West Palm Beach airport to Port Everglades

[cruisin' 4 fun]

We are flying into West Palm Beach to save us $600 so now we need a shuttle for 2 adults and 2 kids. We are thinking of taking the tri-rail (we have something similiar in MPLS and have used it without problems) when we arrive because we are flying in a day early and aren't in any hurry unless we can find a cheap round trip shuttle. But don't want to risk the tri-rail on a weekend w/ limited runs after our cruise. We do not want to rent a car. Does anyone have any suggestions of shuttle that would pick us up from Port Everglades?

 

Thanks in advance!!!

[DanJ]

There are several shuttle options. To take us back to PBI after our cruise, we used http://www.southfloridatransportation.com They suggested a limo instead of a town car, as we also had 2 adults, 2 kids and luggage, so we went for it. They sent us their 22 passenger Escalade, which turned lots of heads outside the port terminal (not so much at PBI as they are more used to limos there LOL). That was $150 including tip, but the town car option is about $100. I called them as we cleared customs after getting off the ship, and the driver came into the port and picked us up. http://www.floridalimo.com is another company I talked to and they were basically the same deal. A town car would have sufficed for us, but I couldn't resist taking the big limo and the kids got a real kick out of it. we were out of customs shortly after 9, in the limo by about 920am and through security and sitting at our gate at PBI by 1015am. Unfortunately, our flight was at 140pm and no opportunity to go earlier.

 

For getting to your hotel from PBI, you can use one of those shuttle companies, or the others also suggested on these boards, or take the train as you suggest. For what it's worth, we did rent a mini-van from Alamo at PBI, and it was $38 (the price really dropped 2 days prior to the trip so I canceled the existing reservation and rebooked). It's a really simple drive straight down I-95, and took us barely 40 minutes to the FLL area. On the morning of the cruise, we just went to Ft Lauderdale airport, dropped the van off at Alamo and took their free shuttle to the port.

 

The tri-rail might be cheap in and of itself, but you also need to get to it in West Palm and to your hotel in Ft Laud from the tri-rail. By that point, a $100-120 town car service isn't out of line. And it's door to door.

[cruisin' 4 fun]

We took your advice and are booking with South Florida Transportation, they seem to be the cheapest and this will be less of a hassle with the kids. So we are going to book roundtrip and save us all a headache with door-to-door service. They quoted $110 on the way down and $115 on the way back and that includes tip. I am happy. We are still saving almost $400 flying into WPB.

 

Thank You for the advice!!!

[Gathina]

Did you look into a car rental even though that's not what you want? Sometmies a weekend one day only car rental deal can be a steal.

[cruisin' 4 fun]

We did look but it seems like more trouble that it's worth. We would have to take a shuttle to the rental place then return the car in FLL and take a taxi back to the hotel after a full day of traveling. We just decided to be picked up right at the airport and dropped off at the hotel. Really we weren't saving much. The rental costs $30 then a taxi back with tip is another $20-30. And the price of the toll roads. And on the way home, shuttle to car rental to drop off rental and shuttle back to airport. But thanks for the input. I made the reservation for South Florida Trans. this morning.

[DanJ]

You are fine with the shuttle you booked, but I just need to clarify the rental thing for others who might read this. You take the free shuttle from baggage claim to the rental lot at PBI. The driver asked me what I had reserved and what colour I wanted, I pointed at the white Town and Country, and he dropped us at that van. Load up and go, with a quick stop at the gate to swipe credit card. We were on our way within half hour of landing. No tolls down to FLL unless you choose to go over to the turnpike. 95 is right at the airport and free. Then you can keep the car at the hotel and return it to the morning of the cruise and have use of the car to go shopping or out for dinner which can be very handy depending on the hotel you are at. If Alamo or National is the company rented from, their shuttle is free from the airport to the pier. Other companies have return lots near the port with free or cheap shuttles.

 

Going back to PBI is just as easy to take a shuttle unless you have all day and want to do something in the mean time. We would have had time to deal with a rental and it would have been less than half the cost of the limo, but it was just as easy and certainly more fun in the limo LOL.

[cruisin' 4 fun]

Thank you for clearing that up. You make it sound like not a problem at all but I think I'll stick with the shuttle.