What to do In Ft Lauderdale for a morning.

[Fleetdykewanderers]

Our cruise ship arrives at 0700 and we leave the ship soon after. Our flight home departs 1600 from Ft Lauderdale. Does anyone have a suggestion for how we can fill the  time until we must be at the airport for 1300. Remember we have suitcases in tow!

[tallnthensome]

Try asking in the Florida departures forum. 

[JohninDC]

Depending upon airline and ship you might be able to have the cruise line deliver your checked bags to FLL and check them in -luggage valet or something like that.

 

You could also taxi or Uber to FLL and pay to store your bags there, leaving you free to explore.  Water taxi, boozy brunch on Las Olas, beach, etc.  www.sunny.org has lots of FLL area tourist info.

 

Not sure you have enough time to make it worth the fee, but some large hotels and resorts offer day passes to their pool, spa and other facilities.  Tip them to store your bags while you relax.  www.resortpass.com is one source to check.

 

Have a great cruise! 

[gold1953]

rent a car and you will be able to go where you want while keeping luggage in trunk

[Dukey1]

I live in Fort Lauderdale and what I would NOT do is show up at the airport with that luggage hours ahead and expect the airline to check it in for you.  It USED to be that on cruise ship days, i.e., weekends, the airlines would only check luggage in within a few hours of departure; if you can get the ship to transport your checked luggage to the airport AND check it in I would definitely do that.

 

I'm also not convinced that you actually need to be at the airport a full three hours ahead of time but that's a decision only you can make.

 

The question of where to go and what to do: you could take a cab to somewhere at the beach and hang out but with luggage that is an issue. Renting a car?  Where will you rent it? The airport?  I wish I could be more helpful.

[PelicanLvr]

Quite a few years ago we did the X airboat Everglades Tour.  Quite enjoyable.

 

They drop you at the airport after the tour and your luggage is with you under the bus.  

[gerelmx]

Use the service Luggage Valet provide by Celebrity, you can do the check in and drop your bags on board, you will not see your bags until you arrive to your destination airport. You can book a shore excursion from the ship or do a tour by yourself, rent a car, etc.

Bon Voyage

[pzerba]

Just last month in Fort Lauderdale, we took an uber to a laundromat, and did all of our laundry before our later departing flight...

 

Fun? No. Efficient? Perhaps... There is a small pleasure in coming home from vacation with all clean clothes. YMMV.

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, Fleetdykewanderers said:

Our cruise ship arrives at 0700 and we leave the ship soon after. Our flight home departs 1600 from Ft Lauderdale. Does anyone have a suggestion for how we can fill the  time until we must be at the airport for 1300. Remember we have suitcases in tow!

 

You really are flying at that odd time!  Leaving before 1pm you just take your time getting to the airport, leaving after 5pm it is worth the effort of hiring a car or getting an excursion....

 

If you are staying at a hotel pre cruise why not ask them if on return you can leave your luggage with them and just use their pool for an hour or two? They may insist you book a day room at full rate but for the couple of hours you would be there they may give you a deal as a ‘valued guest’ especially if you don’t need a room and are happy to change in rest room facilities. 

 

Alternatively, if you are just in for a long wait at the airport look at the pay into lounges on offer.

Edited October 27, 2018 by chemmo

[bebe08]

We typically have late flights out of FLL as well, although usually around 8 pm so a fair bit later.  Here are some of the things we have done:

 

- take a ship excursion - they will look after your luggage and drop you off at airport after excursion

- book a resort for a day

- go to Sawgrass Mills  and do some shopping - we have done this twice and they have a luggage storage facility at the mall so you can easily store your luggage while you shop.  Just make sure you research where the luggage storage is and have taxi drop you off at the appropriate entrance to the mall. The mall is huge, and you don't want to be dragging your suitcases any longer than necessary.

 

Luggage direct doesn't work for us as we are flying to Canada.  Not sure if it will work going to UK.  However there are other companies that will take your luggage to the airport for you.  I believe bags to go offers this service.    You could also go to airport and store your luggage there, and go off and explore http://www.broward.org/Airport/FAQs/Pages/BaggageServicesStorage.aspx  These are options we haven't tried yet but have researched as we are going to be cruising out of FLL in Feb.

 

 

 

[dkjretired]

52 minutes ago, pzerba said:

Just last month in Fort Lauderdale, we took an uber to a laundromat, and did all of our laundry before our later departing flight...

 

Fun? No. Efficient? Perhaps... There is a small pleasure in coming home from vacation with all clean clothes. YMMV.

We somewhat did the same thing except that we did a day room in the hotel we had stayed in for a few days before the cruise.   We noticed their laundry room was by the pool, so we hung at the pool all  day and did our laundry.  Worked out quite well.   This was for four people, kids were young then. 

Edited October 27, 2018 by dkjretired

[2theship]

Thrifty car rental has a location at Port Everglades, along with a shuttle bus. You can pick up a rental car there, wander for a few hours and return the car to the airport.

 

I think that there are other car rental companies near Port Everglades as well but we've successfully used Thrifty several times.

