What time are porters available at Port Everglades

[Mara4166]

Does anyone know how early we can drop off bags at port everglades?  In the past we have left a bag or two at our hotel during the cruise (lots of pre cruise land travel and shopping while in the US which does not need to be brought on cruise).  When we checked into our hotel last night, the hotel indicated they will no longer keep any bags for us while we are away so we need to bring all of them with us.

 

We are thinking of taking our rental car over to the port early on the 12th to drop off bags and then go out to breakfast and return the rental car with only our carry-on luggage.  We have only left bags as we arrived to board so am not certain how early we can leave them

[capriccio]

I know Port Everglades recommends arriving "after 11:30 to avoid traffic" but doesn't mention luggage handling.  Don't forget that the porters are busy with passengers and luggage disembarking your ship until 9:30 or 10 am.  What time is check-out at your hotel?  Assuming it is 11 or 12 you could still go out to breakfast early and then return to collect your luggage and check-out of the hotel.

[skynight]

Maybe 10 or 10:30. If you arrive too early you could get mixed up in the shuffle with those disembarking which goes until around 10am. Usually hotel check out is around noon. Why not return the rental car after breakfast then take a cab to the pier. The cab ride is only about 15/20 minutes. 

[carefreebee]

For our Enchanted cruise last February we arrived a few minutes before 10:00am and a team of porters were ready and waiting. 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, carefreebee said:

For our Enchanted cruise last February we arrived a few minutes before 10:00am and a team of porters were ready and waiting. 

I have been at a PE terminal by 9:30am - perhaps even a bit sooner - and porters were there with the carts.  The ship is cleared of luggage before then.  I wouldn't be surprised if you could drop bags at 8:00am (but don't quote me on that).  For sure you can show up early at T2.

[JimmyVWine]

8 hours ago, Mara4166 said:

We are thinking of taking our rental car over to the port early on the 12th to drop off bags and then go out to breakfast and return the rental car with only our carry-on luggage.

I'm not sure I understand the logistical problem here.  Why would it be easier and preferable to drive to the port to drop off luggage early, then go out to breakfast, and then return to the port with only carry-on baggage as opposed to simply going to breakfast with all your bags in the rental car, then return the rental car and then take the bus from the rental car center to the port?  (Or a taxi as suggested above). The bus (or taxi) will drop you off literally into the arms of the porters.  The only point in time when you would have to "lug" your luggage would be from the point where you take leave of the car to the point where you board the bus (or taxi), and an airport luggage trolley will solve your problem if you have too much to carry.  Seems like that is way easier than driving into PE early in the morning, and then driving back out again.   

[Mara4166]

13 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I'm not sure I understand the logistical problem here.  Why would it be easier and preferable to drive to the port to drop off luggage early, then go out to breakfast, and then return to the port with only carry-on baggage as opposed to simply going to breakfast with all your bags in the rental car, then return the rental car and then take the bus from the rental car center to the port?  (Or a taxi as suggested above). The bus (or taxi) will drop you off literally into the arms of the porters.  The only point in time when you would have to "lug" your luggage would be from the point where you take leave of the car to the point where you board the bus (or taxi), and an airport luggage trolley will solve your problem if you have too much to carry.  Seems like that is way easier than driving into PE early in the morning, and then driving back out again.   

Our rental car is to and from the airport.  Maybe Fort Lauderdale is different, but most airports I have been to, you need to take a shuttle from the rental car location to the terminal.  Dragging a bunch of bags onto and off of the shuttle to then get a taxi is a pain.  Much easier to drop off at the port and then just deal with carry-ons to get back to the port.

 

our hotel is very close to PE (17th street) so we drive by the port to get back to the airport.

[JimmyVWine]

3 minutes ago, Mara4166 said:

Our rental car is to and from the airport.  Maybe Fort Lauderdale is different, but most airports I have been to, you need to take a shuttle from the rental car location to the terminal.  Dragging a bunch of bags onto and off of the shuttle to then get a taxi is a pain.  Much easier to drop off at the port and then just deal with carry-ons to get back to the port.

 

our hotel is very close to PE (17th street) so we drive by the port to get back to the airport.

Unless it has changed in the past two years, the rental cars (for the major brands) at FLL are right there in the airport parking garage.  No shuttle. 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[Buckeye10640]

6 hours ago, Mara4166 said:

Our rental car is to and from the airport.  Maybe Fort Lauderdale is different, but most airports I have been to, you need to take a shuttle from the rental car location to the terminal.  Dragging a bunch of bags onto and off of the shuttle to then get a taxi is a pain.  Much easier to drop off at the port and then just deal with carry-ons to get back to the port.

 

our hotel is very close to PE (17th street) so we drive by the port to get back to the airport.

I can tell you in March I returned a rental car to FLL airport and took a taxi to Port Everglades. You can just go down from the car rental  garage to arrivals area of the airport. Easily walkable with a normal amount of luggage, maybe more challenging if you have many bags. But you definitely dont  have to shuttle between rental car return and the airport. 

[candy4040]

For any of you leaving out of Fort Lauderdale and sailing on the Sky, I just received notification from Princess that we will be embarking at 3:30 PM rather than 4PM and that is for all Sky departures in February.  We're on the entire month of February.  

 

[Mara4166]

Thank you everyone for the information about the porters.  Nice to hear there is no rental car shuttle to deal with.

 

we have a large number of bags due to bringing gifts from the UK to my family in the US and will refill that space with some shopping while here.  We will probably try to drop off the bags on the way to the car return.