Anyone Cruise from Miami?

[mickey0624]

We were looking at possibly booking the Marvel Cruise from Miami in February and was wondering a few things about cruising from Miami. We have been on 9 Disney cruises (1 from NY and 8 from Port Canveral). I was wondering how far from Miami airport to terminal? Does Disney provide any type of transportation?

Has anyone ever gone down early and spent a few days at WDW. I was even thing of renting a car and making the three hour drive from Orlando to Miami. Anyone ever do this? Any ideas/tips would be appreciated.

 

[xavier2001]

Watching this thread, we are doing a Marvel Day at sea cruise in January. From my preliminary planning it was much cheaper for us to fly into FLL vs. Miami, FLL is about a 45 minute drive (depending on traffic) from the Port of Miami. Still debating whether to stay the night in Fort Lauderdale and head to the Port in the morning, or to splurge and stay in Miami near the port the night before. Hotels are much more $$ in Miami is what I am finding.

 

[JakeRambo]

We did the New Years 2016 cruise out of Miami. We flew into FLL and did the beach there, then dropped off the rental at the airport. The rental car lots shuttle to/from the cruise terminal. We did WDW/Universal after the cruise. Super easy and convenient. The airport is close enough for rental car shuttles to serve the port, I would guess cab/uber/etc would be reasonable.

The drive from FLL was super easy, but we embarked on a Sunday. The drive to Orlando was also pretty easy. Much better deals on hotels in FLL and some nice beach front places.

 

[mickey0624]

We did the New Years 2016 cruise out of Miami. We flew into FLL and did the beach there, then dropped off the rental at the airport. The rental car lots shuttle to/from the cruise terminal. We did WDW/Universal after the cruise. Super easy and convenient. The airport is close enough for rental car shuttles to serve the port, I would guess cab/uber/etc would be reasonable.

The drive from FLL was super easy, but we embarked on a Sunday. The drive to Orlando was also pretty easy. Much better deals on hotels in FLL and some nice beach front places.

Am I right that it's about a 3 hour drive from WDW to Miami?

 

[lorimay]

Am I right that it's about a 3 hour drive from WDW to Miami?

Yes, 3-3.5 hours depending on traffic.

 

[NC State]

We have cruised several times out of Miami. We like flying into Miami the day before. The Comfort Suites (airport) will pick you up at the airport and then take you to port the next day free. We have also rented a van when we return and drove up to WDW. It's about 4 hours to drive there and then we returned it on site.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

I'd say 3.5 to 4.

Miami traffic sucks. It's a solid 3 hours from Ft Lauderdale.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

Keep in mind FLL is WAY smaller and lees chaotic than MIA. Same goes for the port.

 

[jrabbit]

I have flown into Miami and Fort Lauderdale and spent time in that area BEFORE cruising out of Miami.

We've rented a car for the duration and returned it to the Miami airport - then took the Disney Shuttle Bus to the port. Its pretty easy! It's less expensive to take a cab to the port - probably much quicker as well.

After one cruise we did rent a car and drove to WDW for a few days of fun before heading home. It's an easy drive. every 40-60 miles on the Florida's Turnpike (toll road) is a Major rest area with clean restrooms, fast food and gift shops, and clean. BUT I don't think that I would get up in the morning of your cruise and drive to Miami ... I would arrive the night before. More Sleep Less Stress!!

PAT's at Miami are more enforced than at other locations where we have sailed out of on DCL. The terminal is "small", can get very crowded and there is no easy flow into the check in area, waiting area and finally onto the ship. Once you make it onto the escape-a-lators (escalators) it's much calmer and an easy walk to get your embarkation picture taken and then onto the ship.



This picture is from one of the first years DCL sailed out of Miami ....


This was what it looked like when we arrived on the first bus of the day ... Not too bad but remember what the above pic looks like and then having to fight your way all the way to the end of this picture to get to the escalator.

 

[NC State]

Love, love the pictures!

 

[monarchsfan16]

We've cruised twice on DCL from Miami, once in 2016 and once this spring. Sometime in between those two cruises they redid the terminal so that security is in its own area downstairs, check in is sort of where security used to be (most importantly, it's separate from the holding pen area), and the waiting area now has more space, because check in is no longer there. It still gets chaotic right as boarding starts, but it was infinitely better this year than in 2016.

