Limo help from FLL to Miami...

[its2quiet]

We have just scheduled a trip next month for our 15th Anniv. We are flying into FLL and going onto Miami for the night before our cruise. I thought rather than get a shuttle, since it's our Anniv., we could get a limo. I just have no idea what company is good and reliable. I would love to get it with a bottle of champagne! Anyone have any advice?

 

Navigator 5/03

Radiance 12/03

Radiance 3/05

[chotton]

We used larry's Limo back in November. They picked us up at our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale and took us to the ship in Miami for $90.00 including tip. A cab would be about $60. So for $30 it was well worth it.

[chauffeurboy]

We are booked with Larry's Limo to do the same when we leave in two weeks for the Brilliance. I havent actually used them but previous posts suggest that they are an excellent service. Their price seems to be a little bit less than the other limo companies. I shall let you know what we think when we get back.

[SamIAm21]

Tri-County Limo is also a great service out of FLL. They were great to us on our last trip (which seems so long ago now).

 

http://www.floridalimo.com

[DougYWG]

We also used Tri County in January for Miami port to FLL airport. Very satisfied. Don't know if they do bubbly, you would have to ask.

[RiverRev]

Florida legislated livery rates so just about every service will charge the same. Larry's Limo is reliable and sort of a board favorite. I have used them and found them good. their website is www.larryslimo.com but you have to book through their 800 number.

[its2quiet]

Thanks to you all for your thoughts and suggestions!

[TNT]

We have always used ABC Limos (http://www.limoway.com). We have used a limo and a town car. The town car was quite nice for two. They have always been on time at the airport and waiting for us nearby when we got off the ship. We always fly into FLL and go to Miami. I highly recommend them!

[bobbie0253]

Thanks for the info!

 

We sail on Monday Feb 14. The kids have never been in a limo, and seeing as it is only $30 more than a taxi, we booked it :) What a great Valentine's Day gift.

 

If anyone else is going from FLL to Miami that day around 11:30 and wants to share the limo, let me know.

 

 

Bobbie

[CruisinBabe]

Larry's Limos ripped us off!!

 

We booked Larry's Limos to take us from Fort Lauderdale airport to the pier in Miami. Well, the airline ended up losing our luggage (ours and several other passengers!). Before we could leave for the ship, we had to stand in line with several other travellers and file a lost luggage claim with the airline. Now, as if it isn't bad enough going on a cruise without your luggage, Larry's Limos went and - IMO - kicked us when we were down. When we got to the pier, the driver informed us that he had to add a "late charge" because of the time we spent at the airport looking for our luggage and filing our claim. They charged us $125.00 for the ride from the airport to the pier!!!! (and that's in addition to the $70.00 we had to pay for the return trip at the end of the week!)

 

I was infuriated because I felt that the driver should have informed us ahead of time that there would be a late fee. (After all, the driver was with us in the airport the whole time & never mentioned it!) Instead the driver waited until AFTER the ride was over to tell us that we would have to pay more. I called Larry's and complained. I explained to him that I was upset because when I called to make the reservation for the limo, I was told it was a flat rate. No one ever said anything about "late charges". The man I talked to was very rude and IMO does not know how to handle customers. he was actually yelling at me at one point!!

 

Anyway - bottom line - I will NEVER again use Larry's Limos and I make sure I tell everyone about the horrible service we received from them!!!

[chauffeurboy]

CruisinBabe

 

I can understand your troubles and aggravation with the airline. I have experienced this many times. I have experienced this from the other side as professional chauffeur. Far more than I care to remember.

 

1. Did you call Larry's limo to advise them of your delay? If you did they could have advised you at the time of the late charges.

 

2. If the driver had advised you prior to leaving what would you have done? Would you have left the driver standing high and dry. I doubt that, as you would have been charged the $90 as a cancellation fee. At least that is what I would have done.

 

I feel compelled to respond to your post. Given my profession, perhaps I can offer you some insight into our business.

 

Limousine Services have a finite inventory of vehicles and a finite inventory of time. Unlike retail stores I cannot stock my time for future sale. Once it has passed it is like spoiled produce, it cannot be resold. ( I realize I am stating the obvious) Even a 20 minute delay can throw a schedule out of whack and prevent me from doing 1 run by days end.

