Feb 23: Cruise Views

Fort Lauderdale is all about boats. Of all sizes, including boats so big that people look at you funny if you call them boats. Nautical nitpickers, of course, call them ships and are only too happy to tell you the difference. I was thinking about all this over the weekend as I made my way around our city. First, I found myself parked at one of the many drawbridges for several minutes - maybe 20 cars backed up in both directions for a single sailboat to slowly drift by. That says something, though I'm not absolutely sure what. Then I sat in my favorite little park and watched the passing water parade of megayachts and small speedboats, water taxis and tourboats all motoring along the New River. And finally, on a beautiful afternoon, I drove over the 17^th Street bridge and noticed perhaps a half dozen cruise ships preparing to leave Port Everglades.

Yes, Fort Lauderdale is all about boats. And many people visit us for the first time on one of those very big boats, uh, ships. Port Everglades is among the top cruise ports in the world, with thousands of passengers coming and going every week. That's especially true now, in the heart of the winter cruise season.

So I thought it might be fun to do a short series of blogs for all those cruise passengers who will be arriving in the near future. Even if you're not among them, these blogs may offer some vicarious interest for you. And food for thought if you plan your own Fort Lauderdale-based cruise. Starting at the end of this week, I'll make some suggestions about things to do if you're in town for a limited time, before or after a cruise. I'll use my experience here over the past 20 years as a local, and my travel writing background, to lay out my ideas for taking in this port city. Later this week, we'll start with some thoughts about what to do if you're in Fort Lauderdale for just one day. Then once a week for the following three weeks, I'll toss out game plans for overnight stays, two day layovers, and pre or post vacations of more than two days. I'm a veteran cruisegoer and I nearly always plan my cruises with hotels at both ends of the trip. The way I figure it, I've already found a way to visit some new part of the world. Why not spend just a little more money and explore it while I'm there? I'm hoping these blogs can make that a bit easier to do that if you're swinging through Port Everglades -  but also stopping to linger a while in Fort Lauderdale. You'll soon find there's a lot more here than just an airport and cruise terminal.