Port Canaveral to/from Port Everglades

All,

My wife and I are currently booked for an 11 night cruise on Serenade of the Seas in March 2019, leaving from Port Everglades. To extend our vacation a bit, I have considered tacking on a 3 night cruise on Enchantment of the Seas out of Port Canaveral either before or after our cruise on Serenade.

If we opt to book on Enchantment before Serenade, we will disembark from Port Everglades on Monday, March 25th, and all aboard from Port Everglades on Serenade is 4:00 PM the same day. If we choose to book after our cruise on Serenade, we will disembark on Friday morning and embark Enchantment in Port Canaveral that afternoon.

I see that according to Waze and Google Maps that this is about a 3 hour drive between Port Everglades and Port Canaveral. We would walk off with our luggage on the first leg, rent a car, and travel to the next port.

Also, just to point this out before anybody else says it, I know that Mariner of the Seas operates on the same schedule as Enchantment out of Miami, is much closer, newly refurbished, etc. We have already been on her following the refurbishment and absolutely loved the ship, but we were wanting to consider something different.

All of that setup leads me to the real meat and potatoes of my post: Is disembarking one ship, renting a car, traveling 3 hours under normal traffic conditions, dropping the car off, and embarking on another ship a feasible endeavor, assuming we are off the ship by around 8:00-8:30 AM?

All,

 

My wife and I are currently booked for an 11 night cruise on Serenade of the Seas in March 2019, leaving from Port Everglades. To extend our vacation a bit, I have considered tacking on a 3 night cruise on Enchantment of the Seas out of Port Canaveral either before or after our cruise on Serenade.

 

If we opt to book on Enchantment before Serenade, we will disembark from Port Everglades on Monday, March 25th, and all aboard from Port Everglades on Serenade is 4:00 PM the same day. If we choose to book after our cruise on Serenade, we will disembark on Friday morning and embark Enchantment in Port Canaveral that afternoon.

 

I see that according to Waze and Google Maps that this is about a 3 hour drive between Port Everglades and Port Canaveral. We would walk off with our luggage on the first leg, rent a car, and travel to the next port.

 

Also, just to point this out before anybody else says it, I know that Mariner of the Seas operates on the same schedule as Enchantment out of Miami, is much closer, newly refurbished, etc. We have already been on her following the refurbishment and absolutely loved the ship, but we were wanting to consider something different.

 

All of that setup leads me to the real meat and potatoes of my post: Is disembarking one ship, renting a car, traveling 3 hours under normal traffic conditions, dropping the car off, and embarking on another ship a feasible endeavor, assuming we are off the ship by around 8:00-8:30 AM?

Travel time between the two is more in the 3 1/2-4hr range. Also consider you will be traveling during rush hour as these are both work days. One bad accident and you could be tied up a while!!

I have been on the Enchantment and while it is fine....for me personally I would never choose it over the freshly refurbished Mariner.

Travel time between the two is more in the 3 1/2-4hr range. Also consider you will be traveling during rush hour as these are both work days. One bad accident and you could be tied up a while!!

 

I have been on the Enchantment and while it is fine....for me personally I would never choose it over the freshly refurbished Mariner.

Thank you for the reply. The 3 hour range being more along what you described is kind of what I was guessing you would say.

As for the Enchantment vs. Mariner topic, I don't entirely disagree with you, but we have never been on a Vision Class ship. Mariner is by no means out of the equation, as it will logistically make much more sense, and we absolutely loved our time on it. We may ultimately decide just to stick with our original 11 nights without any added time, too.

Traffic will add a bit onto your travel times. If you disembark in Fort Lauderdale at 8:30, I expect a realistic departure time from the rental car facility would be about 9, especially if one is already registered with the rental car company and it’s pretty much drop and go. 3 hours is a bit optimistic and doesnt allow for any time to stop for a quick break. I would give at least 3:30. You also want to budget 30 minutes on the Canaveral end to drop the car, giving a transit time of 4 hours.

There isn’t a really good plan B if the roads are jammed up. Depending on where the jam is, you could easily be delayed 45 minutes or more.

Traffic will add a bit onto your travel times. If you disembark in Fort Lauderdale at 8:30, I expect a realistic departure time from the rental car facility would be about 9, especially if one is already registered with the rental car company and it’s pretty much drop and go. 3 hours is a bit optimistic and doesnt allow for any time to stop for a quick break. I would give at least 3:30. You also want to budget 30 minutes on the Canaveral end to drop the car, giving a transit time of 4 hours.

 

There isn’t a really good plan B if the roads are jammed up. Depending on where the jam is, you could easily be delayed 45 minutes or more.

I had tallied up some of the time in my mind like you just said. IF we do this, I would have the rental car booked in advance for a quick pickup, and get on the road as soon as possible. Accounting for transit times, picking up the cars, etc., my best case scenario for arrival would be around 1:00 PM at the terminal, with 1:30 PM being more realistic. That isn't optimal in my mind by any means, but I would be more willing to take that chance after disembarking Serenade, which actually makes more sense for our schedule and return home anyway.

Thank you for your insight as well.

Traffic will add a bit onto your travel times. If you disembark in Fort Lauderdale at 8:30, I expect a realistic departure time from the rental car facility would be about 9, especially if one is already registered with the rental car company and it’s pretty much drop and go. 3 hours is a bit optimistic and doesnt allow for any time to stop for a quick break. I would give at least 3:30. You also want to budget 30 minutes on the Canaveral end to drop the car, giving a transit time of 4 hours.

 

There isn’t a really good plan B if the roads are jammed up. Depending on where the jam is, you could easily be delayed 45 minutes or more.

Then again, just for kicks, I checked Southwest Airlines and a one-way flight from FLL to MCO at 10:15 AM on disembarkation day is $63 per person, so $126 total for the 2 of us. That comes out to around $30 more than what the rental car would be, and it arrives at least an hour ahead of what I would by ground. :')

Go with SW...you can easily make the 10:15 flight if you do self disembark by 7:30...we do it all the time for a 9:55 flight.

Happy cruising!

Go with SW...you can easily make the 10:15 flight if you do self disembark by 7:30...we do it all the time for a 9:55 flight.

 

Happy cruising!

It is tempting. The trouble is, booking Enchantment or Mariner after Serenade creates a bit of a SNAFU with our airfare. I will almost certainly book with Southwest due to baggage being gone for 11 nights. If we book after Serenade, we would be flying back home on April 8th, and bookings through SWA are currently only open until April 7th.

Thank you for the reply!