Ft. Lauderdale Q&A/FAQ

[glojo]

Thank you very much indeed and I will pass the information on..

 

NomDePlume

I had posted here before reading your contribution here and as you rightly point out, the information was 'spot on' Thank you :)

[davwen81]

Be glad of any help as not wanting to drive on the wrong side so no car hire for us can we take public transport to Sawmills or do we have to take a taxi and if so about how much would it be from SE 17 th street??

Is there another outlet mall closer worth considering?

Thanks hot your help in advance :)

[Lois R]

Be glad of any help as not wanting to drive on the wrong side so no car hire for us can we take public transport to Sawmills or do we have to take a taxi and if so about how much would it be from SE 17 th street??

Is there another outlet mall closer worth considering?

Thanks hot your help in advance :)

 

Hi,:) there is a mall closer to 17th Street but it is not an outlet.;)

It is called The Galleria and it has been in FLL for many, many years.

It is near the intercoastal waterway with some very nice shops

and restaurants too.

Here is a link to it....

 

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=galleria%20mall%20fort%20lauderdale&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.galleriamall-fl.com%2F&ei=9FUzUeLoPIT89gSFzIGIBw&usg=AFQjCNEmzCjwzKjPuQd7z5EUsAcu43qNzg&bvm=bv.43148975,d.eWU

[bellemiche]

Be glad of any help as not wanting to drive on the wrong side so no car hire for us can we take public transport to Sawmills or do we have to take a taxi and if so about how much would it be from SE 17 th street??

Is there another outlet mall closer worth considering?

Thanks hot your help in advance :)

 

To add onto the last post...if you're there on the weekend, you can take the trolley from the Harbor Shops to the Galleria Mall.

http://www.suntrolley.com/

[cruzn4life]

The Hyatt Place has a shuttle to/from airport/port, continental breakfast and close restaurant, grocery stores.

 

If that helps.

 

Does that mean we can leave our car parked there for a week while we are on the cruise and ride a shuttle to/from the port?

[phabric]

Does that mean we can leave our car parked there for a week while we are on the cruise and ride a shuttle to/from the port?

 

Some hotels charge a different amount for keeping your car so call them to see. I believe the shuttle to/from the airport is free. Last time, we stayed there, there was a charge per person ($8-10/pp) for the shuttle to the port. Sometimes, if more than 1, it is cheaper to take a taxi (under $20 ?) to the port as you don't have to sign up for a time and wait for the shuttle to fill, you can go when you want to.

 

Check out http://www.valuetrips.com for prices for Hyatt Place 17th St. This is the Hyatt Place that is closest to the port with restaurants, stores, grocery around it.

Edited March 3, 2013 by phabric

[royalcruz]

Hello there, we have only a very brief time in FL before joining Indy for a TA Cruise this April. Could you please let me know if there are shops open on Sunday morning, we are staying at the Comfort Inn and arriving at approx 1830 Saturday evening and hope to board around 1400hrs. Its my first time in U.S. and I would love to have a little browse.

If you are staying at the Comfort Inn on Stirling Rd, you will find Big Lots open at 9 AM, Ross open at 9:30 AM Marshalls open at 11 AM and there are lots of other stores there.

 

If you are staying at Comfort Suites on US1 near the port, you will find Ross, CVS, and Publix to be open early Sunday morning. There are a few more stores in the area.

[royalcruz]

Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask this question but next January I will be aboard the Queen Elizabeth when she docks at Fort Lauderdale. I am severely disabled and not the most mobile of folks. Fortunately for me my cousin who lives in Florida has suggested she comes down to the ship and meet us.

 

My question is:

 

Does the docking area at Fort Lauderdale have gates, is there security and if so will my cousin be allowed to drive in without any type of ticket or pass?

 

We areplanning ways in which I can get into their vehicle and she can take us out for the day :)

 

Best wishes

John

We haven't been asked to open the car trunk for many years. You just show photo ID of everyone in the vehicle, say what ship you are going to, and answer the question "Do you have any weapons in the car?".

[royalcruz]

Be glad of any help as not wanting to drive on the wrong side so no car hire for us can we take public transport to Sawmills or do we have to take a taxi and if so about how much would it be from SE 17 th street??

Is there another outlet mall closer worth considering?

Thanks hot your help in advance :)

I don't use public transportation but you can go from 17th St to Sawgrass Mills. You will take the 40 bus east from the south side of SE 17th St for about 4 miles, and get off at Galleria Mall. Then take the 36 bus from the north side of Sunrise Blvd going west about 15 miles to Sawgrass Mills Mall. It costs $4 for adults or $3 for seniors for an all-day pass, which you can purchase when you board. I would guess that it will take about 1-2 hours to get to the mall from the starting point.