Disney does offer transportation but only between MIA and the port. FLL CAN be significantly cheaper to fly through, but that depends on what you have access to for your home airport. For us, FLL was significantly cheaper one year, and had horrible schedules the other year. FLL is a 30-40 minute drive without traffic from the port. MIA is about 10 minutes from the port. Both times we cruised we had a rental car for pre-cruise activities, and then just parked it at the port for the 4 nights. Both times we cruised we spent the night before the cruise at the Doubletree Grand Biscayne Bay in Miami, in a bayview room and could see the ship from our room on cruise day. The first time we cruised from Miami we flew in 2 days before the cruise, and spent the day before the cruise exploring the Everglades and Key Biscayne (great state park). One of the nights we had dinner at Bayside Marketplace.

This year, we flew down to Orlando Saturday night, before a Wednesday cruise out of Miami. We spent Sunday and Monday in the Disney parks and then drove to Miami Tuesday. The drive, minus the last 15 minutes, between the 2 cities was mind-numbingly boring, and took a little over 3 hours, not including stops. There are probably more cows along the FL Turnpike between Orlando and Miami than there are people in NH. As a previous poster mentioned, there are rest areas every 40-60ish miles. Several of them have an Earl of Sandwich with a limited menu. We timed our trip so that we left Disney after rush hour, but made it to Miami before rush hour. I wouldn't hesitate to do Disney pre-cruise again, even out of Miami, BUT I would not do the drive the same day as the cruise.

 

[Joe Brig]

Its a short drive from Miami International to Port Miami, about 25 minutes. Disney does offer transportation, its not as themed as the Port Canaveral bus, but it is convienent to have Disney take care of it.

 

[dugthetalkingdog]

My DD and I did the Marvel Cruise last year which was a lot of fun. We flew into FLL because flights were a lot less expensive. We stayed 2 nights at the Marriott Biscayne and from our room could see the cruise ships docked. We took an Uber to our hotel from airport then again to Cruise Terminal.

 

[dcassetta]

We were looking at possibly booking the Marvel Cruise from Miami in February and was wondering a few things about cruising from Miami. We have been on 9 Disney cruises (1 from NY and 8 from Port Canveral). I was wondering how far from Miami airport to terminal? Does Disney provide any type of transportation?

Has anyone ever gone down early and spent a few days at WDW. I was even thing of renting a car and making the three hour drive from Orlando to Miami. Anyone ever do this? Any ideas/tips would be appreciated.

Miami airport to the cruise port is very close, two years ago Disney transportation was $20 per person, if I recall correctly. Cabs from the airport to the cruise port are a flat rate of around $25.

Fort Lauderdale airport may be less expensive. We used SAS transportation which was about $15 per person in a shared van.

 

[shoes99]

We did a back to back out of Miami in February 2017. We flew into
Miami from Newark and stayed two nights at the Doubletree pre-cruise.
We took Super Shuttle to our hotel and the hotel cruise package included breakfast and ride to the port. Post cruise we took dcl transfers to Miami airport.
We are seniors and would never consider a 3 1/2 car ride to Orlando.
Too far for us to drive alone.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I’ve sailed out of Miami 3 times (well 4 if you count the B2B as 2). Twice were on other lines and once was Disney (WBPC). The first time we had our own car with us and parked at the port. The 2nd time we flew into FLL and used SAS to shuttle us down to the Doubletree Biscayne Bay. Great location. Lots of restaurant options nearby and a Publix within walking distance. We used a shuttle that pulled up out front to get to port. We had planned to simply taxi it. 3rd time hubby, 1 of our 2 sons, and I flew into MIA and rented a big SUV. We drove down to Key West, spent a night, then drove back to a Homewood Suites near the airport the next day where we met my inlaws and 2nd son who flew in the day after us. ((DS1 had finals the day before and the morning they flew in.)) We returned the rental to the airport and used Lyft to the cruise terminal. Easy peasy. Driving the Keys was a total bucket list thing for us and we really enjoyed it. I’d definitely do that again. Driving in Miami is pretty wild. Their rush hour is definitely no joke. Plan accordingly.

 

[disneylove69]

Watching this thread, we are doing a Marvel Day at sea cruise in January. From my preliminary planning it was much cheaper for us to fly into FLL vs. Miami, FLL is about a 45 minute drive (depending on traffic) from the Port of Miami. Still debating whether to stay the night in Fort Lauderdale and head to the Port in the morning, or to splurge and stay in Miami near the port the night before. Hotels are much more $$ in Miami is what I am finding.

