Are these travel arrangements feasible? FLL to MIA

[Roxy30]

We are leaving on the Destiny on July 14. I am looking at airfare now. (yes, kind of late, lol). It is much cheaper to fly southwest into Ft. Lauderdale. So here is my thinking. We will fly into FLL on 7/13 and stay there for the night. Early morning (7/14) we will rent a car (is cheaper for us than paying SAS or any other company to transport, plus I want to stop and get sodas and water to carry on) and drive to Miami airport. (From what I have found on boards, should take us about an hour). We will return car to MIA.

 

Now here are my questions:

 

How can we get from MIA to the Port after returning rental car?

 

After the cruise, how can we get from Port to MIA to pick up car to take us back to FLL for flight? (I assume this answer will be same as above).

 

Is a 1:25 flight out of FLL, too early? That would require us to travel from MIA to FLL by 11:45 or so at the latest.

 

 

Thanks for any help!

 

Danielle

[Chasey]

After you drop off your rental vehicle they'll shuttle you to the port. Same for post cruise vehicle reservations. No, a 1pm flight is not too early.

[mrpayroll]

After you drop off your rental vehicle they'll shuttle you to the port. Same for post cruise vehicle reservations. No, a 1pm flight is not too early.

 

Not all rental companies provide shuttle from car rental facility to port. As far as i know, only alamo/national ( shared bus ) provide this service. A cab costs 25.00 from the airport to port.

[scottjt525]

We used SAS a couple of years ago, they were happy to make a stop (I think it was Walgreens) so we could load up on supplies. :)

[amcjeep4life]

If you are getting in the night before, you should be able to make your purchases then. Shouldn't you? That's when we plan on doing ours. I think renting a car and then returning it and having to hop their shuttle to the port sounds like too much trouble. Personally, I'd rather have a straight shot to the port from the hotel, with no chance for something else to potentially go wrong. And we have a 1230 flight out of FLL the day we come back in to Miami, so your later flight should be fine.

[Not_Done_Living]

have you considered

 

Flying into FLL

Getting a hotel in Miami by the airport that has a free shuttle to the port

Getting your carry on goodies

dropping car off at MIA

Shuttle back to the hotel

Sleep

Shuttle to the Port?

[cruisergrandma]

This sounds WAY too complicated. First, book Carnival's round-trip shuttle from FLL to the port of Miami. Then book a hotel that offers free round-trip shuttle from FLL to the hotel. Once at the hotel check to see if they offer free shuttle. A lot of hotels offer free shuttle for a 5 mile radius. You can use this to pick up supplies. The next morning have the hotel shuttle you back to FLL when you hook up with Carnival's shuttle to the port. When you get off the ship it is a simple shuttle back to FLL. This would save a lot of money and confusion.

[TravelerMK]

This sounds WAY too complicated. First, book Carnival's round-trip shuttle from FLL to the port of Miami. Then book a hotel that offers free round-trip shuttle from FLL to the hotel. Once at the hotel check to see if they offer free shuttle. A lot of hotels offer free shuttle for a 5 mile radius. You can use this to pick up supplies. The next morning have the hotel shuttle you back to FLL when you hook up with Carnival's shuttle to the port. When you get off the ship it is a simple shuttle back to FLL. This would save a lot of money and confusion.

 

I'm originally from Miami and I have to agree with cruisergrandma, don't mess with rental cars and extra shuttles, too much of a nightmare if any one piece is running late AND trying to find your way around can be confusing. The Miami airport is a bit of a nightmare with crowds (I mostly fly into FLL to visit the parents).

 

There are plenty of nice hotels in the vicinity of the Miami airport and even close to the port and I'm sure most offer shuttles. You might even see if any of those hotels offer shuttle service between them and FLL and them and the port. MIA is only 10 minutes from the port, so a somewhat reasonable cab ride from area hotels. Downtown Miami is even closer to the port and so cheaper cabs.

 

Mindy

[Eng23]

Fly into FLL. Stay the night either in FLL, book a shuttle service between your FLL hotel and the port with a return to FLL once you get off the ship. SAS usually has good rates and there are a few othe shuttle companies that you can compare. In your original plan you will still have to pay a shuttle service or take a taxi to the port thereby possibly negating the savings of renting a car. If a rental car is what you have to have, rent the car at FLL from a car rental agency with a downtown Miami drop off location, drive to Miami and stay at a downtown hotel. You will have shopping options in downtown. Next morning load up take everyone to the port drop off all luggage and all passengers and then take the car to the downtown drop off location and then take the car rental agency shuttle back to the ship. Good luck.

[Roxy30]

Thank you everyone for the replies. I like your idea cruisegrandma. I will look into the hotels that have shuttles. We planned to stay in FLL for the day so that we could take the 3 kids to the beach since our flight arrives at 12:30.

