transfer from Port of Miami after NCL Sky cruise

[melaniew2000]

I'm due to go on NCL Sky 18-22nd Jan 2016. When we dock back in Miami we would like to take the opportunity do do the hop-on hop-off bus tour to see a bit of the city before our flight from FLL to MCO at 5.45pm.

 

On NCL's website they offer this as an 'excursion' but when I called them to book it as couldn't see it online the lady told me i couldn't do it, no reason given.

 

We are pretty independent travellers & would still like to do something like this when we disembark the ship, however I cant seem to find online about where the luggage can be stored in the city of Miami & who operates the bus transfer up to FLL airport etc. All I can find is an expensive private car transfer to FLL Airport.

 

Has anyone done something similar after disembarking at Port of Miami?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[BVIArabella]

We took the transfer bus from the ship to the airport, checked our luggage and took the bus at the airport to Miami Beach for several hours. The bus driver told us where to catch the bus back to airport from Miami Beach and we made it safe and sound.

Google the Miami city tours and email them how to catch their "Hop-on hop-off" buses from the airport.

Have fun!

[old nutter]

We had a slightly longer wait for a flight back home last year and decided to rent a car for the day. The rental companies run free shuttles from POM to the airport rental centre and you can collect the car from there and keep your luggage with you before heading to FLL. Most companies don't charge extra if you drop the car off at another airport. The other option would be to drive up to Orlando. It only takes around 4-5 hours for that trip.

 

We did a bit of shopping near the airport and then headed out to the Everglades to take an airboat trip. I guess you could even fit that in if you wanted.

[cb at sea]

It's quite a distance to MCO from Miami.....I think, if you want to drive around Miami before heading out on the trip to Orlando, a rental car is your best option.

[fshagan]

We had a National Car Rental from MIA arranged so we could spend the day driving around prior to leaving from Ft. Lauderdale airport. We could have also dropped the car off later that day at MIA, of course. National doesn't have a drop off fee between those two airports.

 

This worked out less than we expected; I think we got the car for the day for $45 or something like that. As long as you have the printed reservation for the car at MIA, National will let you on their bus to the airport (if you don't have a printed copy of the reservation they won't let you board it).

 

We liked this because we simply got on the National bus with our luggage, transferred it to our car's trunk, and were out on the Miami roads by 11 AM. We drove down the Florida Keys a ways and stopped at a couple of tourist stops.

[Sauer-kraut]

There will be excursions available ON BOARD and you'll need to book a few days before your disembarkation day. I would highly recommend the Everglades and Gator Park excursion. You will board a bus with luggage and then be taken on the tour and your luggage stays on the bus and you'll be dropped off at the appropriate airport. They'll have a bus for FLL and one for MIA.

 

The excursion was so much fun, and I didn't have to worry about car rentals and/or transfers from the port to the airport.

[melaniew2000]

We took the transfer bus from the ship to the airport, checked our luggage and took the bus at the airport to Miami Beach for several hours. The bus driver told us where to catch the bus back to airport from Miami Beach and we made it safe and sound.

Google the Miami city tours and email them how to catch their "Hop-on hop-off" buses from the airport.

Have fun!

 

Good suggestion about leaving the luggage at the airport, but unfortunately we fly from FLL airport (as opposed to MIA) so we would still have to get from one airport to another. But will have a look for Miami City Tours to see what they offer :-)

[melaniew2000]

We had a slightly longer wait for a flight back home last year and decided to rent a car for the day. The rental companies run free shuttles from POM to the airport rental centre and you can collect the car from there and keep your luggage with you before heading to FLL. Most companies don't charge extra if you drop the car off at another airport. The other option would be to drive up to Orlando. It only takes around 4-5 hours for that trip.

 

We did a bit of shopping near the airport and then headed out to the Everglades to take an airboat trip. I guess you could even fit that in if you wanted.

 

Thanks for your help - hiring a car is our 'Plan B' if we cant get a transfer - I suppose with that is the flexibility of being able to go and see what we want in Miami :-) We already have our flights booked from FLL-MCO but can drop the car off at FLL airport before our flight.

[melaniew2000]

There will be excursions available ON BOARD and you'll need to book a few days before your disembarkation day. I would highly recommend the Everglades and Gator Park excursion. You will board a bus with luggage and then be taken on the tour and your luggage stays on the bus and you'll be dropped off at the appropriate airport. They'll have a bus for FLL and one for MIA.

 

The excursion was so much fun, and I didn't have to worry about car rentals and/or transfers from the port to the airport.

 

That sort of trip sounds great, I would prefer a trip/coach transfer to hiring a car (we can both drive but hiring a car is our plan B) but for some reason on NCL website they say at the bottom 'not offered for Norwegian Sky Sailings'. I rang them to check and they just said I cant book it.

 

I don't really want to leave sorting out the transfer till we get on board as we wont have any internet access (we have UK mobiles) in USA unless we can find free wifi in a port to book a car last minute if we find out on board they cant do the transfer. It might be better to book a hire car anyway that we can cancel as would be quicker/cheaper to call on our phone to cancel the hire car if we find we can book the transfer when we get on board - thank I'll look into this :-)

[fshagan]

Good suggestion about leaving the luggage at the airport, but unfortunately we fly from FLL airport (as opposed to MIA) so we would still have to get from one airport to another. But will have a look for Miami City Tours to see what they offer :-)

 

So, you could book a rental car from MIA from one of the companies providing the free shuttle like National Rental Car and arrange to drop the car off at FLL. This is exactly what we did, and it was less expensive than any of the other options.

