San Juan, Miami,Port Canaveral or Ft Lauderdale?

[Polly1922]

Which departure port would you recommend and why?

 

[Ocean Boy]

I love Ft. Lauderdale because it is about a 10 minute cab ride from the airport to the cruise port. Also, Southwest and Jet Blue fly there from here and those are the two airlines I use the most and I can usually find decent pricing.

 

I am not crazy about the port of Miami due to the transit time from the port to Ft. Lauderdale airport. And flights to Miami International Airport are nowhere near as convenient for me as they are to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

San Juan is great as it is the gateway to the southern Caribbean and I love those islands. The trade off is that flights are usually less convenient and much more expensive.

 

Port Canaveral is last on my list due to the transit time from the port to the airport and I just did not have a good experience with the port the last time we sailed from there. But that was awhile ago so things, I am sure, have changed.

[Polly1922]

4 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I love Ft. Lauderdale because it is about a 10 minute cab ride from the airport to the cruise port. Also, Southwest and Jet Blue fly there from here and those are the two airlines I use the most and I can usually find decent pricing.

 

San Juan is great as it is the gateway to the southern Caribbean and I love those islands. The trade off is that flights are usually less convenient and much more expensive.

 

Port Canaveral is last on my list due to the transit time from the port to the airport and I just did not have a good experience with the port the last time we sailed from there. But that was awhile ago so things, I am sure, have changed.

Thank you for your helpful advice.

Polly.

[Ocean Boy]

Just now, Polly1922 said:

Thank you for your helpful advice.

Polly.

I also edited in my thoughts on the Port of Miami as I missed that in your title when I initially read it. However, if you are flying in from Heathrow to MIA there is nothing wrong with Miami as a departure port.

[maggieq]

I agree with Ocean Boy.  However, moving forward I’m going with San Juan for any cruises in Jan-feb-mar. 

[grapau27]

41 minutes ago, Polly1922 said:

Which departure port would you recommend and why?

 

To date we have only sailed from Port Canaveral after staying in Orlando but it is a trek from the airport.

I think Ocean boys answer sounds a better option.

Graham.

[MightyMike]

I like San Juan. You get a 1000 mile head start to Southern Caribbean islands. Since I always fly in a day early, it's like adding an extra port day to the cruise. 

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, MightyMike said:

I like San Juan. You get a 1000 mile head start to Southern Caribbean islands. Since I always fly in a day early, it's like adding an extra port day to the cruise. 

I agree.

The frequency of flights from the UK would be my concern.

[Polly1922]

19 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

To date we have only sailed from Port Canaveral after staying in Orlando but it is a trek from the airport.

I think Ocean boys answer sounds a better option.

Graham.

Thank you Graham.

[Polly1922]

4 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I agree.

The frequency of flights from the UK would be my concern.

San Juan location is fantastic but I agree flights from the UK are infrequent to San Juan whereas the ports in Florida have daily London flights.

[Polly1922]

13 minutes ago, MightyMike said:

I like San Juan. You get a 1000 mile head start to Southern Caribbean islands. Since I always fly in a day early, it's like adding an extra port day to the cruise. 

Great points.

As we like port days San Juan is ideal.

[Polly1922]

35 minutes ago, Polly1922 said:

Thank you Graham.

I think Miami airport from the UK is my best option.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Polly1922

[Want2Cruise 701]

San Juan and Ft Lauderdale for us.  San Juan you are already in the Caribbean when starting your cruise plus you get the best Southern itineraries.  Ft Lauderdale is very convenient to the airport and if you add a pre or post cruise stay,  hotels are in close proximity to the port and airport.  17th Street and The Strip has tons of restaurants and is very walkable.  All that is needed is a quick and inexpensive Uber/Lyft to and from the port.  

[Bees29]

I would say Ft Lauderdale due to the closeness of the port to airport but we’ve only cruised out of there once. Even though port canaveral is a trek from the airport we have been cruising from there lately. They have rental car drop offs right near the port. You can easily get a one way rental from MCO for $40. Much cheaper then a shuttle and the freedom to go where you want if you fly in a day early. 

[Polly1922]

3 minutes ago, Bees29 said:

I would say Ft Lauderdale due to the closeness of the port to airport but we’ve only cruised out of there once. Even though port canaveral is a trek from the airport we have been cruising from there lately. They have rental car drop offs right near the port. You can easily get a one way rental from MCO for $40. Much cheaper then a shuttle and the freedom to go where you want if you fly in a day early. 

One way rental sounds a good idea.

[Polly1922]

7 minutes ago, Want2Cruise 701 said:

San Juan and Ft Lauderdale for us.  San Juan you are already in the Caribbean when starting your cruise plus you get the best Southern itineraries.  Ft Lauderdale is very convenient to the airport and if you add a pre or post cruise stay,  hotels are in close proximity to the port and airport.  17th Street and The Strip has tons of restaurants and is very walkable.  All that is needed is a quick and inexpensive Uber/Lyft to and from the port.  

