Port Everglades - oh the joy...

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

(Summary: Just make sure to arrive by noon, I'd guess!)

 

Due to a last minute complication, we got a late start from our Sunday morning drive from our home (near Pt Canaveral) and arrived at the port close to 1. It probably took 15 additional minutes (extraordinarily long line of cars blacked up at #29) to get to the luggage drop off. I left Cheryl there with our carry-on and headed over to the Palm Garage, since the Reflection is unfortunately at pier #29 and thus does not have any parking.

 

Once I arrived at the Palm Garage, I discovered that it was full. I was given very poor (hurried, because he's going to need to tell everyone behind you the same thing and it was raining!) directions to another garage (Northport). Well, a couple of wrong/U-turns later I was parking. It was now 1:40 and I walked down to level 1 where I discovered chaos at the spot to catch the shuttle. There was easily 100 people in a shuttle waiting line - to take them to their respective terminals.

 

 

There were no shuttles for several minutes, and some people were getting concerned regarding their departure times. Shuttles finally started arriving, and I was in line on perhaps the fourth or fifth. Just as I was about to step on, a bus arrived specifically for Royal and Celebrity. By that time I decided to keep with the shuttle I was already in line for, as it was about to depart and I figured it would take some time to load up a bus, and all the luggage some people hadn't bothered to check! I was fortunate as the Reflection ended up being the first stop on that shuttle (just a few of us), with the bulk of the passengers heading to other ships (mainly HAL from what I could overhear).

 

Inside the terminal, it was decidedly disorganized.

 

I've never cared for Pot Everglades, and this whole mess did nothing to change that!

 

Tom

 

 

[marieps]

Sorry for your trouble.  We always reserve parking off-site.  Usually use Park N Fly but will be at Park N Go on Eller Dr. next month.  Hope your cruise is wonderful.  We were on Reflection a year ago at 10% capacity and it was magical. 

[MarKay525]

Tom - watched you sail away last night. Your trip has definitely had a rough start, so things can only improve!!!

Hope you really enjoy the rest of your cruise - nice sea day today to unwind and several interesting ports ahead (if one can believe cruisetimetables.com).

[NutsAboutGolf]

What's it like inside the terminal?  Been there 8 times since the restart but have never parked there.  Never noticed any problem inside.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

4 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

What's it like inside the terminal?  Been there 8 times since the restart but have never parked there.  Never noticed any problem inside.

 

It's as if they have no protocol for suite guest check-ins. Of course, it was after 2 pm by this time, so perhaps they were "over it", don't know! Once we entered the terminal (directed to the regular line until I noticed the suite line), we were misdirected twice and led around to two different check-in people. One had checked me in while we were in the "suite waiting area", and they took us to someone else to check Cheryl in. Just odd and disjointed, no smooth flow!

 

Tom

[TeaBag]

So sorry for such a stressful start to your cruise.  I hope it gets much better on the ship.

Here I've always been envious of you folk who can drive to the port in Florida while we have 2 long flights!

[Silkroad]

That photo says it all! I’m sorry you had such a trying start to your cruise. I hope the rest of your holiday is wonderful. Thanks for the heads up about potential challenges at the port. We’re driving to the port next week (three day drive) because we’ve had too many airline issues since last autumn. We drive whenever possible these days. We had envisioned cruising into the port and the Palm garage like we did earlier this year. Guess we’d better have a backup plan.

Edited November 21, 2022 by Silkroad

[deliver42]

I agree about Port everglades. It's a mess. Give me Miami anytime.

[cbfb]

Totally agree. We drive from Bradenton so Ft Lauderdale is easier to get to but that’s it. Miami any day!!! 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

1 hour ago, deliver42 said:

I agree about Port everglades. It's a mess. Give me Miami anytime.

My vote is for Port Canaveral, though I might be just a tad biased!

[Jeremiah1212]

Rain always throws things into chaos. We debarked during very light sprinkle at FLL and by the way people were acting you would have thought we were in a full monsoon.

 

Top that off with the peoples newly found irrational fear of checking bags and it's easy to see why the shuttles are so backed up. 

[WNcruiser]

We just used PE a few weeks ago and it was a breeze. From the car in the Palm garage, dropping the bags and in to security in about 5 minutes. That was just before 11 AM. 
 

Miami is a completely confusing mess last two cruises out of there. I think the OP might be taking out his frustration on being late out on the port. Lesson is get there early! 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

12 minutes ago, WNcruiser said:

We just used PE a few weeks ago and it was a breeze. From the car in the Palm garage, dropping the bags and in to security in about 5 minutes. That was just before 11 AM. 
 

Miami is a completely confusing mess last two cruises out of there. I think the OP might be taking out his frustration on being late out on the port. Lesson is get there early! 

Trust me, I tried to get there early. Unforeseen circumstances caused us to get to the port late. But, after getting there, it was obvious that there was insufficient facilities there to accommodate the ships

[CruisinNole]

1 hour ago, WNcruiser said:

We just used PE a few weeks ago and it was a breeze. From the car in the Palm garage, dropping the bags and in to security in about 5 minutes. That was just before 11 AM. 
 

