From Cruise Ship to Hotel

[Nemo2]

We docked in Ft. Lauderdale after a transatlantic repositioning cruise about three years ago......the same time that a number of other ships arrived.

We heard that there were around 8,000 people disembarking at the same time...the lineup for taxis was long and slow, and the hotel shuttles were packed.

Ya takes yer chances.

(When we finally arrived at the hotel, the lobby and adjacent pool area were packed with people & luggage, while the housekeeping staff raced to clean vacated rooms.)

 

[easysurfer]

I'm gonna go with the wait until the crowd clears a bit strategy. Plus, now I kinda like that my hotel is about 20 miles away from the port when the [-]madhouse[/-] folks disembark.

 

[mpeirce]

I'm gonna go with the wait until the crowd clears a bit strategy.

+1

Often the best strategy wherever you are.

One example where this worked out very nicely: it wasn't in Ft Lauderdale, but in Amsterdam.

The river boat arrived in Amsterdam early in the morning and we knew our hotel room wouldn't be ready at that hour (we were staying a few extra days), so we settled down on the front deck and sipped cappuccinos for a bit. We struck up a conversation with a nice gentleman and his wife sitting adjacent to us. They started asking quite a few questions about how we enjoyed the trip. Well, it turned out it was the owner of Viking Cruise line and he was there to see how folks liked the new Long Ship (it was it's first journey). He had really enjoyed the trip and we did point out a couple of stumbles too.

Take your time and enjoy life. You'll get to meet more interesting folks.

 

[easysurfer]

Just got back from my cruise last night. Had no trouble at all finding a taxi from the port to the hotel.

My brand new suitcase has a lot of brand new battle scars (scratched around the lock and one side), but the important thing is the suitcase itself and contents inside weren't damaged.

 

[highlow65]

cruised many times from there, never had a problems with taxis and faster and cheaper than cruise shuttle bus, fixed rate so tip generously