Cruise from Miami to Walt Disney World after the Cruise

[AMusicLifeForMe]

My family and I are considering doing a cruise from Miami on the Disney Magic before our Walt Disney World vacation. Does anyone have any experience with taking a cruise from Miami then getting to Walt Disney World after the cruise? Is there a car rental location by the cruise port?

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We rented a car in Miami and drove to WDW after a cruise in March of 2015. We will do it again in January of 2017 and (just booked) January of 2018. The major car rental companies run shuttles from the port to their pick-up locations, typically a 10-15 minute trip once the shuttle is full. It's not much different from car rental pick-up at airports that do not have the car rental location in an adjacent garage.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

We rented a car in Miami and drove to WDW after a cruise in March of 2015. We will do it again in January of 2017 and (just booked) January of 2018. The major car rental companies run shuttles from the port to their pick-up locations, typically a 10-15 minute trip once the shuttle is full. It's not much different from car rental pick-up at airports that do not have the car rental location in an adjacent garage.

Thanks very much for the info. I read through some websites, and never saw that they did transfers to their rental car places from the port. My family and I elected to take DCL transportation to the airport and pick a rental car up there. People said it was smoother and they have better car selection at the airport. My family has a couple really tall people and we need certain cars. We did book the cruise from Miami and we are now looking forward to it...Do you know how much the toll roads cost getting up to WDW?

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Actually, the National shuttle takes you from the port to their airport location. I assume the same for their partners (Alamo and Enterprise). The Hertz shuttle takes you to a closer non-airport pick-up location. Don't know about any others. We always use National Emerald Aisle service. The port to airport shuttle is free on National (I do tip the driver for assistance with our luggage). You have to show a copy of the reservation confirmation to the driver when you get on the bus at the port. Another alternative to the DCL transfer to the airport in Miami is to take a taxi. Taxis are a flat rate between airport and port in either direction. It was $24 plus tip when we did it in 2015. Probably a few dollars more now. If you have a number of passengers, this can be much cheaper than the DCL transfers. We did this from airport to port for less than $30 with tip compared to $20 per person on the DCL bus in 2015.

Tolls between Miami and WDW depend on the route. When we did the drive in 2015, we paid National $5.35 for whatever tolls were charged on the roads out of the airport car rental location to get onto I-95 northbound. These showed up on the next month's credit card bill because there was no way to pay cash for the tolls on those roads. They use Toll-by-Plate to scan the license plates and bill to the account. We took I-95 north to FL 528 to FL 417, stopping in Vero Beach for lunch. Two $1 tolls on FL 528 and two $1.50 tolls on FL 417 using the cash lane, so a total of $5 once out of the greater Miami area. The alternative route would be the Florida's Turnpike from Miami all the way to I-4 near WDW. There's an on-line toll calculator you could use to compare cost.