 

The lost luggage delay was not your fault. Nor was it Larry's Limo/drivers fault. While I may sympathize with your pain, I do not feel that I

they should necessarily have to share your pain financially. Our company picks up numerous customers daily from the airport. We monitor the flights so that we do not dispatch cars for 1:00pm arrivals that will not be there until 5:00pm. These are things that we can do prior to save the customers waiting time charges. We have no way of knowing about lost luggage problems. In situations such as these we expect the customer to call and advise us of the delay. This allows us to release the car to do another order and redispatch when the problem at the airport is solved. Sometimes our customers do not want the car released and are advised at the time that waiting charges will apply.

 

Most of customers I have driven understand this. They understand the delay is impacting my earnings. Even when I have forgotten to mention this beforehand. Usually I am asked before I get to the final destination if there is a waiting time charge. I am fortunate that I do have some leeway in whether or not time is added to the bill.

 

You did not say how long you were delayed. Was it more than 1/2 hour. If so $35 was very reasonable. For a comparible vehicle our charge would be closer to $65 when the tax and tip is included. At the end of the day this charge would not even cover the run I am unable to do because I was delayed with your trip.

 

I would not excuse rudeness in a service oriented business. I dont know the details of what was said so I cannot fairly comment.

 

I am sorry for your grief. I hope this gives you a little insight.

[AntonJ]

We emailed ABC limo and received a quote for port of Miami to Fort Lauderdale airport. They responded with the appropriate time to list for pick up but also stated that the best thing would be to call when we arrived in port. We have a cell phone so that wouldn't be a problem. They told us a good time to reserve is 9:30 am and that the driver would wait up to an hour after that time. If we called from the port (if we were delayed for some reason) they would adjust the time for us. I understand why a company would have to charge more for delayed service but I do think the company should have informed them of any potential additional charges.

 

By the way, our quote included the gratuity and the company did inform me that the driver would not expect a hand tip at drop off. Has anyone had an issue with this at drop off? I'm used to hand tipping limo drivers so this is new to me.

 

Thanks

[chauffeurboy]

If the gratuity is included it is not necessary to dig any deeper. There is nothing to stop you from tipping additional if you feel your chauffeur went over and above. However I noticed that the standard gratuity in the states seems to be 20%. Here it is still 15%. When the customer raises our gratuity to 20% we know that we have gone way beyond expectations.

[its2quiet]

We emailed ABC limo and received a quote for port of Miami to Fort Lauderdale airport. By the way, our quote included the gratuity and the company did inform me that the driver would not expect a hand tip at drop off. Has anyone had an issue with this at drop off? I'm used to hand tipping limo drivers so this is new to me.

 

Thanks

 

I also emailed ABC for a quote, but from FLL to Miami downtown and I was quoted $75, plus 20% tip. Not that tip was included. Maybe they were just different responders.

[AntonJ]

The quote I received mentioned the 20% gratuity but implied that it would be charged to our bill (not handed out). We are going to book this as it's not much more than a cab. Are there enough people out there that trust or have heard good or bad information on ABC Limo?

 

 

Thanks

[CruisinBabe]

CruisinBabe

I just want to respond to some of your questions/comments...

 

1. Did you call Larry's limo to advise them of your delay? If you did they could have advised you at the time of the late charges.

 

2. If the driver had advised you prior to leaving what would you have done? Would you have left the driver standing high and dry. I doubt that, as you would have been charged the $90 as a cancellation fee. At least that is what I would have done.

 

3. I feel compelled to respond to your post. Given my profession, perhaps I can offer you some insight into our business.

 

Limousine Services have a finite inventory of vehicles and a finite inventory of time. Unlike retail stores I cannot stock my time for future sale. Once it has passed it is like spoiled produce, it cannot be resold. ( I realize I am stating the obvious) Even a 20 minute delay can throw a schedule out of whack and prevent me from doing 1 run by days end.

