Fort Lauderdale/Miami flight, transportation, and hotel questions

[Snowwhyt]

For those of you that have use the Fort Lauderdale (Ford Everglades pier), I have several questions.
Did you fly into Miami or Fort Lauderdale? Why did you choose to fly in there?

If you chose Miami, was it difficult to get to a Fort Lauderdale hotel? Could you please name the hotel you selected? What transportation you use to get to your hotel?

I’ve not flown into either Fort Lauderdale or Miami is there anything I need to know?

What transportation have you used to get back from the port back to your airport? What time did you get back to the airport? I have not booked a flight yet and I don’t know what time I should consider too early.

Has anyone chosen to stay in Miami the night before their sailing? How did you work out transportation the next morning?

 

[FabFourteenFamilyFun]

We flew into Fort Lauderdale the day before(Southwest) It was worthit to me to stay in a hotel and you start your vacation early! Stay on the 17th street Causeway. We stayed at a Holiday Inn and Hyatt Place. You can walk to dinner. From the airport we took Uber and a free shuttle. I don’t have the info in front of me but it’s only 10-15 minute drive. We took Uber to the port too- 5-10 min.We took a taxi from the port to the airport because it is so easy to walk off the ship and hop in a taxi ($20). Uber is cheaper but didn’t want to wait. There’s a lot of experts on here - I have only gone twice and it was Fort Lauderdale- we thought it was great! I think if we have to go out of Miami, I would still fly into Fort Lauderdale and Uber to Miami

 

[starvenger]

I’ve only flown into Fort Lauderdale. Easy to get a taxi/Uber/shuttle to whatever hotel you book.

Would also recommend hotels on the 17th street Causeway. We’ve stayed at Hyatt Place a few times, booking through valuetrips. Lots of chain restaurants. There’s a place called Kelly’s Landing that is pretty decent. There’s also a Ross and Marshalls (or maybe a TJ Max. Same difference) nearby in case you need some last minute clothing. Also a couple of wine stores and a Publix.

As mentioned an Uber/taxi from the 17th street hotels is very short. Leave your hotel at 10:30 and you’ll be aboard the ship way before the majority of people, and almost before all the previous cruisers are off.

Coming back, taxi’s are plentiful and your best option to get back to FLL. If you’re going to Miami, you could take the not-DME bus, but hiring a car service or getting an Uber/Lyft is probably the best way to go.

For FLL, we easily made an 11am flight. We were in one of the first non-walk off groups and were at the airport around 8am. In fact, the WestJet counters weren’t even opened.

For MIA, I’d book a 12pm flight at the earliest.

In addition - and I can’t recommend this enough - either download mobile passport (make sure your passports aren’t within 6 months of expiry) or sign up for Global Entry (I think you can get this on it’s own or you can get a NEXUS if you go to Canada a lot). This allows you to go through the expidited lane and, in comparing my brother’s experience with mine, can save you a couple of hours wait.

 

[ScooterScott44]

I’ll share some details on both airport and hotel. I travel a lot for work and am often down in the FLL and MIA areas. Even though I average over 100 flights a year usually I drive down to south Florida.

Either airport would be a viable option. It just depends if you don’t mind the drive up to Ft Lauderdale. The drive can be a pain at the wrong time. Uber or similar would probably be the best. The bonus to MIA is that it is an American hub so if you fly them the chances of a direct flight increase. FLL does have some directs but expect to have a layover. Neither airport is terribly effeicent but I would give the edge to MIA as FLL is one of my least favorites for a number of reasons.

With hotels, it depends on the time you have before the cruise. Miami area can work especially if you have a few days but it likely will cost more. The best choices for value and convince are probably those near the Miami port/Biscayne Blvd area. In Ft Lauderdale I agree the 17th St causeway is one of the better areas. Southwest of the airport (Griffin Rd.) has a group of hotels and they are probably not the best choice but there are a couple of good restaurants for fish nearby. The group of hotels south of the airport at Dania are a good balance of cost and comfort. They have shuttles and there is a mall area right nearby.

Hope that helps some, happy planning.

 

[OKW Lover]

For those of you that have use the Fort Lauderdale (Ford Everglades pier), I have several questions.
Did you fly into Miami or Fort Lauderdale? Why did you choose to fly in there?

Book whichever is cheaper, unless the difference isn't significant. Often flights to FLL will be cheaper than MIA. The distance between the two ports is only about 20 miles. You can take a shuttle service or uber/lyft for a modest amount.

