The Florida turnpike is the Florida turnpike. It was constructed in 1957 and expanded again in the early 60s. It was initially built using bond money from numerous sources that were voted on by the people; in the year 2000, the tolls were supposed to have paid off the highway and removed, and to this day, 20 years later, the tolls remain. The voters that voted The expulsion of the turnpike fees in the year 2000 or are most likely dead and can't speak for themselves. Consider that when you vote for a long-term bond, once they got your money, they never let go. In defense of the politicians, the turnpike has expanded from the original 262 miles stretcher from Miami to Wildwood, and the roads are in pretty decent shape read more

See all

Before I came to the place. I was scared from all of the reviews. But when I came to the place Andrea was the representative that helped me. She was great. I don't know about all of the reviews. But my visit was great. Fast and easy. The center was clean. They played great music. Andrea made it very easy to enjoy the time. Ask for Andrea when you come to the location. She's awesome. read more

AVOID THE FLORIDA WELCOME CENTER!!!! When you check in on Sunday for your weeklong vacation, these folks don't use a computer. They print out a list and everybody at the desk feverishly looks through the papers to find your information. It's very disorganized. This place is about as unwelcoming as you can get. We had a question later in the day after we left the center and could not get anybody on the phone. We were on hold for over 10 minutes and then hung up, called back and still nobody answered. When we checked in we were only given two sets of meal vouchers, when we were told on the phone by the grand celebration company that we would be given three since we were bringing our child with us. And we had even paid extra to have this benefit. The Florida welcome center told us that we are not allowed to have more than two. When we went to the Doubletree Hotel the restaurant charges $18 for breakfast and these breakfast vouchers only cover seven dollars a person. So we had called the Florida welcome center back to get information about that and we could not get anybody on the phone. After we finished our timeshare presentation on the next day, we were told that we needed to go back to the Florida welcome center to pick up our cruise boarding passes. So we did. We were greeted tersely by Lori. She looked us up, Asked if we had purchased a timeshare. We told her no. It was about this time that her attitude started to change and she was wanting us to leave. She handed us our cruise ship boarding passes and stood up to leave. However because nobody would answer the phone, my husband wanted to ask about the food vouchers. She started to have an attitude and said it wasn't their issue, that we would have to call grand celebration. One thing after another and we were tired of her attitude and she refused to give us any information about meal vouchers. We asked to speak to her supervisor and she said there was not one available until the next day. Guess what! A couple hours later I called up there and asked for a supervisor. Danielle answered and said she was the supervisor. I guess Lori forgot there was a supervisor after all. (Insert sarcasm here). We explained to Danielle how disappointed we were in Lori's behavior. She apologized, but based on all of the negative reviews on this page, I'm guessing the rude behavior is pretty common amongst the staff, including Lori in a prior review. We learned that grand celebration is who we booked our vacation package through, the Florida welcome center is a third-party vendor that provides you with the documents, and the timeshare company is completely separate from everyone else. But Lori was not interested in discussing any of that with us because we did not purchase a timeshare. It all boils down to money. The Florida welcome center really needs to have an overhaul and re-train their staff or hire new ones. read more

The worst experience with "customer service" ever. The "manager" on staff this evening (Lori) and the representative we worked with (Angelica) were belligerent, rude, and all around arrogant. Lori even refused to give me her name, but her lovely coworker Angelica said her name. Our Caribbean Cruise line vacation was botched (by no means of the Florida welcome center in Fort Lauderdale-they had no control over this. However they do have control of their actions and how they represent their company) We were screwed by circumstance and simply asked for an additional meal voucher to cover our breakfast ($7) as we were one packet of vouchers short but only needed the breakfast voucher. This escalated due to the ridiculousness of the employees there and their inappropriate ways of handling customers. Stay away from Caribbean Cruiselines, stay away from Ramada, and more importantly stay away from the Florida welcome center. They should be ashamed of themselves. Of 4 ladies there, the youngest two were the only one not trying to mock us. Clearly management should reevaluate their choice of staffing at this location. Jokes on you Florida welcome center because we got our vouchers from a nicer, more professional individual. read more

