Miami or Ft Lauderdale?

[BabsM]

We will be cruising (NCL Sun out of Miami) on Saturday, March 25, 2006. We want to get an evening flight on Friday the 24th . southwest does not fly into Miami only to Ft. Lauderdale. Can anyone tell me the distance to the port from Ft. Lauderdale?

 

We should fly in on Friday rather than Saturday morning - correct? We also prefer Chicago Midway rather than O'Hare. Should we stay near the Fr. Lauderdale airport Friday night and then get transportation to the port on Saturday morning?

 

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

[Log42]

From Ft. Lauderdale Int'l Airport to the port will probably take about 30 mins. I think you stand a better chance of finding a good deal at a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. You can then take a taxi in the morning.

[bob&france]

30 minutes sounds about right.....if you fly in the night before, I would get straight to Miami and stay in the Holiday Inn Bayside....straight accross the street from The Bayside Mall...indoor/outdoor ,Hard Rock cafe etc....right on the water.

 

Enjoy...Bob & france

[NoName]

I second that recommendation. Stay the night in Miami, any hotel across from the Bayside would do for a overnight.

 

It takes about 30 mins to get from Fort lauderdale to Miami, however, traffic can make the trip longer.

 

Kim

[wannalottadough]

Hey BabsM,

We are flying southwest out of Midway the same day as you on March 24th, but we are sailing on the Voyager (also out of Miami). I have no idea when or what airline we are flying back on so far because our cruise returns to miami on April 1st and southwest hasn't opened for that date yet. Do you mind if i ask what kind of price you got on southwest for that date and what you are doing about a return flight? Southwest seems to have the cheapest flights even though we live about 10 minutes away from Ohare so we are anxiously waiting for southwest to extend their dates. We are hoping to drive from Ft. Lauderdale Friday night, to Miami and stay at The marriott courtyard downtown, but nothing is set in stone yet.

[BabsM]

You are a head of us. We have not booked either flight yet. I wanted to book both flights at the same time. Maybe that was a mistake? Yes, all the cheaper flights are taken for Friday.

I called southwest and they told me to wait until April 1st opened up. Was this a mistake? I really want a non stop flight. And we do not want to leave until Friday night. Thanks.

[dsclark]

When I did this, I booked a hotel near miami airport. I flew into FLL, rented a car, went to hotel, then drove to MIA to drop the car off and have the rental car company shuttle us to the airport.

One caviat- I got a 2 1/2 star room from PL and it was yuckt (Courtyard by marriott) it had thin walls, noisy, old beds, just bad. If you do this route, go for at least a 3 star room.

Doing the rental car route will be much cheaper than paying for cabs to take you to a hotel, then again to the port (full size can often be had for around $50).

[wannalottadough]

BabsM

We booked a refundable ticket on southwest for friday night with the thought in mind that if we can get a round trip when april opens up we will just cancel the other. It's expensive though (253.00 i think) for one way, and these flights are still available at this price too. I'm hoping that once i'm able to book a round trip, there will be cheaper prices available for that. I just keep checking everyday very early in the morning and later again in the aft. When it opened up through march 31st it had been opened for only two hours and all the cheap prices were gone already or maybe they were never available to begin with?

 

dsclark

was that the courtyard downtown miami? We have a reservation there too, but not through priceline. Since it will be spring break when i go everything is extremely expensive even through priceline so we didn't want to spend alot of money for the one short night we will be there. Any other suggestions for something inexpensive but clean, and near the port? We also planned on renting a car in Ft. Lauderdale and dropping it off the next morning and taking the rental car shuttle to the port. Seems like the best way to go.

[dsclark]

[quote

dsclark

was that the courtyard downtown miami? We have a reservation there too, but not through priceline. Since it will be spring break when i go everything is extremely expensive even through priceline so we didn't want to spend alot of money for the one short night we will be there. Any other suggestions for something inexpensive but clean, and near the port? We also planned on renting a car in Ft. Lauderdale and dropping it off the next morning and taking the rental car shuttle to the port. Seems like the best way to go.

 

You can keep trying priceline between now and then. According to better bidding, the 3 star hotels you likely end up are:

3 Star

Wyndham Miami Airport LINK TO HOTEL REVIEW

Sheraton Miami Mart Hotel (formerly Radisson Mart Plaza)

Crowne Plaza Miami Airport Check for Great Deals on this hotel from Easyclicktravel.com--CLICK HERE

Marriott Miami Airport LINK TO HOTEL REVIEW

Embassy Suites Miami Airport LINK TO HOTEL REVIEW

 

We didn't get any sleep that night.To be fair, part of the problem was talking to different people at AA trying to find some lost luggage12 hours before cruise. However, the place was dumpy, not like others I have been in. Keep the courtyard as a back up and try to get a pl 3 star. Go to betterbidding.com for advice and to see what kind of bid will get you the room. Also, if you use ezclick, they have "unknown" hotels with set rates like hotwire. Usually, they have descriptions that are from the hotel.

Copy and past part of the description in google and you'll find out who the hotel is!

[wannalottadough]

Thats good advice i didn't know about! Thanks i will try that.