We prepaid to use the Park N Go facility in Fort Lauderdale. It is by the Park N Fly and was considerably cheaper than parking at the port. I am extremely glad that we did and I will definitely use this again if we cruise from Fort Lauderdale. We arrived at the Park N Go and there were a lot of employees standing ready. They unloaded the luggage, asked what ship we were on and quickly showed us to a shuttle bus while they loaded the luggage. They kept the keys and parked the vehicle. It was closest to valet parking. The shuttle driver then stopped to feed some monkeys on property and to let us take pictures. He drove us right to the door of the terminal, loaded the luggage and motioned porters over. I cannot imagine any way that it could have been easier or smoother. I hope the pick up after the cruise is even half as good (sadly, it was not).

Once we got into the terminal, it was the madhouse you usually expect. There was a line to get through the first level of security where someone confirms you have a boarding pass and passport/birth certificate. There are no real signs to let you know which stage this is nor what is expected so for someone on their first cruise, this will be substantially confusing. The agents checking ID and boarding passes were not talkative or interested in being helpful and the line moved slow as people asked a lot of questions without understanding that it was not the time to ask about dinner reservations, cabin assignments or such.

After that station you were directed to one of several other lines to await your turn to go through metal detectors. Other than signs that laptops should be removed from your bag (which the agent then told you not to bother doing), there was no signage or explanation of what was prohibited. A lot of confusion as everyone asked one another and assorted agents what they were allowed or not allowed and still others confused it with TSA screening. Going through the metal detectors was even odder. My son was stopped and had to go through 5 times, removing more and more each time until it was determined that his wallet (which had no metal) was what was setting it off but of course no one explained why or anything. My brother in law was taken aside because of a multi-tool (pliers, etc.) in his luggage while my sister was carrying his pocket knife in her luggage and it was no problem. I guess there is terror in having someone with a pair of pliers for some reason. Most families in our party had at least one person who got pulled aside for odd reasons that were never clarified or explained but all eventually were cleared.

Then it was on to another line. The Carnival agents directed people to one of several lines but again there was no signage nor an explanation of the sorting criteria. I asked the agent and learned it depended on where your cabin was located since each line served a certain group of cabins. Very reasonable and it would have been helpful to post that so people in line would not speculate it was based on race, whim or any of the other wild theories I heard being passed around. Our agent was very nice and joked with us. Then it was time to board the ship. Once again, a lack of signage and directions was causing a lot of people to wander around uncertainly but we knew were we were going. One member of our party was a man in a wheelchair (who boarded before us since he arrived at the port early) and it took quite a bit before his wife was able to get someone to help push him up the steep ramp.

Day 7 - Debarkation

Debarkation was not as horrible as I thought it would be to at least get off of the boat. After we got our luggage, we had to get into a long line to await our turn to go through customs. Meanwhile, porters would break in and out of line (pulling their passengers with them). I understand the porters want to make as many trips as quickly as they can but for those of us staying in line and the porters who were following the rules, it is very annoying. As one tried to slip in front of me, I told him to please knock it off (Porter 316). He pretended it was an accident but the other passengers all thanked me for saying something. I noticed he eventually went through customs about 8 rows (90-100 people) ahead of me with his passengers so obviously others were less willing to speak up. I pointed it out to security who said it was not up to them but up to the cruise people. The cruise people of course thought it was a security issue. Finally a cruise person at the custom’s station seemed surprised that the porters were doing that and it was all I could do not to ask how long ago she lost her sight. I was a little angry at that point. She promised to look into it so I am reasonably sure she will do nothing and that you will also get to see porters pushing people around and breaking lines if you come through Port Everglades.