change from Ft Lauderdale to disembark in Miami Nov 19--Oosterdam

[Stakeout]

this is a first for us in the 25 years we've been sailing HAL.. we're on 5 back to backs starting Sept 16 on the Oosterdam doing the Med then ending with a Transatlantic.. just got this in an email from HAL this morning that our Nov 19 disembarkation and final port has changed from Ft Lauderdale to Miami.. NO reason given.. it's NOT where I wanted to be..  just added much inconvenience for us at least since we are not flying but rather doing a 1-way car rental..

***********************************************************************************************

Please be advised that disembarkation for your upcoming Oosterdam voyage on
Saturday, November 19, 2022 will now take place in Miami, Florida rather than
Fort Lauderdale, Florida as previously advised. Port Miami is located at 1015
North America Way, Miami, Florida, 33132. Guests with a Holland America Line
post-cruise hotel package or transfer will be taken directly from their hotel
or the airport to the pier. Guests with independent transfer arrangements
should adjust their plans accordingly.
The ship will now arrive in Miami at 6:00 AM rather than 7:00 AM to allow time
for transfers to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), so
existing air schedules do not need to be adjusted. For guests with Holland
America Line's Flight Ease Air, we have lifted your flights from your booking
to adjust the itinerary in our system, and they will be available again after

September 19

Edited August 24, 2022 by Stakeout

[doone]

WOW, I have never known HAL to dock in Miami, wonder why?

[Stakeout]

Nov 19 is a Saturday unfortunately and should be busy in Port Everglades.. why the change.. this should be a good one.. much rather get in to port on a weekday down that way.. it's usually a 'zoo' on the weekends..

[Heartgrove]

11 minutes ago, Stakeout said:

this is a first for us in the 25 years we've been sailing HAL.. we're on 5 back to backs starting Sept 16 on the Oosterdam doing the Med then ending with a Transatlantic.. just got this in an email from HAL this morning that our Nov 19 disembarkation and final port has changed from Ft Lauderdale to Miami.. NO reason given.. it's NOT where I wanted to be..  just added much inconvenience for us at least since we are not flying but rather doing a 1-way car rental..

***********************************************************************************************

Please be advised that disembarkation for your upcoming Oosterdam voyage on
Saturday, November 19, 2022 will now take place in Miami, Florida rather than
Fort Lauderdale, Florida as previously advised. Port Miami is located at 1015
North America Way, Miami, Florida, 33132. Guests with a Holland America Line
post-cruise hotel package or transfer will be taken directly from their hotel
or the airport to the pier. Guests with independent transfer arrangements
should adjust their plans accordingly.
The ship will now arrive in Miami at 6:00 AM rather than 7:00 AM to allow time
for transfers to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), so
existing air schedules do not need to be adjusted. For guests with Holland
America Line's Flight Ease Air, we have lifted your flights from your booking
to adjust the itinerary in our system, and they will be available again after

September 19

 

We are on the same cruise aboard the Oosterdam that is now arriving in Miami. You should be able to change your car rental reservation to a Miami location.

[Nodakboiler]

We are on cruise as well- have air reservations from both MIA and FLL- which is recommended by those in the know? Being the Saturday before Thanksgiving probably doesn't help!

[KAKcruiser]

Wow.  I've never heard of this.  I bet Port Everglades has no room for them to dock. 

[Nodakboiler]

There are at least 6 cruise ships in each port that day according to cruise mapper!

 

[Ibis]

We are scheduled to arrive in Fort Lauderdale the same day,  November 19, on a transatlantic on Volendam. We certainly hope our arrival port will not be changed to Miami as well. HAL’s changing the arrival port to Miami is very disappointing as well as inconvenient. For us, one of HAL big pluses is that sailings go in and out of Fort Lauderdale. We will be on Oosterdam in the Mediterranean prior to the transatlantic and certainly glad we decided to go for Volendam for the crossing. Fingers crossed our arrival port remains Fort Lauderdale.

[rafinmd]

5 minutes ago, Ibis said:

We are scheduled to arrive in Fort Lauderdale the same day,  November 19, on a transatlantic on Volendam. We certainly hope our arrival port will not be changed to Miami as well. HAL’s changing the arrival port to Miami is very disappointing as well as inconvenient. For us, one of HAL big pluses is that sailings go in and out of Fort Lauderdale. We will be on Oosterdam in the Mediterranean prior to the transatlantic and certainly glad we decided to go for Volendam for the crossing. Fingers crossed our arrival port remains Fort Lauderdale.

