Princess Virgin

[omah1975]

I've never cruised with Princess before and am booked on the October 25th cruise from Southampton to Houston. The only excursion I have planned is to the Johnson Space Center before going to the airport to come home. My question (which might sound obvious but as I've never cruised with Princess before thought I'd ask anyway) is when the ship docks in Fort Lauderdale, do Princess provide some sort of shuttle bus to take passengers from the port to somewhere in the city and if so does anyone know where this is so I can look it up and see what there is to see nearby as I don't really want to spend all day on the ship.

 

Thanks.

[-Lew-]

We disembarked the Emerald on Monday after a 20 day B2B. On turn around day, a few excursions were offered to the Everglades. There may have been others, but I can't recall what they were.

 

Excursions, when available for booking, will appear in you Princess Cruise Personalizer. Also, I suggest you join the Roll Call for your cruise. To find the Roll Call for your cruise: click here, then click on the [name of your ship] Roll Calls, then search the list for the embarkation date of your cruise. Click on it for your Roll Call.

 

Enjoy your cruise...

 

Lew

[omah1975]

Thanks, I have joined the roll call already, as I said in my post, the only excursion we are doing is to Johnson Space Center in Houston as that is really the only one we are interesting in doing and also to reduce costs as much as possible.

[Pia1913]

Thanks, I have joined the roll call already, as I said in my post, the only excursion we are doing is to Johnson Space Center in Houston as that is really the only one we are interesting in doing and also to reduce costs as much as possible.

 

Princess will not shuttle you anywhere in FLL, so if you don't want to pay for any offered excursion, you can clear immigration and just get off the ship. If you are docked at pier #2, it's a short walk over to 17th St. where you can walk around, have lunch and just spend some time enjoying our Florida weather.

[skynight]

My question (which might sound obvious but as I've never cruised with Princess before thought I'd ask anyway) is when the ship docks in Fort Lauderdale, do Princess provide some sort of shuttle bus to take passengers from the port to somewhere in the city and if so does anyone know where this is so I can look it up and see what there is to see nearby as I don't really want to spend all day on the ship.

Thanks.

 

A little background. If I understand the itinerary you will arrive Ft. Lauderdale on a Saturday at 7am and sail at 4pm, so you will have to target to be back to the ship by 3pm, 3:30 the latest. Some passengers will disembark. Princess will most likely run some tours in Ft. Lauderdale, but I doubt they will run a shuttle to the tourist areas. There are three popular tourist areas in Ft. Lauderdale, the beach, downtown Las Olas Blvd, and the Inland Waterway. Other tourist attractions such as the Everglades will require that you take a tour either with the ship or a private tour arranged in advance. There are no tour operators hanging around at the port like there are in other cruise ports. The port on Saturday will be very busy with people disembarking and embarking from/for their vacations. Ft. Lauderdale is not a normal cruise port stop. It is the starting and ending point for most ships.

 

The beach is about a 15 min taxi ride. You can go to the beach, or just stroll up and down the beachwalk. It's very nice. It's miles long, and there are lots of beach shops and places to eat. There will be some activity there early, people out running, walking having breakfast, etc. A taxi ride will be about $20 plus tip.

 

Downtown Las Olas Blvd and the River Walk is a little further. This area is lined with shops, restaurants, art galleries, stores like that. Shops probably open around 10AM. It is about a mile in length. At the west end is a park and access to the River Walk which runs along the New River. It's a nice stroll and there is a nice Irish Pub there with outside dining.

 

While I have seen lots of taxis around the beach area, I have not seen too many in the downtown area. So be aware of that. There is a hotel there so I guess they could call for a taxi to return to the ship.

 

Then there is the water taxi. This is a narrated tour of the Inland waterway, with hop on hop off stops. The entire loop takes about 2 hours without getting off. So you will have to watch the times closely if you want to get off. The closest stop to the pier is at the Hilton Marina which is right outside the pier. If you dock at pier 2 you can walk there, if you dock at any other pier you can not walk as there are no walkways to the mid port area. You can Google for it at Ft. Lauderdale water taxi.

 

Hope this information is helpful.

[OCruisers]

Hi omah1975! Welcome to cruising on Princess!

 

We always meet lots of folks from the UK on Princess cruises. You'll feel right at home. Look forward to having a great cruise. :)

 

LuLu

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[Bimmer09]

I've never cruised with Princess before and am booked on the October 25th cruise from Southampton to Houston. The only excursion I have planned is to the Johnson Space Center before going to the airport to come home. My question (which might sound obvious but as I've never cruised with Princess before thought I'd ask anyway) is when the ship docks in Fort Lauderdale, do Princess provide some sort of shuttle bus to take passengers from the port to somewhere in the city and if so does anyone know where this is so I can look it up and see what there is to see nearby as I don't really want to spend all day on the ship.

 

Thanks.

 

You say you are sailing from Southampton to Houston....hence the Space Center reference. I am confused by you asking about the ship docking in Port Everglades in Florida?

 

Norris the puzzled.

[Colo Cruiser]

You say you are sailing from Southampton to Houston....hence the Space Center reference. I am confused by you asking about the ship docking in Port Everglades in Florida?

 

Norris the puzzled.

 

It may be a port stop on the way.

[OCruisers]

Exactly, it's a port stop along the way.

 

Someone was doing a LIVE last year on a similar and it was a port stop for them.

 

LuLu

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Edited February 19, 2014 by OCruisers

[OCruisers]

omah 1975 .... Do you have any port stops between Ft. Lauderdale and Houston?

 

LuLu

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[ggprincess2004]

You will see excursions listed for people who are disembarking in FLL. Look for the ones that take passengers to the FLL airport, not the Miami airport. There is one that takes you to Las Olas Blvd for a little while and then tours the waterways, then takes people to the FLL airport. The trick is after they drop off those people actually disembarking and flying home from FLL, they will take the rest of you back to the ship.

[riclop]

I've never cruised with Princess before and am booked on the October 25th cruise from Southampton to Houston. The only excursion I have planned is to the Johnson Space Center before going to the airport to come home. My question (which might sound obvious but as I've never cruised with Princess before thought I'd ask anyway) is when the ship docks in Fort Lauderdale, do Princess provide some sort of shuttle bus to take passengers from the port to somewhere in the city and if so does anyone know where this is so I can look it up and see what there is to see nearby as I don't really want to spend all day on the ship.

 

Thanks.

If you purchase an excursion.

[Pia1913]

We are booked on this cruise which had several ways of booking it.

 

1. 25 days Southampton to FLL

 

2. 28 days Southampton to Houston

 

3. 11 days RT Southampton and then 14 days SOU to FLL

 

4. 11 days RT SOU and then 17 days SOU to Houston

 

5. 14 days as above to FLL

 

6. 17 days as above to Houston

 

We are doing it as B2B; 11 and 14 to FLL

 

And no, there is no stop between FLL and Houston.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Pia1913

[bhopal21]

You will see excursions listed for people who are disembarking in FLL. Look for the ones that take passengers to the FLL airport, not the Miami airport. There is one that takes you to Las Olas Blvd for a little while and then tours the waterways, then takes people to the FLL airport. The trick is after they drop off those people actually disembarking and flying home from FLL, they will take the rest of you back to the ship.

 

We took that excursion on the 6th and it turned out to be the highlight of our cruise.:D

 

Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Grand Turk were old to us and we really enjoyed our day in Fort Lauderdale.

 

Mike:)