Port of Everglades - take a cab

[Schluetz]

In brief, I suggest taking a cab when staying at a hotel near the cruise port in Fort Lauderdale.

 

Shuttles can be very convenient and affordable. Hotels gladly set you up with them at their front door. Fares seem to run between $6-$8 pperson. Here is my story and personal preference.

 

On Sunday 1/19/2014 my wife and I stayed at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina. This is on 17th St near the bridge. They provide a shuttle to the Cruise Port, whichever ship you are sailing on, for $6 pperson.

 

I dislike shuttles. It's not so much the shuttle itself as the cattle drive we have to go through sometimes. I avoid them when I can, along with cruise transfers. Load the luggage, get in, wait for others, pack the van/bus full cause you wouldn't want to waste a drop of fuel, drive, arrive, unload, unload the luggage and tip the driver. All of this is not for me so I am willing to pay a bit more for a taxi or private car, though I'm usually quite cheap. And that's where this is worth a post.

 

Asked the valet what the cab fare was for a ride to the terminal. "About $12 on the meter. The shuttle is only $6" I'm no genius, I'm thinking 2x6=12 so get me a cab. The valet tried to talk me out of it by saying they would go with just two people if that's what I wanted. Mmmmmm.... I doubt it. Get me a cab.

 

A cab pulls up, we toss our bags in and drive away past a line of four shuttles. We were at the pier, on the curb, bags in hand in 9 minutes and it was $7.80 on the meter and I gave the guy $10.

 

The cabbie told me he would gladly haul 4 people and their luggage and this would be an even bigger savings. If you are traveling alone or with just two people you could even ask someone in the lobby to join you on the way to the terminal and split the fare!

 

I'm going to guess this story could be told from a number of hotels that offer a shuttle to the terminal. The hotel is making a killing on the shuttles. And they were not exactly accurate on the cost of the cab.

 

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

I was happy to avoid a shuttle experience. Now, my preference is and always will be "take a cab".

[eandj]

We prefer a cab because we get to OUR ship with loading/unloading of only OUR bags when WE want to go. With two people, IF the cab runs into a long line at the gate or a backup at the bridge, the rate can come closer to the van's rate. That doesn't matter to us.

 

Three weeks ago we were at Bahia Mar and there was a group of 6 people standing outside waiting VERY impatiently for the van to take them to their ship. One was complaining that they had been "waiting over 20 min. already" to the door man. We stepped into our cab and were at our ship within 10 minutes. No hassle. No waits. No stress.

Edited February 20, 2014 by eandj

[nottooshabby]

Which cab did you call? I looked on yelp and they all have horrible reviews and are 1 star.

Edited March 23, 2014 by nottooshabby

[Schluetz]

We took the cab in front of the hotel. You're going 2 miles. Not much can go wrong.

[eandj]

You do not need to CALL a cab. They are lined up outside the hotels on cruise days.

[nottooshabby]

We are down in Dania at the Hilton Garden Inn. Looks like it is about 6 miles. The guy at the front desk acted like we needed to call.

Edited March 23, 2014 by nottooshabby

[kdawg954]

If you are on 17th Street Causeway, you'd be crazy not to call a cab (unless the shuttle is free or included with your rate). The Port is literally right there with curbside drop off and no waiting for anybody else.

 

Cab drivers are not going to take you on some joy ride, they are going to pick you up and drop you off as soon as possible so they can get another fare. They realize its a $10 ride, maybe get $15 from a generous tourist/tipper. It's less than a 10 minute process and if they can get 2 of those an hour they've done well, 3 even better.

[nottooshabby]

We took a cab and it was $18. No issues at all. They did all 4 of us and 6 bags in a crown Vic no problem. I called yellow cab 777-7777. They were at our hotel in less than 5 minutes so make sure you are ready to go.

 

 

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[Putterdude]

We always try to take a cab if in the 17th St. area, it is more convenient and generally is less expensive than a shuttle. The only time we haven't was last year when we were at the Hyatt Place and they had trouble (or say they said) getting a cab for us.

[1gr8cruise]

To the Orig. poster.....you are 100% correct......TAKE THE CAB......

 

We stayed at the Laquinta hotel, got on the shuttle.......4-5 mile run.....$10pp....packed on the shuttle......they didn't explain how many stops they would be making at the port.....we stopped at 3 ships before ours.....then the driver stopped at the wrong ship for us, we weren't paying attention and started unloading luggage from the trailer.......I looked around and said this wasn't our terminal....so put the luggage back on, drive around a bit.....we finally made it.........1 hour 15 min. after we got on the shuttle to go 4-5 miles.......NEVER AGAIN!!!

I hope others read this......valuable lesson learned by me......