Embarking/Disembarking in Port Everglades on a Saturday

[Pam in CA]

I was reading another message board where they were warning people to be aware of embarking or disembarking in Port Everglades when the RCI Oasis of the Seas is disembarking/embarking. With about 6,000 passengers, that's as many as two Grand-class ships or three Coral-class ships at the exact same time.

 

When I read this, I immediately checked the day of the week we disembark from our Coral cruise in January and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that we disembark on a Thursday. But then I thought that perhaps I should make others, who perhaps have booked early flights, aware of the additional crowd and possible delays if they are disembarking on a Saturday, the Oasis' turn-around day. When her sister ship, the Allure, goes into service, it's going to be a lot worse. :(

[Amtrack Springfield]

My daughter was on the NOS last December and there were 5 or 6 ships in port. I think about 21,000 people coming and going. They could not get a cab to the airport for an hour. what a mess.

[rdsqrl]

Thanks for the heads-up. Fortunately, we leave on a Tuesday and don't return. (Well, we do return (hopefully) but to LA, not FLL!) I agree that it'll be a nightmare. In fact, I'm just picturing the nightmare on the ship: how the heck are they going to embark/disembark 6000 people in a timely fashion? I just shudder at the thought of how awful both getting on and getting off is going to be unless they have multiple gangways but even then, it'll be quite the mob scene on the pier.

[Colo Cruiser]

And the airport stays the same size. :rolleyes:

[Pia1913]

I was reading another message board where they were warning people to be aware of embarking or disembarking in Port Everglades when the RCI Oasis of the Seas is disembarking/embarking. With about 6,000 passengers, that's as many as two Grand-class ships or three Coral-class ships at the exact same time.

 

When I read this, I immediately checked the day of the week we disembark from our Coral cruise in January and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that we disembark on a Thursday. But then I thought that perhaps I should make others, who perhaps have booked early flights, aware of the additional crowd and possible delays if they are disembarking on a Saturday, the Oasis' turn-around day. When her sister ship, the Allure, goes into service, it's going to be a lot worse. :(

 

 

Maybe they'll shove that one down to Miami. Then again, they just redid the berth, so I imagine it will be a Saturday and a Sunday that will create a fiasco.

[cruiserjanet]

But the Behemoth of the Seas and Allure of the Seas won't be able to be in Port Everglades on the same day, will they? They only have one terminal for the oversized ships, correct? The day before we left on recent cruise, 7 ships left at about 21,000 people (minus maybe a few thousand). Imagine 7 ships plus the Behemoth.

[kimchee1212]

But the Behemoth of the Seas and Allure of the Seas won't be able to be in Port Everglades on the same day, will they? They only have one terminal for the oversized ships, correct? The day before we left on recent cruise, 7 ships left at about 21,000 people (minus maybe a few thousand). Imagine 7 ships plus the Behemoth.

 

 

 

Looking at the schedules for Oasis and Allure, Oasis will be docking on Saturdays and the Allure on Sundays--making the weekends a jungle for Port Everglades.

[golf6712]

There are always plenty of taxis to take you back to the airport. The Coral Princess is always out of port everglades. The Oasis of the Seas would be at terminal 18, yes on saturdays starting december 5th 2009 until the sister ship comes to rccl yes it will be a mess at the port. But try and think if you were one of those 6000 people coming off that ship and trying to find your luggage and not lose the people your traveling with and then venture back to the airport. It's probably better to even take a local tour and then fly back home later that day after the crowds have dwindled or leave the next day. Good luck!:cool:

[frankathy]

Just getting in to the port is a mess now when bus. Imagine all those extra people trying to drive in. If sailing from terminal 2 use the entrance off the 17th street causway

[Pam in CA]

There are always plenty of taxis to take you back to the airport.

I know you live in Ft. Lauderdale but I beg to differ. I've disembarked several times at Pt. Everglades and a couple of times, there were so many ships in that there were absolutely no taxis. It was awful with people shoving, pushing, cutting in line, throwing money at porters to get them a cab, cursing, etc. I thanked my lucky stars that I'd gotten cruise transfers just a couple of days before; we boarded the bus and five minutes later, left the mess behind.

[Coral]

I have also been unable to get a taxi on my last 2 Caribbean cruises disembarking in FLL. One time, our ship was late clearing so I assume the taxis all went elsewhere and the other time there was a record amount of ships in FLL right before Christmas.

 

This last time, we just did Princess transfers.

[PescadoAmarillo]

There are always plenty of taxis to take you back to the airport.:

 

Sorry, But this just isn't true. We returned from a cruise the Sunday before Christmas in 2003, a date which set a record for passenger arrivals/ departures at Port Everglades. (I'm thinking it was just over 50,000 passengers). Taxi waits were 2 to 3 hours. We would have missed our 12:30pm flight had we not talked ourselves onto a Super Shuttle. This is a definite concern for weekends at Port Everglades, especially for those times when ships not on 7 or 14 day itineraries also do turnaround on a weekend (such as we'll face on Jan 9th).

[Avalon35]

Wow. We will be coming in on Jan 9th as well. What does everyone recommend? Or should we wait for comments after the Oasis is on a regular schedule?

