Newby with questions

[baskuis]

Dear cruisers,

 

My name is Bas, i'm from Enschede in the Netherlands. We've booked our first cruise for oktober 2018. We're already very excited. Me and my girlfriend wil be travelling with my mom and her boyfriend. The cruise is on the Carnival Glory, from Miami to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize and back to Miami. Since it's our first time, we've booked through a travel agency. According to them, it we're the last 2 available balcon cabins (i doubt it, 16 months in advance, but who am I).

 

Since flights are not yet available, we haven't booked them yet, but we are looking for hotels in the area. Thats where my questions is. According to google maps, there are 2 airfields in the "area", Miami ofcourse, and Fort Lauderdale. I have no idea about how long it will take to go from a to b in that part of the world, nor how far it actually is.

Is it too much to travel by taxi/minivan/uber to the ports in Miami if flights are cheaper to Fort Lauderdale?

 

What is better to do, get an hotel near the airfield, or near the ports? Since it is an pretty long flight, i want to leave at least a day early, not taking a chance of missing the ship.

 

After the cruise, we want to stay a week in Miami (at least me and my gf), and see some of the US. On the other side, Miami seems pretty expensive, so a back to back cruise is also an idea. Not neccesairly on the same ship or even cruise line, but i think its more holiday for your money. Ofcourse a different route then. What are the thoughts on such an idea?

 

If i made a lot of typing mistakes, my apologies.. I don't use English enough.

 

Thanks!

 

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[cruizergal70]

Make things easy for yourself. Fly into the Miami airport and find a hotel near the port. Another alternative is to find a hotel near the airport that has a free shuttle to the port.

[Drrandall]

Everything is close when you are in Miami.

Stay in Fort Lauderdale when you stay for the week. Way cheaper and you are super close to Miami anyway.

[jen&samcantwait]

First, welcome to CC. You will find boatloads of helpful info here. You might want to look at the Florida section under Ports.

We find it's usually cheaper for us to fly into Ft Lauderdale and stay there, then we use Sas Transportation to get us from the hotel to the cruise port. We have also done land vacations in Ft Lauderdale, we love it there. They have a water taxi that takes you along the intercoastal waterway (they call it the Venice of America) where you can see beautiful mansions & yachts. Also goes to Hollywood beach for a day trip. And short drive to Miami for another day trip. Hope this helps.

[mrsfuzzmo]

You can fly into either airport for cruises out of Miami. Fort Lauderdale will be about a 40 minute ride to port and Miami will be about 20 minute ride (traffic can affect this). We always fly into FLL because we can do non-stop flights and a much better price.

 

You will not have any issues finding transport from either airport. Both work easy. If you are going to stay for an extra week, I suggest either a drive down into the Florida Keys, or stay up in Orlando and see the parks (Disney or Universal). If you want beaches, look into the Hollywood Beach area (near Fort Lauderdale). Lots to do and much better prices than Miami.

 

I am a cruise agent, and I guarantee that there are PLENTY of balcony cabins available on a cruise over a year from now. We are sailing on the very same ship/itinerary in a couple of weeks and there are still balconies available. :)

[HawkIVette]

Miami, fly in to MIA. Cost of a Taxi straight to the port is a flat 2

$27. Same when leaving the ship- port to MIA is flat rate , $27

 

Fly in to FFL- will be a taxi ride to Port of Miami will cost as much as $70

 

Fort Lauderdale- From airport to Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) is a fast trip by taxi. Around $20 to port

 

Hotels near airports have Free shuttles- Then in the morning have Shuttles for like $10 pp to the port.

Hotels on South Beach can be anywhere from $150/ night 1 block off Ocean Drive to over $300/ night on Ocean Drive.

Hotels near downtown Miami, which is near the Port can be found for $150-$200/ night

[Sixtytwo]

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I would certainly recommend flying into Miami (and a day early!), grab a hotel near the port and relax or take in some of the Miami sights. When you return, it would be much less expensive to move out of Miami for lodging or, as you suggest, take another cruise. If you are not looking for an upscale hotel, I would point you to the La Quinta Miami Airport East. They offer free shuttle to the port and a return shuttle to either the airport or the hotel is $10/person. The hotel is clean and they offer free breakfast!