I think it will.  I think the reason Oosterdam was moved rather than you is that Oosterdam's next cruise is a one-way from South Florida to San Diego while Volendam's is a round trip to the Amazon.  If they were to leave Miami and return to Ft. Lauderdale that would be even more of a logistical nightmare.

 

Roy

[Ibis]

Roy,

Thanks so much for that viewpoint; makes sense and hope it holds true! Thank you for your reply. I follow and enjoy your posts here as well as on Crystal. Beautiful sunrise photos. Smooth sailing!

[kazu]

1 hour ago, KAKcruiser said:

Wow.  I've never heard of this.  I bet Port Everglades has no room for them to dock. 

 

The last time I checked there were only 5 cruise ships in FLL.  I will have to go look.  Volendam (assuming she sails) is still scheduled for FLL.  

 

Checked and now there are only 4.  I don’t know what is going on and HAL gave us no explanation whatsoever.

 

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, rafinmd said:

one-way from South Florida to San Diego

At the end of the Panama Canal, it is left hand down for San Antonio/Santiago and then South America until April. 

[Florida_gal_50]

Oh that totally sucks.  I would not be happy.

[kazu]

and let’s keep this in perspective - final payment is before September 6th and Flight Ease flights are being “lifted” until September 19th.

Flight ease might change to Miami flights and they may not.  Flight Ease is a mess right now and the delays are atrocious.  (I did not use Flight Ease but lots of people did).  I feel for those that did use Flight Ease.

 

Earlier notice without final payment looming and giving people a chance to plan would have been nice. I had the flexibility to do it - but not everyone does.

[0106]

2 hours ago, Nodakboiler said:

 

We are on cruise as well- have air reservations from both MIA and FLL- which is recommended by those in the know?

 

I changed my Southwest flight on the 19th from FLL to MIA.  It was $100 cheaper to fly from MIA.

 

I booked my flight to Barcelona with flight ease because it was much cheaper than any other one way flights I could find.  I haven’t given them any money yet, nothing is due until 9/6.  I am hoping for a direct flight from the US to Barcelona, really want to avoid the connection mess at the European airports.

[Crusin-Suzan]

2 hours ago, Ibis said:

We are scheduled to arrive in Fort Lauderdale the same day,  November 19, on a transatlantic on Volendam. We certainly hope our arrival port will not be changed to Miami as well. HAL’s changing the arrival port to Miami is very disappointing as well as inconvenient. For us, one of HAL big pluses is that sailings go in and out of Fort Lauderdale. We will be on Oosterdam in the Mediterranean prior to the transatlantic and certainly glad we decided to go for Volendam for the crossing. Fingers crossed our arrival port remains Fort Lauderdale.

Also on this cruise!   Driving to port do can adjust!  But hope it’s still out of FLL

[Stakeout]

2 hours ago, rafinmd said:

I think it will.  I think the reason Oosterdam was moved rather than you is that Oosterdam's next cruise is a one-way from South Florida to San Diego while Volendam's is a round trip to the Amazon.  If they were to leave Miami and return to Ft. Lauderdale that would be even more of a logistical nightmare.

 

Roy

we thought about extending and were going to stay onboard after our 5 B2B's on the Oosterdam as we get back on Nov 19.. but decided against it..  its next cruise goes to South America-- Santiago, Chile-- thru the Canal from Ft Lauderdale-- now it is showing a 'blank' port  so it should just leave from the newly added Miami port that day---no San Diego--- and bounces back and forth between Chile and Buenos Aires thru the winter

[Stakeout]

2 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

 

We are on the same cruise aboard the Oosterdam that is now arriving in Miami. You should be able to change your car rental reservation to a Miami location.

already changed to Miami car rental.. just a lot more convenient for us to do it out of Ft Lauderdale.. we try to avoid anything near Miami.. only 25 miles difference but sometimes a nitemare before our 11+ hour drive home

[rafinmd]

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

The last time I checked there were only 5 cruise ships in FLL.  I will have to go look.  Volendam (assuming she sails) is still scheduled for FLL.  

 

Checked and now there are only 4.  I don’t know what is going on and HAL gave us no explanation whatsoever.

 

Celebrity Apex

Celebrity Infinity

Odyssey OTS

Enchanted Princess

Sky Princess

Nieuw Amsterdam

Volendam

 

Plus, the Bahamas ferry has been moved from a dock next to the draw bridge to one of the regular cruise terminals.

