Using the Miami Airport

[sammyt]

Can someone tell me from experience, how long it takes from where the Solstice docks to the Miami Airport. Can we make a 10:00 flight if we walk off?

[39august]

So, you are docking in Ft. Lauderdale and flying out of Miami? If so, you would be very unlikely to make that early a flight. Also the taxi fare is very high. I recommend that you contact SAS Transportation for a shared van ride to/from the port and airport for only $15 pp each way. They are very reliable. We did the opposite, flying from FLL and going out of port of Miami. Seems like the ride was about 30-40 minutes. I believe their address is ridesas.com.

[sammyt]

So, you are docking in Ft. Lauderdale and flying out of Miami? If so, you would be very unlikely to make that early a flight. Also the taxi fare is very high. I recommend that you contact SAS Transportation for a shared van ride to/from the port and airport for only $15 pp each way. They are very reliable. We did the opposite, flying from FLL and going out of port of Miami. Seems like the ride was about 30-40 minutes. I believe their address is ridesas.com.

 

Thanks that is helpful. Now if someone can tell me what time the ship clears for diembarkation! I know it will be cutting it close.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Thanks that is helpful. Now if someone can tell me what time the ship clears for diembarkation! I know it will be cutting it close.

 

That can vary with customs requirements. They debark you with priority to those with an earlier flight and if out of FLL or MIA, but IMHO 10am is cutting it too close, unless you don't mind possibly missing a flight and possibly staying an extra day, which is not all bad;).

[rothjer]

Depends when the ship clears, sometimes it happens on time, and sometimes not by a long shot . 10 IMO is too close, you can spend an hour (even two sometimes) in security lines, MIA is a disaster like that, FLL is better, but with a few ships docking on peak days it can also be a sticky place. Do yourself (and your nerves) a favor and take a later flight. Traffic across town is also a variable, even on Sunday mornings can be a challenge. Last we were there work was being done on the Palmetto and dolphin, made for a sticky situation, we were stuck in an hour grind for what would have been a 5minute drive to the airport.

[hcat]

That is quite a long drive from FLL to MIA & could involve rush hour traffic if it is a weekday..

 

we sweated over whether we would make it getting off Navigator at Maimi dock to make a flight around noonish at Miami airport , but got there in plenty of time on that particular day. On other days, other people have missed flights!!!

 

We rushed off the ship with our bags, grabbed a cab & zipped over there... On that day there were no immig delays, no lines to get of the ship, no traffic issues & no line delays at the airport itself....just very lucky & we were much closer to the airport...

 

I would not chance it but if you have a Plan B if you do miss the flight then maybe you can try it-- but I would definitely have a Plan B!

[txsloth]

I wouldn't even book a 10:00 a.m. flight out of Fort Lauderdale. Well, I would, but my nervous nelly wife would never let me :D

[Gonzo70]

Thanks that is helpful. Now if someone can tell me what time the ship clears for diembarkation! I know it will be cutting it close.

 

Nobody can answer that as the time varies from sailing to sailing - sometimes by quite a bit. On my last sailing there was a delay with the prior sailing clearing customs and they did not start leaving the ship until about 10am (and were still debarking until a little after noon). If there are absolutely no delays, you should be able to eek out a 10am flight (i.e. ship arrives on time, no custom delays, no heavy traffic, no heavy lines at airport). But you have minimal wiggle room for delays, so you stand a good chance of missing the flight. If you miss the flight, travel insurance will not cover you (as you lack sufficient buffer time) and the airlines often cancel your ticket and you would have to purchase new last minute tickets (can be extremely pricey, and might not be any tickets available for a while).

 

I would book something early or mid afternoon. Much better to kill an hour or two at the airport with a book, magazine, drink, food etc. than miss a flight and incur $1,000s of potential extra expenses as well as possibly a very lengthy and stressful delay.