Avoid this company at all costs! I've never been baited and switched and passed around with so many lies in all my life. And in that time frame I've done about a hundred presentations looking for the right company to go through for our vacations. We vacation for at least one month out of the year own a condo on Daytona Beach for Bike Week, and a gold crown condo on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. worst part about a tall is what I booked a year and a half ago is not even part of the deal anymore as they sunk the original cruise ship we were supposed to have a window cabin for! It a shady RCI booking company.. do not do business with them unless you love wasting 3 days of your life, like we have with a six month baby in tow.. :-( ( I forgot to mention due to them changing our tour date, we are now running late for our cruise ship boarding and vacation village the timeshare sellers.. also since we had to drive all over Fort Lauderdale following the seller from condo to condo we wound up breaking our $1,200 stroller.... not happy NOT HAPPY AT ALL. That we might have bought into had has not been a problem Oh I forgot to tell you about the biggest lie of them all... All your meals are covered during the presentation. No what they give you are vouchers that don't even cover the cost of one meal!! $31 for a continental breakfast for two that's free for most hotels and all they covered was $14 of it so no meals are not included I'm afraid to even think what they're all inclusive would mean read more

I don't even know where to start! To begin, the communication between the cruise line, welcome center and hotels are absolutely horrible! I really think each individual business would be okay but since they all have to work together, they are lacking the needed communication. The staff didn't seem like they enjoyed their job too much. I often saw them getting attitudes and being rude to the customers. Granted...I understand they are just the messengers but they need to figure out how to provide good customer service. They are the ones that tell you at the last minute about the mandatory time share presentation that takes hours! It was horrible! I will say that there's a guy there named Christian who should be running the place. He's the only one who knows what he is doing and genuinely cares about the customer service. read more

Worst service Ive ever seen. No information was supplied in advance. Received no vouchers, emails or a packet. Hotel had no info and no phone number of where to call. Although we knew we were required to do a tour. No one to welcome us. Not much of a welcome center. Finally Tracked down a phone number after driving all night and 3 hours of sleep. They were angry at ME for not knowing what to do?? Really?? I kept getting cut off EVERY time I asked a question. If I knew why would I be asking? Plus I was given many Last minute surprise requirements. Address location is not near our hotel. No transport was provided. Rosa was curt, rude and very unwelcoming. read more

The staff didn't seem to want to be there. The communication between the cruise line and the welcome center is horrible. We had to sit through a presentation to get our "free" cruise, then get here and am told I now have to sit through a time share presentation in order to get my tickets. The presentation was only supposed to be 2 hours according to the welcome center, it was FIVE hours! The staff also didn't know anything about our cruise details. They also told you how long it would take to get to the presentations and the port and were completely off by 10-15 min, extra. read more

Waist of my time and energy I went in thinking I'd be getting all paperwork for hotel accommodations, cruise etc. It was a disaster I kept going from one place to another and having to go back to the center to get papers stamped saying I was there before even getting my cruise passes just ridiculous they lied about credits and offers they had putting us right back in front of someone trying to sell something and gave me vouchers for food at restaurants I can't even eat at because I'm vegan. Just a bad experience in general not completely their fault but they need to get more organized and work with better travel agencies, update systems and lobby in general it looked like it needed a makeover. The agents tried to help and were pleasant so no complaints in that area. read more

I haven't even arrived yet and I'm regretting booking any of this. Even though it was "free" by that being a long shot as all of the extras are extra. The only reason we are going is because we have a wedding that weekend in aft Lauderdale anyways. One call was made to cruise line they said it was ok to rebook the presentation of timeshare to a different day but we needed to call the welcome center. Welcome center said no and honestly we're straight up rude to us. I don't know why it would be called the welcome center at all quite honestly as it's not very welcoming. And we need to drive one hour to the presentation? They don't drive us? I mean how inconvenient is that? This vacation is going to be honestly brutal until we hit the cruise. Do not book with them. read more

The first step in the Caribbean Cruise Line's sales pitch to get you to buy into a time share. Sad to have such an affiliation to the Ramada Plaza. That's a gross place. Then they have you go to a much nicer place to woo you with a nice time share property and tour. Took us 5 hours! The time share is a good deal if you hold out until the end when they bring in the foreclosed properties. read more