[davwen81]

Thank you Royalcruz for that info. We don't mind using public transport so will check that out, many thanks

Wendy and David

[Lany]

A few of us will be in town at the end of the month - some staying by Broward Mall, some on 17th Street, and some by Las Olas...any recommendations for a local place to get good fish or a good grouper sandwich for dinner - not too pricey - can be near any of these locations of somewhere easily accessible from any of these places. Thanks in advance for your help!

[royalcruz]

A few of us will be in town at the end of the month - some staying by Broward Mall, some on 17th Street, and some by Las Olas...any recommendations for a local place to get good fish or a good grouper sandwich for dinner - not too pricey - can be near any of these locations of somewhere easily accessible from any of these places. Thanks in advance for your help!

Grouper used to be more available here. These days you can only count on fresh mahi, and sometimes you'll find fresh snapper or frozen tilapia. In the 17th St area, you can get fresh Mahi sandwich or platter at 15th St Fisheries Dockside (downstairs). They also have it in the same area at Southport Raw Bar and Duffy's but I'm not sure if it's fresh. There are Duffy's locations on SE 17th St and just south of Broward Mall in The Fountains. I can't think of anything downtown by Las Olas that meets your criteria.

[ps17]

Will be there at Courtyard on Mar 29. Looking forward to nice dinner night before cruise. WNeed some restaurant comments and suggestions from the following:

 

Thai Spice: We love a good Thai restaurant but latest reviews on yelp say it is going down hill. Is this true? Is this THE Thai restaurant to go to?

 

TeeJay Thai and Sushi: There is a place in Port Canaveral that we love called Thai Thai that serves Thai and sushi. Great Thai food. This place sounds familiar but it seems like it may be more sushi than Thai. How does this place compare to Thai Spice.

 

Rustic Inn Crabhouse. The idea of crab sounds great (we used to like Crabby Bills in St. Petes), however mixed reviews in yelp. Some say that some of the crab does not seem fresh "mushy", "watery", or "not much meat", or expensive are some adjectives heard. Comments?

 

Finally, we are also intrigued by Cuban/Floribbean type restaurants, Columbia in St. Petes area, Tio Pepes etc. We are talking carribean, cuban, spanish type places where one might get some Paella, ropa vieja, or something like chicken, grouper, or snapper with some rice, beans etc. etc. Are there any places like this around?

 

Hopefully, we can narrow it to one, but any advice is appreciated.

Thanks in advance...

[Lany]

Thank you for the restaurant info. Can I ask you how safe the city buses are in Ft. Lauderdale? We'd be looking at taking the 40 and 22 routes - from Broward Mall and Las Olas to SE 17th Street. Evening time on a Friday night. Pretty safe or are we better off taking taxis? How much is the bus fare? Thank you again!

[royalcruz]

Thank you for the restaurant info. Can I ask you how safe the city buses are in Ft. Lauderdale? We'd be looking at taking the 40 and 22 routes - from Broward Mall and Las Olas to SE 17th Street. Evening time on a Friday night. Pretty safe or are we better off taking taxis? How much is the bus fare? Thank you again!

I've never been on the city buses. The people who ride them in Fort Lauderdale are generally tourists and people who cannot afford cars. There are occasionally incidents that make it into the newspaper, usually involving fights or traffic accidents. I would be very comfortable riding along the beach route or Las Olas, but I would personally not want to cross town from Broward Mall to those areas at night, as you have to go through some rough areas of town. The area where the bus terminal is for transfers isn't good either. It only costs $4 for an all day pass on the bus. I would guess taxis would cost about $35 each way.

[royalcruz]

Will be there at Courtyard on Mar 29. Looking forward to nice dinner night before cruise. WNeed some restaurant comments and suggestions from the following:

 

Thai Spice: We love a good Thai restaurant but latest reviews on yelp say it is going down hill. Is this true? Is this THE Thai restaurant to go to?

 

TeeJay Thai and Sushi: There is a place in Port Canaveral that we love called Thai Thai that serves Thai and sushi. Great Thai food. This place sounds familiar but it seems like it may be more sushi than Thai. How does this place compare to Thai Spice.

 

Rustic Inn Crabhouse. The idea of crab sounds great (we used to like Crabby Bills in St. Petes), however mixed reviews in yelp. Some say that some of the crab does not seem fresh "mushy", "watery", or "not much meat", or expensive are some adjectives heard. Comments?