I am doing a Marvel cruise in January as well. We are staying if FL and will take a shuttle over. I personally don't like Miami and would rather spend the money on the ship.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We have cruised DCL out of Miami four times, five cruises total since we did a 5 night-5 night back-to-back in January of this year. We have flown into MIA each time, since American has a non-stop just about hourly from Chicago O’Hare. SWA flys into FLL, but many fewer flights and typically higher cost for us, even after we pay the checked baggage fees on AA. We have no used DCL airport to port transfers, although we considered it the first time we sailed out of Miami. That was 2015, and the cost was $20 per person. The cab fare was a flat $24 for the two of us, so we did that. I think cab fare is now a flat $27. In any case, our last three cruises out of Miami, we flew in the day before and stayed at a different Hyatt property (our DS works for Hyatt corporate, so we get a special discount rate, based on availability). We have used hotel shuttles from the airport to the hotels and Lyft from the hotels to the port on sail away day. Uber and Lyft are usually less expensive than cabs to get from hotel to the port, and price competitive with the paid shuttles offered at the hotels we have used.

After the cruises, we have picked up a rental car at the car rental center at MIA and driven to WDW to continue our vacation. Our preference is cruise first, land second, although we will do the reverse in November to avoid Thanksgiving week at WDW. We usually drop off the rental car at the Dolphin on-site, but last time the rate was attractive enough that we kept the car for the entire WDW stay and dropped it off at MCO before our flight home. As noted in an earlier post, the drive from Miami to WDW is boring but straightforward once you leave the greater Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area. We usually allow 4+ hours, including a lunch stop enroute.

 

[cadien]

We sailed out of Miami this April. Also for a Marvel cruise. Since none of us had ever been to Florida before, we made that part of our vacation and booked our hotels around that instead. So we ended up with a cab from the hotel to the port and then vice versa. It wasn't very expensive though. $30 ish. We stayed in Miami Beach before the cruise (super fun and our favorite boutique chain happened to have a 30% off offer for loyalty members) and in the financial district (Brickell) after.

We'd expected to fly in and out of FLL because it's so often cheaper, but we just happened to get Miama flights that were even better for our particular days. So it's worth checking both.

We kicked around the idea of the 3-hour drive to Orlando, especially since we were in Miami over May the 4th, but it wasn't worth it for the number of days we had.

 

[Shanti]

We were looking at possibly booking the Marvel Cruise from Miami in February and was wondering a few things about cruising from Miami. We have been on 9 Disney cruises (1 from NY and 8 from Port Canveral). I was wondering how far from Miami airport to terminal? Does Disney provide any type of transportation?


Has anyone ever gone down early and spent a few days at WDW. I was even thing of renting a car and making the three hour drive from Orlando to Miami. Anyone ever do this? Any ideas/tips would be appreciated.

Our first DCL cruise was out of Miami. We flew into the Miami airport morning of the cruise, took the DCL transfer bus to the port, and flew out of Fort Lauderdale after the cruise. We had to do a private shuttle after the cruise because there is no DCL bus to FLL. Here are my takeaways from that experience:

• The Miami airport is much closer to the Miami port than the MCO airport is to Port Canaveral. It's only about a 30-minute drive.
• We much preferred the Miami airport to the Fort Lauderdale airport, which was an absolute cluster on our way out. FLL was the worst airport experience we've ever had. We had to wait in a check-in line (no DCL check-in available for FLL) so long that it stretched out to the drop-off area outside the airport. The line took almost an hour, with about half the time spent outside enjoying car exhaust. Then we weren't allowed to enter the security line (we arrived at 10am) for a few hours, because we had a 2pm flight & they would only let morning flight people through. So we had to spend hours waiting at the front of the airport, with few distractions or amenities. I decided after that to never fly out of FLL again.
• Miami is much warmer than Port Canaveral, which is nice if you have a winter cruise. Warm-weather sailaway!
• There was a much more international clientele on our Miami cruise than on any of our Port Canaveral cruises. At least 2/3 of the passengers were South American nationals (not Hispanic Americans) who spoke Spanish or Portuguese while onboard. So that gave the cruise a different feel than our other cruises, as most other guests weren't speaking English. I don't know if our Miami cruise (2015/16 New Year's cruise) was an anomoly, or if that's typical when sailing out of Miami, as we only sailed out of there once.
• We much preferred using the DCL transfer to using an independent shuttle service (again, we had no choice for our departure as DCL has no transfer bus to FLL). The highly-rated shuttle service we used was late to the port, and we had a young driver who tried to sell us travel opportunities & at one point took both hands off the wheel while driving to gesticulate during conversation.