Arriving FLL at dawn, place to go to wait for boarding in Miami

DH and I are travelling from west coast to Ft Lauderdale (red-eye flight) for the Seaside in April. Will arrive at 6:30 am day of boarding. We will be on the YC.

If we hop on an uber to go straight to the terminal .....Wondering if anyone happens to know how early the YC welcome tent would be available? Or when the terminal door might be open so we can sit there and wait for the tent to open up?

If we wait in the FLL airport ..... does anyone know if there is any fast food (sit-down) or restaurant in the airport that we can sit down for breakfast and kill some time before we head out to the terminal? I know there are some quick bite counters for breakfast, but those are just grab and go, and won't allow us to sit down for breakfast.

We do not have a car, and we prefer not to wander around since we are not familiar with the Miami area. Any tips or suggestions would be very helpful!

Thanks!

There are restaurants (sit down) in each terminal at FLL. You may want to check the airport page for hours of operation. Or take a cab to Lesters Diner; fairly famous place, not far from airport

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g34227-d431931-Reviews-Lester_s_Diner-Fort_Lauderdale_Broward_County_Florida.html

Here is a link to the layout of FLL Airport...Many options and they give a brief description and hours of operation. Just depends which Terminal your arriving at.

http://www.broward.org/airport/Pages/Default.aspx

The way I see it, luggage is going to be an issue if you immediately head to Miami. There’s a great park to watch all the ships sail in near bayside, but you’d be strapped with luggage.

Fll airport arrival

Area is the only place I am aware of that will store your luggage ($4). If that’s an option, you could grab the free sun trolley from fll to los olas (check times). The sun trolly dumps you off at the Fort Lauderdale river walk that is lovely with lots of restaurants. You could do a little walk (or hop on the water taxi for Fort Lauderdale site seeing) and then head back to the airport on the trolly, collect your luggage, and make your way to Miami.

We really enjoy the river walk and trolly system in fort Lauderdale.

Another option is to get to bayside (near Miami

Port entrance) and grab a HOHO bus to tour Miami. Most are set up to deal with luggage.

The Florida forum will be very helpful for

You also.

Enjoy :$

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I just thought of an issue with restaurants at FLL; most of them are POST-security. Meaning if you go down to collect luggage off the conveyor belt you are outside of security area and can't get back to the restaurants on each concourse.

I'd probably hitch a cab or uber to the diner; it should be under 10 minutes (but not far off from the route you need to get to Miami). By the time you collect your items it's going to be 7AM; so you really only need to kill about 3 hours over a leisurely breakfast. I'd target to arrive at port by 10:30 - 11 AM, which should be about a 30-40 minute ride from that area of fort lauderdale

We arrive before 6 am and sit at the airport till 10 am.

There is seating and food options outside of security at baggage claim in FLL.

There is a coffee shop at the Port of Miami. Opens at 7 AM and serves breakfast. It is located by the pier that the Divina uses; I don't know where the Seaside is docked.

https://www.facebook.com/Seamans-Cafe-Port-of-Miami-424584847556638/

There is a coffee shop at the Port of Miami. Opens at 7 AM and serves breakfast. It is located by the pier that the Divina uses; I don't know where the Seaside is docked.

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/Seamans-Cafe-Port-of-Miami-424584847556638/

Great to know, ty

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There is a coffee shop at the Port of Miami. Opens at 7 AM and serves breakfast. It is located by the pier that the Divina uses; I don't know where the Seaside is docked.

 

https://www.facebook.com/Seamans-Cafe-Port-of-Miami-424584847556638/

Greetings

The coffee shop is close to the pier used by Seaside but it is a bit "rustic". Haven't seen any reviews on the food.

Good Sailing

Tom

The coffee shop was recommended to us by the Guest Services desk on Divina as someplace we could meet a fellow cruiser that needed to debark earlier then us (long story).

It seems that Divina crew hit the shop when possible and like it.

We didn't go (problem was resolved).

The Yelp reviews for the shop seem to be positive (and the pictures on the link I provided look like it is not "rustic").

Our first ever cruise, I followed the directions from the cruise line that boarding would not begin until 1 p.m. Waited and waited at FLL. I learned the hard way that this is not the way to embark and wondered why so many other people were already there.

OP, not sure if you are arriving from a foreign country or not. If so, you will have to go through customs and immigration. You will also be waiting for your luggage to arrive unless you are carrying on. People will be disembarking so I'm pretty sure the YC will be open fairly early like 10 a.m. I would vote for you to go to the ship directly from the airport.

Thank you all for such helpful information and insights. We are flying from Seattle. Will likely wander around the airport and see if there is any sit down spot for breakfast. If there isn';t, we'll take your suggestion to visit the Seamen's Cafe to try it out. Will just have to wait until 10 am-ish.

Thanks again !

Our cruise is April 14, will post my review when we return. We are staying in a YIN cabin on deck 16.

awesome! Have a wonderful time!