Early morning airport arrival, what to do before boarding?

We arrive day of cruise at FLL just before 5am, cruising out of PE. Any suggestions for what to do with ourselves, and more importantly, our luggage, before head to the terminal at noon or so?

All of the day use hotels I've seen don't begin until 10am. We could find a Dennys or similar to hang out in but this probably isn't the best choice with 3 suitcases. Baggage claim area at FLL doesn't seem to have many amenities so I'm not sure we can hang out there for 6 hours.

Would love to hear any suggestions for where to park ourselves and our luggage until we can board. Worst case I book an actual room for the night before but if it's possible to avoid that I'd like to.

You could do a one-way rental car, store the bags in the vehicle, find a nice place to have a leisurely breakfast, visit the beach if yiou still have time, return the car at one of the offices near the port, and take rental car shuttle to the cruise terminal.

Hotwire or priceline an airport hotel for the night before and let the hotel know you will not be checking in until 5am and ask for a late checkout.

Get a couple of hours of sleep and get to the port late afternoon, 1ish.

Although not ideal, we have been known to hang around the airport for a few hours and head over to the port around 10 am. You don't have to wait until noon. You could have breakfast somewhere local or even in the airport, use the free WiFi, stretch out for a bit. Catch a cab at 10 and be at the port shortly thereafter. Just a suggestion.

I am not big on flying in the day of the cruise as too many things can go wrong.

With that said, the reality is you will not get your luggage until after 5:30 AM even if you are on time. I would go to an area hotel that has a nice restaurant and enjoy a leisurely breakfast there and then head to the port at around 10:00 AM.

Keith

We did this once when we had to take a redeye flight in. We ended up getting a car and going to a place in town for breakfast. Then we went to the beach and relaxed. My boys actually slept in the car for a bit. Dropped the car off and went to the ship.

Very easy to do.

Hotwire or priceline an airport hotel for the night before and let the hotel know you will not be checking in until 5am and ask for a late checkout.

 

Get a couple of hours of sleep and get to the port late afternoon, 1ish.

Follow Blue's advice - check in about 6:00 AM, ask for a late check out, get some sleep, a shower, and maybe a dip in the pool and then shuttle/Uber to the port about 1:00

www.sunny.org has lots of FLL area hotel info - choose a cheap hotel near FLL with free airport shuttle service.

Last year we spent the night at the Embassy Suites on SE 17th Street. In the morning before we took a taxi to board our transatlantic, I walked over to the Total Wines and Publix to get wine and snacks. In the same shopping plaza there is a breakfast/lunch restaurant called Joe's Diner. We ran into a couple we had met on a previous cruise who had flown into FLL earlier that morning. They took an Uber from the airport, had breakfast at Joe's and were going to Uber to cruise terminal at about 10 AM. They had their luggage and were reading the papers while they waited. Joe's is a good place to wait since it is close to Total Wines, TJ Maxx and a grocery store.

Thanks all for the great ideas! We will read through and get a plan nailed down in the next few days.

Please be sure to come back after your cruise and let us know how it worked out and what suggestions you might have. Good luck! :)

Post Cruise recap of what we did and how it went --

We ended up renting a car from Alamo at FLL.

We arrived at 5:15, grabbed our luggage, and were in our full size rental and on the road by 6am.

First stop was the beach in Fort Lauderdale to watch the sunrise and the see the ships come into PE. It was a lovely morning on the beach and we got there just in time to see the Crown Princess, the ship we would be boarding in just a few hours, go into PE.

Next stop was Lester's Diner for some breakfast. One of our original options was to just pull up here for a few hours with our suitcases, which I didn't think would work out well. Many others had the same idea and there were two large groups (10!!! and 19!!!) doing just that - hanging out with their luggage until it was time to taxi to port. Their luggage took up one whole wall of the restaurant. So it can be done. But I'm glad we didn't end up doing it! Atmosphere was cute but the food was mehhh. We left there about 8am.

At this point we were really needing a little sleep. Across the street is a cafe that doesn't open until mid day with a large parking lot against a shaded wall. So we put the seats back and took an hour and 15 minute nap. We felt very safe. It wasn't glamorous (hah!), but it was a much needed little siesta that perked us up for the rest of our travels.

We used the handy dandy waze app (how did we drive anywhere without this?? It is so handy!) to find the nearest Winn-Dixie to get supplies. We picked up hand soap in a pump, a bottle of champagne, and a couple of 5-Hour energy drinks, just in case. We left there around 9:50am.

My husband LOVES Bass Pro shops. We don't have one very near us. He had a gift certificate that was burning a hole in his pocket and we found out it was very close to the port area. We got there right at 10am, when it opened. We shopped for about an hour.

I LOVE tiki bars and try to check out any we run across during our travels. So we were off to Paradise Tiki Bar, which is right along one of the canals just outside the main part of the city. We each had a yummy drink, saw a big 'ol iguana walking around like he owned the place, and took some cute tiki bar photos. We left there around 12:15.

Next stop was Alamo drop off location right outside PE, and we got there right about 12:25. Luckily, just as we pulled up a shuttle arrived that was heading to Crown Princess and not many people were getting on it. So we hauled our luggage out of the back as fast as we could and ran over to the shuttle just as it was finishing getting the last bags inside.

Easy peasy ride around PE with one short stop before ours and we were checked in and in our room right around 1pm.

Because we are lucky enough to have several vacations planned this year, vacation days are tight for my husband. So it was either not do this 8 night cruise or, come in the morning of so we only had to use 5 vacation days. We went with flying in the morning of. Sooooo, would I do it again? If I could fly in the day before, I absolutely would. But that wasn't an option this time and I'm glad we were able to fly in the morning of and take the cruise. If circumstances were like this again, I absolutely would rent the car and find some fun ways to kill time. We ended up having a really fun morning.

Thanks for the detailed feedback - hope the rest of your cruise was just as fun. :D

Sounds like an awesome way to start your vacation, albeit a bit early in the AM! Glad you enjoyed Ft. Lauderdale, we appreciate you coming down here and spending some time with us!