 

Finally, we are also intrigued by Cuban/Floribbean type restaurants, Columbia in St. Petes area, Tio Pepes etc. We are talking carribean, cuban, spanish type places where one might get some Paella, ropa vieja, or something like chicken, grouper, or snapper with some rice, beans etc. etc. Are there any places like this around?

 

Hopefully, we can narrow it to one, but any advice is appreciated.

Thanks in advance...

I'm not sure which Courtyard you are staying at. (beach? airport? north Fort Lauderdale?)

 

I haven't been to Thai Spice in a few months, but it was excellent then. Tee Jay is probably more THEE place to go these days, as they get a young late night trendy crowd. At Thai Spice we tend to order heavier Thai entrees, but at Tee Jay we tend to order lots of small Thai and Japanese plates, as it has that kind of vibe.

 

I haven't been to Rustic Inn in years...I'm from Maryland and we had great crabs there, so I found the crabs at Rustic Inn to be pitifully small and they even served female crabs in the mix (these are known as less desirable).

 

Spanish/Cuban in Fort Lauderdale depends on what you want...Cafe Seville has very good Spanish food/paella/gazpacho. Las Vegas has good Cuban food; I love the plantain encrusted fish and tostones there. If you want old Cuban ambiance, Don Arturo is the place to go. Tipico has great churrasco with chimichurri. La Bamba is famous for their grilled chicken/rice/beans (pollo a la plancha). Fuego Latino has the best palomilla. Mario's Catalina is pretentious and overpriced and I had the worst churrasco there that I've ever had. Casa Frieda serves fine Mexican food, reasonably priced for the quality, and they have fish....but their mole sauce was too heavy on the prunes for me.

Edited March 6, 2013 by royalcruz

[ps17]

RoyalCruz,

Thanks for the restaurant info. We are staying at Courtyard on the Beach. Based on your input, the crab is out. We will have to pick between the Thai and a Spanish/Cuban place. Or if you have any close to Courtyard reccomendations, that would be great. Seafood, Thai, sushi, Japanese are what interests us. While I have your attention, a few more questions:

 

1) 4 of us are getting off of the Oasis and we then have something like a 1:00/1:30 flight out of Miami. What is the best strategy (time etc) to get off the ship? Is there a debarkation time you sign up for? (never been on RCCL before so don't konw their procedures. We would like to be at the airport by say 11:00/11:30.

 

2) For 4 people, should we just grab a cab to Miami? I heard it is around $85. The the other choices are town car or transfers (which may be $35 per person).

 

3) We plan on doing the Valet luggage service where we say goodbye to our luggage the night before. Any issues with this?

 

4) Back to courtyard. We are flying in to FLL airport. Should we just cab to the hotel, cab to dinner the night before, and then cab to Oasis on Sat morning? Or is there a rental car option (it would be National for us due to corporate rates).

 

5) Are there any convenience stores close to that Courtyard?

 

6) If we want to save money, is there any fast food breakfast near there? Or should we just eat at the Courtyard.

 

Thanks in advance (hopefully, I can get everything answered in this one post).

 

Thanks again.

PS17

[mstelly]

With the Federal Government cut-backs -- does anyone know about anticipated wait times getting off of ships or TSA at the airport in FLL.

[royalcruz]

RoyalCruz,

Thanks for the restaurant info. We are staying at Courtyard on the Beach. Based on your input, the crab is out. We will have to pick between the Thai and a Spanish/Cuban place. Or if you have any close to Courtyard reccomendations, that would be great. Seafood, Thai, sushi, Japanese are what interests us. While I have your attention, a few more questions:

 

1) 4 of us are getting off of the Oasis and we then have something like a 1:00/1:30 flight out of Miami. What is the best strategy (time etc) to get off the ship? Is there a debarkation time you sign up for? (never been on RCCL before so don't konw their procedures. We would like to be at the airport by say 11:00/11:30.

 

2) For 4 people, should we just grab a cab to Miami? I heard it is around $85. The the other choices are town car or transfers (which may be $35 per person).

 

3) We plan on doing the Valet luggage service where we say goodbye to our luggage the night before. Any issues with this?

 

4) Back to courtyard. We are flying in to FLL airport. Should we just cab to the hotel, cab to dinner the night before, and then cab to Oasis on Sat morning? Or is there a rental car option (it would be National for us due to corporate rates).

 

5) Are there any convenience stores close to that Courtyard?

