FLL to Port of Miami

[mickeymom22]

We are wanting to fly into FLL and make our way to the Port of Miami to board the Magic!

What is the best way?

Rent a car one way? Is there a car rental agency near the port?
Shuttle?
Private car?

We will probably fly in the day before. Should we stay in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale?

Help! Please!

 

[Minnie - Not the Mouse]

So what we do is stay at a hotel that offers shuttle service from the airport, spend the night in Fort Lauderdale and then we take JRs shuttle to the port in Miami. They will pick you up at the end of the cruise and take you back to hotel or airport. Super reasonable rates. http://www.jrshuttle.com/

 

[RedSox68]

Keeping an eye -- we, too, are sailing out of Miami, but prefer to fly Southwest to Fort Lauderdale.

 

[anricat]

We've flown into FLL and sailed out of Miami twice. The first time, we uses SAS because they were highly recommended here on the DIS. It's interesting to note that they have more than a few bad reviews on Yelp. We flew in, used SAS to Miami and stayed downtown. The next morning we took a taxi to port. It worked great! Unfortunately, on the way back it wasn't so great. The driver was extremely unsafe in his driving. He was going very fast (much faster than the flow of traffic) and was weaving in and out of lanes, no blinker. I've driven with tamer cabbies and let me tell you, I have had some pretty insane taxi rides in Mexico. This was not okay.

So the second time around, I was not going to use SAS again. That time we rented a car, drove to a hotel in FLL, stayed there, then returned the car to Avis the next day in downtown Miami and took the Avis shuttle to the port. The price difference between the two was a wash.

I will probably use Jiffy Jeff next time if we do it again. I liked staying in downtown Miami. It was easy to walk to dinner and other activities the night before the cruise.

 

[Sytrace]

Definitely book a car service to get you from the airport to port. Or book a hotel with transportation services from airport to hotel and hotel to port.

Driving, dropping off and parking at the port of Miami is an absolute mess.

 

[Canesfan3234]

uber

 

[jnsma]

We just completed a cruise out of Miami and flew into/out of FLL. We stayed in FLL the night before.
We use hotel transport from the airport and hired a limo company to the ship and from the ship to the airport.
If I were to do it again, I'd rent a car. The limo was great but it just lacks the freedom to do what we wanted. We usually aren't in a hurry to board the ship so we could have made use of the time to do a bit sightseeing before boarding if we had a car. Our flight home wasn't until 2:30 and disembarkation was very smooth and we were off by 9, so again would have had time to do something before our flight.
Everyone is different, just our experience.

 

[jrabbit]

we have flown into FLL, rented a car, stayed north of Fort Lauderdale, then drove to the Miami airport where we returned the car and took the DCL shuttle to the port. Not the least expensive option, but it worked for us.

 

[mickeymom22]

Thank you all for your replies! We are a family of five. I am thinking it might be best for us to fly in the day before to FLL rent a car and stay in Ft. Lauderdale somewhere...wake up early head to Miami...return the car...take their shuttle to the port...

Thanks again for all the options!

 

[ajo]

We are also a family of 5. Flew into FLL and took a cab to the hotel near the FLL airport (the hotel had a free shuttle but we arrived at midnight so it was no longer running). Took Jiffy Jeff the next morning to the ship in Miami. Would definitely recommend them.

When we got off the ship we rented a car and spent the morning on the beach before returning to FLL for our afternoon flight. The rental car was cheaper than a shuttle and saved us from spending 5 hours at the airport.