Fort Lauderdale and our Allure Cruise 4-28-13

[Arizona Laura]

My experience in FLL pre-Allure cruise April 28th.

 

We flew on US Airways to Fort Lauderdale, collected our bags and waited out in line for a taxi. There was a young man assisting in getting passengers and taxis hooked up. The first taxi would not take us for we were not going far enough and he got frustrated starting to put all our luggage in the van. There were four of us. There were verbal exchanges between the taxi driver and this airport employee with a call to some supervisor. Eventually we were set up with a taxi. Our taxi driver informed us that the taxi drivers want the long routes to Miami not hotels 5 minutes from the airport.

 

The Hyatt Pier 66 was fine for a pre-cruise hotel. Good port view from the balcony of a tower room. Make sure to call and specify you want to face the port but of course you will pay more for a tower room. I made my reservations with the in-house reservationist not an 800 # or on-line.

 

We had dinner at Pelican Landing behind the hotel. The hotel staff took us over in their golf cart but after promising to return to get us they never did. This was after 2 calls from the restaurant including the manager. I called the hotel myself but after 15 minutes I hung up for no one ever came back on the line. I have some medical issues and it was a very painful walk back to the hotel. The food at Pelican Landing is not cheap but it was good. We all landed up getting hamburgers and you could sit and look at the marina while eating. Very pleasant after a long plane ride.

 

On Saturday morning we had a great breakfast at La Bonne Crepe. We had pre-aranged reservations for 9am for our group. Would definitely recommend it... 815 E. Las Olas Blvd.

 

http://www.labonnecrepe.com/

 

 

Most of the group then walked to where we were to go on the Carrie B Tour.

It was a great way to spend the morning after breakfast .

A 1.5 hour fully narrated sightseeing cruises of Fort Lauderdale’s yachts and homes of the rich and famous traveling on the New River, the Intracoastal Waterway, and Port Everglades

 

http://www.carriebcruises.com/

 

 

Saturday afternoon at the Hyatt and the Oasis..

 

Saturday eve we all had reservations at the Bimini Boatyard for dinner. The food was good and there was entertainment.

A few of our fellow Az Cruisers walked across the bridge after dinner back to the hotel but Lisa was hit by a bicyclist. She did land up in the ER and still has a wound and dealing with the aftermath but she did get to go on the cruise..wound-dizzy-headaches. I would think twice about walking across the bridge esp after dark.

 

http://www.biminiboatyard.com/index.cfm?myPath=content/menu.cfm&sub=menu

 

 

We had breakfast at the hotel buffet early Sunday morning then prepared for our ride to the terminal.

We used South Florida Elites Shuttle. They picked 15 of us up in several vans and it was a smooth quick ride to the terminal for 10.00pp plus tip. They were punctual and professional.

 

http://www.southfloridaeliteshuttle.com/

 

BTW we loved the Allure. Would not hesitate cruising on her again.

I just threw this quick review together to get you some ideas of a few places in Fort Lauderdale we had been to.

 

Laura

[Keith1010]

Thanks for sharing this.

 

Keith

[BlueHerons]

Great report, thanks for sharing.