Ft. Lauderdale transportation

Thanks to those of you who put my mind at ease in my ID question earlier
this week.


Now a couple of quick questions for you experienced travelers and I may
be ready to go.
Sailing Carnival Freedom on May 23rd. Flying in the morning of the
cruise on a nonstop flight with Southwest (Wanted to fly in the day
before but it didn't work out. Wish us luck.)

1. I didn't pre-plan transportation between the Ft. Lauderdale Airport
and the cruise terminal. I know it is only a few miles away. (Our only
other cruise, we let Carnival provide the shuttle.)
What are our options? I kind of picture just taking a taxi BUT we are a
family of four adults and will have 4 suitcases and carry on luggage
too. I have almost no experience with taxis. Can a single taxi handle
all of that? Is there another option at that airport that would be
cheaper or easier for a group of four?

2. Our plane should land at 11:00 AM. Boarding at the ship begins at
12:30 PM. If we grab our luggage and arrive at the ship by, say, noon,
will we be standing out in the sun waiting or will the porters be there
early to collect our bags and can we enter the building and wait (if
necessary) there? Obviously, we can hang out at the airport for a little
while if that would be better.

I'll take any other hints, tips, words of wisdom from people who have
used this port in the past. Thanks!

Steve

Steve wrote:

Thanks to those of you who put my mind at ease in my ID question earlier
this week.


Now a couple of quick questions for you experienced travelers and I may
be ready to go.
Sailing Carnival Freedom on May 23rd. Flying in the morning of the
cruise on a nonstop flight with Southwest (Wanted to fly in the day
before but it didn't work out. Wish us luck.)

1. I didn't pre-plan transportation between the Ft. Lauderdale Airport
and the cruise terminal. I know it is only a few miles away. (Our only
other cruise, we let Carnival provide the shuttle.)
What are our options? I kind of picture just taking a taxi BUT we are a
family of four adults and will have 4 suitcases and carry on luggage
too. I have almost no experience with taxis. Can a single taxi handle
all of that? Is there another option at that airport that would be
cheaper or easier for a group of four?

They have van taxis that are big, no problemo!


2. Our plane should land at 11:00 AM. Boarding at the ship begins at
12:30 PM. If we grab our luggage and arrive at the ship by, say, noon,
will we be standing out in the sun waiting or will the porters be there
early to collect our bags and can we enter the building and wait (if
necessary) there? Obviously, we can hang out at the airport for a little
while if that would be better.

Yep, by noon they'll be ready to go, unless there is some problem in the
morning clearing the ship, but that's very rare!


I'll take any other hints, tips, words of wisdom from people who have
used this port in the past. Thanks!

Steve

Jeff wrote:
Steve wrote:

Thanks to those of you who put my mind at ease in my ID question
earlier this week.


Now a couple of quick questions for you experienced travelers and I
may be ready to go.
Sailing Carnival Freedom on May 23rd. Flying in the morning of the
cruise on a nonstop flight with Southwest (Wanted to fly in the day
before but it didn't work out. Wish us luck.)

1. I didn't pre-plan transportation between the Ft. Lauderdale Airport
and the cruise terminal. I know it is only a few miles away. (Our only
other cruise, we let Carnival provide the shuttle.)
What are our options? I kind of picture just taking a taxi BUT we are
a family of four adults and will have 4 suitcases and carry on luggage
too. I have almost no experience with taxis. Can a single taxi handle
all of that? Is there another option at that airport that would be
cheaper or easier for a group of four?

They have van taxis that are big, no problemo!


2. Our plane should land at 11:00 AM. Boarding at the ship begins at
12:30 PM. If we grab our luggage and arrive at the ship by, say, noon,
will we be standing out in the sun waiting or will the porters be
there early to collect our bags and can we enter the building and wait
(if necessary) there? Obviously, we can hang out at the airport for a
little while if that would be better.

Yep, by noon they'll be ready to go, unless there is some problem in the
morning clearing the ship, but that's very rare!


I'll take any other hints, tips, words of wisdom from people who have
used this port in the past. Thanks!

Steve


Thanks Jeff, that helps. I think we will get on over to the docks as
soon as possible and get on the ship as soon as they will let us on.

Steve

Steve wrote:


Jeff wrote:
Steve wrote:

Thanks to those of you who put my mind at ease in my ID question
earlier this week.


Now a couple of quick questions for you experienced travelers and I
may be ready to go.
Sailing Carnival Freedom on May 23rd. Flying in the morning of the
cruise on a nonstop flight with Southwest (Wanted to fly in the day
before but it didn't work out. Wish us luck.)

1. I didn't pre-plan transportation between the Ft. Lauderdale
Airport and the cruise terminal. I know it is only a few miles away.
(Our only other cruise, we let Carnival provide the shuttle.)
What are our options? I kind of picture just taking a taxi BUT we are
a family of four adults and will have 4 suitcases and carry on
luggage too. I have almost no experience with taxis. Can a single
taxi handle all of that? Is there another option at that airport
that would be cheaper or easier for a group of four?

They have van taxis that are big, no problemo!