 

There are no additional "drop off fees" between the two airports, and we actually did the opposite when we flew into FLL on that same trip. We picked up a rental, and returned it to MIA on the day of the cruise, then took their shuttle to the port.

[Wavesprite]

This is great information. I hadn't thought to rent a car after our cruise. For MIA do they recommend to be there 2 hours in advance? We have a 5pm flight

Edited January 2, 2016 by Wavesprite

[fshagan]

This is great information. I hadn't thought to rent a car after our cruise. For MIA do they recommend to be there 2 hours in advance? We have a 5pm flight

 

You mean FLL, right? I thought you were flying out of FLL that evening.

 

I think that for domestic flights out of FLL you are safe with 1 to 1 1/2 hours before the flight. For MIA, I might do 2 hours just because of its size.

 

Here's what we did. We had the National Car Rental reservation in hand when we disembarked at the Port of Miami. We had just our carry on luggage and did our own "self disembark" thing early. After making our way through customs we walked out and caught the National Car Rental bus to MIA. I think it was only about 8:15 at that time. The National driver checks that you have the reservation, so you do need it printed out and in hand.

 

It takes a few minutes to get to the airport, but I think we were on the road by 9:00 to 9:30 AM from MIA. We got lucky with everything lining up the way it did, but National's "Emerald Aisle" service, where you just jump in a car and go (and check out at the kiosk when you exit the parking lot) made it really quick at the car rental place. We never even went to the counter to get keys or anything.

 

We drove south down to Islamorado on the Florida Keys, then turned around. We ate lunch there, then drove back up to visit Miami a bit.

 

There was some traffic between Miami and FLL, and I think it took us about 45 minutes to make it through that. If you are returning to MIA that evening for your flight you won't have to worry about the local traffic conditions as much.

[hj1madison]

 

Here's what we did. We had the National Car Rental ............ then drove back up to visit Miami a bit.

 

fshagan:

 

Did you return the rental to FLL? If so, any idea of cost for the day? Does the National Car Rental shuttle pick up near the NCL terminal at POM? Thanks!

[Ciara01]

We have a Dollar rental car reserved through MIA. They have a free shuttle that will pick us up at POM. We will then tour the Everglades for the day until our late afternoon flight. Then will drop our car at FLL & head home. Our res is about $55 for a larger car. Less expensive than a shuttle for 4 & we get a few hours of scenery (& maybe traffic!)

Edited January 3, 2016 by Ciara01

[old nutter]

One quick point about the car rental option if you are from UK. Insurance is dealt with differently in the US, so book through a UK web site so that you are covered properly. For instance Dollar have got a very good .co.uk web site that we have used before. I am sure there are others on Google as well.

[fshagan]

fshagan:

 

Did you return the rental to FLL? If so, any idea of cost for the day? Does the National Car Rental shuttle pick up near the NCL terminal at POM? Thanks!

 

Yes, we picked it up at MIA and dropped it off later that afternoon at FLL. National did not charge any extra "drop off fee" for dropping it at the different airport. If I recall, the price for the rental was in the $50 to $60 range.

 

National (and Budget) have a large bus that drives around the terminal. They don't come right up to the door and park, but make stops along the main road. When we exited the terminal, we had to walk across one set of lanes that was for the tour buses, then stand in the island at a bus stop for the National bus. It drove up within about five minutes so we felt lucky by the timing.

 

I'm paranoid about travel plans, so I called the National desk at MIA to make sure they still ran the free shuttles. This was a couple of years ago and I've heard they still do it.

[cmltx]

I am booked on the NCL Sky sailing Jan 25. I added cruise insurance for $59. Because I added the $50 RT Transport from FLL Airport to Miami Cruise point, I was advised that the cruise insurance went up to $99. So, an extra $40 was added to insurance when I included NCL Transportation (total for Transport $90). Is this normal...it seems ridiculous.. I am open to suggestions from anyone regarding Cruise Insurance and Transportation for this Cruise I have to make final payment tomorrow, Tuesday, by 12midnight. Help??

Edited January 4, 2016 by cmltx

[melaniew2000]

This is great information. I hadn't thought to rent a car after our cruise. For MIA do they recommend to be there 2 hours in advance? We have a 5pm flight

 

I would probably suggest 2 hours to give enough time to drop off the hire car and check in at the terminal :-)

[melaniew2000]

One quick point about the car rental option if you are from UK. Insurance is dealt with differently in the US, so book through a UK web site so that you are covered properly. For instance Dollar have got a very good .co.uk web site that we have used before. I am sure there are others on Google as well.

 

thanks for letting me know, just checked and I have booked the car through Dollar.co.uk website :-)

[melaniew2000]

We have a Dollar rental car reserved through MIA. They have a free shuttle that will pick us up at POM. We will then tour the Everglades for the day until our late afternoon flight. Then will drop our car at FLL & head home. Our res is about $55 for a larger car. Less expensive than a shuttle for 4 & we get a few hours of scenery (& maybe traffic!)

 

Thank you. I think a car for the two of us was about £30 / $45 - which as you said is cheaper than a transfer. I'm thinking it might be best to stick with the hire car when we dock at Miami, then we can go where we want for the day. We just need to leave enough time for the drive up the I95 to Fort Lauderdale. According to google maps its about 45mins drive at that time of the day, so thinking need to leave Miami area for 3pm at latest to get a 5.45pm domestic flight :-)