Has anyone done post cruise tour of Miami with transfer?

[travmagic]

I am looking for price comparisons between Carnival's excursion and something private.

I know Carnival offers this but it doesn't give a price, only says under $50.00.

We want to see South Beach before we head to the airport. We have a 3:30pm flight.

[klfrodo]

We did this excursion a couple of years ago.

 

You're early off the ship, clear customs, pick up your luggage and take it to the bus. When the bus is finally loaded, you take off for South Beach. They drive around a little and point out various points of interest.

They then park the bus between Collins Ave and Ocean Blvd and you have about an hour to an hour and a half to shop, browse, or get something to eat along South Beach.

You then get off the bus and head to the airport around 12:30 or so. First stop is MIA and then on to FLL.

 

Word of advise. Watch where the driver loads your luggage onto the bus after you get off the ship. Make sure he/she unloads ALL of your luggage before they drive off at the airport.

[chitown cruisers]

I am looking for price comparisons between Carnival's excursion and something private.

I know Carnival offers this but it doesn't give a price, only says under $50.00.

We want to see South Beach before we head to the airport. We have a 3:30pm flight.

we did thru Carnival(booked at the Desk at sea) and it was a disaster.

Make sure there are no HUGE city events going on when you are there.

 

Ours was Feb and it happened to be the same time as the MEGA Yacht show. Most of the route was closed off for street vendor booths....the Company was short on busses and had to bring in a rental bus and driver. They put us on a bus with broken air (it was 90 degrees outside).........they started to do the tour to the point where they couldn't follow the route so they pulled over and talked for an hour...........they would not let us off the Death trap bus........we all sat looking at each other to see if anyone was going to pass out from heat exhaustion.

 

They finally drove to a stopping point for food and shopping and let us off. I had Carnival on my cell starting a complaint file........the tour guide and the Carnival rep were arguing thru me via my phone about what should be done. I called a private company and had a shuttle pick us up to get us to the airport. Both sides acknowledged that there was a problem, but both said they weren't at all responsible. The Carnival rep was very quick to say that their excursions offered are only recommendations and they are not responsible for any issues that arise, yet they had no problem with charging the s-n-s card.

 

After months of letters and phone conversations arguing back and forth..........Carnival credited my account for the excursion price I paid(it's what I wanted)..........I paid the extra shuttle and I'm fine with that....I was NOT putting my family back on that bus. Carnival also stepped up with a 40 per person on board credit for future travel.

 

I realize our situation was rare.....my advise is to check out city events and make sure nothing will interfere with your tour, before you go this route.

 

I also didn't hold the experience against Carnival, because the Cruise itself was AWESOME.........the week after they credited my account.......I booked my Miracle.....and now booked two more.

 

Hey, you asked!! LOL

[cardinalfan]

We did the South Beach excursion in December after our cruise on the Imagination. It was fine. It was not wonderful but we all had fun. Nothing to complain about. We got to the airport in plenty of time.

[LowRiderMomma]

My mom and I did this off the Fascination in February. It was a nice way to finish the cruise. We had plenty of time to have a leisurely late breakfast at a sidewalk cafe, people watch and walk the beach for about 1/2 hour. We were not rushed and was relaxing before getting on the plane to return to reality.:( It cost 39.00 pp.

[curlydog]

I spent a month one weekend in Miami......different sorta place.

[mainer208]

To me, the convenience is not worrying about transportation and having Carnival hold your luggage. On the Fascination in March, I believe the post-cruise SB tour was $35 per person. If your flight isn't until 3:30, much better than hanging out at the airport all day.

[crusinsusan]

We did the everglades tour thru Carnival after our Elation cruise. Excellent tour, courteous driver, had us back to airport in plenty of time for our 3:30 flight. Would recommend to anyone having late flight home.

[LibrarianCruiser]

We did the everglades tour thru Carnival after our Elation cruise. Excellent tour, courteous driver, had us back to airport in plenty of time for our 3:30 flight. Would recommend to anyone having late flight home.

 

I'd love to know a bit more about this tour. We have a 5:30pm flight out of Miami, so plenty of time to keep having fun after the cruise is over! I've never been to the everglades... how did the tour work?

[crusinsusan]

We were told to meet in a lounge at a certain time on the morning of debarkation. We were lead down together to the luggage area, picked it up, proceeded to our tour bus. The bus driver loaded our luggage. We drove to the everglades, the bus driver gave us some history of the everglades and went to a place where we boarded the airboats. We saw plenty of aligators. The ride was fun. After there was time to shop or eat. The bus driver gave us a time to get back to the bus and we proceeded to the airport. It was much better than sitting in the airport.

[travmagic]

Thanks everyone.

We are a party of 7 so paying between 35.00 and 40.00 p/p just didn't sit well with me. I did some research on my own and found a company that is going to charge us $50.00 per hour. So even if we have them for 3 hours I am saving a $&$!load of money. And then we can do whatever we went. And then they will bring us to the airport around 1:00pm.