2. Our plane should land at 11:00 AM. Boarding at the ship begins at
12:30 PM. If we grab our luggage and arrive at the ship by, say,
noon, will we be standing out in the sun waiting or will the porters
be there early to collect our bags and can we enter the building and
wait (if necessary) there? Obviously, we can hang out at the airport
for a little while if that would be better.

Yep, by noon they'll be ready to go, unless there is some problem in
the morning clearing the ship, but that's very rare!


I'll take any other hints, tips, words of wisdom from people who have
used this port in the past. Thanks!

Steve


Thanks Jeff, that helps. I think we will get on over to the docks as
soon as possible and get on the ship as soon as they will let us on.

Steve, I also have seen the van taxis there, but if one isn't available
at the time you could just take two regular taxis. It isn't all that
expensive to get from the airport to the pier.

sue

Sue Mullen wrote:


Steve wrote:


Jeff wrote:
Steve wrote:

Thanks to those of you who put my mind at ease in my ID question
earlier this week.


Now a couple of quick questions for you experienced travelers and I
may be ready to go.
Sailing Carnival Freedom on May 23rd. Flying in the morning of the
cruise on a nonstop flight with Southwest (Wanted to fly in the day
before but it didn't work out. Wish us luck.)

1. I didn't pre-plan transportation between the Ft. Lauderdale
Airport and the cruise terminal. I know it is only a few miles away.
(Our only other cruise, we let Carnival provide the shuttle.)
What are our options? I kind of picture just taking a taxi BUT we
are a family of four adults and will have 4 suitcases and carry on
luggage too. I have almost no experience with taxis. Can a single
taxi handle all of that? Is there another option at that airport
that would be cheaper or easier for a group of four?

They have van taxis that are big, no problemo!


2. Our plane should land at 11:00 AM. Boarding at the ship begins at
12:30 PM. If we grab our luggage and arrive at the ship by, say,
noon, will we be standing out in the sun waiting or will the porters
be there early to collect our bags and can we enter the building and
wait (if necessary) there? Obviously, we can hang out at the airport
for a little while if that would be better.

Yep, by noon they'll be ready to go, unless there is some problem in
the morning clearing the ship, but that's very rare!


I'll take any other hints, tips, words of wisdom from people who
have used this port in the past. Thanks!

Steve


Thanks Jeff, that helps. I think we will get on over to the docks as
soon as possible and get on the ship as soon as they will let us on.

Steve, I also have seen the van taxis there, but if one isn't available
at the time you could just take two regular taxis. It isn't all that
expensive to get from the airport to the pier.

sue

Thanks Sue. Before the van taxis were mentioned, I wondered if taking 2
regular taxis was my only option... assuming one taxi couldn't fit all
of us and our luggage. If I knew 100% that we would arrive on time at 11
AM, I might not have asked and just waited to figure it out there.
There's always that little chance that something weird would happen and
we would land at 3 PM or something. Then it would really pay to have a
plan. Non-stop flight.... I'm expecting it to go well.

Steve

In article , Steve
wrote:

There's always that little chance that something weird would happen and
we would land at 3 PM or something. Then it would really pay to have a
plan. Non-stop flight.... I'm expecting it to go well.

Southwest is good but there is always the chance of bad weather like
thunderstorms. That is why it is best to fly in a day early.

--
Charles

Steve wrote:
............................
a couple of quick questions for you experienced travelers and I may
be ready to go.
Sailing Carnival Freedom on May 23rd. Flying in the morning of the
cruise on a nonstop flight with Southwest (Wanted to fly in the day
before but it didn't work out. Wish us luck.)

1. I didn't pre-plan transportation between the Ft. Lauderdale Airport
and the cruise terminal. I know it is only a few miles away. (Our only
other cruise, we let Carnival provide the shuttle.)
What are our options? I kind of picture just taking a taxi BUT we are a
family of four adults and will have 4 suitcases and carry on luggage
too. I have almost no experience with taxis. Can a single taxi handle
all of that? .......................................
............................................


We're back from that cruise and we had a great time. I now know the
answer is yes, a normal cab can take 4 pretty big pieces of luggage in
the trunk and we went with our carry on bags on our lap.
We didn't see the van type taxis that some of you mentioned on our way
to the ship. There were some there waiting when we got off the ship.
They tried to get us to go with them. "no meters, only $11 per person to
the airport" was their quick sales pitch. We passed them by and got a
regular cab again at less than half that price. About $14 or $15 on the
meter plus a tip for all 4 of us.

Steve

Charles wrote:
In article , Steve
wrote:

There's always that little chance that something weird would happen and
we would land at 3 PM or something. Then it would really pay to have a
plan. Non-stop flight.... I'm expecting it to go well.

Southwest is good but there is always the chance of bad weather like
thunderstorms. That is why it is best to fly in a day early.


I saw you comment before we left. I figured I would reply when we
returned. Thank goodness I don't have to say something bad happened! We
had a great trip and it all went as smooth as silk. The flight actually
did get delayed because of a thunderstorm! We spent several minutes
looking down on the western most Bahama islands while we waited for the
storm to move away from the Fort Lauderdale airport. We landed in the
sunshine about 25 minutes late. We were in line waiting to get on the
ship at about 12:30. It was a long line too. They apologized to the
crowd for the delay. They said the coast guard was doing a surprise
inspection and no one could board until they gave the OK.

Steve