[richsea]

Don’t know if Celebrity offers it, but on Princess, they offer some excursions with luggage drop off at FLL. We took a Everglades Airboat ride followed by a visit to an alligator farm, then were dropped off at the airport. Our luggage was stored on the tour bus. It was a pleasant way to spend the day. You should be able to go on you cruise planner and check for available excursions for your disembarkation day. 

Enjoy your cruise!

[wwcruisers]

4 minutes ago, richsea said:

Don’t know if Celebrity offers it, but on Princess, they offer some excursions with luggage drop off at FLL. We took a Everglades Airboat ride followed by a visit to an alligator farm, then were dropped off at the airport. Our luggage was stored on the tour bus. It was a pleasant way to spend the day. You should be able to go on you cruise planner and check for available excursions for your disembarkation day. 

Enjoy your cruise!

Rich -- we tried a Celebrity post-cruise excursion in Ft. L, last February -- BIG mistake! It should have been called the 'Worst of Miami', instead of the "Best". it was one of those old double-decker buses. You had a choice of being broiled in the sun, on the top deck, or suffocating in the un-air-conditioned lower seating area. No water, unless you brought it yourself, and the two scheduled stops were jokes! To make things worse, the PA system broke down, early in the tour -- so, we couldn't even hear that guide. They dumped us out in a narrow, dirty alley in Miami, and made us stand in a LONG line, to retrieve our luggage (which was on a truck). Then, we had to schlep back down the alley (no help with our luggage) to find our transfer bus, back to the Ft.L airport! One of the few excursions that we've ever taken, that prompted us to write Corporate and demand a refund!

[39august]

OP is from the UK so luggage valet is not available. We are thinking of doing the airboat Everglades tour when we have to take a 2:55 PM flight. 

[Jim_Iain]

Another option might be to drop your luggage at FLL.   While you may not be able to check in that early they have a luggage storage area (for a fee) at each of the terminals.  Many airlines will not let you check in until 2-3 hours before flight time.

 

The only problem may be that they are only open for luggage storage between 9:00 and 5:30.  

 

 

[dateacher]

We have rented at car at the port and went to the flea market for the day.  The other suggestion of Sawgrass is good too.

[jonsmom]

10 hours ago, wwcruisers said:

Rich -- we tried a Celebrity post-cruise excursion in Ft. L, last February -- BIG mistake! It should have been called the 'Worst of Miami', instead of the "Best". it was one of those old double-decker buses. You had a choice of being broiled in the sun, on the top deck, or suffocating in the un-air-conditioned lower seating area. No water, unless you brought it yourself, and the two scheduled stops were jokes! To make things worse, the PA system broke down, early in the tour -- so, we couldn't even hear that guide. They dumped us out in a narrow, dirty alley in Miami, and made us stand in a LONG line, to retrieve our luggage (which was on a truck). Then, we had to schlep back down the alley (no help with our luggage) to find our transfer bus, back to the Ft.L airport! One of the few excursions that we've ever taken, that prompted us to write Corporate and demand a refund!

I am so glad you posted this - as this was what I was planning to do after our cruise.  Our flight is at 8:00.  Think I will go to Hampton Inn for a day room and do laundry.  Much more productive.   Thanks for your honesty.  Did you get the refund?

[Fleetdykewanderers]

Many thanks for this info. We certainly will not be taking this option.

[ladocevita]

If you take a ships tour they will take care of your luggage till you get to the airport. Time permitting of course. 

[wwcruisers]

After a letter and a phone call to RCCL Corporate, we got a partial refund -- sort of. Since they actually DID manage to finally deliver us and our luggage to Hollywood Int'l Airport, they deducted the cost of a basic 'transfer'. Talk about nickel-and-diming! We are supposed to have the rest applied to our upcoming cruise on Infinity, next year. We'll have to wait and see if they even deliver on THAT! But, the last time I checked, that horrible excuse for a SHOREX was still available. Just trying to get the word out: Don't book it!😱

[bebe08]

That's too bad you had such a bad experience on the Celebrity excursion at the end of the cruise.

I checked back to see which excursion we took - it was the Celebrity City sightseeing greater Miami from Port Everglades with airport drop-off in FLL.  We did this in Feb 2014 and we enjoyed it.  It was a double decker bus and we chose to sit up top to get one last bit of sun before heading home to snow.  Our guide was good, and transfer to airport was seamless - basically got off the tour bus and straight onto a van for those going to FLL.  I wonder if yours was a one-off bad experience or if the excursion has gone downhill since we took it.  

[MF40]

I'm with wwcruisers on this one. We got off the Reflection in April last year and did the Miami bus tour with drop off at Miami airport. The tour itself we found pretty ok (its a double decker tour with a couple of stops) but the end of tour was beyond a shambles, would go so far as saying stressful. Our flight was at 4.30pm (or a little after), the Shorex brochure said not to book the tour if your flight left earlier (I recall 3pm?). The pick up of luggage was as ww said, we had to line up like sheep and let the guys find our bags out of a truck. It was a scrum at the end and chaotic. It was 2.30 by the time they retrieved our bags and considering our flight time (and still 50 people behind us trying to locate their luggage) we decided to hail a cab (we were lucky). We never contacted X about it, really should have.

 

OP, you probably need to be at the airport by 2.30 or so, my recommendation is don't do shorex unless you've used the luggage valet