Port Everglades...need some advice please.

Hi everyone,

I will be sailing Sept 17 on the Caribbean Princess with 13 other guest for my wedding. Unfortunately everyone will be arriving to Ft. lauderdale by two means. My parents, grandmother, aunt and myself will be flying in the night before and staying at the Renaissance Hotel, then will be transfered to the pier Saturday morning. My FI, his parents and 2 brothers will be driving down to Miami first to pick up his grandmother and driving up on Saturday and parking in the garage. We have arranged for "priority boarding" due to us being a wedding party which is supposed to allow us to board at 10:30AM according to Princess and the wedding department.

My question is this...With everyone arriving by two means, is anyone aware of a location that would be a good "meeting" spot? I have done research and found out Port Everglades does have a covered entry place, however, I'm not sure if anyone may be able to share photos of the pier or give guidance to a "special" location where we could all meet up together then board. We are supposed to board all at the same time as the wedding party.

Sorry about being long winded, just needing a little help if possible. :o

Thank you in advance for any advise.

Shelly

How are you getting from the Renaissance to the pier? I have friends who have done the Princess transfer and they would not do it again. It didn't come until 1 pm. I would probably suggest a taxi or using the hotel's transfer.

As far as where to meet - I would probably suggest meeting at the front doors or the steps right at the front door area. At 10:30, the lines will just start to form (or they may be a couple dozen in line) and it forms the length of the building. There are steps right near the front door - but you really can't miss it.

Have a great wedding/honeymoon cruise!

You could arrange for a van transport to the ship which could pickup everyone at two different places and all be together at the ship - try http://www.bcsexpress.com - call him on his cell, he doesn't do well on e mails.

Ron

The simplest solution would be to go to the terminal and wait for the rest of your party to the right of the big doors. By 10:30 disembarkation should be finished, but there will be a few stragglers. The line for embarking passengers forms on the left. When the rest of your party arrives, they can meet you at the doors and drop off their bags, then the driver will have to go and park. One potential little issue is that the dock workers usually aren't ready to begin loading luggage until all passengers have disembarked. Therefore, I wouldn't plan on getting to the terminal until just a few minutes before 10:30. If you leave your hotel at 10:00, that should give you plenty of time.

Hi everyone,

 

I will be sailing Sept 17 on the Caribbean Princess with 13 other guest for my wedding. Unfortunately everyone will be arriving to Ft. lauderdale by two means. My parents, grandmother, aunt and myself will be flying in the night before and staying at the Renaissance Hotel, then will be transfered to the pier Saturday morning. My FI, his parents and 2 brothers will be driving down to Miami first to pick up his grandmother and driving up on Saturday and parking in the garage. We have arranged for "priority boarding" due to us being a wedding party which is supposed to allow us to board at 10:30AM according to Princess and the wedding department.

 

My question is this...With everyone arriving by two means, is anyone aware of a location that would be a good "meeting" spot? I have done research and found out Port Everglades does have a covered entry place, however, I'm not sure if anyone may be able to share photos of the pier or give guidance to a "special" location where we could all meet up together then board. We are supposed to board all at the same time as the wedding party.

 

Sorry about being long winded, just needing a little help if possible. :o

 

Thank you in advance for any advise.

 

Shelly

Shelly

Have your group all meet at the front doors by 1030 advise the guard at the door you have priority boarding for wedding party,he will call princess wedding coordinator and advise them you are there. Someone from princess will either meet you at the door or advise guard to let you in and direction to head for boarding the ship.

Shelly

Have your group all meet at the front doors by 1030 advise the guard at the door you have priority boarding for wedding party,he will call princess wedding coordinator and advise them you are there. Someone from princess will either meet you at the door or advise guard to let you in and direction to head for boarding the ship.

This is correct. However, be aware that the "front door" is actually at the end of the line, if a line has already formed. You will see some Princess staff in the area. It's not easy to make these kinds of arrangements ahead of time, so I would double check with Princess and tell them you will be looking for your entire party to meet at the same time and location.

Have someone in both groups take a cell phone, then meet at the main doors to the Embarkation Lounge (under the portico) at 10:30. If you get separated somehow, just call one another.

If you all get seperated you might want to make a plan B and meet some specific place on the ship.

PS We will be on that sailing too. Hope to sneak a peek at you guys! :D

Thank you for all the advice. To answer the one question of how we are getting to the pier. We have made a special arrangement with the Renaissance hotel to be transfered at 10:00AM to the pier due to our boarding. We were originally told that transfers do not start until noon or after so we made this special arrangement.

Everyone will be taking cell phones and I didn't even think about those to be honest. So it appears everything will work out just fine.

Thanks again for all the info.

Shelly

Hi, Shelly!

Who is your wedding coordinator with Princess? (My sister is getting married on Princess also, but isn't having the best of luck with her coordinator, and may want to switch!)

Hi Dreamer,

I was with Lisa Joseph at first for the initial set up and had not problems at all. When the finalization is done she will work with Leidys. Leidys is the one in charge of the final confirmations and such. I'm sorry to hear she isn't having much luck. If there are any questions she has let her know she can email me and I will try to help as much as I can to answer questions.

Good Luck

Shelly

Thanks, Shelly! I just sent you an email.

Cell phones are great for arranging meets. For our honeymoon we had booked a cruise out of Miami after the reception we drove halfway down to Cocoa Beach. When my now wife woke up the next morning she realized she had forgotten her passport. She called her sister, who went over to her house and got the passport and started to head south, while we started to head north. just north of Daytona we meet up at a Burger King. This was all done through calling each other on cell phones.

Please be advised that the covered area near the entrance of the terminal is not very large and will probably be full of people around 10:30 AM. I agree with the posters who encouraged everyone in your party to bring their cellphones to arrange a meeting area.

My guess is that it won't be that difficult for your group to find each other once you make it to the terminal. Good Luck!

If I remember correctly, the terminal is a big room with the check-in desks on one side. It's pretty easy to just stand in the middle and meet up. My wedding party of 24 came in all different ways and we all met each other in the terminal without even planning it. It's easy. You may bring a flag or something and just stand in the middle of the terminal.

We'll be on the same sailing...what time does the party start???LOL