Advice for departure day

[fchoppa]

I am not sure what to do. My family myself, DH, 3 kids and 1 grandma have a flight home from Fort Lauderdale leaving at 3:30. We are arriving at the port of Miami at 8am. Should we have a car service pick us up at the port and go straight to the FLL airport, or should we rent a car and drive there so we could stop and do something little on the way. I am so confused. On one hand I feel waiting at the airport till 3:30 will be to long especially with the kids. Then on the other hand I feel the time will be to short to rent a car. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Thanks

[jillyfish]

Rent a car!!!

Let the kids run around on the beach, have a nice lunch, then head to the airport.

By then, maybe the kids will be ready for a snooze on the plane, rather than being sick of sitting around already!!! :)

 

Good luck with which ever way you decide!!

[megr1125]

you can't check your luggage at the airport until around 4 hours before the flight...(you could see if your cruise line/airline offers any sort of baggage check in...)

 

i would rent the car and have a little fun....at least you will have a place for your stuff....

[Langley Cruisers]

Be sure to check into any potential drop charges for returning a car to a different city.

[JohninDC]

Avis, Hertz and Enterprise have downtown Miami locations close to POM. Good luck!:)

[sunandsnow]

We reserved a van thru Hertz (downtown Miami location). The van was $73. Cheaper than hiring a car. They will pick you up at the port and take you to their rental location. There was not an extra fee for Fort Lauderdale drop off. I would rent - you can stop and sightsee and your luggage is taken care of.

[trolltoes]

Often the cruise lines offer an excursion that combines the transfer to the airport with some sort of sightseeing activity. I have done these before and they're a great way to kill time, have a secure place to put your things, and eek a bit more out of that last vacation day!

[Ontariotrekker]

We took an Everglades excursion from the ship.. it was great, got us off the ship ahead of most of the rush and they dropped us off at the airport.

[fchoppa]

Thanks everyone for the advice. We ended up renting a van from Hertz