 

You have lots of time to plan your itinerary, whether you are going to do some land based touring or hop on another ship for a cruise. In Florida, you can cruise from Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa so you would have lots of options for another cruise. You could also fly out of Ft Lauderdale to New York, do the "Big Apple" and then catch a trans Atlantic cruise back to Europe! Options everywhere if you have the time and the means to do it.

[coevan]

sorry, but La Quinta, upscale?

[Sixtytwo]

Nope, La Quinta is not upscale, just as I expressed in my post. ;p

[FlamingJune1967]

sorry, but La Quinta, upscale?

 

Reread the comment. He said if you are NOT looking for upscale.

 

We stayed at La Quinta Miami Airport East this past December and were very happy with our room and the service. The free shuttle was nice, but next time we will just Uber. There was a bit of standing around waiting for the bus, and then we were crammed in with other folks. The Uber back to the hotel (they let us park our car there for free!) was reasonable (around $25)

[coevan]

sorry, reread, "if you're not" but they are nice clean properties

[cb at sea]

Easier to fly into Miami, if that's your port. It's expensive to get from Fort Lauderdale to Miami via cabs or shuttles.

They appear close, but they are not, as far as transportation goes!

[sanger727]

Easier to fly into Miami, if that's your port. It's expensive to get from Fort Lauderdale to Miami via cabs or shuttles.

They appear close, but they are not, as far as transportation goes!

 

 

Really? It's less than an hour. If it saves hundreds of dollars it's a great deal. SAS runs transfers for $15 pp each way. Many many cities you fly in to require a longer commute to get into the city.

 

Personally, I'd fly into whichever airport is cheaper, and stay near the port of Miami. Then it'll be either a hotel shuttle ride or Uber to the port.

 

 

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[A&Jfamily]

First your English is great!

Second, on the issue of back to back cruise vs staying in FL - the answer is "it depends." Do you want to see some of Florida (it's a big state and google maps will give you a good idea of distance and drive times). You could spend a week just in Disney and not come close to seeing it all. Same for south Florida. In the alternative, a B2B cruise would allow you to see a very different side of the Caribbean if you took the Eastern route to places like San Juan, St. Thomas, Grand Turk etc. Don't do Bahamas if you can avoid it.

Lastly, be warned that October is hurricane season so a storm could force a change in either set of plans so be prepared to go with the flow!

 

 

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[kcdancerkc]

Don't worry too much about hurricane changes....usually a 4 day warning here, so captain will be well aware!

[swixpat]

Out of the Netherlands it may be more complicated to fly to Fort Lauderdale. There may be direct flights to Miami. Have a look at the situation now for 2017 to get a first impression. Then, 11 months before your cruise you can book earliest.

[Sequim88]

For post cruise land portion check out TripAdvisor.com (sister site to Cruise Critic) where there is a lot of information, top 10 lists and visitor reviews (hotels, restaurants, attractions). Also, many towns and areas have Destination Experts in the message forums, local people who know the area well. It's little hard to find but there are also lists and guides for foreign visitors on many topics such as local customs and driving tips.

[mrsfuzzmo]

Really? It's less than an hour. If it saves hundreds of dollars it's a great deal. SAS runs transfers for $15 pp each way. Many many cities you fly in to require a longer commute to get into the city.

 

Personally, I'd fly into whichever airport is cheaper, and stay near the port of Miami. Then it'll be either a hotel shuttle ride or Uber to the port.

 

 

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I completely agree with Sanger. It's going to depend on the price of the flights and what works for you. We have 10 of us flying into FLL one night pre cruise. Total cost of air (R/T) was $2200. If we would have flown into Miami it would have been $5600. I'll take a little longer ride and an extra $100 in transport cost over that price in a heartbeat.

 

 

Taxi from FLL = $75 (we just did this in January)

Shuttle from FLL $15 pp - $150

Private Transport from Larry's Limo for 10 of us - $140. Cannot beat that price for a private ride.