The suppose manager or Supervisor (African American), treat us like we were Alliens or Immigrants, just because of the stupid moron of Trump. He is a fucking Immigrant and his wife too, so why make Latin American citizens be treated like low class citizens, after I serve this fucking Country for more than 37 years. I can understand ICE, or DMV, bit of we already did the Patriot Act Documents with DMV and they put a Star, that means we have it and showing a copy should be more than sufficient for the moment to check in, because my passports were in my luggage and after 5 hrs drive, we do not need the aggravation, because we know we need it to have it for the Bahamas disembark and boarding. The fact is, that body language told me, that she was trying to discriminate on my Latin heritage, but not all of us are Mexicans, or Venezuelans, or Columbian or any other Latin Country that do not belong to the U.S., like P.R. I also founded offensive, since I show her my Military ID, which for many years was used as my Passport to travel Internationally, without no problems, until some fucking Arabs ruin our lives, after 9/11 (if there were really Arabs/Muslims or something made up by President Bush Jr.). As a Veteran and a Senior I feel offended for her actions and will react to it, regardless if the person is a Woman or not. I ask for a Manager and Supervisor and supposedly, she was, being a bad example for the co workers in diffusing the situation, from the start, by been polite with brief explanation, without sarcasm or negative body language. I will forget to be a Gentleman, if you push my bottoms the wrong way and as a Manager and Supervisor that I was for more than 37 years in the Federal Government, I would not tolerate disrespect. She got the words she deserved, but lucky that I did not say racist remarks, like she did, even trying to speak Spanish, to kick me out of the place and to disregard me and only wanting to speak to my wife and she did not speak that much English , gave us to one attendant that did and the other English speaking person, refused to take care of me, because supposedly we both need it to understand the instructions, when they assumed, she did not understand, because she does not speak it that well. That is discrimination against Latin citizens and Seniors and Retired Veteran. Your Customer Service is the most unprofessional I ever encounter. read more

Don't even want to hit one star but I guess you have to, to write a review! This place is awful. People are horrible. Managers are no help. Do not buy a timeshare or use this place for a cruise. They are a scam!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more

This group is a bait and switch timeshare broker. Your all inclusive package will include fees for just about everything, at least one 2 hour timeshare presentation and nothing is included. read more

Terrible. Run as soon as you get to this cruise voucher processing center . We felt like we were help captive for 5 hours. Forced to ride with one of their JENKY salesman to one of their cheap retirement home timeshares. Almost missed our cruise , had NO time to look for a cute bikini before getting on the ship. Finally my boyfriend was like "m*^%# f*+@& ... I wanna see the manager NOW . We don't want a timeshare ... this is our first vacation together..." y'all. I thought he was gonna fight a time share peddler. NEVER GO HERE. read more

I am booked on a 2-nite cruise preceded by 2 nites in Ft Lauderdale at the end of the month. Considering all reviews of the DEAL, I'm wondering If I should simply cut my losses and stay home? read more

These people are the absolute rudest, lying people I have ever encountered and when you have to visit them with the vacation package including the cruise, you are forced to visit with them three times for this and that voucher. I'm thinking that if you showed up at the cruise port on your sailing date that you could actually avoid all the b.s. they put you through prior to it because my vouchers were not even looked at. Every complaint I've read is spot on and everyone that I spoke with that I traveled the same time with last week have those exact same complaints as well. There just are much better ways to cruise. The saying that you get what you pay for continues to prove true. read more

Hey everyone. I have a more realistic and non-disgruntled review since we just got checked in. First off, you're getting a free/discounted vacation package. It's not going to be a 5 star resort. If you're rude to anyone, then it is likely they will be rude back to you. Checked into the welcome center 8am on Saturday. Everyone was very nice, busy and a little short with people because it's busy, but still nice. Even took the time to get to know us a little. There are signs that state what paperwork to bring, follow directions and it will be smooth. We overheard someone yelling because they didn't have their passport, c'mon, that's self critiquing, you're about to get on a cruise ship to a foreign country. The plaza hotel (formally the Ramada), is not a new hotel, maybe back in the day it was very nice, but today, it is obviously old. But other than that, it was ok and the staff was respectful. The timeshare presentation is your typical couple hour presentation. Just get through it so you can keep your stuff free. Don't ask questions, otherwise it will take longer. Overheard a couple upset it was taking a long time, but then we can hear them asking tons of questions. Keep in mind that it's basically free/discounted, push through the BS, and you'll be fine. It ain't that bad here. read more

