Cruising through Ft Lauderdale help, please.

[Geomom]

We are staying at a Holiday Inn Express that is near the cruise terminal. It is a 1.25 mi but I think we could walk there quicker because we can just cut down streets - these are Google Driving directions. We have a cruise in January. We will fly into FLL 2 days earlier and stay at the hotel. Will shuttle from the aiport to our hotel, then will likely walk to port.

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You can choose walking directions from Google maps as well, which should give you a better idea of the distance.

 

[Jaime C]

You can choose walking directions from Google maps as well, which should give you a better idea of the distance.

Yes I know - it's less than a 10-minute walk. I just included the driving directions because I didn't want to take a new screenshot

 

[princesscinderella]

Thanks so much, that would be great! We don't have BJ's where I live, so we aren't members.

They have a whole row of wines at Sprouts in dania pointe so you will have plenty of selection to bring on the ship. They also have a big IPA beer selection.

 

[Pens Fan]

They have a whole row of wines at Sprouts in dania pointe so you will have plenty of selection to bring on the ship. They also have a big IPA beer selection.

Thank you so much for checking! That was very kind of you. We will definitely be taking advantage of that.

 

[cutiger96]

We are flying in on a Saturday for a Monday cruise next year. Debating staying at Dania Pointe or Las Olas area. We will have Sunday to do whatever. Any suggestions on which area would be better? We have 2 teenage daughters if that affects it.thanks for the help!

 

[edith76]

We did a last minute cruise from Miami in August and stayed in FLL before hand. We drove but tried the Hampton Inn in Ft Lauderdale. Pretty sure their airport shuttle is no charge - didn't ask - but I did ask about transportation for cruise ports. They provide it - $15 pp to the Ft Lauderdale port and $100 for 1-3 people to Miami. Didn't ask if it was their shuttle or someone they contract with seeing I just wanted to know for a future trip what was available. There were a few things around but we just went to the McDonalds across the street.

 

[princesscinderella]

We are flying in on a Saturday for a Monday cruise next year. Debating staying at Dania Pointe or Las Olas area. We will have Sunday to do whatever. Any suggestions on which area would be better? We have 2 teenage daughters if that affects it.thanks for the help!

Dania pointe has a cool movie theater called 4dx where the seats move with the movie ( like star tours) in blocks of 4 seats it’s fun. They also have a bowling alley all in one place. We like Cooper’s Hawk, Padrinos and Firebirds restaurants there. Las Olas is nice but mostly nice restaurants and a few shops, Eddie Vs, Cheesecake Factory, Rocco’s Tacos and Louie Bossi are favorites there. The museum of art is also on Las Olas at the far end of the street. If you aren’t going to have a car there’s more variety to do at Dania Pointe than Las Olas to me that would interest teens.

 

[CarolynU]

Stayed in Ft L prior to two cruises not B2B in Feb this year.
One was a boutique type place in a fun area but sadly the weather was horrific so couldn’t take advantage of its facilities. The name escapes me.
We had a hire car which we had to drop off and then we took an Uber to the port. It took forever though as the traffic was chaos. Lots of cruise ships in and a convention in the same location. Forty five minutes to even get into the port area.
Second hotel was Lago Mar. We took an Uber there from port to hotel. This hotel was fabulous.
Third hotel was Hilton on the Main Street. Very expensive! Think $1000 per room for two. Parking fee per night, resort fee etc. It was ok but very very crowded! This time we dropped our car off around 20 minutes from the port and took their shuttle bus. It was very efficient. I can’t remember the place because it was my friend who sorted it but I was impressed.

 

[Snowwhyt]

When I use the port for my Royal Caribbean cruise, I got up early did fast check out through customs no luggage got a shuttle to the airport and came back with a car. For us to use for the day. It was nice to pick everyone up at the entrance and not have to hassle with all the luggage.
We went to a historic home and Zoo. I’ll come back later with the name of the actual place.

 

[jimmymc]

If you'd really like to take the DCL transportation from the airport, you can find a hotel in the area with an airport shuttle, take that back to the airport the day of the cruise, and pick up a Disney bus from there.

What I normally do, however, is just pick a hotel where I would want to stay and use Uber/Lyft or public transit to get from the airport to hotel and hotel to the cruise. For me, that would be the Hollywood Beach area, but if you're flying in the evening before, you could stay downtown Ft Lauderdale to be close to restaurants.

 

[Alicatt]

Dania pointe is a great place to stay if you come in the day before it’s connected to a nice outdoor shopping/entertainment complex. There are 3 or 4 hotel in the complex too. A nice brand new Marriott, Hyatt place and I can’t remember the others. There’s a bunch of restaurants, bowling, movie theater, grocery store, clothing etc if you forget something. It’s close to both the airport and port and out of the traffic of 17th street port area and would only be a 10-15 minute ride from the port and airport too. If you want a beach experience Marriott Harbor Beach is a nice hotel close to the port and on the beach. It’s a very popular hotel and has lots of events there and can be overrun by teens during homecoming and prom season. Here’s a map that shows how close everything is, the port is very large and it’s an easy drive to get between the port and airport.

