Trip to South America - Florida

With the trip coming up I wanted to let you know a bit about our pre cruise information and details.  I decided to write this blog before we left so I can link the hotel website, car rental, port details etc.

First we should start with the fact we are flying to Florida from Vancouver, yeah!!!  I can't remember the last time we flew from Vancouver to Florida.  Well I can remember it was when Princess use to do our air and they would put us up in a hotel the night prior for free.  That was like our 1st, 2nd and 3rd Princess cruise, and that was a long time ago.  But back then when Princess organized the flights we use to have to fly East to Toronto or Montreal then South to Florida.  We hated that itinerary, we encountered flight delays and missed connections because of this routing.  Soon we started planning our own flights and with that it was always more economical to fly out of Seattle.

So back to this trip.  

Quite a few months ago we booked this air with United.  We leave at 6:24 am and get into Fort Lauderdale around 5:30 pm, which is really 2:30 our time.  We have a one hour connection in Houston.

We decided to rent a car in Fort Lauderdale cause there are so many trips in port leaving that weekend that hotels were very expensive.  Hotels that we normally pay around $75 a night were asking over $200 a night.  I don't think so....  

So we booked a car for $15 a day thru Priceline and got Alamo, we decided to upgrade to a full size vehicle for a nominal fee since we will spend the next day with our friend Barb and Craig.  

We finally got a hotel that we were able to book thru Priceline about two months ago.  We knew because we had a car we could look further afield.

We won a bid at the Sheraton Suites Fort Lauderdale at Cypress Creek.  It is about a 12 minute drive from the pier.  We got it for $90 a night and that includes Wifi, and free parking and the rooms are very large with numerous amenities.

We have never stayed at this hotel before and I am sure it will do the trick for the two nights we are in Fort Lauderdale.

The next day Craig found an Everglades tour for just the four of us.  Everglades Safari Park is the company and we are going on a one hour private air boat ride for $250 total.

After the tour we will get some lunch and then head to a local Target to pick up some sundries that we will need for the long voyage.  We decided to not pack so many of the toilitries, but to buy then when we get there.  The list includes; moisturizer, shampoo, conditioner, sunscreen, hair mousse, bars of soap, wine and whatever else we feel the need we can't live without.

A nap will probably be in order and then evening will be a lovely night out with our friends to celebrate a wonderful Valentines Day.  Don't know yet where we are going but will post where we end up.

For embarkation day we will probably head to the pier and drop off our bags then head back out to meet up with a friend who is a comedian on board and will be getting off the Crown and then getting on the Ruby (sad we won't see him perform) but glad we will get to see him.  

We may look at trying to fit in a pedicure too this day.

We will take the car back to the airport and then catch Alamo's free shuttle back to the pier.  We are not in a rush to get on, I am okay with waiting till 2 or 3 to board.  Plus we will have 49 days to be on board so we can wait.

I hope you stay tuned to follow our adventures.  

And check out my Facebook Fan Page for more details and personal answers to your questions.  Cruising Princess Cruiseline With Vickie Page