Highland dancer Posted April 30, 2015 #1 Share Posted April 30, 2015 We are staying at the intercontinental Doral Miami prior to our cruise on the emerald in November. Does anyone know what time the transport normally leaves to head to port Everglades Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashhill Posted April 30, 2015 #2 Share Posted April 30, 2015 We have stayed there twice and both times the bus left at 1pm. Our last 2 cruises we have stayed at Embassy suites Fort Lauderdale which is only 5 mins from the port. This hotel is excellent for shopping and restaurants and as I say is only 5 mins from the port. Have a great cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colo Cruiser Posted April 30, 2015 #3 Share Posted April 30, 2015 We have stayed there twice and both times the bus left at 1pm. Our last 2 cruises we have stayed at Embassy suites Fort Lauderdale which is only 5 mins from the port. This hotel is excellent for shopping and restaurants and as I say is only 5 mins from the port.Have a great cruise Wow 1pm! :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eandj Posted April 30, 2015 #4 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Just my opinion, because recently I've read here that Princess cruisers are staying here precruise. The Doral Intercontinental wouldn't be where most cruisers would stay. Princess offers this hotel as an expensive convenience. There is nothing to do here. Plus to sit and wait for their coach bus to get to you after noon is not an ideal way to start a vacation. Why wait to board so late when you arrived in Florida the night before? It is easy to book your own hotel for less and use private transport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribill Posted May 1, 2015 #5 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Just my opinion, because recently I've read here that Princess cruisers are staying here precruise. The Doral Intercontinental wouldn't be where most cruisers would stay. Princess offers this hotel as an expensive convenience. There is nothing to do here. Plus to sit and wait for their coach bus to get to you after noon is not an ideal way to start a vacation. Why wait to board so late when you arrived in Florida the night before? It is easy to book your own hotel for less and use private transport. This hotel and the xfer to the ship is often part of the total package (cruise+air+hotel+xfers) that is sold to cruisers from the UK. If you book your own air, then it is easy to pick a different hotel and xfer option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishywood Posted May 1, 2015 #6 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Just my opinion, because recently I've read here that Princess cruisers are staying here precruise. The Doral Intercontinental wouldn't be where most cruisers would stay. Princess offers this hotel as an expensive convenience. There is nothing to do here. Plus to sit and wait for their coach bus to get to you after noon is not an ideal way to start a vacation. Why wait to board so late when you arrived in Florida the night before? It is easy to book your own hotel for less and use private transport. If a UK cruiser wants to check out the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area before their cruise they certainly know to book a flight several days in advance and a hotel in the prime tourist area. Those who do book a fly-cruise package strictly for the cruise are looking for a meal and a night's kip as close to the airport as possible. A flight arriving MIA at 3 PM will feel like 8 PM; some will arrive much later. And those travelling from other parts of the UK to catch their midday flight from London will have been on the move for 14 or 15 hours. It makes perfect sense to me to want to head to the nearest acceptable hotel and defer the 40 minute drive to Ft Lauderdale until the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland dancer Posted May 1, 2015 Author #7 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Since I am flying from the Scotland it is about convenience. If I wanted to fly to Fort Lauderdale it would involve 3 flights and three chances to loose luggage. Which has happened in the past. It would also be close to 24hrs travel time. So it is easy to take a more direct route. As previously said cruises in the UK can be sold as a package flights transfers hotel and cruise. I did look at booking everything separate but it was working out more expensive. With princess the cost of transfers from airport to hotel one night stay in the hotel and transfer to ship and final transfer back to the airport was £105 which works out about $150 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madgemonica Posted May 1, 2015 #8 Share Posted May 1, 2015 We have just returned from a Princess cruise from FL We are from UK. Our plane didn't arrive till 6.30 and after long queues at immigration it was near 9pm when we got to the intercontinental. I wouldn't have wanted a 40min transfer then! Direct flights from Heathrow go to Miami airport . We found the hotel good. Breakfast extra although there's wallmart. McDonald's etc as options. We left for the port at 12 midday. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashhill Posted May 1, 2015 #9 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Since I am flying from the Scotland it is about convenience. If I wanted to fly to Fort Lauderdale it would involve 3 flights and three chances to loose luggage. Which has happened in the past. It would also be close to 24hrs travel time. So it is easy to take a more direct route. As previously said cruises in the UK can be sold as a package flights transfers hotel and cruise. I did look at booking everything separate but it was working out more expensive. With princess the cost of transfers from airport to hotel one night stay in the hotel and transfer to ship and final transfer back to the airport was £105 which works out about $150 HighlandDancer, we flew from Glasgow to Fort Lauderdale via New York with United 6 weeks ago.They have daily flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh. however our 2nd flight to FL was a few hours late in arriving and the Princess rep was there to meet us and our transfer to Embassy Suites took only 10 mins. We usually go via London to Miami and decided to try this route. It worked out fine and we arrived home at 8am instead of 1/2 pm if returning via London to Glasgow from Miami. Princess do not offer this route so we had to book the flights ourselves, so we flew out 2 days early just to be sure. There is plenty to see and do in Fort Lauderdale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland dancer Posted May 1, 2015 Author #10 Share Posted May 1, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the info ashhill it's worth thinking about for future cruises. At the moment I still work full time so I don't have the luxury of flying out much in advance. Roll on retirement Edited May 1, 2015 by Highland dancer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Govantrueblue Posted May 1, 2015 #11 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Hi guys We are also flying to Miami in November with ba Glasgow-Heathrow-Miami arriving 6.30pm also staying at the intercontinental Princess had us originally flying delta airline Glasgow-Amsterdam-Atlanta-Miami Had that changed quickly Would have been nice to get there earlier for a walk round but as previous post work full time How easy was it to transfer terminals at Heathrow and how long did it take this will be my first flight connection and first time at Heathrow in about 40 yrs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland dancer Posted May 1, 2015 Author #12 Share Posted May 1, 2015 The transfer between terminals is easy it's about 20min between T5 and T3. Off the flight follow the signs and the bus will be waiting. We fly on the 6th November 0930 from Glasgow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Govantrueblue Posted May 1, 2015 #13 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Thanks highland dancer Same here 09.30 out of Glasgow Sailing royal princess on the 20th November southern Caribbean + thanksgiving cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashhill Posted May 1, 2015 #14 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Hi Guys, did you book your transfers/hotels through Princess? If you did ask them if they can transfer you to Embassy Suites Fort Lauderdale as it would be my choice. I remember 2 years ago we did not make it to the port till 3pm due to heavy traffic from Miami. The buffet was closing by the time we got on the ship and got very little to eat as the muster was at 4pm. our last cruise we were in our cabin at 12.30 and had a nice lunch in the MDR hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiefBoats Posted May 1, 2015 #15 Share Posted May 1, 2015 (edited) We have stayed at the Renaissance which is in the same location as the Embassy hotel. We will try the Embassy next time. We always fly in the day before and rent a car. We use Budget since there is a Budget office across the street from the Renaissance and they will take you to your ship. Really is convenient. ________________________________________ Island Princess 2008 Alaska, Island Princess 2009 (B2B) Alaska, Royal Princess (Old) 2010 Alaska, Golden Princess 2011 Alaska, Coral Princess 2012 Panama Canal, Star Princess 2012 Alaska, Island Princess 2013 Alaska, Crown Princess 2013 Western Caribbean, Caribbean Princess 2013 Western Caribbean, Royal Princess 2014 Eastern Caribbean, Royal Princess 2014 New England, Emerald Princess 2014 Western Caribbean, Emerald Princess 2015 Western Caribbean Edited May 1, 2015 by ChiefBoats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colo Cruiser Posted May 1, 2015 #16 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Hi Guys, did you book your transfers/hotels through Princess? If you did ask them if they can transfer you to Embassy Suites Fort Lauderdale as it would be my choice. I remember 2 years ago we did not make it to the port till 3pm due to heavy traffic from Miami. The buffet was closing by the time we got on the ship and got very little to eat as the muster was at 4pm. our last cruise we were in our cabin at 12.30 and had a nice lunch in the MDRhope this helps I would think that since its a pre contracted charter there is no way that they would transfer any part of the package to another vendor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribill Posted May 2, 2015 #17 Share Posted May 2, 2015 The transfer between terminals is easy it's about 20min between T5 and T3. Off the flight follow the signs and the bus will be waiting.We fly on the 6th November 0930 from Glasgow Transfer between terminals is quick, but the line for security when you get to the new terminal may not be. We spent an hour in the security line the last time we changed terminals at Heathrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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