A $385 ride, or a car for a fraction of it
The port tells you to allow three to four hours from Palm Beach, and the rides are priced for the distance: Florida Sunshine Shuttle wants $385 for a private car carrying up to four. Rent one way at the $45 a day we assume and you’re at about $68, or about $86 for a standard SUV at $60 — roughly $300 kept, before you’ve compared a single quote.
Worth the drive if
- Palm Beach won on fare or schedule and you’re flying in anyway
- You land the day before, or early on sail morning
- One licensed driver is comfortable on I-95
- The whole group and its cruise luggage fit in one car
Pass on it if
- Nobody wants an hour at the wheel after the flight
- You land within about three hours of your check-in window
- You’re 8 or more — two cars, or a van service
- Switching the flight to FLL is still an option
Double our rate and the car still wins
Put in your group and your quote. Our assumptions are all yours to change.
The rental, line by line
An illustration, then, not a quote: our $45 base rate stands in for yours, and Discover Cars’ ads on Sept 28, 2026 showed Palm Beach “from $33” a day against “from $8” at FLL and MIA, with a warning that its US prices may leave some taxes and surcharges out.
Type in your actual rate, plus any one-way drop charge. The airport-fee percentage is our guess, not a published figure — none of the three South Florida airports publishes its rental charges as a figure, except the $6-a-day Palm Beach facility charge, which CBS12 reported (May 1, 2026) and the airport itself doesn’t publish.
The tax comes from statute and Florida DOR’s 2026 surtax table: the $2-a-day surcharge, then 6.5% in Palm Beach and Orange or 7% in Broward and Miami-Dade. Fuel is 30 mpg at the $4.37 AAA Florida average of Sept 27, 2026; the private car is Florida Sunshine’s own published one-way price.
One number deserves care — the daily rate.
Discover Cars’ Palm Beach page advertised rentals “from $33” a day on Sept 28, 2026 — higher than its Miami and Fort Lauderdale “from” prices — so price this pickup rather than assuming it’s as cheap as Miami.
Even at twice our assumed rate, the car stays well under $385.
Why your boarding pass says DJT
The code changed from PBI to DJT on August 18, 2026; the port’s own pages still say Palm Beach International. Search flights under DJT.
Rental sites and some cruise paperwork may still show PBI, and Discover Cars still lists the airport under West Palm Beach. It’s a new code, not a new airport.
The county’s sales tax moved too.
Palm Beach County’s 1% surtax ended on Dec 31, 2025, and a new half-cent began on Jan 1, 2026, so a rental that starts here is taxed at 6.5%, not the 7% plenty of sites still quote. On a one-day rental that’s small change — but it’s the lowest rental tax of the three South Florida airports.
Your car isn’t parked at the terminal
Sign first, then ride to the lot
The counters are in Baggage Claim on Level 1. Enterprise and Alamo then shuttle you to 2125 Belvedere Rd, and Avis to 2500 Turnage Blvd, about 1.2 miles away — give that van ten or fifteen minutes.
An early flight is covered
Enterprise runs 5 AM–11:59 PM, Alamo 5 AM–1 AM, and Avis 5 AM–1 AM with drop-off around the clock.
Book it one-way, Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale
Pier shuttle? That’s the Miami Road cruise office, shared by Avis, Budget and Payless. Longer hours? FLL’s Rental Car Center. Budget warns that returning somewhere you didn’t book, without calling first, costs at least $45.
About 47–50 miles, an hour if it’s empty
I-95 south most of the way, then I-595 east toward the port; our route estimate is 47 miles and 62 minutes with no traffic. The port’s three-to-four-hour allowance covers the whole transfer, traffic included.
Hand back the car, keep the bags
At the cruise office, the free shuttle takes you, bags and all, to the pier. At FLL, flag a cab (about $18–$21, the port says) or take your hotel’s shuttle.
I-95 for free, or the Turnpike for a fee?
