BRIGHTLINE

[hbe30]

Just got back from Miami about a half hour ago. What a fantastic experience. I wasn't sure how it worked so we got there early. The parking lot is across the street about a 2 minute walk, basically across the street almost no traffic in the area. We checked in and it was a breeze, no lines etc. Got our mimosa and waiting. Someone asked about steps boarding the train, there are none. When we arrived in Miami we collected our luggage and used the Lyft app to get a car, it arrived in 2 minutes. The return was just about as easy, it took a little longer for Lyft to arrive, about 8 minutes, lots of traffic at the port ,6 ships. I would recommend Brightline very highly.

[skrufy]

30 minutes ago, hbe30 said:

Just got back from Miami about a half hour ago. What a fantastic experience. I wasn't sure how it worked so we got there early. The parking lot is across the street about a 2 minute walk, basically across the street almost no traffic in the area. We checked in and it was a breeze, no lines etc. Got our mimosa and waiting. Someone asked about steps boarding the train, there are none. When we arrived in Miami we collected our luggage and used the Lyft app to get a car, it arrived in 2 minutes. The return was just about as easy, it took a little longer for Lyft to arrive, about 8 minutes, lots of traffic at the port ,6 ships. I would recommend Brightline very highly.

Thanks for the info, we will be taking Brightline from West Palm to Miami next month. I love trains can’t wait to take the ride.

[tompeter]

Thanks for the report!

[jkgourmet]

Thank you.  Were doing BL from FL to POM  primarily because it sounded more fun than parking at POM. 

 

(In our case, it's not much cheaper because we're sailing MSC.  BL has some kind of agreement with MSC where they take the luggage in FL and we don't see it again until we get to our cabin.  We would have preferred to just take it ourselves and pay the cheaper price, but BL will not oblige.)

[BNBR]

41 minutes ago, jkgourmet said:

Thank you.  Were doing BL from FL to POM  primarily because it sounded more fun than parking at POM. 

 

(In our case, it's not much cheaper because we're sailing MSC.  BL has some kind of agreement with MSC where they take the luggage in FL and we don't see it again until we get to our cabin.  We would have preferred to just take it ourselves and pay the cheaper price, but BL will not oblige.)

 

We have considered it.  But likely we'll be home in Fort Lauderdale before you even board the train... I guess if I lived downtown I might use Brightline.  But definitely a great option from Palm Beach.

 

Not sure I'd want to use the luggage service. I guess the deal is worth the risk as opposed to just paying for tickets separately?

[jkgourmet]

2 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

We have considered it.  But likely we'll be home in Fort Lauderdale before you even board the train... I guess if I lived downtown I might use Brightline.  But definitely a great option from Palm Beach.

 

Not sure I'd want to use the luggage service. I guess the deal is worth the risk as opposed to just paying for tickets separately?

 

They won't sell the tickets separately if you're sailing MSC (and one other cruiseline but I forget which).  Kinda ticked me off, but hubby thought it would be fun to do the Virgin Train.  

[BNBR]

7 minutes ago, jkgourmet said:

 

They won't sell the tickets separately if you're sailing MSC (and one other cruiseline but I forget which).  Kinda ticked me off, but hubby thought it would be fun to do the Virgin Train.  

 

How would they know?  I guess if you do the cruise special.  But anyone can buy tickets on Brightline.  Could probably even just see what else is in port that day and say it's that ship.  The Lyft driver won't know or care.

[hbe30]

17 hours ago, BNBR said:

 

How would they know?  I guess if you do the cruise special.  But anyone can buy tickets on Brightline.  Could probably even just see what else is in port that day and say it's that ship.  The Lyft driver won't know or care.

I agree, I would book using a different cruise line and then tell the driver your going to terminal F, which I believe is MSC. We were going to NCL and we had to tell her where to go, and I don't think they really care.

[shoestringtheory]

We booked Brightline for next month and we're sailing MSC. We just booked the regular tickets rather than the train to port package. It won't include the Lyft but that's not a big deal. We paid $18pp each way for the Select class. 

[Cienfuegos]

BrightLine almost always offers some kind of deal on their ticket prices.  The BLFRIEND is two for one pricing. Their first class ticket includes the price of parking at West Palm Beach (up to 24 hours, I believe), and free beer /wine.

[soonernstlouis]

I just noticed that Allstate Rewards is currently selling discounted Brightline gift cards.  See this thread if you’ve never used the service or have questions.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2363984-allstate-drive-wise-cards-too/

[BlueHerons]

Brightline has all kinds of discount codes.  Sign up on their website.

[soonernstlouis]

12 hours ago, BlueHerons said:

Brightline has all kinds of discount codes.  Sign up on their website.

Someone who frequently uses Brightline may want to see if they can use the Allstate gift cards (discounted 25%) to book a trip AND use one of the discount codes resulting in a bigger savings.  

[clumsychica]

Just got the allstate cards!  

We're driving down from Tampa and will leave our car in Brightline's WPB parking garage for 8 days in May.  I think we're going to splurge on Select tickets with Train-to-Port, so it's pricey @ $185 for two people. 

I bought $150 in gift cards from Allstate for $113.68.  After applying the giftcards we should be out of pocket $148.68, rather than $185.  Plus we get to ride a train, which my husband is psyched about 😄 beats POM parking @ ~$200, as far as I'm concerned.
I have to wait for the cards to come in the mail, but I'll update when they come and I've booked through Brightline!

Edited February 17, 2020 by clumsychica

[clumsychica]

On 2/16/2020 at 11:37 AM, soonernstlouis said:

Someone who frequently uses Brightline may want to see if they can use the Allstate gift cards (discounted 25%) to book a trip AND use one of the discount codes resulting in a bigger savings.  

My cards came in today, after ordering Monday afternoon (pretty fast!).  Since I booked a train to port package, I did not get to book all the way through using a code - however, I trialed using BLFRIEND to get two SMART tickets for the price of one, and the payment screen did let me apply the credit from the gift cards before I backed out to book my actual package.

The giftcards get added to your account in your dashboard, issued as Brightline Credits, which appears to be able to be applied to any booking same as cash.