Driving to Miami, parking at peir?

[BIGREDIOWAN]

My wife and I and our kids are driving from Des Moines, IA on May 12th and 13th to Miami for our cruise on the Vista that leaves on the 14th. We've never driven down, but the airfare was a little too high for us to stomach with taking our children. I've read some threads about parking at the pier and most say to park right at the Miami pier parking. I reserved some parking to what I thought was the pier, website was miamiportparking.com, but it appears this isn't at the pier and is a short shuttle ride, approximately 10 minutes away, and is located at 8300 NW 7th Avenue in Miami. Has anyone parked at this location? It looks like it's called JetPort Park and Ride Center and I want to make sure it's okay before I go leaving our vehicle there for a week. It says there is security on site and they will provide us a shuttle ride to the pier. Just wanting to make sure as my wife might hurt me if something happens to her Tahoe! j/k ;) Thanks in advance.....

[Micahs Grandad]

I prefer to stay at a hotel the night before and leave our car there and take shuttle or taxi to port.

 

Go to NA homeports for more info.

[cruisequeen93]

We just drove to Miami from Omaha, NE for our cruise that departed on 3/11/17. Even with the parking cost and hotels, we spent 1/4 of what airfare would have cost. We parked at the same place and it was great. Very easy to find, reasonably priced and when we got off the ship on 3/18 and the shuttle brought us back, our car was waiting for us.

 

For the drive down, going through Atlanta was horrible so if you can find an alternate route, you won't regret it. It took us over 2 hours just to get through. I never want to drive through there again.

 

Good luck and happy travels.

 

Julie

[Buffettlovertina]

Yes I have used miamiportparking.com,.THEY JOY ROAD IN OUR CAR OVER 200 MILES AND BROKE THE HANDLE ON THE CAR. Now I use Premier cruise Parking port of Miami .Located @ 1400 Biscayne center 1415 NE 2nd Ave, They are like 10 min from port also with shuttles. they were great its in a colorful parking garage. have them scheduled for my Nov cruise.

Edited April 4, 2017 by Buffettlovertina
FORGOT TO SAY i HAD USE DTHEM BEFORE

[Mfnb812]

We live in Florida and always park at the pier no matter which port we go out of. It's easier to park there you don't have to lug your bags everywhere.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

We just drove to Miami from Omaha, NE for our cruise that departed on 3/11/17. Even with the parking cost and hotels, we spent 1/4 of what airfare would have cost. We parked at the same place and it was great. Very easy to find, reasonably priced and when we got off the ship on 3/18 and the shuttle brought us back, our car was waiting for us.

 

For the drive down, going through Atlanta was horrible so if you can find an alternate route, you won't regret it. It took us over 2 hours just to get through. I never want to drive through there again.

 

Good luck and happy travels.

 

Julie

 

Thanks for the information, yeah I really don't want to go through Atlanta, but all the routes I'm looking at converge into Atlanta so I need to figure out a way around that city! :')

 

I just couldn't see spending that much for airfare. It would've limited some of the things we want to do as far as excursions go. It's not going to be a glorious drive by any means, but we'll get through it!

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Yes I have used miamiportparking.com,.THEY JOY ROAD IN OUR CAR OVER 200 MILES AND BROKE THE HANDLE ON THE CAR. Now I use Premier cruise Parking port of Miami .Located @ 1400 Biscayne center 1415 NE 2nd Ave, They are like 10 min from port also with shuttles. they were great its in a colorful parking garage. have them scheduled for my Nov cruise.

 

I might lose my mind if something like this happens so I'll probably look at something different now! Thank you for this information.

[Organized Chaos]

I reserved some parking to what I thought was the pier, website was miamiportparking.com, but it appears this isn't at the pier and is a short shuttle ride, approximately 10 minutes away, and is located at 8300 NW 7th Avenue in Miami. Has anyone parked at this location? It looks like it's called JetPort Park and Ride Center

We'll be driving to Miami next June and I've been researching similar arrangements. Someone in another thread mentioned that JetPort place, so I had a look. They mention that you have to leave your keys with them, so I assumed that meant they park & retrieve the cars themselves. They have a Google Map embedded on their website to show their location. I discovered why they park the cars, not the owners. Switch over to satellite view on that map and you'll see this...

 

 

I don't know about anyone else, but that freaks me out. I don't see how they avoid dents & dings after cramming them in there like that. And what if your car is way in the back? I assume that means you wait until all of the other cruisers ahead of you pick their cars up first.