[virginiab]

We tried cruisergrandma's plan a few years ago. We got the free shuttle to a Ft Lauderdale hotel, spent the night, got free shuttle back to FLL. Than we checked in with the Carnival shuttle reps and they told us that since we were not getting right off a flight we were not on their lists and would have to wait until there was a bus with space for us. So we ended up cooling our heels in the FLL airport for a long time before we got a shuttle to the port. Ugh. I won't make that mistake twice.

 

It sounded like such a good plan, but it certainly did not work out well for us....

[bobandsherry]

We have cruise planned for February on Breeze and plan to fly into FLL the day before as well. After considering several options, including rental car, stay in Miami, etc, I concluded that for 3 of us traveling best option was to stay in FLL and the independent shuttle to the port. Looks like $70 each way and that's about same cost as renting car and going through all the hassles to return it in Miami and still get to the port. FLL was less expensive for hotel compared to Miami and a lot less congested. I would never the Carnivals transfers, based on our previous experience and that you can do better on your own and with much more flexibility and assurance when you will arrive at the port.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[dznymom]

I always fly into FLL and I always do the rental car. I generally use Alamo & usually pay less than $50 for a full sized car. Easy peasy & gives you loads of options.

 

1. Fly into FLL

2. Pick up your car at FLL

3. Go check into your hotel anywhere between FLL & the port

4. Go shopping, go to dinner, hit a casino

5. Back to the hotel for bed

6. Sleep well, eat breakfast (sometimes we grab just coffee and drink it at the beach) and return car to MIA @10:30

7. Arrive at the port via Alamo free shuttle @ 11:00

 

If my flight home is early in the day I sometimes take the cruiseline bus back to FLL.

[soccersharon]

We fly into FLL for a MIA departure as well - because of schedules or price.

 

We book our hotel room on ***wire.com and save some $$$ there. I have to check to see if the hotel this year has a free shuttle :)

 

We used SAS last March at $13 per person (there were 5 of us) to get from FLL to MIA. I believe they charge $15 if under 3 people. Carnival charges $30 per person for their transport from the FLL airport to the ship. Way too expensive! And the Carnival shuttle waits for the bus to be full.

[Almost Packed]

this is what we did....we flew in a few days early-to FLL on Southwest as well. Cheaper (wayyyyy) than flying in to MIA.

 

We stayed a couple of nights at a hotel. We had a rental car in which we dropped off at MIA and took a cab. It was not difficult at all.

 

For our return trip, we just booked with SAS. It was very simple and they were waiting for us.

 

Traveling in and out of FLL is easier than MIA. Lines were crazy long at MIA.

 

I would never rent a car for debarkation because I have seen the madness while trying to return a rental. It's a madhouse and something dh & I noted and said we would never do. So embarkation is fine. They get you in and out fast because they want your empty car to give to the person waiting. But the poor people waiting to get their cars....just craziness.

 

Save yourself the hassle and go with SAS unless you are a larger group. We were a party of 4 and it was convenient for us the way we did it. Not a big deal at all.

[sunshinecruiser62]

We are leaving on the Destiny on July 14. I am looking at airfare now. (yes, kind of late, lol). It is much cheaper to fly southwest into Ft. Lauderdale. So here is my thinking. We will fly into FLL on 7/13 and stay there for the night. Early morning (7/14) we will rent a car (is cheaper for us than paying SAS or any other company to transport, plus I want to stop and get sodas and water to carry on) and drive to Miami airport. (From what I have found on boards, should take us about an hour). We will return car to MIA.

 

Now here are my questions:

 

How can we get from MIA to the Port after returning rental car?

 

After the cruise, how can we get from Port to MIA to pick up car to take us back to FLL for flight? (I assume this answer will be same as above).

 

Is a 1:25 flight out of FLL, too early? That would require us to travel from MIA to FLL by 11:45 or so at the latest.

 

 

Thanks for any help!

 

Danielle

 

Hi Danielle, google SAS Transportation in Fort Lauderdale. I read the reviews about them on Tripadvisor. You'll read how folks booked them from Fort Lauderdale to the Port of Miami and they are singing the praises of SAS. That's who we're using on our next cruise. Good luck and happy cruising!!:)

Michelle

[tada]

We have done several cruises out of Miami and have flown into FLL on Southwest. We usually rent a car from Hertz at the FLL airport, stay in FLL at the Fairfield Inn, and return the car to the downtown Miami rental car office. From there, we catch a free Hertz shuttle to port. Takes about five minutes. We have gotten excellent service from Hertz and Fairfield. That is why I recommend them. This arrangement gives us the freedom to dine and shop prior to the cruise. We have also used Hertz after the cruise to drive back to FLL.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Hi Danielle, google SAS Transportation in Fort Lauderdale. I read the reviews about them on Tripadvisor. You'll read how folks booked them from Fort Lauderdale to the Port of Miami and they are singing the praises of SAS. That's who we're using on our next cruise. Good luck and happy cruising!!:)

Michelle

 

Op said that SAS was more than the price of the car rental.