I-95, general lanes
- $0 in tolls
- The straight line down the coast to I-595
- Often the busier of the two
- Keep out of the express lanes: transponder only, and they set off your rental’s toll fee
Florida’s Turnpike
- About $2.11–$2.38 with a transponder, $2.75–$3.29 by plate (our sum)
- Often the calmer drive
- Exit 54 to I-595 East, per the port
- In a rental, one toll day adds $4.95–$6.95 in program fees (PlatePass bills differently)
Those Turnpike figures assume you join at Southern or Okeechobee Blvd and leave at I-595. The Turnpike publishes no trip total, so we added up the gantry and plaza rates on its own schedules.
The catch is the rental company’s cut. A single Turnpike day sets off its toll-day fee, so the Turnpike’s real price in a rental runs closer to $8 to $10, not $2.
Own a SunPass or E-ZPass you can load the rental’s plate onto, and I-95 looks slow? Take the Turnpike. Otherwise, I-95.
Reaching Miami Road before it closes
Set your sail day and your best guess at when you’ll pull into Fort Lauderdale — after the lot van, not before it.
From Palm Beach you’re an hour or more from the office, and that’s after the van ride to the car at DJT.
On a Sunday the 2 PM close comes up fast.
The cruise office against FLL, side by side: our Port Everglades rental guide.
Three changes and the cheapest ticket
DJT points you to Tri-Rail’s West Palm Beach station at 203 South Tamarind Avenue, by Palm Tran bus or a short ride.
Tri-Rail then runs south to the FLL Airport station at Dania Beach. It charges by the zones you cross: West Palm Beach to Dania Beach looks like five, $7.50, and MIA to Dania Beach two, $3.75 (we couldn’t get the zone map to load, so neither is confirmed).
A weekend and holiday pass is $5, and bags are limited to three standard-size pieces a rider.
After that comes a free shuttle to FLL’s terminals and a taxi to the ship. It’s the cheapest way down by far — and the slowest, with your luggage at every one of three changes.
Worth it for a couple with carry-ons and a free afternoon, not for a family on sail morning.
From the pier back to Palm Beach
The drive works in reverse. Collect the car at the pier, not the airport — the cruise office picks you up there from 8 AM — and drop it at DJT, where Avis lists 24-hour drop-off.
No car?
The port’s Van On Demand runs shared vans to Palm Beach at $45 a person for parties of three or more, “not available on all sailing days.” For three of you that’s $135.
The rental still wins, just by less. The morning you’re back, in full: our airports page.
Search for PBI, not DJT
Discover Cars still files this airport as West Palm Beach (PBI), so pick that as the pickup and Fort Lauderdale as the return.
Then check the return office’s hours for your sail day on its own page.
- Pick-up: Palm Beach, listed as PBI
- Return: FLL or the cruise office
- One-way charge in the quoted total
- 48-hour free cancellation
Palm Beach to the Port Everglades ship: common questions
How far is Palm Beach airport from Port Everglades?
The port says 50 miles, and to allow three to four hours for the whole transfer. We route it at 47 miles and about an hour with no traffic, on I-95 south and I-595 east.
How much is a shuttle from Palm Beach airport to Port Everglades?
Florida Sunshine Shuttle runs private cars only: $385 for up to four and $420 for five to seven, with tolls and fees built in, plus $125 if it picks you up before 10:30 AM on the way to a ship. A one-way rental usually costs a fraction of that.
Is PBI the same airport as DJT?
Yes. Palm Beach International was renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport, and its code switched from PBI to DJT on August 18, 2026. Port Everglades’ pages and some rental sites still use the old name.
Are there tolls from Palm Beach to Port Everglades?
None on I-95’s general lanes. The Turnpike runs a few dollars — about $2.11 to $2.38 with a transponder, by our sum of its published rates — and in a rental any toll day adds the company’s program fee as well.
How much sales tax is charged on a rental car at Palm Beach airport?
Six and a half percent: Florida’s 6% plus Palm Beach County’s new 0.5% surtax, which took over from a 1% surtax on Jan 1, 2026. Florida’s $2-a-day rental surcharge comes on top.
More on renting around a Fort Lauderdale cruise
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