just stated- you don't want to be caught in Port Everglades traffic!

[spongerob]

Hi Shogun. I don't know if you are going in a day early or not. It doesn't sound like it. If you really want to just drive around for a while before going to the cruise terminal, my suggestion would be to hire a taxi, or if possible arrange for a car service, and see if you can negotiate a price to just hit the high points and pick up some "supplies" for your cruise ;) . I wouldn't try disembarking after getting checked in. You should be aware that most cab drivers don't speak very good English, and will probably have a lot of trouble with your accent.

[Shogun]

Hi Folks,

 

Thanks for advise,

 

If everything goes as planned we should arrive very late on Friday night have a room booked, if not early next morning, have checked with hotel can still use room leave bags there etc,

 

Will need to get some sleep after travelling for a full day,

 

but still want to try and get to a mall to keep other half happy as well as look around area if possible ,

 

says sailing time is 5.00pm this seems very early most other cruises I have done have been from 8.00pm to 1.00am to allow flights to arrive, I know there is a UK charter arriving from London on the day of sailing so they are not giving them much time.

 

Is the 5.00pm just to get us all onboard or do they really mean 5.00pm

 

 

Will be there well before 5.00pm anyway.

 

I have been told QM2 is in port the same time, will see be docked close by, was told that it is Princess that handle Cunard stuff etc are there any other Princess ships in port that day,

 

do we all have the same ques to stand in or are there different areas for different Princess ships.

 

As to accent as we get told that I do not speak english I assume I will get on great with local taxi drivers.

 

yours Shogun

[cruiseapril]

Hi Shogun- 5:00 is sailing time. They like passengers to be there about 2 hours before sailing or earlier.

 

Try cruisecal.com to see which ships will be in Port Everglades on the 30th.

 

Looks like a busy port day with the QM2 there too. Another good reason to arrive by 3:00!

[spongerob]

Your ship will sail at 5 PM, or as close to that time as possible. The mandatory muster drill will be conducted about 1 hour prior to sailing.

 

Since you have a place to drop your bags, you might want to look into taking the Water Taxi to the Las Olas area. I suggest, though, that you plan to be at the ship no later than about 2 PM, just in case. That gives you an hour or so emergency time if you are slightly delayed. You can easily get a taxi at Las Olas to drive back to your hotel, wait there so you can collect your bags, then go to the pier.

 

Most travel books, such as Fromer's "Caribbean Cruises and Ports of Call" will have some very basic information about embarkation ports in Florida. You'll find a few more sightseeing ideas there.