 

Sounds like they got a good deal on the car rental if it's below $65.

 

I think she said she also wants to take the kids to the beach when they arrive.

 

Bill

[sharecruises]

Many hotels in Ft Lauderdale/Airport area have free shuttles from/to airport....

many are near drugstores/groceries/liquor/wine stores...this is a very very easy area

Some hotels have free shuttles in a radius

Fort Lauderdale has to be one of the easiest airports/hotel/areas ever

 

JMO I would shuttle to a hotel in Lauderdale, go out and buy supplies and enjoy a nice dinner....get hotel shuttle to airport and then grab a shuttle to POM (why pay more for Carnival transfers?)

 

Renting a car is do-able but IMHO more hassle

 

You might want to consider renting the car for Ft Lauderdale if you wish to sightsee

and drop it off in Miami and use their shuttle to the port

 

but I agree...trying to rent a car from POM and drive to Ft Lauderdale is going to be a pain

 

Just shuttle back from POM to Ft Lauderdale airport

SAS shuttle will work for you

[CruiseinNJ]

Last spring, we flew to FLL, got hotel shuttle from airport. Had a car service pick us up at hotel (in a Surburban - plenty of room), stop for drinks, etc., and bring us to POM. Upon arrival back to POM, the car picked us up and returned us to FLL. This cost $170 round trip, inclusive of tips.

 

Not sure how many are in your party, but for us, this was cheaper than other transfers, and very convenient!

[rellersi]

Thank you everyone for the replies. I like your idea cruisegrandma. I will look into the hotels that have shuttles. We planned to stay in FLL for the day so that we could take the 3 kids to the beach since our flight arrives at 12:30.

 

You have 3 children that is expensive to take carnivals shuttle. A taxi from any hotel in FLL or the airport is around $80 total each way. Still cheaper to follow your original plan. Fly in rent a car leave it at MIA. Most of the rental car companies have a dropoff location of port of Miami even though the actual drop off may be the airport. They all have shuttles to the port from wherever their drop off location is

[gomba13]

We're flying into FLL at 11pm the night before and staying in Lauderdale for the night. Then using SAS to get to the port and then the return.

[Eeyoregon]

We are leaving on the Destiny on July 14. I am looking at airfare now. (yes, kind of late, lol). It is much cheaper to fly southwest into Ft. Lauderdale. So here is my thinking. We will fly into FLL on 7/13 and stay there for the night. Early morning (7/14) we will rent a car (is cheaper for us than paying SAS or any other company to transport, plus I want to stop and get sodas and water to carry on) and drive to Miami airport. (From what I have found on boards, should take us about an hour). We will return car to MIA.

 

Now here are my questions:

 

How can we get from MIA to the Port after returning rental car?

 

After the cruise, how can we get from Port to MIA to pick up car to take us back to FLL for flight? (I assume this answer will be same as above).

 

Is a 1:25 flight out of FLL, too early? That would require us to travel from MIA to FLL by 11:45 or so at the latest.

 

 

Thanks for any help!

 

Danielle

 

We are doing this in November. Renting from Budget at FLL using BCD code Y937800 for a great rate...$80 for a mini van for 24 hours!! We are returning the car to their 2nd street Miami office and taxing it the 1.5 miles to the port.

[robsvacation]

Done this a bunch of times. With the car rental stick to the ones with downtown Miami offices and call to make sure they have a shuttle. If you have to go to MIA it's a pain. Also some car rental services have one-way fees (the majors tend not to) so read the fine print.

 

Coming back I'd think twice about a rental car as your time is really tight. I'd opt for the carnival bus shuttle to come back to FLL. Most people don't know you can buy the once-way transfers at guest services once you're are onboard.

 

Enjoy!

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Done this a bunch of times. With the car rental stick to the ones with downtown Miami offices and call to make sure they have a shuttle. If you have to go to MIA it's a pain. Also some car rental services have one-way fees (the majors tend not to) so read the fine print.

 

Coming back I'd think twice about a rental car as your time is really tight. I'd opt for the carnival bus shuttle to come back to FLL. Most people don't know you can buy the once-way transfers at guest services once you're are onboard.

 

Enjoy!

 

If you're going to take the bus I would really recommend SAS.

 

They will be there within minutes of you getting off the ship and you do not have to wait for the bus to fill.

 

Also for five people it is $65 a lot less than the carnival bus.