[Pia1913]

Wow. We will be coming in on Jan 9th as well. What does everyone recommend? Or should we wait for comments after the Oasis is on a regular schedule?

 

January 9th is showing two Princess ships, one HAL and one RCI. Oasis is not showing in the schedule. Yet.

[elou]

Thanks for info regarding 17th causeway. Do you remember, coming 595 from turnpike, where I get off to go to causeway. Not sure looking at map. Did not realize you could get in this way. Usually terminal 2 is used for Princess. Coming from Boca, so I have some idea. Thanks.

[bhopal21]

Evidently it is just the luck of the draw. This past February we ported with 9 other ships on a Saturday and made our 1011am flight with an hour to spare at the gate.

 

We did avail ourselves of the express disembarkation carrying all our own luggage.

 

And we are planning to do the same again on February 7th.

 

Mike:)

[Sparkylok6]

On our Emerald sailing in January we will be stopping in St. Maarten and Oasis of the Seas with the Carnival Valor, and P&O Ventura. The OOS is not listed on the cruisett.com site with their 6,000+ passengers, so just add them to the 9,872 passengers that are on the Emerald, Valor and Ventura - :eek::eek::eek:. Is that island big enough to handle all of those passengers?? and who knows how many crew members???

 

I think it will be an adventure. :rolleyes:

[kiawahdon]

Pia1913, what site did you use to identify what ships are in Port Everglades on Jan 9? I am interested in Jan 29th.

[Sparkylok6]

site did you use to identify what ships are in Port Everglades on Jan 9? I am interested in Jan 29th.

 

www.cruisett.com is the site that I use.

[Pia1913]

Pia1913, what site did you use to identify what ships are in Port Everglades on Jan 9? I am interested in Jan 29th.

 

Here you go. Right into Ft. Lauderdale.

 

http://cruisett.com/ports.php?PortID=212&date=7

[caribill]

On our Emerald sailing in January we will be stopping in St. Maarten and Oasis of the Seas with the Carnival Valor, and P&O Ventura. The OOS is not listed on the cruisett.com site with their 6,000+ passengers, so just add them to the 9,872 passengers that are on the Emerald, Valor and Ventura - :eek::eek::eek:. Is that island big enough to handle all of those passengers??

 

We will find out on December 23 when the Emerald is there along with

Carnival Dream, Celebrity Solstice, and Oasis of the Seas.

[PescadoAmarillo]

January 9th is showing two Princess ships, one HAL and one RCI. Oasis is not showing in the schedule. Yet.

Hmmmm. I'm looking at a Port Everglades brochure, the 2010 Port Guide. It states that on Saturday, January 9th, the following ships will be in port:

 

Costa Atlantica

Crown Princess

Discovery Sun (small ship)

Eurodam

Independence of the Seas

MSC Poesia

Oasis of the Seas

Ruby Princess

 

I'm not going to verify all of these, but the Royal Caribbean website also shows the Oasis OTS beginning a 7 night cruise out of Fort Lauderdale on January 9, and Saturdays thereafter.

 

It's going to be a cluster...er...mess on January 9th!

 

ETA: Here's an interesting article on this subject.

 

http://www.porteverglades.net/articles/index.cfm?action=view&articleID=656&menuID=998

 

Edited again TA: This the the day we were there in 2003, and I really can't imagine how it can get a whole lot worse:

 

http://www.porteverglades.net/articles/index.cfm?action=view&articleID=726&menuID=998

 

And it's not just the port...it's the airport. Wild times!

[PescadoAmarillo]

I just did some quick math. Based on the Port Everglades 2010 Port Guide, and using their ship facts for passenger numbers, January 9th will have 46,276 passenger arrivals and departures, assuming 2 passengers per cabin. Since reality is always a bit higher, it's easy to see that January 9th will be in the 50,000 passenger range. March 20th is even worse: add the Carnival Miracle to the above ships, with 2124 passengers, couple it with Spring Break passenger loads, and it should set another record for arrivals/departures at Port Everglades.

 

The port guide goes to great length explaining road widening and increased customs/immigration presence with the port area, but I do wonder what the airport has done to gear up.

[travelinggrammy]

Wow. We will be coming in on Jan 9th as well. What does everyone recommend? Or should we wait for comments after the Oasis is on a regular schedule?

 

When we sail out of Port Everglades we arrive the night before stay at the Ramada Inn cruiseport, its on CR 84( I believe) they shuttle you to the cruiseport, pick you up after the cruise, either drop you off back at the hotel to get your car, or they will take you to the airport. We/ve been staying there for the last 6 years and never had a problem... we drive down from central florida also they provide you with a full cooked breakfest in the morning.... hope this help a bit..... Judy

[DiRon]

I must agree with Pam in CA - we arrived in Port Everglades on Fri., Oct. 9th. We didn't do Princess Transfers because we were going to the Hyatt to spend the day prior to our late flight out. Taxis were hard to come by. We had a great porter that finally just about commandeered a cab driver for us otherwise, we might have been walking to the Hyatt will all of our luggage.