 

For the drive down, going through Atlanta was horrible so if you can find an alternate route, you won't regret it. It took us over 2 hours just to get through. I never want to drive through there again.

Atlanta is always a nightmare! Even if you take the I-285 bypass around the city.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Yep, no way I'm parking there with it looking that cramped! So for those that park at the pier is there a place to prepay in advance or should we just drive to the parking garage and pay there?

[trvlgirlmq]

Park right at the Miami port. Better safe than sorry plus your car is right there when you return with no waiting on a shuttle. It is so worth the money.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Park right at the Miami port. Better safe than sorry plus your car is right there when you return with no waiting on a shuttle. It is so worth the money.

 

Yep, we're going to do that, honestly that's what we thought we were doing until I did more research, live and learn I guess. So pay upon arrival? I'm assuming there will be plenty of spots to park?

[tvlworm]

Parking at the port is a bit more than the off-site options and is $20 per night. There are 3 different ramps/garages and you cannot make any reservation in advance but did not have any challenges in finding an open space. Tip is to check which ramp is closest to the ship.

 

 

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[trvlgirlmq]

Yep, we're going to do that, honestly that's what we thought we were doing until I did more research, live and learn I guess. So pay upon arrival? I'm assuming there will be plenty of spots to park?

 

You pay as you leave. You will get a ticket from the machine when you drive up to the entrance and then just like any other parking garage put your ticket in when you leave and it will give you the amount to pay. It is $20/night currently. The garages are huge and multi-level so you should not have any difficulty. Easy to find the port using GPS and following all of the signs!

[Organized Chaos]

Yep, no way I'm parking there with it looking that cramped! So for those that park at the pier is there a place to prepay in advance or should we just drive to the parking garage and pay there?

What I did was used Google Maps to pull up the port of Miami. Then I clicked on "Nearby" and did a search for cruise parking. It pulled up a few different lots just outside of the port plus the one inside. The off-site lots have a reservation system. In fact, I think they prefer that people reserve a spot. All of them have shuttles to the terminal, but the policies for each can be different. For instance, one shuttle doesn't start running until 11am. Some offer a free shuttle for the first 2 or 4 passengers, then a per person fee after that. The ones I looked at were around $10/day (give or take), plus taxes & fees.

 

Here's the Google Maps link. Click on each one to bring up their contact & website info. You might have to zoom in/out once to get it to show the garage inside the port: https://goo.gl/maps/T64sZN95Xrz

 

We'll be staying in Miami the night before so I haven't decided if we'll park near the port or at a hotel that offers cruiser parking. The problem with hotel parking, we'll be a group of 8 and it'll be difficult to get everyone back to the hotel, so a couple of us would more than likely have to take a taxi/uber back to get the cars while the others waited at the terminal.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I called this company back to cancel and they said they have parking garages at the port and could move me there, but it was going to be your standard $20 a day. I said to move me there and they reserved me a spot in parking garage J and the Vista is in Terminal C. He said it's a 7 minute walk and I told him I didn't care. I'd much rather have the piece of mind of a parking garage and my own spot than have our vehicle parked in a lot super close to other vehicles and run the risk of something happening. Plus we're right there, we'll take care of our own luggage and it's a simple walk.

[GTO-Girl]

******For Those Traveling Through Atlanta********

 

Not sure which interstate you have to take but a portion of I-85 in downtown collapsed a few days ago so it is shut down. I-285 will probably be a major pain in the butt, however if will be your only alternative if traveling through on I-85....(which is not expected to reopen until June).

 

Atlanta traffic is a nightmare on a good day....so good luck to those who have no choice...

[Swampbabe]

As a Miami native, living elsewhere in Florida now, I would NEVER park anywhere other than the port.

[jcg4550]

Atlanta traffic is bad especially in the early morning & early evening. Travel on I-75 / North or South between 10:00 am to 2:00pm is the optimal time since most resident commuters are not in the mix. Avoid the outer perimeter belt - I-285 because 18 wheel trucks have to use this highway & are kept from going into town so less big truck traffic. Two interstates highways intersect in metro Atlanta downtown / I - 75 & I - 85 for a while. The point is go straight thru Atlanta on I-75 between 10:00 am to 2:00pm for the best results. I live north of Atlanta & it works.