[tteettimes]

maybe I;m missing something here-----not unusual :o

but why not fly out of Ft Lauderdale---------Miami is a nightmare anyway :mad::mad:

 

whatever-----good luck with it

[Scrapchick]

Because flight timess are often better going out of Miami and work better with schedules, is why... We flew in/out of Miami and cruised in/out of Ft Lauderdale last month on the Equinox and did it that way because the flight scheduling to and from LAX worked better out of Miami.

 

We rented a car and drove both ways. We were orignially scheduled to fly out at 11AM on disembarkation day and realised we were cutting it way too close to not spend our entire cruise worrying about whether or not we'd make it and what we'd do if we didn't. We ended up changing to a flight the next day and used the extra day in Miami to drive down to Key West.

 

As it turns out, we disembarked at 8.20AM and were in the vicinity of Miami airport by 10.30, but it was just too much of a risk to take and I'm glad we changed our plans.

 

The ship should be docked extremely early and dismebarkation SHOULD begin around 7AM, but should and does are two different things and it's not a guarantee.

 

Having been in your shoes, my advice would be to change the flight to later in the day or the following day. We were taking a big chance trying to make an 11AM flight out of Miami, a 10AM flight is extremely unlikely....

[39august]

Another reason to fly out of one airport and cruise out of the other port is the cost of flights. Usually FLL is cheaper for us from OKC than MIA. But sometimes, it's the other way around!

[flacruiser]

Can someone tell me from experience, how long it takes from where the Solstice docks to the Miami Airport. Can we make a 10:00 flight if we walk off?

 

No you cannot!

[kitty9]

From other posts, sammy likes a concise answer, but unfortunately there's no ONE answer. It takes anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes from Port Everglades to Miami. When the ship docks is impossible to answer. On our cruise we didn't dock until nearly 7:30 and disembarkation did not begin right away because some non-US citizens didn't report to Immigration on time. Another time on Solstice, the first ones off did not start until nearly 8am, but they had to wait because there were not enough US Customs officials to handle the people leaving the ship. Even if you self disembark, you still have long lines at Customs, and they've been pulling a lot more people aside for luggage inspection before they clear you.

 

Unless you've never been to Miami airport, and I know you didn't ask this question but I'm going to tell you anyway, it's probably the worst airport in the US. Just checking in can take over an hour and security check lines are also almost always over an hour. That airport is a madhouse. You need at least 90 minutes to get through everything before you can even get to your gate.

 

FYI, the reason why those earlier flights are less expensive is because the airlines know that cruise passengers usually cannot make those flights before noon---especially out of Miami when the cruise ends in FLL.

[MNMNFTLAUDERDALE]

You have a shot if it's a weekend day. During the week you will hit rush hour and I 95 will be bad going south. You won't make it.

[celle]

Can someone tell me from experience, how long it takes from where the Solstice docks to the Miami Airport. Can we make a 10:00 flight if we walk off?

 

I don't think you should book a flight as early as that. Regardless of the time it takes to get from the port to Miami airport, you could be delayed in the port area.

 

We recently disembarked at Port Everglades (FLL) and took almost 2 hours to clear the port area.

 

It was one long line for everything. Queue to get off the ship, queue to get our luggage, loooooooong queue for immigration. There were only 3 immigration officials to clear over 2,000 passengers.

[kitty9]

Unfortunately, the OP doesn't get the concept of self disembarkation. He seems to think that when the ship stops at the dock, and they open the gangway, that he can just step off the ship. On another thread, people have been trying VERY hard to get this concept across, to no avail. Just because the ship docks at 7 does not mean you're going to get off the ship 15 minutes later, even if you carry off all your bags yourself. The OP doesn't seem to understand that there are many things that happen to delay the walk offs. But, he's bound and determined to find someone to allay his fears about a 10am flight, from MIAMI of all places, will be a snap to make.

 

I wish him luck, he's going to need it.

[sackman]

The short answer is "no". The long answer is "Hell No".