Warning! Make sure your taxi can enter the ports.

[Amlee]

Now this is something that has never crossed my mind before. Until this past Nov.

 

I get off the plane in Fort Lauderdale, fight my way down to the luggage area. Wait in the masses for my luggage. Elbow my way to be able to get my luggage when I see it. Roll it out to get in yet another line for a taxi. It's finally my turn. I tell the guy where I want to go and he says sure no problem. He calls up the next cab and loads my luggage. I tell the driver where I want to go and he repeats it and says ok. I get in and off we go. WRONG! He looks back at me and says where do you want to go? I tell him again the cruise terminal that is right there and points to the ship. He says something that I can't understand and then pulls over to talk to another guy. We then exit the airport. Only for him to turn around and tell me he can't enter the port as he isn't legal. :eek: WTH??

 

So instead of letting me off at the first taxi stand and letting me get another taxi. This guy circles the airport and takes me back to the stand I started out with. He unloads me and leaves. :mad: I strap my luggage back together and walk back to the line. But this time I go to the front of the line. The guy that put me into the taxi to begin with looks at me funny, like didn't I just see you. I told him what happened and you could tell he was mad. He called someone and reported it. I was put in another taxi and was taken to my ship.

 

 

But the thought of checking to see if my taxi driver was able to enter the port, never crossed my mind until that moment. It would have saved me about 20 minutes and a good bit of a hassle.

[JLC@SD]

....another potential problem is to make sure the fare will be what is on the meter.

 

In Jacksonville we had a cab driver tell us, after we got to the cruise terminal, that it would be more than the meter because their company had a flat fare (more than the meter of course). After she (yes it was a she) pulled that.......she left with the meter amount.......and no more......;)

[TravlGrl]

To the OP -- Did you ever find out why your original taxi driver could not legally take you to the port? That seems so strange. Curious why...

[Amlee]

Yes, He wasn't legal to be in the US and didn't have a drivers lic or proper ID to enter the port. He showed me where his lic should have been and said they had expired and he hadn't gone and got new ones.

[KreinKrunker]

We sort of have the same problem in Detroit. If you want to take a taxi to Windsor, Canada, you have to make sure that the driver can get back. In this case it is usually that he may be a felon, and felons can't cross the border.

[blindrid]

The primary reason would be probably an unlicensed driver &/or cab themselves. Whether expired or maybe a improper driver taking a shift from a legal cabbie.