 

 

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[firemanbobswife]

I called this company back to cancel and they said they have parking garages at the port and could move me there, but it was going to be your standard $20 a day. I said to move me there and they reserved me a spot in parking garage J and the Vista is in Terminal C. He said it's a 7 minute walk and I told him I didn't care. I'd much rather have the piece of mind of a parking garage and my own spot than have our vehicle parked in a lot super close to other vehicles and run the risk of something happening. Plus we're right there, we'll take care of our own luggage and it's a simple walk.

 

I would just cancel with them altogether and park directly across from the ship. It's the same price. Who wants to be walking for 7 min in the Miami heat and/or possible rain? I did it once when I accidentally had my Uber driver drop me off at the Victory instead of the Glory. It was HOT and I looked and felt like heck when I got into the terminal.

[Micahs Grandad]

I would just cancel with them altogether and park directly across from the ship. It's the same price. Who wants to be walking for 7 min in the Miami heat and/or possible rain? I did it once when I accidentally had my Uber driver drop me off at the Victory instead of the Glory. It was HOT and I looked and felt like heck when I got into the terminal.

 

agreed

[livingonthebeach]

I live in Miami and can tell you that is not the greatest of neighborhoods and is far from the port. The money saved might not be worth the aggravation and distance. After driving all the way from Iowa, you don't need the added stress of leaving your car in an iffy 'hood far from port. Waiting for a shuttle in Miami when it's hot, humid and rainy is no walk in the park either.

 

 

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[BIGREDIOWAN]

Atlanta traffic is bad especially in the early morning & early evening. Travel on I-75 / North or South between 10:00 am to 2:00pm is the optimal time since most resident commuters are not in the mix. Avoid the outer perimeter belt - I-285 because 18 wheel trucks have to use this highway & are kept from going into town so less big truck traffic. Two interstates highways intersect in metro Atlanta downtown / I - 75 & I - 85 for a while. The point is go straight thru Atlanta on I-75 between 10:00 am to 2:00pm for the best results. I live north of Atlanta & it works.

 

 

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What if I'm hitting Atlanta between 7pm and 9pm at night on Friday night? We're thinking of leaving here around 5am so we hit St. Louis around 10:30am to avoid their rush hour as well? Will the bridge work hurt me on the way down?

[momof3cruisers]

Thanks for the information, yeah I really don't want to go through Atlanta, but all the routes I'm looking at converge into Atlanta so I need to figure out a way around that city! :')

 

I just couldn't see spending that much for airfare. It would've limited some of the things we want to do as far as excursions go. It's not going to be a glorious drive by any means, but we'll get through it!

We drive to FL regularly from MN. When you are in TN as you leave Nashville, take 65 instead of 24. Then at Montgomery, take 331 which will lead you to I10 into FL and you can get on 75 to the turnpike etc. This is technically quite a bit longer than the other routes. However, with the collapse of the I85 bridge, I would expect Atlanta to be even worse of a nightmare than normal.

 

As for parking, we prefer to park at the pier. With that long of a drive ahead of us, we want to be able to go straight to our car and leave. One too many times we stood around waiting for a shuttle that took a long time to arrive.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

We drive to FL regularly from MN. When you are in TN as you leave Nashville, take 65 instead of 24. Then at Montgomery, take 331 which will lead you to I10 into FL and you can get on 75 to the turnpike etc. This is technically quite a bit longer than the other routes. However, with the collapse of the I85 bridge, I would expect Atlanta to be even worse of a nightmare than normal.

 

As for parking, we prefer to park at the pier. With that long of a drive ahead of us, we want to be able to go straight to our car and leave. One too many times we stood around waiting for a shuttle that took a long time to arrive.

 

Great! Thanks for the directions, that helps because I was trying to figure out a decent route around Atlanta without having to take "Bob's road" to get to where I needed to go! :')

[loanshark]

Have you thought about doing 2 one-way car rentals?

 

Alamo has the following rates:

DSM - MIA in a minivan is just under $200 per day / $400 if you need 2 days or 48 hours.

MIA - DSM is allowed as a "drive away from Florida" special that is a $24.99 base rate and works out to about $75 total for a 2 day rental.

 

Smaller vehicles than a van would cost less.

 

You drop off / pick up at Miami airport, and Alamo will shuttle you for free to and from the ship.

 

No parking fees. Also, there is no wear and tear/depreciation on your own vehicle. You are talking approximately 3000 - 3200 miles round trip.

Edited April 5, 2017 by loanshark