Transport to Port Everglades Advice Needed

[GJH123]

There are 15,000+ people scheduled to depart within a two hour period on January 31st, which suggests major congestion. We will be departing from Terminal 25 which seems to be one of the farthest from the entrance. We had planned on a taxi, directly from the hotel, but now wondering if we should take a shuttle to avoid huge metered fare spent waiting to get into the port or to Terminal 25. Would appreciate anyone familiar with the port chiming in on whether this is a valid concern and/or recommendation for taxi or shuttle. Thanks so much for your help!

Edited December 21, 2015 by GJH123

[fishywood]

Most Saturdays and Sundays during the peak season have 7 or 8 ships with 20-22,000 total passengers; the various 'ship schedule' websites are frequently short a ship or two for Port Everglades. And most of those days all ships are scheduled to depart between 4:00 and 5:00. But sail away time is not really relevant to the peak rush of passengers checking in; check in at all terminals usually starts between 10:30-11:00 with the longest queues for boarding in the 12:00 hour.

 

Are you staying at a hotel in the 17 St area? Because while you are correct that Terminal 25 is not close to that port entrance, if you take a hotel-run or any other shared shuttle you could end up stopping at any or all of Terminals 2, 4, 18, 19, 21, or 26 first; the ship at 25 often uses a remote bag drop at 22/24 which you can see on the port map is at the very end of the road to the Midport Terminals. So even if the taxi meter runs equal or (unlikely) greater to the cost of two seats on the shuttle you are at least getting a direct ride to Terminal 25. You could ask the taxi driver to take you down Federal Hwy to the SR 84/SE 24 St entrance; might be faster, or you might get a driver who decides to spin you around in circles.

[LHT28]

if you do not need to be on the ship first I would just go a bit later to the port

We went at 1:30pm via taxi.... no waiting

 

jmo

[Keith1010]

You said you are going from ship to hotel then just take a taxi. Even if you wait a few minutes I don't see that being a big deal.

 

Keith

[CruiserBruce]

There are 15,000+ people scheduled to depart within a two hour period on January 31st, which suggests major congestion. We will be departing from Terminal 25 which seems to be one of the farthest from the entrance. We had planned on a taxi, directly from the hotel, but now wondering if we should take a shuttle to avoid huge metered fare spent waiting to get into the port or to Terminal 25. Would appreciate anyone familiar with the port chiming in on whether this is a valid concern and/or recommendation for taxi or shuttle. Thanks so much for your help!

 

The busiest day at Port Everglades is something on the order of 28,000 arriving, which means another 28,000 departing. Depends on which entrance you are talking about, but Terminal 29 is probably the furthest.

 

The Port is very familiar with handling large crowds, and does it very well.

 

Shuttle isn't a bad idea for the reason you state, as there can be a line at the gates.

Edited December 21, 2015 by CruiserBruce

[Eng23]

The one and only time I took a shuttle I stopped at 3 terminals before mine. Now I always take a taxi. From a 17th Street area hotel the taxi should be around $10-$15 and you go straight to your terminal and not take the grand tour.

[GJH123]

Thanks to everyone for the helpful information!

It sounds like the port is better equipped to handle the volume of passengers than I anticipated. I had imagined gridlock with traffic backed up for miles (visions of Lincoln Tunnel chaos). There was $20 difference between taxi and car service, may just go with that for the convenience and known fare.