Dropping off Luggage @ Port Early

[Cookie2boys]

I will be cruising from Ft Lauderdale and wondering what's the earliest I can drop off my luggage. We are a party of 4 and will have a rental car from Budget and I know they will take us to port after dropping off car. I was wanting to drop luggage off first at port, then drop off rental car. We did this in Long Beach and I wondered if it could be done in FT Lauderdale.

[DanJ]

No problem doing that. Just have your cruise documents handy as you have to clear security to enter the port. But lots of people drop luggage off before returning rental cars. As for how early, I don't want to say this is true for all the terminals there on any given day, but as we departed the Navigator at terminal 25 a couple weeks ago just after 9am, people had already dropped luggage off for the cruise boarding that afternoon.

[RaiderFaninNM]

No problem doing that. Just have your cruise documents handy as you have to clear security to enter the port. But lots of people drop luggage off before returning rental cars. As for how early, I don't want to say this is true for all the terminals there on any given day, but as we departed the Navigator at terminal 25 a couple weeks ago just after 9am, people had already dropped luggage off for the cruise boarding that afternoon.

Good to know as this is our plan!

 

How far is it from the car return to the port, my wife and son will be waiting for my return, just curious....

[DanJ]

Depends on who you are renting from, and where you plan to return the car. We've always rented at the airport location from Alamo. Them, and National, have a shuttle bus from there. I've been told that the other airport rental companies don't participate in this shared bus anymore, so I don't know what (if any) arrangements they have to get people to the port. Other companies have city locations near the port. The airport is only a couple miles to the port and the city locations are within several blocks. I wouldn't bother leaving the family behind at the port. I haven't seen very many good spots for them to sit down and wait, and depending in shuttle schedules, you could be a while.

[Nasmas]

We used Budget last year after our cruise and they have a lot not far from the port. The shuttle bus picked us up after the cruise and took us to the rental lot and you can drop it off at the airport for no extra charge. There are several companies that operate from that location but not sure which ones except budget. We decided that night that we really didnt' want to have to worry about oversleeping and having to rush around to the airport, so we dropped the car off that night and they took us to the Embassy suites. There was quite a line when we picked up the car but when we went back later, there was no one there.

[protocrone]

This is really good info for me also. We have people flying in from Calif and others spending the night in FLL from earlier flight. We just live across the state so it's less than two hour drive for us. Our car only holds four comfortably so we'll be picking up a couple of batches of passengers from airport and hotel. A Ford Focus will NOT hold enough luggage for four ppl anyway you pack it! This is going to be very interesting logistically.