 

[Tinkershelly]

Next March we will be sailing out of Miami but flying from Halifax. There are no non-stop flights from Halifax to Miami, but there are to Ft Lauderdale which all arrive mid-morning. We were thinking about flying to Ft Lauderdale the day before our cruise departure, and ubering to a Miami hotel for one night, one which offers shuttle service to the Miami port the next day. Does this seem reasonable? The non-stop Ft Lauderdale flights are also much cheaper than the Miami flights.

For the flight home what do you folks recommend? When is it reasonable to expect to be off the boat and in a cab/uber/airport shuttle? Flights from Miami are very expensive, about $250 more per ticket for a one-way flight, than out of Ft Lauderdale. And flights from Miami also depart about 11:30am versus about 2pm for the Ft Lauderdale flights.

As it is right now we are leaning towards flying into FLL the day before our cruise and flying out of FLL the day we dock back in Miami. I just want to make sure this is actually reasonable.

 

[Spencer Wright]

As a question to piggy back, I am going on my first cruise in a couple weeks, port of Miami, flying out of Ft. Lauderdale. On the day we returned, I booked a 6:35pm flight to be safe.

If I changed to a 1:40pm flight that should work out just fine? It seems so, I just wanted to confirm with those in the know.

 

[Sleepy425]

Next March we will be sailing out of Miami but flying from Halifax. There are no non-stop flights from Halifax to Miami, but there are to Ft Lauderdale which all arrive mid-morning. We were thinking about flying to Ft Lauderdale the day before our cruise departure, and ubering to a Miami hotel for one night, one which offers shuttle service to the Miami port the next day. Does this seem reasonable? The non-stop Ft Lauderdale flights are also much cheaper than the Miami flights.

For the flight home what do you folks recommend? When is it reasonable to expect to be off the boat and in a cab/uber/airport shuttle? Flights from Miami are very expensive, about $250 more per ticket for a one-way flight, than out of Ft Lauderdale. And flights from Miami also depart about 11:30am versus about 2pm for the Ft Lauderdale flights.

As it is right now we are leaning towards flying into FLL the day before our cruise and flying out of FLL the day we dock back in Miami. I just want to make sure this is actually reasonable.

In a few weeks this is exactly what I'm doing. I cruise out of Miami, but will fly into FLL the day before. I am scheduled to land at 11:30am, and will Uber to the Hyatt by the port of Miami. The day I get off the ship I will grab an Uber to FLL. My flight isn't until 2:30pm, so I will take my time getting off the ship.

 

[Dannielle]

We try to always fly into FLL (even when we are leaving out of the Port in Miami)

In FLL...the most the CAB can charge you to ride from FLL to Port Everglades is $25.00. So we figure being a family of 4 this is cheaper than the Cruise Transfers that are offered

when we are going from FLL to the Pier in Miami we Uber it....still cheaper.

We have never gone a day early and recently we discussed that we might be pushing our luck with this. so going forward we might go the day early and stay at one of the may beautiful hotels in Hollywood Ft. Lauderdale. I have stayed in a few of these hotels for work related events and once when the flights home from a cruise were crazy expensive and we decided it would be better to stay over one night before we traveled home. We found you can get really good prices for a one night stay using Priceline Express Deals.

 

[glk2009]

Today we returned from Adventure OTS and did self-carry off of the ship. We went to exit the ship at 7:15 am and we were at the airport/gate by 8:30 am. The lines weren’t super long at customs and everything kept moving. Security at the airport was easy.

We stayed at the Best Western near the airport and port and took an Uber XL for $12 vs the $10 per person shuttle from the hotel. Our return taxi to FLL was $15.

HTH!

 

[Lori74]

Today we returned from Adventure OTS and did self-carry off of the ship. We went to exit the ship at 7:15 am and we were at the airport/gate by 8:30 am. The lines weren’t super long at customs and everything kept moving. Security at the airport was easy.

We stayed at the Best Western near the airport and port and took an Uber XL for $12 vs the $10 per person shuttle from the hotel. Our return taxi to FLL was $15.

HTH!

how many were in your party? there are 7 of us, and im guessing with taxis and uber, we are probably going to need 2 cars. any time ive used uber, its just been 2 of us. ive never been in a taxi.

 

[glk2009]

how many were in your party? there are 7 of us, and im guessing with taxis and uber, we are probably going to need 2 cars. any time ive used uber, its just been 2 of us. ive never been in a taxi.

At the return, we were just four in our group. But our original travel party was seven and we did take two Ubers to the port. I selected the XL bc of all of our luggage.

When we left the port, there were a ton of taxis of various sizes waiting for passengers. A minivan could hold 7 people. But even if you ended up in two taxis, it would be fine. You could just meet up at your destination.

Taxis are similar to Uber but you pay after your reach your destination. We usually pay in cash. HTH!