Flymia

Do you arrive on a weekend or weekday? Makes a big difference with traffic. I assume the issue of not renting a car is what to do with your luggage? Renting a car will sure eat up a lot of time, especially given Port Miami is already right in the middle of the city.

As for where to go, that all depends on what you really want to see. There are three specific areas that I would focus on as the best choices.

Miami Beach/South Beach: If you want to see the Miami from the movies you go here, walk down Ocean Drive and see the famous Art Deco buildings, but don't eat on Ocean Drive. Go somewhere like Yard Bird, Barceloneta, or even though a local chain, Havana 1957 is pretty good for Cuban food. Take a stroll down Lincoln Road.

Then there is little Havana. Get Cuban food here, walk around a little bit on SW-8th Street.

Then there is the Wynwood area. Lots of choices for places to eat, and its a trendy art area.

You could probably eat in Little Havana and make a drive to either of these places for a quick walk around too.

As for traffic. If you want to be at FLL by 3pm, make sure to leave by 2pm. Traffic mid-day is typically not terrible, its the morning and evening traffic that gets really bad.

Pollo y Jarras (1st street station)

Fratelli Milano (Bayfront Park Station)

Vero Italian Restaurant (Knight Center station)

Perricone's Marketplace & Café (10th Street station)

Burger & Beer Joint(10th Street station)

Crazy About You (financial district station)

Novecento (financial district station)

River Oyster Bar is a good choice too. (eighth street station) Not sure about prices here.

Garcias (take an uber there)

Havana 1957 if you wan Cuban food (10th street)

There are more fancy places of course, which the list is even longer. But the above are more reasonable prices. I would stay away from food at Bayside. But its a great place to catch a drink, enjoy some music and the water, or even take an evening sightseeing cruise. Brickell Citycentre is open, but the restaurants are not open yet, but they will be by February. There will be tons of options there, in a nice urban mall setting. Just hop right off the metromover at the stop in the mall, which is 8th street.

Is it safe to walk around the area of IC and all the way to the Brickell area? I've seen some warnings on here about how dangerous Miami can be.

 

Obviously, we'll take usual precautions, but we certainly don't want to go asking for trouble...

I live in downtown Miami and it is a safe place to be. IC-Brickell goes walking on very busy streets. You'll be walking down the sidewalks of very busy roads with plenty of car traffic 24/7. The only issues in the downtown Miami area is the homeless population. Violent and property crime is not a big issue at all.

Not sure what day your ship leaves and what day you are arriving, but either way its an easy choice, especially when the nicer full service hotel is cheaper.

Go with the intercontinental. Easy quick walk to dinner, after dinner you can walk to Bayside and have a drink there and enjoy music, or head over to Mary Brickell/Citycenter and check out a bar there. You can take the free metromover to Brickell or a $5-$8 Uber.

For the morning before you board, checkout, store your bags with the bellman and walk or take the metromover to the 5th street station and have breakfast at Bachour Bakery & Bistro. Get there early to avoid any waits.

Or if you want to check out Miami Beach/South Beach after dinner you can take an Uber to Lincoln Road. Or on the day before boarding take an Uber there as well. Plenty of options there too.

But if you are thinking the Hampton because its closer to Brickell, there is no need to pick it for that reason, Brickell is a 10min walk, 5min Uber or 10min free metromover ride away.

The fare estimates are correct, should be about $40.00 on a normal day. Its a normal request, urber drivers often go from Miami to say FLL or Port Everglades.

Taxi to Miami or Miami Beach will about around $30-$35.00 + tip. You can also take the metrorail to government center station $2.25 per person. At government center you can take the metromover (which is free) to Bayside, Museum Park, Brickell Citycentre.

Lots of choices. There are a few choices directly in the complex of you hotel. I never tried any of them though.

I say take a quick uber ride, or hop on the metromover (its free and easy to use) and take it into Downtown or Brickell. As someone who lives downtown, these are the places I eat at the most that are not in the higher price range.

Reasonable choices.

Pollo y Jarras (1st street station)

Fratelli Milano (Bayfront Park Station)

Vero Italian Restaurant (Knight Center station)

Perricone's Marketplace & Café (10th Street station)

Burger & Beer Joint(10th Street station)

Crazy About You (financial district station)

Novecento (financial district station)

River Oyster Bar is a good choice too. (eighth street station) Not sure about prices here.

Garcias (take an uber there)

Havana 1957 if you wan Cuban food (10th street)

There are more fancy places of course, which the list is even longer. But the above are more reasonable prices. I would stay away from food at Bayside. But its a great place to catch a drink, enjoy some music and the water, or even take an evening sightseeing cruise. Brickell Citycentre is open, but the restaurants are not open yet, but they will be by February. There will be tons of options there, in a nice urban mall setting. Just hop right off the metromover at the stop in the mall, which is 8th street.

It is risky at best.

1. You have to get off your ship first and on-time. You never know customs might take longer than usual to clear the ship.

2. While the drive on a Saturday should be around 75mins. If you hit an accident on 95 it can take two hours.

3. Ultra festival is that weekend, BUT, I don't think that should be an issue. The festival does not start until 11am-12pm and with the port tunnel you should be able to avoid all the traffic. Traffic will be coming into downtown Miami not out of it at that time.

4. However, make sure to factor in the cost of transport from Miami to PBI. I am sure its not cheap. Factor that in with the stress and getting to PBI in time.

Its doable as long as you get off the boat by 8:30 and you are in the car by 9am the absolute latest.

Yea the two best options are either rent a car for the day, or Uber. An UberX right now, at this time of the day would cost a little under $40.00.

What time does the flight to MIA get in? On a weekday or Weekend?

I would never fly in the day of, but you should try to get in on a morning flight. Absolute latest edition 11am.

But really, be careful, get the earliest flight you can or the day before.

Well it depends on what type of lounge access you get/status/credit cards you have.

If you have an Amex card you can use the centurion lounge, it's small but very nice. Open bar, good food, you can even get a massage there. If you have a platinum or higher you and your family use the lounge for free.

The AA admirals clubs might sell access to BA passengers, not sure how much. It's open bar, the snacks are decent, no real meals though unless you pay for them.

I don't think BA's own lounge has opened yet. The lounge they use is shared with other airlines like Ibera and Qatar. I've heard it's alright, not very good.

The airport has plenty of shops and sit down restaurants though. Even some good Cuban food at La Carrita.

You 100% need a shuttle/van service. The rental car issue will just be a hassle, especially going to Miami Airport where you would then have to get transport to the port from there anyway.

You could also do two large Ubers too.