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Can you tell me if the Hyatt place at Dania Pointe is walking distance to the shopping area with the restaurants and grocery store? It looks close but that doesn't always mean it's pedestrian friendly....

 

[princesscinderella]

Can you tell me if the Hyatt place at Dania Pointe is walking distance to the shopping area with the restaurants and grocery store? It looks close but that doesn't always mean it's pedestrian friendly....

Yes it’s pedestrian friendly it’s designed as an outdoor shopping district, the only traffic is the cars coming to shop.

 

[FitDad35]

We are booked on the Dream for 11/20. Staying at Hilton Marina for 2 nights prior to our sailing. Although I was hoping to just walk over to the port we booked the transfers in hopes of getting an earlier boarding time. At this time not much is known as this is a new spot for the Dream. I will try to update after the trip.

 

[dwg]

We are booked on the Dream for 11/20. Staying at Hilton Marina for 2 nights prior to our sailing. Although I was hoping to just walk over to the port we booked the transfers in hopes of getting an earlier boarding time. At this time not much is known as this is a new spot for the Dream. I will try to update after the trip.

We are sailing on the Dream next year. There have been many posts of great options on where to stay the night before. We are thinking of doing the same as you. Staying at the Hilton Marina and using Disney transfers from the hotel to the port and from the port to the airport. We are also hoping that booking Disney transfers will give us an earlier PAT as it does in Port Canaveral. Please post how using Disney transfers went after your trip. Did Disney have coach buses from the hotel? Did Disney let everyone using their transfers to walk into the terminal as they got off the buses? I tried reaching out to the hotel regarding the process but you could only text them and they really did not answer my questions. The only thing they said is that they do not have hotel shuttles to the port or airport and we would have to use third parties like Uber/Lift, etc. Also how are you planning to get to the hotel from the airport?

 

[FitDad35]

We are sailing on the Dream next year. There have been many posts of great options on where to stay the night before. We are thinking of doing the same as you. Staying at the Hilton Marina and using Disney transfers from the hotel to the port and from the port to the airport. We are also hoping that booking Disney transfers will give us an earlier PAT as it does in Port Canaveral. Please post how using Disney transfers went after your trip. Did Disney have coach buses from the hotel? Did Disney let everyone using their transfers to walk into the terminal as they got off the buses? I tried reaching out to the hotel regarding the process but you could only text them and they really did not answer my questions. The only thing they said is that they do not have hotel shuttles to the port or airport and we would have to use third parties like Uber/Lift, etc. Also how are you planning to get to the hotel from the airport?

I will absolutely keep you in the loop. We are flying into Miami early Saturday morning and renting a car. The car rental was much cheaper than the price to fly into FLL for 4. I plan to drop the car off at FLL either Sunday night or Monday prior to sailing. (Monday Cruise)

It was $84 for 4 of us for the Transfer. Seeing that it would be a 10 minute walk I’m praying we get on the ship earlier than what we would have if we did our standard PAT. This is our first Disney cruise so we do not have any status.

 

[Alicatt]

Yes it’s pedestrian friendly it’s designed as an outdoor shopping district, the only traffic is the cars coming to shop.

Thank you!

 

[FitDad35]

30 Days out update. I woke up at 12am and was able to do our online check in. We have an PAT of 1:15pm. Waiting to see what time we will be picked up at our hotel with the arranged transfer.

 

[dwg]

30 Days out update. I woke up at 12am and was able to do our online check in. We have an PAT of 1:15pm. Waiting to see what time we will be picked up at our hotel with the arranged transfer.

Did you book the Hilton Marina on your own or through DCL? I was thinking of just booking on my own as soon as rooms for our dates become available. I am assuming that transportation through DCL will be coach buses. Is that your understanding?

 

[FitDad35]

Did you book the Hilton Marina on your own or through DCL? I was thinking of just booking on my own as soon as rooms for our dates become available. I am assuming that transportation through DCL will be coach buses. Is that your understanding?

We booked on our own and then booked the transfer through our TA. I still don’t have much info regarding the transfer. I will reach out this week to see if they can let us know some more.

 

[BamaBornNemoNut]

Planning to cruise on the Dream in a couple of months. The DCL website says that transfers to/from MIA are available for $35pp and to/from FLL for $25pp. For anyone else looking at this MIA transfer option are you nervous about the traffic on debarkation morning? Does anyone know if highways have dedicated bus lanes that would make the timing more predictable??