We were booked on Holiday Cruise Line out of the Port of Palm Beach. Somehow they're tied into Florida Welcome Center out of, or part of, Ramada Inn in Tamarac, Fl. All we were doing was a cruise but they made us travel 50 miles past the port to pick up papers for boarding. This is so they can sell travel/vacation club packages, no concern about our extra 100 miles. This obviously means we will never cruise with Holiday, or out of Palm Beach. We'll just cruise out of Ft Lauderdale or Cnaveral. Sorry Port of Palm Beach. This sure makes you look bad. read more

I am giving this place 1 star because there is no option to give it -5. First of all they should call it F**k off center instead of welcome center.The staff was rude, and insulting. We checked into our room and went to the pool for an hour. When we came back our bags had been emptied onto the bed and our room tossed for valuables. For the first two days, all we did was wait in line and have people trying to sell us condos or vacation club packages. The food was beyond disgusting, and even though it was "free" we ended up having to pay for it. They carted us off to a 1 and a half hour presentation and we were trapped there for 7 hours. The day we were finally leaving this hell hole, the shuttle bus ditched us and we almost missed our cruise. We paid $150 for the round trip service by the way. After we got away from this place our vacation finally started. We stayed at the Grand Lucayan Resort in the Bahamas and it was fantastic! The welcome center will tell you it has a jacuzzi, but it does not. read more

Florida Welcome Center - This is the cardboard cut out in the lobby, and on the key card it says "You deserve this." - Visitor Centers Near Me - Tamarac, Florida

Omg. This place is HORRENDOUS! Avoid at *all costs* if you want to steer clear of confusion and hidden/unforeseen charges. Staff is huffy and puffy and very rude if you have any questions about the whole process of getting your vouchers for a cruise from an affiliate company. Our group spoke to several different employees and every. single. one. was dismissive, unhelpful, and bothered by the fact that we had questions about how everything worked. They all blame the other cruise/hotel company for any discrepancies and offer no clear explanation about literally anything you might inquire about. Stay FAR, FAR away. I wouldn't deal with this place, nor ANY Wyndham hotels (who partner with this company but claim no responsibility for their inadequacies) nor any other timeshare scam deals in a million years. What a total stressful hassle, and absolute vacation ruiner. Oh not to mention, the actual property is a total dump. Avoid like the plague. read more

don't go there! do not, never ever go there. the very worst experience of our 75 year lives. do not set foot in the place !!! four couples, all unknown to each other, arrived january 2019, eight people...........all had no accommodation booked by this place..........staff were completely useless and not helpful, in fact they even joked about our predicament. disgusting, unhelpful and primitive...........all bookings are hand written, no computers, no phone calls allowed!!!!! we had to phone via the south pacific, to get an answer phone in america! do not go there - ever read more

I would name it the unwelcome center. The staff there are insulting, rude and barely rate as human beings. They do not hesitate to hang up on phone and once you are there they are extremely unhelpful. They are so rude they must have special training on how to be as rude as possible. Avoid at all costs. read more

They call this "Customer Service"? The employees are completely unprofessional, and have no idea what they are doing! It took us 45 min for them to just give us a packet of paper. We are going through this company to get a discounted cruise and there are a lot of directions that go along with it. The representative simply handed us a piece of paper with 4 different addresses on it, and then took only a couple min to barely understandable ramble through the direction. It took us 2 hours just to drive to the time share presentation because of the terrible directions. And after that presentation we went back to the welcome center where they took our cruise vouchers, $40 extra, and then told us we had to sit through another time share presentations. THEIR ONLY JOB WAS TO GIVE YOU THE CORRECT INFORMATION. The staff is completely incompetent with terrible customers services skills. Avoid at all cost! read more

DO NOT STAY AT THE RAMADA! The hotel is horrible, dated, unsanitary and in a sketchy area. We did not even stay in the hotel and demanded to be moved. This was part of a shady vacation cruise package. They will give you the run around about wanting to be moved to a clean hotel, but they have the availability to move you. Let me save you some time and alot of frustration.....if you are already booked for the RAMADA, ask to speak to the manager David at the welcome center and request the Sawgrass hotel, make sure they give you your food vouchers at the welcome center or you will have to drive back over there to get them. The time share tour you are going on will actually take about 6 hours.....not 2. After your 6 hour tour, they give you vouchers that you have to drive back to the first welcome center to have validated....initials on the vouchers that the cruise ship didn't even ask for. We have had nothing but issues since we arrived. If you want to Cruise, book through an actual cruise line. read more