capriccio

Avis is closer on Miami Road (#7) and very close to the 24th Street entrance to the port. You can see how close the airport and the port are to each other so the difference may only be 5 minutes between Economy and Avis. In fact you can see the ships in port from the airport. I’m guessing a taxi from the Economy location would be about $15. @LeeW I didn’t see an Avis location listed in the Hilton Marina which would definitely be closer to terminal 2.

@lizwil10Economy Car rental (#8 on the map) is actually just across Rt 595 north of the airport runways and to the west of the port. The Enchanted is probably sailing out of terminal 2 which is just below the Broward Convention Center in the top right corner. I presume they offer a shuttle to the port?

That should be fine. Boarding usually starts by 11 am but sometimes a little earlier or a little later.

If you are on a budget, have you looked at the hotels in Plantation (a suburb just west of Fort Lauderdale)? Many offer shuttles from the airport and some (I know it has been mentioned here that the Hampton Inn - at least pre-Covid - is one of them) offer shuttles to the port. Demand will not be as great as that for beach, port and downtown Fort Lauderdale hotels on those days (although booking this late might be more problematic).

It is also almost right next to the Tortuga Music Festival which is held on the beach.

I agree 100% and in OP's case what started as a Princess requirement evolved into a passport renewal requirement. For that, the State Department's requirements trump all others. If people know where to look, they can find answers without relying on conjecture. i applaud your inclusion of where to look on the Princess website in your response.

If the hallway doors are closed an alarm will ring before you even get to the cabin. Ask my DH how I know that! Now we just take their word for it and head to the MDR for lunch or, if boarding before lunch begins, head to a bar for a pre-lunch drink.

The River Cruise Ports is a sub-forum under River Cruises (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/340-river-cruise-ports/). If you want additional impressions on the Viking excursion to determine if the reviews are truly mixed, I would post there too. It receives more posts than the sub-forum. And welcome to posting on Cruise Critic!

Remember not to arrive too early at the garage since all the passengers disembarking your ship have to do so and exit the garage. They will all have left by 10 am you should have your choice of parking spaces. How do you define 'economical' and what day are you looking at? ValueTrips is highly rated on the Florida Departures board - just make sure you check the small print because they do have a number of black out days/periods. For making any reservations in Fort Lauderdale, realize that pricing varies wildly depending on the season with low season being May to through October and the high season from then through April. Highest prices are International Boat Show weekend (usually end of October or beginning of November), Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Martin Luther King weekend, Presidents Day week, most of March (spring and Easter breaks) and early or mid April Tortuga Music Festival weekend. As others have recommended, there is lots of information on the Florida Departures board: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/

and 7. For any international travel or passport questions and concerns start with the US State Department’s website: www.state.gov. Their travelers section is more trustworthy than cruise line passenger service reps, neighbors, and even posters on cruise critic 😀

In our experience, Libby Riddles brought a full grown sled dog that you could pet before the presentation at the table she set up outside the theater. She was very gracious and the dog couldn't have been calmer and more friendly.

I would ask that on the applicable board for each of your ports of call on the Caribbean forum (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/456-caribbean/). Locals that contribute to the boards in addition to cruisers who have visited over the holidays may respond. Good luck with your research!

I suggest breaking this posting into two separate post if you haven't already. On the Princess forum (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/119-princess-cruises/): ask about the holiday celebrations on the ship. We've been on a few over the Christmas and New Years holidays and the ships have been beautifully decorated and there are lots of holiday themed activities. On the Roatan (Honduras) board in the Caribbean Ports of Call forum (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/15-roatan/): ask about the celebrations and decorations in Roatan.

No but it would qualify as Urgent Travel Service ("Serve customers by appointment only who have urgent travel to a foreign country in the next 14 calendar days" ) See https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast/passport-agencies.html for a country map with the locations of all the Passport Agencies and Centers (one is located in Boston). Make sure you bring proof of the cruise: "If you are traveling by land or sea to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, or the Caribbean, you can provide a hotel reservation, cruise tickets, or international car insurance." Before using a private company check out the State Department's page on using them: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast/courier-and-expeditor-companies.html

If you haven't seen this section of the Princess website, check it out: https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises/north-to-alaska-cruise-activities Princess Alaska cruises have a full time naturalist on board. When not giving lectures and presentations, they are on call to narrate wildlife sightings from the bridge. We've had two spectacular naturalists (Barbara - can't remember her last name - and Michael Modzelewski).

According to https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/tortuga-music-festival-fort-lauderdale-delays-closures/3261312/ traffic, not unexpectedly, will be seriously impacted so if you are trying to get to/from the Bahia Mar make sure you pack your patience. Traffic impacts The festival will be held from April 5 -7 from noon to 10:30 p.m. each day at 1100 Seabreeze Boulevard on Fort Lauderdale Beach. Motorists should expect delays on all barrier island roadways, especially A1A and Seabreeze Boulevard. Delays should also be expected on SE 17th Street and Las Olas Boulevard. For all three nights of the festival, there will be a short road closure for both northbound and southbound traffic from Harbor Drive to Southeast 5th Street from 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. to allow the crowd to safely exit the venue. During this closure, all vehicular traffic south of East Las Olas Boulevard will be funneled northbound on A1A or westbound off the barrier island over the East Las Olas Boulevard bridge.

They do make luggage tags for Androids. For examples, just search Android luggage tracker tags on Amazon.

Luggage has to fit the the x-ray machines which seem to be the same size as those at airport security. And obviously you have to do all the lifting.

Especially for the International Boat Show weekend!

That should work! Have an easy drive and a great cruise.

When going to Dulles from our home off exit 291 on I-81 we always give ourselves at least 2 hours to get into the airport. While construction is finally done on I-66 east of Gainesville, until that point I-66 is only 2 lanes in each direction (as is I-81) and an accident will tie things up. Once you get to the hotel where you are leaving the car, do you know how often the shuttle to the airport runs? That obviously needs to be taken into consideration. Getting into the airport by 3:30 should be fine especially if you have priority luggage check-in and TSA pre-check. If not, realize that you will be hitting the Dulles rush hours for outbound European flights and the crowds just get bigger after 3:30.

We didn't but the rain was also accompanied by high winds and winds alone have been known to force cancellation of the stop at Ocean Cay.

I have limited experience in suites on other cruise lines, just 2 cruises in the Yacht Club on MSC ships. The YC dining room has its own menus and its own kitchen and chef to prepare the food. Is that how Luminae functions on Celebrity? I probably foolishly thought that since the Sun would have a dedicated suite dining room it would also have a dedicated kitchen. I just looked at the deck plan (deck 7) and the Signature Dining Room and the Reserve Dining Room are separated by a large white area that seems to be the shared kitchen. So much for having special menus since, in my mind, one or two extra dishes doesn't make it special not to mention that the kitchen will be feeding a much larger group of passengers than just those in suites.

I would book yourself in the hotel of your choosing and book it soon. Rates in all hotels will increase - some dramatically - between now and then. I don't know if you've sailed out of Port Everglades before but if not I recommend looking in the 17th Street area for convenience and lots of dining options. Dania Beach is a bit further away so a little more in transportation costs but there are lots of relatively new hotels and dining options in that area. The latter is further away from the boat show so prices might be relatively less.

What are the dates you are looking for? The International Boat Show is October 30 - November 3. Hotels may already be booked for those days (if not, they will sell out at the much higher rates charged then) and possibly a day or two ahead and after. That's the only thing I can think of going on then. Have you checked hotels on your own to see availability?