Miami is a completely confusing mess last two cruises out of there. 

I agree. We cruised out of PE in August and it was so easy. We dropped the bags off first and had no issues parking. We don't cruise out of Miami if we can help it. "Mess" is a perfect description.

[SRQbeachgirl]

We were planning to drive over from Sarasota the morning of our Reflection cruise, but your report is making me second guess that plan. May think about driving over the night before just to keep myself from getting stressed out.

[RedneckBob]

PE was a mess on Sunday due to wind and rain in the morning, very heavy when we disembarked at 9:45 am. The traffic to and from the port was terrible and I expect this carried over to the afternoon with six ships in port. Our family waited an hour for a shuttle bus to the airport and just made their 11:30 am flight after leaving ship at 9 am. It was all about the weather. As far as the parking garage it appeared to be full when we docked. Never seen the top open deck with so many cars parked.

[PTC DAWG]

Never had an issue at Port Everglades.,5+ cruises from there. 

[flviking]

We have had many simple PE arrive/departs. I think the issue is that Reflection was at a remote terminal. No parking and not walking distance from the nearest garage back to the terminal. Especially in bad weather.  When we have had parking near our terminal its been easy. Remote terminals and too few shuttle buses are a totally different animal. We will find out on Sunday as Reflection is again scheduled for a remote terminal (29) as Beyond is at 25.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

3 minutes ago, flviking said:

We have had many simple PE arrive/departs. I think the issue is that Reflection was at a remote terminal. No parking and not walking distance from the nearest garage back to the terminal. Especially in bad weather.  When we have had parking near our terminal its been easy. Remote terminals and too few shuttle buses are a totally different animal. We will find out on Sunday as Reflection is again scheduled for a remote terminal (29) as Beyond is at 25.

 

I was told by someone at check-in, when I asked about the "coming renovations" (or similar) poster in the terminal that the plan is to demo and rebuild. I can't help but think that the rebuild will include onsite parking. It was obvious from the ship that there was a parking area (2 level?) there, but zero cars were using it. Perhaps it was deemed unsafe or something? It was odd seeing it totally unused.

 

When we sailed on the Reflection in February, the ship had drawn the same short straw (terminal 29). I was holding out hope that this season it would NOT be at 29 again... darn it!

 

Absolutely the weather had a impact on that day, but it's obvious that Port Everglades simply does not have ample parking, even for those later arriving souls at any terminal. Time to invest some $'s, but it will take years to see these changes.

 

At least Pt Canaveral seems able to build ample parking for their terminals - perhaps explaining their rise through the ranks over time!   LINK

 

 

Tom

[RedneckBob]

Just now, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

I was told by someone at check-in, when I asked about the "coming renovations" (or similar) poster in the terminal that the plan is to demo and rebuild. I can't help but think that the rebuild will include onsite parking. It was obvious from the ship that there was a parking area (2 level?) there, but zero cars were using it. Perhaps it was deemed unsafe or something? It was odd seeing it totally unused.

 

When we sailed on the Reflection in February, the ship had drawn the same short straw (terminal 29). I was holding out hope that this season it would NOT be at 29 again... darn it!

 

Absolutely the weather had a impact on that day, but it's obvious that Port Everglades simply does not have ample parking, even for those later arriving souls at any terminal. Time to invest some $'s, but it will take years to see these changes.

 

At least Pt Canaveral seems able to build ample parking for their terminals - perhaps explaining their rise through the ranks over time!   LINK

 

 

Tom

The garage is terrible. How about those elevators that can handle three people and bags at a time. And you are lucky if all three elevators are working and parking payment machines are working. Recently only one of those machines working in garage.

[Saturngrl]

I did the parking garage at PE on my 1st Celebrity cruise.  That confirmed my decision to use ParknGo from then on.  I've used ParknGo for the last four cruises out of PE and love them!  

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

2 minutes ago, Saturngrl said:

I did the parking garage at PE on my 1st Celebrity cruise.  That confirmed my decision to use ParknGo from then on.  I've used ParknGo for the last four cruises out of PE and love them!  

 

I'm starting to think, at this port at least ( ! ), that such an option might be a good call. In general, provided good quality/ample onsite parking, I prefer to park at the port. Thus being able to avoid shuttles all together. 

 

Port Everglades also stands out as (one sailing) where we woke up on debarkation morning, looked out from our balcony - only to find that we returned to a different terminal. That was a fun surprise (shuttle again). 

 

Yes, first world problems no doubt !

 

Tom

[awhcruiser]

Why not drive down the day before and save all the stress?

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, RedneckBob said:

The garage is terrible. How about those elevators that can handle three people and bags at a time. And you are lucky if all three elevators are working and parking payment machines are working. Recently only one of those machines working in garage.

I always drop bags with porters before parking. That said, at this port, I’m usually in a cab or Uber. Very simple that way. 

Edited November 22, 2022 by PTC DAWG

[marieps]

1 hour ago, Saturngrl said:

I did the parking garage at PE on my 1st Celebrity cruise.  That confirmed my decision to use ParknGo from then on.  I've used ParknGo for the last four cruises out of PE and love them!  

This is great to hear.