 

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/fromfortlauderdaleflorida-19nov2022.html

 

Can't figure out why HAL didn't realize this sooner.  I was lucky that Eurodam's return was delayed to November 20 several months ago to give us time to adjust.

 

Roy

[kazu]

26 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

Celebrity Apex

Celebrity Infinity

Odyssey OTS

Enchanted Princess

Sky Princess

Nieuw Amsterdam

Volendam

 

Plus, the Bahamas ferry has been moved from a dock next to the draw bridge to one of the regular cruise terminals.

 

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/fromfortlauderdaleflorida-19nov2022.html

 

Can't figure out why HAL didn't realize this sooner.  I was lucky that Eurodam's return was delayed to November 20 several months ago to give us time to adjust.

 

Roy

 

Thanks.  I went into cruise time tables and only saw 4 (not counting us). Stange.

I think figuring it out earlier is the whole issue.  Should have happened long ago.  We’ve already been advised of change in our turnaround and disembarkation port for next year - IJmuiden (sp?) Instead of Rotterdam.  Not sure why this took so long.

 

Of course HAL can change  ports but less than 2 weeks from final payment is a bit disconcerting when people need seats on planes 😔 

[oakridger]

The good thing about a switch from FLL to Miami or vice versa is that it's not too difficult or time consuming to get transportation to either airport.  In November I arrive in Port Everglades on Rotterdam but fly out of MIA because there is a nonstop from MIA to SFO.  I'm taking the HAL shuttle to MIA.

 

It's good that HAL is offering a shuttle from Miami port back to FLL for anyone who is flying out of there.  No need to rebook flights unless you really want to.

 

~Nancy

[Suncitycruiser1925]

Interested in a HAL shuttle from Port Everglades to  Miami if there is one? What is the shuttle like?  A van? Cost?  How do you book it?  Sailing out of Port Everglades and returning there, but booked a direct flight out of Miami the day after our ship returns because we can't make the Saturday flight.  Any hotel recommendations near Miami Airport?  Thanks in a advance.

[oakridger]

Check also on the "Florida Departures" forum here on Cruise Critic for options.

 

I'm staying at the Hampton at MIA Airport South at Blue Lagoon the night of disembarkation and fly the next day.

 

On my cruise HAL is offering several shore excursion combo transfers from PE to MIA. I'm using part of the HIA excursion credit for the transfer which includes a drive though Miami with a short stop to the airport. There are a few options under shore excursions.  HAL probably also has a transfer only, usually in a bus.  

This example is $54.95 per adult. ->

 

"About the Excursion

 

Enjoy the magic of Miami on this fascinating city highlights tour.

Cross the McArthur Causeway with a view of the cruise terminal, as your guide points out homes of the rich and famous along the route.

Don't miss the South Beach Art Deco district -- an iconic Miami landmark -- and a stop for photos at the Versace Mansion. Your guide points out many details that lend the South Beach area its singular character.

Watch for the Wynwood Walls -- a vast array of one-of-a-kind street art.

No trip to Miami is complete without a stop in Little Havana, with its rich Cuban vibe, food and music. You'll have time on your own here to purchase a snack (at your own expense) or browse in the stores. Yes, Cuban cigars are sold here!

Your tour ends with a transfer to Miami International Airport ."

 

 

[CruiseCruiseCruise13]

5 hours ago, 0106 said:

I changed my Southwest flight on the 19th from FLL to MIA.  It was $100 cheaper to fly from MIA.

 

I booked my flight to Barcelona with flight ease because it was much cheaper than any other one way flights I could find.  I haven’t given them any money yet, nothing is due until 9/6.  I am hoping for a direct flight from the US to Barcelona, really want to avoid the connection mess at the European airports.

We flew to Barcelona from the west coast at the end of May and connected through Toronto. Not sure where you’re flying from, but perhaps that’s be an option to avoid a Europe connection (we booked through flightease too). I would avoid Heathrow if possible, especially if you’re checking luggage. 

[Crazy For Cats]

10 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Celebrity Apex

Celebrity Infinity

Odyssey OTS

Enchanted Princess

Sky Princess

Nieuw Amsterdam

Volendam

 

Plus, the Bahamas ferry has been moved from a dock next to the draw bridge to one of the regular cruise terminals.

 

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/fromfortlauderdaleflorida-19nov2022.html

 

Can't figure out why HAL didn't realize this sooner.  I was lucky that Eurodam's return was delayed to November 20 several months ago to give us time to adjust.

 

Roy

Roy, I’ll be on the NA and we are scheduled to return to FLL on November 20.  Hoping that hasn’t changed.