My husband and I are planning to go on RC Independence of the Sea in Feb. We were planning to fly into Ft. Lauderdale early morning (8 am) of the embarkation day. I think we won't be able to check into the cruise until late afternoon. Can anyone tell me where, if possible, we can drop off our luggages for a few hours so that we can walk around a bit, grab lunch, until we can check into the cruise? Thanks

You will be able to check-in much earlier than late afternoon. If you show up at the pier around 11am you'll most likely find yourself boarding the ship by noon. It's just that the cabins won't be ready until 1 or 2 pm, but they'll have the lunch buffet open at noon.

You can just check your luggage in with the porters at the pier. As Dave stated, you should be allowed to board before noon, but your rooms won't be ready until around 1:30.

On my most recent cruise, (Enchantment of the Seas), I landed at Fort Lauderdale Airport around 11:30 am the day of embarkation and was on the ship by 12:30 pm. This was a 5:00 pm set sail from Port Everglades.

Thank you very much for the advice