 

6) If we want to save money, is there any fast food breakfast near there? Or should we just eat at the Courtyard.

 

Thanks in advance (hopefully, I can get everything answered in this one post).

 

Thanks again.

PS17

Coconuts is across the street from Courtyard and does a paella on a barbeque grill on weekends. They also have excellent seafood. You can look up the menu online, but they have 5-10 specials a day, mostly fresh seafood that you won't see online. There aren't currently any Asian restaurants in walking distance but one is opening soon north of Las Olas on the beach.

1) Self-disembark is earliest disembarkation. I think you can sign up on your TV.

 

2)Miami is about 45 minutes away and taxis are expensive, but you are sharing. I don't know the shuttle companies that go there. Private cars cost about the same as taxis.

 

3) I haven't used luggage valet.

 

4) Taxis are inexpensive to the port and from FLL and if you stick with the downtown/beach area. There is also the Suntrolley and bus 40. The hotel charges for parking. If you venture up to Tee Jay it will cost at least $25 each way by taxi. There is Thai on the Beach about 1.5 miles north of Courtyard but it's very average. Coco is very good, in Harbor Shops, a short ride away.

 

5) There is a 7-11 just north of Courtyard on Seabreeze. There is also a CVS about a half mile away at Beachplace (north on A1A).

 

6)There is no fast food in the area.

[truffles2]

You might have a problem with luggage valet. I know your flight must be after 11:30 from FLL and it is later if you must travel to Miami from FLL. Not sure what the time is but you had better double check .

[TickledBlue]

I've never been on the city buses. The people who ride them in Fort Lauderdale are generally tourists and people who cannot afford cars. There are occasionally incidents that make it into the newspaper, usually involving fights or traffic accidents. I would be very comfortable riding along the beach route or Las Olas, but I would personally not want to cross town from Broward Mall to those areas at night, as you have to go through some rough areas of town. The area where the bus terminal is for transfers isn't good either. It only costs $4 for an all day pass on the bus. I would guess taxis would cost about $35 each way.

 

As tourists last year, we did the bus day pass and felt safe; however, there was that one guy on that one bus that made us nervous. Seemed like most the people on the bus were not tourists though, most seemed like people going to/from work.

[TickledBlue]

We are staying overnight and have most of a day to kill with a rental car prior to our cruise in early April.

 

Last year, we already did the water taxi, walked along the beachfront and Las Olas Blvd, and did an airboat ride at Sawgrass. We would like to do something different this time.

 

We don't have any kids and like to hike/walk, sight see, take boat rides, and are mildly adventurous.

 

The Bonnet house may be interesting, but that won't take but an hour or two (I think).

 

The Hugh Taylor Birch park looks interesting and that may take a good part of the day if we hit the beach (do they have showers to rinse off there?).

 

Other suggestions?

 

What about a trip down to Miami (we have never been there), any suggestions?

[royalcruz]

As tourists last year, we did the bus day pass and felt safe; however, there was that one guy on that one bus that made us nervous. Seemed like most the people on the bus were not tourists though, most seemed like people going to/from work.

What I meant by "The people who ride (the buses) in Fort Lauderdale are generally tourists and people who cannot afford cars" is that the local population does not use public transportation unless they have no other way to get around. Along the beach route you will find some tourists, but otherwise you will find low income locals.

[royalcruz]

We are staying overnight and have most of a day to kill with a rental car prior to our cruise in early April.

 

Last year, we already did the water taxi, walked along the beachfront and Las Olas Blvd, and did an airboat ride at Sawgrass. We would like to do something different this time.

 

We don't have any kids and like to hike/walk, sight see, take boat rides, and are mildly adventurous.

 

The Bonnet house may be interesting, but that won't take but an hour or two (I think).

 

The Hugh Taylor Birch park looks interesting and that may take a good part of the day if we hit the beach (do they have showers to rinse off there?).

 

Other suggestions?

 

What about a trip down to Miami (we have never been there), any suggestions?

If you like to walk around, South Beach Miami is big and will be a good way to spend a lot of time. The riverwalk in Fort Lauderdale will take up a little bit of time and you can visit Stranahan House and Museum of Art while you are downtown. I've been to a few barbeques in Birch Park but I can't recall if there are showers there. There are a few showers along Fort Lauderdale beach next to A1A. There are places along the beach to rent waverunners, or you can charter a boat from the marinas.

[royalcruz]

http://www.sawgrassmillsmallshuttles.com/

This is for those of you who are staying by the beach without a car and want to do some serious outlet shopping. $25 pp round trip.