Post Cruise Excursions at Miami

[Cruising Forever!]

Hello everyone!

 

We're looking at post Cruise excursions from Miami. Our flight is out of Ft Lauderdale late at night, so rather than sitting around an airport all day, we might do one of these. I was wondering if any of you have had experience with either of the two below? I'm specifically wondering how luggage and carry-on items were handled... and what you thought of the tour overall - would you recommend it?

 

Here's the two we're considering:

 

Gulfstream Racing and Casino (with drop off at FLL)

-or-

Hop on Hop off Tour Miami (with drop off at FLL)

[gerelmx]

We do the tour bus visiting Miami, we start at Port Everglades and end at MIA airport. The luggage was stored in the tour bus.

[Cruising Forever!]

We were considering the Everglades one as well. Thank you!

[atate]

We are trying the Everglades airboat ride after our cruise in the beginning of April. Our flight leaves at 3:55. Fingers crossed we have enough time! Not sure when you are taking your cruise, but I’ll report back.

 

 

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[Cruising Forever!]

Thx! Now leaning towards Hop On Hop Off bus. How do they handle luggage on that? I did the Hop buses in Barcelona once - but didn’t have luggage to worry about.

 

 

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[Cruising Forever!]

Has anyone done Celebrity’s Hop On Hop Off post cruise tour? How was your luggage taken care of?

 

 

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[Cruising Forever!]

Signed up for Hop On/Off bus tour- hope the luggage handling isn’t too much of a hassle.

 

 

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[mickey89]

When joining the tour bus they load your luggage into a separate truck. The luggage is kept at the Bayside bus station area. You have up to 18.30 to collect your luggage and transfer to the airport bus, the bus schedule runs every 30/45 mins from Bayside.

[Beachlover1989]

We just did the Miami Hop On-Hop Off after disembarking on Saturday. You get on the bus at the port and they load your luggage on a different truck which is then taken to Bayside. From the Port we went to Bayside, got off that bus and then waited for 1/2 hour only to get back on that bus and start the City tour. The guide was absolutely horrible and barely talked about any of the sites other than car dealerships so we just listened to the pre-recorded guide. After that back to Bayside and off that bus, only to wait another 1/2 hour and then on to another one for the Beach Tour. That guide was much better but it was still the worst HOHO we've ever done in any city.

 

Back at Bayside we collected our luggage and got on a motor coach for the 15 minute ride to MIA. The interior of the bus was falling apart and apparently the engine was too as we broke down ON the highway. After 1/2 hour without a/c on a stifling bus, a mechanic finally showed up. He eventually got it started, but after a mile it stopped again. Another long wait before a second bus showed up for us. It was really scary since the bus was in part of a lane on the highway, but we made it to the other bus and then they transferred our luggage to the other bus as well. It was a terrible experience.

 

We learned that the company has recently been bought out and it seems like they're trying to make money with subpar vehicles. I would never do the HOHO in Miami again.

 

 

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[sandpiper35]

We just did the Miami Hop On-Hop Off after disembarking on Saturday. You get on the bus at the port and they load your luggage on a different truck which is then taken to Bayside. From the Port we went to Bayside, got off that bus and then waited for 1/2 hour only to get back on that bus and start the City tour. The guide was absolutely horrible and barely talked about any of the sites other than car dealerships so we just listened to the pre-recorded guide. After that back to Bayside and off that bus, only to wait another 1/2 hour and then on to another one for the Beach Tour. That guide was much better but it was still the worst HOHO we've ever done in any city.

 

Back at Bayside we collected our luggage and got on a motor coach for the 15 minute ride to MIA. The interior of the bus was falling apart and apparently the engine was too as we broke down ON the highway. After 1/2 hour without a/c on a stifling bus, a mechanic finally showed up. He eventually got it started, but after a mile it stopped again. Another long wait before a second bus showed up for us. It was really scary since the bus was in part of a lane on the highway, but we made it to the other bus and then they transferred our luggage to the other bus as well. It was a terrible experience.

 

We learned that the company has recently been bought out and it seems like they're trying to make money with subpar vehicles. I would never do the HOHO in Miami again.

 

 

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Holly Cow! What a disaster!

 

How many things can wrong in such a short time? Very unlucky indeed.

 

I would not go home after that, Iwould just turn around and get back on the cruise ship.

 

Cheers.

[Sandtrap328]

Did you know that The Everglades have around 135,000 breeding pythons and they are multiplying every year?

 

You can sign up as a Python Hunter and the State of Florida will pay you a bounty on each python you kill. Just think, you can help the ecological balance, make money while waiting for the night flight, and tell the grandkids amazing stories.

[dcac2]

We just got off the Equinox on Saturday & did the Hop-on Hop-off bus excursion. We had never had a chance to tour Miami before & we really enjoyed it! As for our luggage...we paid for the lugggage valet that was offered on the ship. It was awesome! So easy to disembark & our luggage was waiting for us when we got off the plane at home.

[jusmadmema]

We just did the Miami tour on Sun with drop off at Ft Lauderdale. We had taken advantage of luggage valet which made disembarking so much easier. Those that did not collected luggage in the terminal and as others posted it was loaded on trailers and stored at Bayside.

 

We did the beach loop bus first and then city loop. Each route takes about 1 1/2 hours to complete. We did not get off at any stops. The Marketplace itself has many shops, stands and restaurants. We chose to eat at Bubba Gumps which was very good. They also had a Hard Rock Cafe and at least one other sit down restaurant.

 

We then went into a van to the airport which by late afternoon was much less crowded and hectic as it is in the morning. We would definitely do this again.