 

4. The lost luggage delay was not your fault. Nor was it Larry's Limo/drivers fault. While I may sympathize with your pain, I do not feel that I

they should necessarily have to share your pain financially. Our company picks up numerous customers daily from the airport. We monitor the flights so that we do not dispatch cars for 1:00pm arrivals that will not be there until 5:00pm. These are things that we can do prior to save the customers waiting time charges. We have no way of knowing about lost luggage problems. In situations such as these we expect the customer to call and advise us of the delay. This allows us to release the car to do another order and redispatch when the problem at the airport is solved. Sometimes our customers do not want the car released and are advised at the time that waiting charges will apply.

 

5. Most of customers I have driven understand this. They understand the delay is impacting my earnings. Even when I have forgotten to mention this beforehand. Usually I am asked before I get to the final destination if there is a waiting time charge. I am fortunate that I do have some leeway in whether or not time is added to the bill.

 

 

1. No I did not call. The driver was there when we got off the plane so why would I call? If the driver had not been there, I probably would have called. But I really didn't feel it was necessary to call and tell the Limo Comp. that we would be held up because the driver was already there and knew what the situation was! The driver did call and report in to the Limo Comp. while we were waiting to file our claim. Again - my question is - how come the driver never bothered to say anything to us while we were waiting to file our lost luggage claim??? He works for the company. He knows their policies. So why did he keep his mouth shut about the late fee???

 

2. There's a $90.00 cancellation fee?? Really?? Gee, I didn't know that either because again, Larry's Limo never bother to tell us!!!! Shoddy business practices, IMO. Any good business takes the time to explain, either over the phone or through email, their cancellation/late policies. None of this was ever explained to me when I called to make the reservation. Larry's Limos should not just assume that the customer is going to know all of this.

(And at this point I would have much rather paid the $60 - $70 cab fare than what I ended up paying for the limo)

 

3. I understand the business aspect of all this... But again, the driver & the company should have been more upfront with us about their charges and policies. It all goes back to what I've said before about the difference between doing good business and doing bad business. If you're misleading your customers (and we really felt like we were mislead) than you are not running a good, honest business.

 

4. I am not blaming Larry's Limos for the lost luggage. That was the airlines fault. As for calling to inform of the delay,,, again, the driver was there with us when we discovered that our luggage had been lost. He found out about it at the exact same time we found out about it! So I saw no reason to call the company because the driver was already there and knew what was going on. I just wished he would have taken the opportunity to inform us that there would be a late fee.

 

5. That's great that some people understand this, but others do not and you cannot just expect that everyone will know this. Again, a good business is upfront with their customers. I'm not a business person and I don't think like a business person. And I know there are others out there like me. Again, a good business takes the time to explain the procedures to their customers. I work as a Consumer Producer for a local TV station in Philadelphia so I happen to know a few things about customer service.... and I know bad customer service when I see it!!

[chauffeurboy]

I apologize. I did not know the chauffeur was standing right there with you. I assumed he was waiting in a compound as we do here in Toronto. So I do agree it would seem unnecessary for you to make any additional calls.

 

I asked Larry's Limo what the policy was for lost luggage delays. He told me that you can submit the reciept to the airline for reimbursement if you are charged for waiting time. He also told me that they generally would not charge a customer for delays that are not their fault. Perhaps you should give them a call. When I made reference to this post he was totally unaware any problem like this recently. Did this just occur recently?

 

BTW the $90 cancellation fee is an assumption on my part as that would be our practice at home. I do not know what the cnx policies are at Larry's.

 

Again I would suggest giving them a call. If you have a reciept they can track the driver down. Based on what he explained to me as their policies, my only other question would be did you make any other stops en route to the cruise ship or other deviation from your booked reservation. That is the only other thing I could think of that would increase the cost.

 

Let me knowl how it works out.

[CruisinBabe]

Chauffeurboy --

 

The incident happened in August. And I think I stated in my post that I did call them and voice my displeasure (that was when the guy on the other end of the phone yelled at me!) It got me nowhere. I have no intentions of ever calling them again.

 

As for the airline reimbursing us the cost of the late fee - HA!

First off, the airline in question was US Air. Secondly, since we spent half (yes, half) the cruise without our luggage we were forced to buy clothes, toiletries (sp?), shoes, bathingsuits, etc. I saved all the receipts (including the receipt from the limo ride) and mailed it to US Air. The airline sent us one check for $150.00 which my mom & I had to split between the two of us. So it came down to $75.00 for each of us... which was no where near the money we had to spend to cover ourselves until our luggage finally arrived on the ship. (In fact, the charges from Larry's Limos ate up a big portion of that!!)

