Repositioning Cruises from Fort Lauderdale: Panama Canal, Europe and Every Other One-Way Route

As of November 2026, 68 one-way repositioning cruises are listed from Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades between November 2026 and December 2028. The Panama Canal is the largest group, with 30 departures, and 26 more cross the Atlantic to Europe. Princess (25), Holland America (17), Viking (9) and Celebrity (9) run most of them, and the median length is 15 nights. The rest are coastal runs to New Jersey, Montreal and San Juan, four long voyages to South America, and a single 35-night trip to Sydney.

These counts come from the sailing data behind our repositioning cruise finder, each checked on the line’s own site, and they change as lines add sailings. Port Everglades also has 65 one-way arrivals in the same data. April is the busiest month by a wide margin: 16 departures in 2027 and 15 in 2028.

Where one-way sailings from Fort Lauderdale go

How Fort Lauderdale differs from Miami

The two ports are less than 30 miles apart, but they serve different fleets. Fort Lauderdale leans on Princess, Holland America and Viking, and on the Panama Canal. Miami leans on Oceania, Regent, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, and on transatlantic crossings. In the November 2026 data, Princess and Viking one-ways appear only from Fort Lauderdale. Oceania, Regent, Norwegian, MSC, Carnival and Virgin Voyages appear only from Miami. The comparison table on our page about repositioning cruises from Miami sets the numbers side by side. Here’s what each line actually does from Port Everglades:

Celebrity has no canal sailing from Fort Lauderdale in this list. Its Edge-class ships here (Celebrity Ascent, Beyond and Xcel) all sail to Europe, and the New Jersey and San Juan one-ways go to older ships.

The Panama Canal is Fort Lauderdale’s main event

Los Angeles is the top destination with 16 sailings, 14 on Princess and 2 on Viking. San Diego gets 7, six of them on Holland America, and Panama City (Fuerte Amador) gets 6, all on Viking Mars in 10 nights. San Francisco has a single entry: Ruby Princess in 16 nights in October 2028. There is no listed one-way to Vancouver or Seattle from here.

Island Princess makes this run repeatedly in 16 nights, so if you want a specific month it’s the ship to check first. Full versus partial transits and how the canal days work are explained in our guide to Panama Canal repositioning cruises.

Crossing to Europe from Port Everglades

Of the 26 crossings, 10 end in Barcelona, 6 in Civitavecchia (Rome), 4 in Southampton, 3 in Rotterdam, 2 in Copenhagen and 1 in Amsterdam. Compared with Miami, that means more ships heading to Rome, Rotterdam and Copenhagen and fewer to Barcelona. The season starts earlier than you’d guess in 2028: four ships leave in February that year, Zuiderdam, Sun Princess, Viking Mars and Caribbean Princess. Viking Mars’s 13-night Barcelona sailing on February 23, 2028 is the only Viking crossing from this port.

Holland America’s three sailings to Rotterdam leave in March and April and suit anyone who wants to end in the Netherlands. Celebrity’s 6 crossings all leave in April. Stops, sea days and what the route feels like are covered in our overview of repositioning cruises from Florida to Europe.

Coastal one-ways, South America and the long voyages

Seven coastal sailings make up a useful short option: four to Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey in 8 to 11 nights, two to Montreal in 14 nights on Holland America’s Volendam, and one to San Juan in 8 nights on Celebrity Silhouette. All four Cape Liberty trips call at Aruba, and that’s not a coincidence. Under the Passenger Vessel Services Act, a foreign-flagged ship can’t carry you one way between two US ports unless the voyage reaches a distant foreign port. CBP treats Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao as distant even though the rest of the West Indies counts as nearby. The California canal trips satisfy the rule with Aruba or Cartagena.

Puerto Rico is the exception. CBP’s guide says the law doesn’t apply to transportation between a port in Puerto Rico and another US port, so a one-way to San Juan can stop anywhere. The Montreal sailings don’t need a distant port because they end abroad, but they call at Norfolk and Portland on the way. Don’t plan to leave at either. CBP fines the operator per passenger, and Norwegian’s travel documents page quotes a fine starting at $1,022 per person, which cruise contracts can pass on to you.

The long end of Fort Lauderdale’s list is unusual for a Florida port. Holland America’s Zaandam takes 41 nights to Buenos Aires in January 2027, and Volendam takes 37 nights to San Antonio, the port for Santiago, Chile, in January 2028. Volendam also sails 35 nights to Sydney in January 2027. These are closer to segments of a grand voyage than to a standard repositioning trip, so check whether the line sells them as a one-way with a set disembarkation.

Getting to the ship at Port Everglades

Port Everglades says it’s 1.8 miles from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and it describes itself as the only US seaport next to an international airport. The port lists 8 cruise terminals: 2, 4, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26 and 29. Terminal 25 is home to Celebrity’s Edge, Apex and Beyond, and your boarding documents name the others.

• Taxi from FLL: the port’s guide gives an average fare of $18 to $21, subject to change.
• Timing: allow at least 45 minutes between your flight landing and your check-in time. The port asks you to arrive at your assigned check-in time, not earlier.
• Security: all three entrances have checkpoints, and anyone 18 or older needs a government-issued photo ID and cruise documents. The checkpoint at I-595 and Eller Drive is open 24 hours, and the two others run 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Flying into Miami instead: Miami International is 30 to 45 minutes south via I-95, which is worth pricing if FLL fares are high.

Princess’s flight guidelines ask domestic flights to land at least 2 hours, and international flights at least 3 hours, before the ship sails from Fort Lauderdale. Those are minimums, and a missed ship is hard to catch up with on a one-way trip, so flying in the day before is the safer plan.

Getting home from the far end

Bring a passport book. Norwegian’s rules aren’t specific to Fort Lauderdale, but they show the common standard: a valid passport is required for sailings that start at one US port and end at another, and passport cards and birth certificates aren’t accepted on Panama Canal sailings. The closed-loop exception for birth certificates only covers cruises that return to the same US port.

• Los Angeles: Princess’s guidelines ask for 5.5 to 6.25 hours from the ship’s arrival at San Pedro to a domestic flight, depending on when it docks.
• San Diego and San Francisco: Princess’s table doesn’t cover these. Allow at least as long as Los Angeles unless your line says otherwise.
• Panama City: ships end at Fuerte Amador on the Pacific side, and you’ll need a one-way flight home from Tocumen International.
• Barcelona, Rome, Rotterdam, Copenhagen: you arrive in the Schengen area, where EU entry rules apply. Our Barcelona guide explains the rules and the airport transfer from that end.
• Cape Liberty: Princess’s New York figures give a sense of it, 7 hours from arrival to a Newark flight, so most people book a late flight or stay a night.

The practical test before you book any of these is the same: price the one-way flight home from the actual final port before you commit to the cruise. On a canal trip that ends in Panama City or a 41-night voyage that ends in Buenos Aires, that flight can decide whether the whole trip is a bargain. Our guide to flights home after a repositioning cruise walks through open-jaw pricing and how late you can safely fly.