[bbkitty]

wow travmagic, how did you find that? after reading this thread i'm tempted to do the same. i've been going to miami for 20 years now, so i don't need a tour, but my flight leaves at 3:30 and what would i do with my luggage if i just caught a shuttle or something? but $50.00 hr...hmmm... help if you can! thanks!

[travmagic]

wow travmagic, how did you find that? after reading this thread i'm tempted to do the same. i've been going to miami for 20 years now, so i don't need a tour, but my flight leaves at 3:30 and what would i do with my luggage if i just caught a shuttle or something? but $50.00 hr...hmmm... help if you can! thanks!

Send me your email address and Iwill send you the info

travmagic@comcast.net

[luv2cruise777l]

We did the everglades tour thru Carnival after our Elation cruise. Excellent tour, courteous driver, had us back to airport in plenty of time for our 3:30 flight. Would recommend to anyone having late flight home.

 

We did the everglades tour also and had a great time. My sister in law did the South Beach deco tour ( I believe that is what it is called) and didn't think it was worth it. She said it was boring. She was jealous when I told her about our everglades tour.:p Have a great cruise!:)

[sharkey37]

Do you know if carnival will take you to FLL airport or just the Miami after the tour? Also, what time would you arrive at the airport? The everglades tour sounds kind of fun.

[luv2cruise777l]

Do you know if carnival will take you to FLL airport or just the Miami after the tour? Also, what time would you arrive at the airport? The everglades tour sounds kind of fun.

 

We were taken to the Miami airport. I don't know if they do FLL or not. We had a 3:30 flight and was dropped off plenty of time for our flight. The everglades tour is really close to the FLL airport so I would guess that they will drop people off there as well. We had a lot of fun doing the tour. Maybe you can find out more on Carnival's website. Have a great cruise!:)

[simkoreb]

We had sailed Valor in August. We did the South Beach art deco tour with a group. We all enjoyed it. Part of our group went to FLL, and part went to Miami, thus they put us on different buses.

 

However....a large party of 16 arrived late and was hooping and hollering that they couldn't all be on the same bus (it was ridiculous to be polite about it). We got to see the whole show since we were in the front seats. We volunteered to go on another bus....what do you know, it was the bus the FLL people from our group was on! It was relaxing and fun. Afterwards, Carnival gave us a private van to take us to MIA and refunded our money since we were nice enough to switch buses. SO I was more than happy with the trip!!

 

We choose this tour b/c it went to MIA or FLL. Not all the tours would take you to FLL if I remember correctly. They explained this when we bought the tour on the ship, and made sure we told them which airport we needed to get to.

[GuitarPlayer]

We choose this tour b/c it went to MIA or FLL. Not all the tours would take you to FLL if I remember correctly. They explained this when we bought the tour on the ship, and made sure we told them which airport we needed to get to.

 

We (a group of 9) were on the Triumph (Port of Miami) in March flying late out of FLL (7:30pm). We wanted to do the Everglades tour post-cruise, but it only dropped off at MIA, *NOT* FLL...well, it's not *supposed to* anyways (more later).

 

We decided that we would go on the Everglades tour, get off at MIA and take our chances on finding a ride from MIA to FLL.

 

While on the Everglades tour, I struck up a conversation with the driver while waiting for everyone to get back on the bus after the gator park. I asked him where he was going after he dropped off at MIA and he said "No where, that is the last and ONLY stop." I said that I had a group of 9 that needed to go to FLL and he said he only drops off at MIA. I asked about other options at MIA and he gave me a few that I basically had already researched, and thanked him. I figured I had struck out...

 

Everyone got back on, and on the bus ride from the gator park to MIA, once we got near the airport, the tour guide was giving information about which airlines would be getting off first, and at the end of that he said "Hey, the guy that had 9 needing to go to FLL, please come and see me when we make the first airline stop at MIA." I thought "Alright, I have a chance!" My group discussed how much we were willing to pay, so I would be prepared when the time came. We got to MIA and while the driver was unloading everyone's luggage at the first stop (including my group of 9's luggage too), the tour guide and I discussed my situation, and he began to hint that the bus might be able to take the 9 of us to FLL. He said that a cab between the two airports would be $60. I said "Yeah I know" and he said "But a cab won't hold 9 of you." I asked how much would he charge to take us on the bus(figuring it would be at least $128 (the cost to get from FLL to downtown Miami a week earlier), and willing to pay $150(I hope he's not reading this now!)). He said "$60." I wasn't sure if he meant $60 total or $60 pp, so I asked "Per person?" He said "No, that would be for all of you...$60 total." After I picked up my jaw off the sidewalk, I took a whole 2 seconds and said "Sure!" so we loaded all our luggage back on the bus, and the driver took us on to FLL after everyone else got off in MIA.

 

The driver and tour guide were tipped VERY WELL, considering I paid $60, but I was expecting to pay $128-150(plus tip)...

 

That said, The excursion was *supposed* to only to go MIA, but you can use my story as a potential option and take your chances, if you have the time and willingness to "go on an adventure."

 

It *was* a great ending to a great cruise and gator park trip.

 

GP