Fort Lauderdale sits on the coast of Florida about 30 miles north of Miami. Besides being a vacation destination on its own it also hosts one of the larger cruise ports. It is one of the busiest ports in the world. While not as big as the nearby cruise port in Miami, it does have 9 terminals.
The port in Fort Lauderdale is called Port Everglades. It’s mainly an embarkation and debarkation port rather than a place ships go for a port stop. Each terminal has its own building. Some belong to just one specific cruise line. Terminal buildings contain facilities for checking cruise passengers in for their cruise as well as customs for when they return. Also open areas with seating space for passengers who check in before boarding actually begins, though if they arrive too early they have to wait in line outside of the building. It’s not just passengers that need to get onboard while the ship is in port. All their luggage has to be loaded as well as fuel and provisions for the cruise. Any new crew starting their hitch that day need to board the ship as well.
The port first opened in 1928. Ships of that time were quite a lot smaller than the cruise ships of today. Proximity to the Caribbean is a big draw for ships in this port.
A lot of people fly into Fort Lauderdale a day ahead of their cruise. The cruise port and airport are not far from each other so there are hotels with shuttles to both. Some hotels have more shuttles than others. If you happen to book at a hotel that doesn’t have enough shuttles and your plane comes in during a busy time it’s better just to take a taxi or an uber because the wait for a shuttle with space available could take hours for a hotel that only has one or two. Both taxis and ubers were under $30 on the day we were there.
Most hotel shuttles are free both to the airport and to the cruise port, but if you happen to have one that charges by the person it may be cheaper to take an uber, especially if you aren’t traveling alone. The cruise shuttles will run at various times throughout the morning. If you like to be near the beginning of the line and don’t mind standing outside and waiting for boarding to start take an early shuttle.
If you’d rather just walk in without much of a line and get right on the ship without wating around in the port take the latest shuttle available – or if there aren’t any late enough shuttles take a taxi or uber an hour or two before all-aboard time if you have somewhere to go between hotel check-out and then. If you don’t want to stand outside waiting for boarding to start and would rather be in a moving line take a shuttle that gets there around the time boarding starts – though if you get there right when it first starts the line will likely be quite long so one that gets there after the line has a bit of time to clear is better.
Once onboard all passengers have to complete the muster drill before the ship can depart. On most ships this now consists of watching a video either on the stateroom TV or in the app and checking into your assigned muster station, which just means you go there and check in with the crew manning that post so they know that you found it. It’s a whole lot better than the pre-covid muster drills where everyone had to crowd together at the muster station for a drill that someone was always late to keeping everyone else waiting. There’s still usually a few people that don’t bother to get it done when they board that get their names called near time to depart to do their drill so the ship can leave the dock.
Boarding time usually ends an hour before sail-away, but most people board earlier and have some time to relax, explore the ship, and have something to eat before it leaves port. Ships always toot their horn before leaving port. In Fort Lauderdale Enchanted Princess didn’t just toot, it played the theme from the old Love Boat show on its horn as it sailed away from the dock. There was a lot of boat traffic in the channel leading from the port to the ocean and in the port area so a police boat held traffic to make room for Enchanted Princess to leave.
When the cruise ends the ships disembark in the morning and people often don’t have flights home until afternoon or evening. Cruise ships offer disembarkation excursions that end in a drop-off at the airport. Our cruise on Enchanted Princess offered limited availability for Everglades Airboat rides or a cruise on the intercoastal waterway with drop-offs for both Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports.
Besides the fact that those excursions don’t have room for everyone, some people have already done them or aren’t interested. People can of course go hang out at the airport all day, but if you aren’t allowed to check in your luggage until relatively close to the time of departure that keeps you out of all the parts of the airport that have shops, eateries, and places to sit because there isn’t much in the entry area. There are at least seats in the baggage claim area, which is the only other accessible place before checking in luggage.
Renting a car is a possibility, but going anywhere and doing anything means leaving your luggage vulnerable in that car where someone might steal it. There is another option though. Many of the area hotels offer day passes. The higher priced ones include a room, but for a lower fee you get access to the pool area and the hotel will store your luggage while you are there.
We tried the hotel option at the Marriott Airport Hotel. When you first walk in the hotel somewhat resembles an airport, but it’s actually a nice hotel. There’s a restaurant next to the check-in desk. They tag the luggage and cart it off to storage, giving each person a wristband and a card that allows access to the gym next to the pool, which is where the restrooms are located. It’s important that you know which Mariott you’re going to if that’s the one you choose because there is another one closer to the cruise port.
The pool there is large and pretty warm for an outdoor pool. It’s surrounded in loungers, some under a shaded area. There’s also several covered beds with curtains you can draw around them, and a couple furniture groupings of couches around a table. We picked one of the couch set-ups on the shady side of the pool for our party of 4. Our friends eventually bailed to one of the covered beds when one opened up, but we found the couch more comfortable and it stayed shady the whole time we were there due to the tall buildings around it – though the area on the other side of the pool had some sun in spite of having tall buildings there as well.
One side overlooked the hotel grounds with a lawn and some ground-level seating. There was a small bar out by the pool with drinks and snacks, but for more substantial food people would need to either go to the restaurant our walk to others nearby. We took an uber from the port to get there, but had a ride to the airport in a hotel shuttle, which ran every hour and half hour. This was a pleasant way to spend the hours where we had nowhere else to go, and cost less than half as much per person as the cruise ship debarkation excursions.
If you drive to the port there is parking available, which can be booked in advance to insure you have a spot. For those arriving a night ahead of the cruise some hotels offer parking with a hotel stay and will shuttle people to the port.