Cab to port of Miami

[Mrspeaks]

Is it easy and cheaper to take a cab from the Miami airport or close hotel to the port? This is our first time crusing out of Miami. We will have to car seat aged kids and I'm looking for an easy and cheap way to get to the boat as early as possible. We most likely are flying in the night before.
Thanks for any suggestions

 

[ktate82]

I have only cruised out of Miami once, and we used the Alamo shuttle. I believe the cost of a taxi from the airport to the port is around $24 plus tip. I don't know how much it would be from a hotel, but I do know the hotels closer to port are much more expensive per night. We are doing a cruise in Oct (flying into Fort Lauderdale) and booked private transfers to pick us up at our hotel.

 

[anricat]

We are cruising out of Miami in October. Our plan is to fly in the day before and take a shuttle to our hotel which is Holiday Inn Port of Miami. Then the next morning we will take a cab from there to the port. My daughter uses a booster seat, but I'm borrowing a friend's "bubble bum" inflatable booster for the trip so she has something in the shuttle and taxi.

 

[pgroom48]

It's easy to get a cab outside MIA but IMO more of a pain than just staying downtown. There are affordable hotels, they might be a bit more than by the airport but much easier in the morning. Depending on the day you embark traffic from the airport to the port can be a disaster in the morning. If it's a working day everyone will be headed into downtown on the Dolphin Expressway and all the other roads. Florida infrastructure when it comes to traffic is terrible. I live less than 3 miles from downtown/port area and it can take me 7 minutes or 45 minutes to get to work and there never seems to be any rhyme or reason. If you can spare the extra funds, save yourself the headache and stay close to the port, many of the hotels have shuttles to the port. I did a very informal search and the Courtyard (Marriott) downtown was about 200 a night vs the Springhill Suites (also Marriott) Miami Airport at 140. There is also a Holiday Downtown very close at it was showing about 180. I picked the same day 10/28 for all and no particular reason other than that is the cruise we are going out of in October. If you want more info on the area send me a message. Hope that helps.

 

[MunFam]

We stayed at the Homewood Suites Miami Airport Blue Lagoon in May 2015 and had a 2 bedroom suite for about $150 a night. It was amazing. They included dinner (with wine) and breakfast each day. We also had fast internet. There is a Publix at the end of the road and their shuttle will take you there for free as well as to and from the airport for free. It was clean and the staff was wonderful.

To get to the airport the next day, a cab was going to cost us $50 or so...we could have used the shuttle to go to the airport to catch a flat rate cab to the port for $24, but since we had 9 bags and a 4 year old, we opted to use Uber. Since it was my husband's first Uber, the ride cost us $4 total for a large SUV. You are not required, by law, to use a child safety seat in any hired vehicle in Miami-Dade. I contacted local law enforcement prior to going, so we buckled our 48 pound kiddo in the back seat with us and kept the booster packed in the suitcase to be checked at the port.

Edit: We boarded on a Friday morning. There was traffic, but I think it took us about 25 minutes to get downtown to the port. So it was worth the savings and the ability to shop the night before at Publix and have 2 bedrooms and a kitchen and our meals all taken care of to stay out by the airport.

 

[Mrspeaks]

Thanks for the tips! Sounds like a cab will be a cheap option and beat the price of the Disney shuttle by a lot! I'll start looking for a hotel. Thanks for the suggestions