[baskuis]

Hi all,

 

after a long time a post again. 48 days untill cruising says the Carnival app (its the only thing the app does on my phone). Really looking forward to it. Everything has been arranged, booked and paid for. We have cabins 6269 and 6267 on the Glory (no idea if good or bad location). We fly out of Amsterdam on Thursday morning, arriving friday morning in Miami, having a hotel in South Beach. When we finish the cruise we also have a day in the same hotel afterwards, so flying out of Miami on Sunday. Do you have to book an Uber in advance from mia to hotel or go as it is and gey one at the airport?

 

Any tips to do prior and after for first time visitors in Miami?

 

Grtz Bas

 

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[Essiesmom]

The Carnival app doesn't really do anything until you are on the ship. That sounds like a really long flight...Hop many changes do you make? Flying west you should be gaining time, not losing...EM

[baskuis]

The Carnival app doesn't really do anything until you are on the ship. That sounds like a really long flight...Hop many changes do you make? Flying west you should be gaining time, not losing...EM

Hmm will have to check but i could be wrong. Will be in Miami on friday at least haha. We have one stop in Vienna for about 2 or 3 hours and then a 10 hour flight to Miami.

 

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[champagne123]

Hi all,

 

after a long time a post again. 48 days untill cruising says the Carnival app (its the only thing the app does on my phone). Really looking forward to it. Everything has been arranged, booked and paid for. We have cabins 6269 and 6267 on the Glory (no idea if good or bad location). We fly out of Amsterdam on Thursday morning, arriving friday morning in Miami, having a hotel in South Beach. When we finish the cruise we also have a day in the same hotel afterwards, so flying out of Miami on Sunday. Do you have to book an Uber in advance from mia to hotel or go as it is and gey one at the airport?

 

Any tips to do prior and after for first time visitors in Miami?

 

Grtz Bas

 

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G950F met Tapatalk

Hello and welcome back. We loved the Glory and hope you do too! Your cabins 6267 and 6269 are forward, right near the elevators (very convenient location) and you should be very happy with them.

 

As far as Uber goes, did you down load the app? DO NOT schedule them until you are ON THE CURB after leaving the plane and collecting all of your luggage. All the Uber drivers are lined up and will be there in less than 2 minutes, once you order one. If you pre-order and you are not at the curb, they charge you for each minute you are late. We just cruised last week, using Uber for the first time. It was great! We used them at least 5 times in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. For example, if you order an Uber, you will see on your phone all of the drivers in your area. When we wanted to go to dinner, we stood outside our hotel, turned on my phone and saw 12 Uber drivers in our area. Ordered one and he was there in 10 seconds. So, again, don't order one until you are ready.

 

If you have any questions, please ask.

[baskuis]

I have no idea what to do with internet over there. Its increadebly expensive for me to use my phone outside of Europe, don't if there is free wifi on the airport? Otherwise we will just walk outside and see what we will do then. What will be a normal fair to south beach?

 

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[champagne123]

I have no idea what to do with internet over there. Its increadebly expensive for me to use my phone outside of Europe, don't if there is free wifi on the airport? Otherwise we will just walk outside and see what we will do then. What will be a normal fair to south beach?

 

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G950F met Tapatalk

:') Then, why did you ask about Uber..lol. Okay, if you find a cheaper airfare for Ft. Lauderdale, and need to get to Miami/South Beach, without using Uber, this is a great company:

http://www.gojiffyjeff.com/

This is Trip Advisor (sister company of Cruise Critic) Read all about it and the reviews. BTW, Ft. Lauderdale Airport has free WiFi. I think Miami does also (cannot remember)

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g34227-d9786677-Reviews-Jiffy_Jeff_Transportation-Fort_Lauderdale_Broward_County_Florida.html

[baskuis]

I did not know uber can only be booked online haha. Haven't used it in my lifetime. All the taxi's over here are just waiting for costumers. Hop in and gooo. I'll take a look at your link, thx.

 

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