Fort Lauderdale Help, Please

[Texas_Buckeye]

I need everyone’s “expert” opinion, please. As of now, we have a cruise, on the Allure, departing from Fort Lauderdale in December (fingers crossed it actually happens).
Flying into Fort Lauderdale, where do you suggest staying and whom or what would you suggest for transportation from airport to hotel, to cruise port, and then back to airport from cruise? This is all new to me and I’m totally lost. I’ve tried looking up places but can’t find any information.
Thank you in advance for the assistance.

 

[Mrsjvb]

cruise critic dot com has a board for this very type of advice

 

[spiffgirl101]

When we took a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale a couple of years ago, we stayed at the Hampton Inn. I believe we took the shuttle provided by the hotel for a nominal fee (sorry, can't remember the price). On disembarkation day, we took a taxi to the airport (about $10), paid to store our baggage there for the day, then took the free bus into town and took in the sights until our flights left late in the afternoon.
Our next cruise is also out of Fort Lauderdale of in 2022.

 

[OKW Lover]

We've stayed at a Residence Inn near the airport. It had a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel. From there to the port you'd need to take a taxi/uber/lyft. Same from the port back to the airport. RCL might offer transfers from the ship to the airport, but depending on party size the uber/lyft option might be cheaper.

 

[starvenger]

I don't think that hotel booking sites have fully updated for Dec 2021. I'm booked on Allure over Christmas so am also keeping an eye on things

I generally book the Hyatt Place 17th street through ValueTrips. It's a dodgy looking website that has one of the best deals out there. Rooms are clean, huge and could easily sleep 6 if needed. Plus it's within walking distance to restaurants, wine shops, Publix, Ross and Dollar Tree.

I've heard that Embassy Suites in the area is nice as well. I saw the Hilton Marina might be available, and that also looks quite nice

For transport, I agree with the others and would just stick with taxis or ride shares. It's very easy to get an Uber to the cruise terminal, and very fast.

for the cruise terminal to airport trip I'd just go with a taxi. It's about 5-10 minutes at most to FLL so again zero worries once you're out of the terminal.

if you're flying out of MIA id probably do Uber or hire a car service. Royal's bus service gets you there, but is slow to actually leave the terminal.

 

[hdrolfe]

FLL airport and port are very close to one another, makes it a great place to cruise from in my experience. We've stayed twice but I wouldn't recommend one of the places, it was cheap and did include airport and to the cruise transfers but wasn't the nicest place. The second trip we stayed at Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Airport & Cruise Port which was actually quite nice, had a good breakfast and an inexpensive shuttle to the cruise, but taxi/uber/lyft would probably be good too.

 

[starvenger]

Oops double post

 

[mevelandry]

I need everyone’s “expert” opinion, please. As of now, we have a cruise, on the Allure, departing from Fort Lauderdale in December (fingers crossed it actually happens).
Flying into Fort Lauderdale, where do you suggest staying and whom or what would you suggest for transportation from airport to hotel, to cruise port, and then back to airport from cruise? This is all new to me and I’m totally lost. I’ve tried looking up places but can’t find any information.
Thank you in advance for the assistance.

In Fort Lauderdale, we like staying at Marriott BeachPlace Towers as it is reasonably priced for a beach front hotel (you cross the street and there’s the beach!) and it has a very nice pool. There is a good variety of restaurants around, a CVS, an ice cream shop and shops in the same building. We take cabs for transportation from and to airport and port... and it’s not expensive at all because the airport, the hotel (the beach) and the port are all very close from each other.

 

[hertamaniac]

I've stayed at the Embassy Suites on 17th, but it was for business years ago (I drove there since it is within a few hours from my home). The hotel was very nice and had a tropical feel to it (inside and outside).

It was adjacent to the cruise port.

 

[bgula]

We stayed at the Ramada by Wyndham Fort Lauderdale Airport/Cruise Port. They have a shuttle service to and from the port. It's actually a separate company that operates from the hotel, but I can't remember the name of it offhand. They are situated right in the lobby. It's a free service to the port from the hotel, but we had to pay to get picked up from the port and taken directly to the airport. Not sure if you pay if you are coming back to the hotel after the cruise. I "think" it was $50 for five of us to get picked up at the port - so $10 per person. Should also mention that it's a free pickup from the airport to the hotel.

 

[Texas_Buckeye]

Thank you, everyone, for the wonderful answers!! You’ve been extremely helpful.

 

[boardwalk prof]

I need everyone’s “expert” opinion, please. As of now, we have a cruise, on the Allure, departing from Fort Lauderdale in December (fingers crossed it actually happens).
Flying into Fort Lauderdale, where do you suggest staying and whom or what would you suggest for transportation from airport to hotel, to cruise port, and then back to airport from cruise? This is all new to me and I’m totally lost. I’ve tried looking up places but can’t find any information.
Thank you in advance for the assistance.

Check out the Hotel Morrison in Dania Beach. It's a nice hotel and they have an airport shuttle. The front desk can arrange for a 3rd party shuttle to the cruise terminal (for a fee).

 

[declansdad]

We cruised out of Port Everglades last February and used AirBnB for our stay. It was much cheaper than any of the hotels.

 

[peacefrogdog]

Second the Hyatt Place 17th Street. Big rooms that fits 5-6 (2 double beds and a double pull out), free breakfast with hot and cold items. Also love the location - 5 min walk to Publix, as well as a great burger place called Gilbert's that's our go to. Short drive to and from the airport and cruise port. They do have a shuttle that can be booked at the hotel front desk - rate was $40 for 7 people (but that was a few years ago, so may be higher now).

Unfortunately prices for the hotel have gone up over the past few years but if you can snag a reservation at a good rate, can't go wrong.

 

[starvenger]

Speaking of which, 2021 prices for Hyatt Place are up at valuetrips. $100 USD through Sept, $130 for the last 3 months. As always, it's a dodgy looking site (or at least a Geocities throwback-like site) but it's legit.

Not sure how the breakfast buffet works right now, but in 2018 you needed to be a part of the World of Hyatt club (free membership) to get it.

Uber would be about $15 per car from any hotel in that area.