Princess PreCruise Ft Lauderdale question

[garden2]

We will be staying at the Renaissance Hotel -17th St (one night)-a Princess Precruise package-usually fly to FLL in the early morning -1 non stop left & we rent a car & do our own thing but this time we decided to do the Hotel package with Princess & Princess said they would transfer us from Miami airport to the Renaissance in Ft Lauderdale plus transfer us to the ship. Have called Princess & have not been given a good answer nor was our TA.- Island Princess 2/18/10 departure. We went with Celebrity in 2002 & the first buses were leaving the hotel at 10:30AM --waves of them leaving-were told because of the need for the buses to go to the airports to pickup passengers arriving the day of the cruise. Question: has anyone done a Ft lauderdale Princess prepackage but the real question is what time do they usually transfer you to the ship (won't hold you to the answer)?

[lorekauf]

I have done the transfers with Princess and usually it doesn't happen until at least noon.

[ColoRockiesFan]

I wouldn't bother with a Princess transfer from the Renaissance Hotel (if you are cruising out of Ft Lauderdale). The entrance to the port is just across the street from the hotel and a taxi takes 10 minutes and about $10 ... If you wait for a transfer you might have to wait until 1 or 2 o'clock. If you take a cab you can leave when you want.

[mr green]

Originally Posted by garden2

We will be staying at the Renaissance Hotel -17th St (one night)-a Princess Precruise package-usually fly to FLL in the early morning -1 non stop left & we rent a car & do our own thing but this time we decided to do the Hotel package with Princess & Princess said they would transfer us from Miami airport to the Renaissance in Ft Lauderdale plus transfer us to the ship. Have called Princess & have not been given a good answer nor was our TA.- Island Princess 2/18/10 departure. We went with Celebrity in 2002 & the first buses were leaving the hotel at 10:30AM --waves of them leaving-were told because of the need for the buses to go to the airports to pickup passengers arriving the day of the cruise. Question: has anyone done a Ft lauderdale Princess prepackage but the real question is what time do they usually transfer you to the ship (won't hold you to the answer)?

I have done it twice. As I recall they start moving people out about noon time. We were first sent to the ballroom, and given a number, when that was called it was our turn to get a bus, in our last case about 300 persons.

john

[mr green]

Originally Posted by ColoRockiesFan

I wouldn't bother with a Princess transfer from the Renaissance Hotel (if you are cruising out of Ft Lauderdale). The entrance to the port is just across the street from the hotel and a taxi takes 10 minutes and about $10 ... If you wait for a transfer you might have to wait until 1 or 2 o'clock. If you take a cab you can leave when you want.

If you take a cab, am I right to assume that you take all your luggage, or does Princess still have some of it?

john

[ColoRockiesFan]

Originally Posted by mr green

If you take a cab, am I right to assume that you take all your luggage, or does Princess still have some of it?

john

If you purchased Princess transfer, Princess should take your luggage. I used a Princess transfer in LA and Princess took our luggage (we had lots of luggage!) at about 9:00 am. We then waited in groups to be called to the bus. I was getting impatient and we were the last group called (about 1:00 pm). I tried to get my companions to just grab a cab but they didn't want to pay extra. (From the hotel to San pedro is about a $50+ cab ride). However, I'm sure we could have taken the cab and let Princess wrestle our luggage. No one would have known that we took a cab instead of the bus.

Of course, if you haven't purchased the Princess transfer, and choose to take a cab, you are on your own and need to wrestle with the luggage.

[chamima]

Originally Posted by garden2

We will be staying at the Renaissance Hotel -17th St (one night)-a Princess Precruise package-usually fly to FLL in the early morning -1 non stop left & we rent a car & do our own thing but this time we decided to do the Hotel package with Princess & Princess said they would transfer us from Miami airport to the Renaissance in Ft Lauderdale plus transfer us to the ship. Have called Princess & have not been given a good answer nor was our TA.- Island Princess 2/18/10 departure. We went with Celebrity in 2002 & the first buses were leaving the hotel at 10:30AM --waves of them leaving-were told because of the need for the buses to go to the airports to pickup passengers arriving the day of the cruise. Question: has anyone done a Ft lauderdale Princess prepackage but the real question is what time do they usually transfer you to the ship (won't hold you to the answer)?

We did this last year. In the morning you put your luggage outside of your room with the Princess tags on it. Later in the morning (when the bus arrives) you have to identify your luggage and make sure it goes on the bus.
After that you wait around the lobby for them to call the passengers to get on buses. They tell you that if you are not on the Princess bus they will pull your luggage off. (Don't know if this is actually true.) By about noon I was getting really antsy as I knew they had begun boarding the ship. We found the Princess rep and said something about not feeling well (which was half true) and that we needed to get on the ship. We took a cab but should have walked - it was 5 minutes away.
Don't know if I would ever do Princess transfers again. It's nice to be met at the airport but the morning of the cruise ALL I want to do is GET ON THE SHIP. If you're a more patient person than I it might work. I think the bus arrived around 1:00 in the afternoon.

[Pia1913]

Originally Posted by ColoRockiesFan

I wouldn't bother with a Princess transfer from the Renaissance Hotel (if you are cruising out of Ft Lauderdale). The entrance to the port is just across the street from the hotel and a taxi takes 10 minutes and about $10 ... If you wait for a transfer you might have to wait until 1 or 2 o'clock. If you take a cab you can leave when you want.

On February 18th, both the Island and the Ruby will be in port. Since the Ruby is the larger ship, I wouldn't expect the Island to berth at #2 (across from the Renaissance).