 

So, no... the airline did not reimburse us. It was all out of our own pockets.

 

Thanks for hearing me out and being so understanding!

[RiverRev]

Larrys Limo used ot monitor this board. I think they may have lost the employee who made that connection. It was great because tey would come on line and explain to the community their side of the story and often make adjustments publicly. It is sad that they don't monitor anymore.

 

Bottom line is you pay waiting time for any transportation even a cab because for those folks time IS money. You obviously paid for Larry's meet and greet which means you spents some extra on the project and you don't want to hear a lot that is said. The driver should have told you about the extra charge, but not every person is a great communicator, nor is it hte comfortable thing to give more bad news to already hassled people. So, how would you have reacted if htis poor guy had told you he was either going to have to leave with your deposit or charge you extra to hang around? I think given your already hassled state that you would have fragged all over him.

[CruisinBabe]

I think if the driver had explained to me that I would have to pay extra for the time he spent waiting while I dealt with the airline, I think I would have probably told him not to wait and we would have taken a taxi (that is, assuming there was no ridiculously high cancellation charge). I mean, this wasn't even like we were riding in a stretch limo or anything!!! I was your basic towncar!!! To pay $125.00 for a ride from the airport to the pier... it was just such a waste of money!!!

 

Again... I guess my whole grip is that I had never booked a limo before and I was just not aware of late fees and cancellation fees. The limo company can't just assume that people will be aware of these things. If all of that had been explained to me when I called to book the reservation, then I would have had absolutely no grounds to complain or get upset because I booked the limo knowing full well what the company's policies and charges were.

 

BUT.... it is the fact that none of these additional charges were ever mentioned to me until AFTER the fact... that is what angers me and makes me feel like they took advantage of me.

 

Bottom line - I'm done with hiring limo services!!! From now on I'm sticking to the airport shuttle taxis - much cheaper and no additional charges or fees!!!

[AntonJ]

sorry this seems to be such a hot topic but I'm still interested. Does anyone have information on abc limo. I'm looking for convenience and would rather not take a taxi or the shuttle. I don't think I'd feel upset about a towncar instead of a stretch limo but that's just me.

[CruisinBabe]

Just to clarify - I was not upset about having a town car instead of a stretch limo. I knew we would be travelling in a town car. My point was - paying $125.00 for a car ride (in any kind of car) from the airport to the pier is, IMO, a waste of money!!

[mark k]

We just returned from the Voyager yesterday and we used Tri County Limo from Fll to Miami on the way down. We had a town car for 4 people (plenty of room) for 80.00 tip included. They met us at the airport before we even had our luggage. We would use their service again.

[Former Goalie]

In March '03 we used Finesse Limousine from the Amerisuites 17th St. (near FLL) to the pier in Miami - we took a limo to the pier, a van back to FLL; we had five people travelling. Forget the cost, but it was quite reasonable, gratuity was included (even so, we gave a bit more). Everything about the experience was superior:

Richard, the owner and driver, was exceptionally prompt, courteous, and cordial. The limo and the van were clean and beautiful. Don't know about the bubbly, and whether Finesse would purchase it for you, but I do know there was bar setup space in the limo (I think he had a couple sodas there for us). I would highly recommend Finesse and would, without hesitation, use them again any time we need service in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area (this Spring, we are cruising out of Port Canaveral, however).

 

Don't know if this is allowed, but here is the link:

http://www.finesselimousine.com

[TNT]

Our quote for ABC included tip. They also told us to call them when we arrived in port by cell and asked for our cell number as well. We were delayed because we waited 1.5 hours for our luggage disembarking NOS in October (out fo the ordinary). We called them and they told us the driver would be sitting outside the port and to call when we got our luggage. After we called, he was there in less than 3 minutes. We have used them on four occasions from Miami to FLL and have always been pleased. Very professional. The only time we tipped extra was the last time when we were late and he got us to the airport pronto.

Just a note- If you have a porter to take your luggage out, they will bypass the line for customs and take you directly to the customs desk and then outside to the waiting driver. Really saves time!!