ownercarry

we're arriving oct 13 for 14th cruise.

cackles, i think you've got this down. but prices even with web page you gave are nowhere near 25 or even 35. hertz, the only one that shows downtown location when i do a generic search (priceline, expedia) are 105 for a tiny car that will fit the 4 of us, but the bags would need to be tied to the roof like a circus clown car ;-)

but i get it to wait. our plan now is to do hotel we like that has airport shuttle and then take shuttle back to airport where we can take the train to the miami airport and then either taxi from there ($24) or the metrorail to within 1m of the peir.

but i'm a bit lost on one of your comments.

You can all take the free shuttle from MIA to POM.

is MIA the mia as in miami airport or just maimi in general, like the downtown hertz terminal. because i can't find a free shuttle from the MIA airport to the pier (POM). if that exists, then i know we're taking the train from fll airport to MIA airport.

Algebralovr - i've found the hertz downtown location and it's close. i can see how they'd take your from there to peir no charge, but all others appear to be on miami beach and that's not really convenient to POM. are there other rental agencies downtown and they're just not coming up in my searches?

thanks to all, you've been super help!

wow! you are 100% correct on the freedom part.

we are family of 4 so even more savings.

but somethings still don't compute.

SAS is company highly recommended on the boards. they're 15pp each way, 13 if you can get 6 or more. and that's point to point.

but if we do a rental car, say, fll to miami pier, then car has to get back and there's place at the pier. i've read hertz has a shuttle from pier to a downtown agency and maybe others. but that's drop off 3, drive to downtown (not far i know) and then catch their shuttle back to pier. do it reverse for trip back to fll airport.

the kicker here is the $25. that seems just amazing. airport taxes and fees can easily be $25 alone and then it's a one way rental (usually a premium). and we can't just take the smallest car either as there's 4 of us and each will have a large suitcase.

i've checked rentals on expedia and priceline and it's nowhere near $25 for airport one-way.

i'd really like to go this route as the 'be in charge of your schedule' thing works for me.

for the folks that have done this...

is it really worth it?

aren't there agencies that take you fll to pom and then back for about $20pp

even with family of 4, i can see 2 car rentals being more than $40 each time especially if you're going one way.

can someone break it down for me please??

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH

once again, i misunderstood english chap's original post.

now i get it. you can mini bus to west end and then if you want to go to west bay, THAT'S the water taxi.

i misunderstood in that he was giving 2 ways to over to the west side. but he was speaking of just taking the mini bus there, with the water taxi taking you a bit further south to west bay if you wanted to go there from west end.

again, thank you all a LOT. i can picture myself leaving not enough time to get back to coxen hole because i would have been thinking i could get back with a fast water taxi.

but now i get it. i'm sure we'll mini bus it over there, figure out what to do when there and if we want to go south and then likely negotiate a taxi rate back or go with another couple back to share the cost (again, after we've negotiated a rate!).

our cruise starts 9/12, i'll report back then :)

arrrgghhh.

ok, so now either roos is getting west bay and west end mixed up like i first did or we have conflicting reports. plus an attempted thread hijack.

english chap says you can water taxi to the public area of west bay. roos says you can't.

OR, roos, are you saying you can get there from coxen hole but for some reason you can't go back? that wouldn't make sense.

and we're on celebrity solstice so i know we're docked at coxen hole.

someone please clarify.

ok, very sorry, got them mixed up, thanks for pointing it out.

would mini bus to west END first. then it looks like you can walk yourself down to west BAY to see the resorts and their beaches.

from there, there is certainly a water taxi back to coxen hole and the ship since it was mentioned earlier that you could have the water taxi go from coxen hole to the public area in west bay.

so i think i have it then. my helpful experts are in agreement? i can walk myself to mini bus pickup near the post office, then with $2 american per person, get to the west end. once there, if i'm bored i can walk to west bay and then water taxi back to the ship from there. and if i like west end so much i don't go to west end, i can still take a water taxi back to the ship from west end.

all that correct?

excellent, thanks for the advice.

one more quick thing.

i'm wondering if it's possible to bus to west bay and then make your way to west end and its resorts, finally going back to the ship on the water taxi you mentioned. looks like a 1.5-2 mile walk. might be somewhat adventurous. then again, there may be enough to do in west bay.

thanks

crewsweeper,

confused about this, you say,

"and unless it's changed at one time"

are you basically saying the minibuses don't take dollars? we'd need to get local currency to ride them?

we had planned to take one out to foster's but because of their schedule, take a water taxi back (different view on the way back too!)

want to make sure we do it right. we're going to walk around downtown a bit before we take off for the foster's area so if we needed local $$, we'd have time exchange it.

thanks for the help!