This sounds perfect.

[Sunshine3601]

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I love Ft. Lauderdale because it is about a 10 minute cab ride from the airport to the cruise port. Also, Southwest and Jet Blue fly there from here and those are the two airlines I use the most and I can usually find decent pricing.

 

I am not crazy about the port of Miami due to the transit time from the port to Ft. Lauderdale airport. And flights to Miami International Airport are nowhere near as convenient for me as they are to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

San Juan is great as it is the gateway to the southern Caribbean and I love those islands. The trade off is that flights are usually less convenient and much more expensive.

 

Port Canaveral is last on my list due to the transit time from the port to the airport and I just did not have a good experience with the port the last time we sailed from there. But that was awhile ago so things, I am sure, have changed.

Ditto.  I agree with everything ocean boy said.

[Grandma Petania]

So far I have sailed out of Miami only once.  The best part for me was the relatively level embarkation onto the ship.  I have sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale many times.  The steep entrance ramps are difficult, but I really like Ft. Lauderdale, and the airport.  Several times we have added a couple days vacation near the beach at the end of the cruise, to take advantage of lower air fares on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Recently we have been able to fly direct on JetBlue from Richmond, VA, to FLL with smaller airports at both ends, as opposed to using one of the D.C. airports.  And Jet Blue doesn't fly to Miami.
 

If all goes well for the next ten days, we will be sailing from Miami on Symphony on the 21st, but we've chosen to fly JetBlue to and from FLL, and take uber or lyft to Miami.  This is our first time trying this, so I will find out how well that will work.  (This all depends on nothing catastrophic happening with RCCL or U.S. government regulations.)

[Norwich Cruiser]

1. San Juan

2. Fort Lauderdale

3. Miami

4. Port Canaveral

[Polly1922]

1 hour ago, Grandma Petania said:

So far I have sailed out of Miami only once.  The best part for me was the relatively level embarkation onto the ship.  I have sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale many times.  The steep entrance ramps are difficult, but I really like Ft. Lauderdale, and the airport.  Several times we have added a couple days vacation near the beach at the end of the cruise, to take advantage of lower air fares on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Recently we have been able to fly direct on JetBlue from Richmond, VA, to FLL with smaller airports at both ends, as opposed to using one of the D.C. airports.  And Jet Blue doesn't fly to Miami.
 

If all goes well for the next ten days, we will be sailing from Miami on Symphony on the 21st, but we've chosen to fly JetBlue to and from FLL, and take uber or lyft to Miami.  This is our first time trying this, so I will find out how well that will work.  (This all depends on nothing catastrophic happening with RCCL or U.S. government regulations.)

I hope all goes well for you and you have a super cruise.

 

 

[Bees29]

If you fly out of southern Florida and can take a few extra days, rent a car and drive down to the keys 😍

[NateUpNorth]

21 hours ago, Polly1922 said:

Which departure port would you recommend and why?

 

 

Miami with a Southern itinerary.

Better flight schedule/ generally better pricing on flights

Extra days on the ship and I believe the extra stop at Labadee.

 

Any other itinerary and all bets are off........ LOL

[chellebell91987]

We live in S Florida nothing too exciting for us here except we would save on flights. For us It is actually cheaper to fly to SJU from Ft Lauderdale and cruise from there than it is to go out of the Florida ports even with paying for the flight. We prefer San Juan even before we lived here. Southwest has good deals if booked at right time. The port taxes are usually cheaper on the PR cruises. We also love that you see more islands than on the normal eastern or western. Our cruise in July is all port days I am so excited. I do not care for sea days. This is our 4th Puerto Rico cruise. When we lived in Charlotte plane tickets were so expensive even though it was direct to SJU that we ended up booking MCO (orlando) to SJU using jet blue there and spirit back and were going to drive to orlando, but then got a good delta deal from charlotte to mco and still was cheaper than the original flight out of charlotte. (Crazy I know but thats what I do!) 

[chellebell91987]

On 3/9/2020 at 6:24 PM, MightyMike said:

I like San Juan. You get a 1000 mile head start to Southern Caribbean islands. Since I always fly in a day early, it's like adding an extra port day to the cruise. 

this is what we are doing. We fly in Fri (for our Sunday cruise) after work at a VRBO rental in Old San Juan right next to Barachinas. Its like 2 vacations in 1. Also the ships leave later in PR than FL. We still get to the port at 11-noon time tho not missing out on my ship time! 

[scorpluvsdolphins]

On 3/9/2020 at 7:02 PM, Polly1922 said:

I think Miami airport from the UK is my best option.

Just read that there will be U.K. flights to Melbourne, FL, which is very close to Port CANAVERAL