villa and cruise

[Cottons]

hi everyone,

we are considering a cruise from ft lauderdale in august 2008 but thought about staying in a villa for the week before, we were wondering what the drive time from orlando to ft lauderdale is and if anyone has experience of a dual based holiday in orlanda/cruise.

does anyone have any recommendations baout alternative locations with villas other than orlando and is there a complimentary website operated with the same integrity as this one ?

thanks for your help in advance

Mark and Tracy Cotton

[another]

We have done a week in Orlando, week in Ft Lauderdale and then a cruise. I think the drive time was approximately 3 - 31/2 hours. I would consider getting to Fort Lauderdale the day before the cruise and maybe stay in a hotel for the night so that you are in the right place early!! You never know what might hold you up on the journey!

[Peppermint]

Another option might be to look at the gulf coast villas on this site by following the links at the top of the page so that you could stay there for a week and then book a cruise from Tampa.

[DaveL]

We have done this and the drive to the car hire drop off is about 3 hours with breaking the speed limits. However the time from the car hire to the dock where your ship is can be an hour and a half. I know this as it happened to us.

We had taken the precaution of arriving at 12:00 for a 2:00pm embarkation and 6:00pm departure. Now one of the things you can do is arrive even earlier, most of the cruise lines will let you start to board around 11:00am. You cannot go to your cabin but you can have lunch and relax on the deck.

If your ship is leaving on one of the busy days when maybe 12 others are also leaving the number of cars and coaches trying to get through the dock check point is high. The sheer volume of traffic just causes a hold up.

I would not go to the bother of getting a hotel as you will just be hanging around your single room with nothing to do. Just make sure that you leave the Orlando area by 8:00am and I think you will have no problems.

Dave

[dawn]

You could also get a cruise from Port Canaveral - that way it is only about 1 and half hour to drive, and depending how long the cruise will be you could keep your villa as the base and not have to take all your clothes etc

[mizzy]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by dawn
You could also get a cruise from Port Canaveral - that way it is only about 1 and half hour to drive, and depending how long the cruise will be you could keep your villa as the base and not have to take all your clothes etc
[/quote]

we've gone for this option

yes i'm sure you're all sick of hearing it over and over but cannot help myself as i'm soooo excited

so for those who don't know and believe me there's not many who don't[msnembarrased] i'll say it again

we're going on a disney cruise

and i'm this excited

[ellie]

Hi Mark and Tracey

We often combine a trip to our villa with a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale, and this port offers the widest choice of cruises available (apart from Miami).

Fort Lauderdale is approx 208 miles from Orlando, so if you stay in the legal limit - and I would not suggest otherwise as they are strict about this - then you would need to keep a constant 70 miles an hour to do it in 3 hours - which is unlikely due to road works etc on the way. There are different speed limits in certain places along the Florida Turnpike, and traffic also gets heavier south of Boca Raton so I would certainly allow more than this to do it comfortably. You will probably need to stop off on the way to stretch your legs and have some refreshments, especially if you have children, and there are very good service areas at approximately 40 mile intervals.

Once you come off the Turnpike to get to the port you will also need to allow more time as obviously you cannot do 70 miles an hour on local roads. You will have to drop your hire car off at Fort Lauderdale International airport, which is actually a short drive away from the port, but it does take time to do this, and on a busy day when lots of ships are leaving at the same time then waiting for the free shuttle from the airport can take ages. We don't usually bother and just walk across to the terminal and take a taxi which is much easier. If you wait for the free shuttle they have to drop off at other ships on the way so you can be ages.

The reason why it can take a long time to get into the port is that they have security on the gate and every person has to show their passport before being allowed inside the dock area. So if there are large numbers of cars and buses queuing up at peak times it can take an hour to get through. This also impacts on the free shuttles going to and from the airport to the dock as if they are held up in a queue for an hour then they will be late returning to the airport, and you may well stand around waiting for them to arrive - and then there are more people waiting than can get on the buses.

I would certainly advise going down the night before and spending a relaxing evening knowing that you are only a short distance away from the port, and that whatever happens you will not miss the ship. Should anything unexpected happen on the journey and you are delayed on the day then the ship will not wait for you, and there is no sadder sight than that of your cruise ship sailing away into the sunset without you! It also means that you can get on the ship earlier the next day as you will be only a short taxi ride away. We usually drop the car off the night before and book a taxi to take us to the port in the morning as this saves a huge amount of time and hassle. Many hotels offer free shuttles to the port, too. Whilst the cruise lines advise you that embarkation is from early afternoon, in fact they will let you on earlier, and it is great to be on the ship early before everyone boards. You will be offered a lovely lunch and can sit and relax in the sunshine before the ship sails - usually around 5.00 pm.

If you want to combine a stay in Orlando with a cruise then you will find some wonderful villas available from these sites. There is so much to do and see in the Orlando area that I am sure you will find it a great base before your cruise. Of course, there are also villas available on the Gulf Coast which you can find out about on the Orlando Villas site, so this might also be an option if you don't want to stay in Orlando this time. These Gulf villas will, of course, be validated as they are all part of the OV family of sites.

Have fun!

[Cottons]

Thanks everyone, we will probably fly into Miami (for us its about £1200 cheaper), the cruise we think we've about settled on will leave from port canaveral, which i assume is right near cape canaveral. does anyone know how where i shold drop a hire car off and how i might get back to miami for the flight home ?

thanks Mark