Hop On Hop Off Miami City Tour With Airport Transfer (Onboard Bookings Only)

mevelandry

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
9,663
Hi!

I was wondering if anybody had tried that activity and what you could tell me about it? How does it work? Did you feel it was worth the investment? What did you do?

Thanks in advance.
 
I haven't yet as planning on doing it for the WBTA cruise in September. For me its more the fact my flight home isn't until 9:30pm so this wastes some time during the day. I've done other cities with this tour company (London, Belfast, Tenerife & Malaga) and never had a problem. Tours are usually very informative and from reviews I've read online the storage option this offers is fantastic. Let me know if you do it before me whether its any good and if not I will let you know when I get back from my cruise in October.
 

Not this specific excursion, but the reviews on trip advisor for the Miami hop on hop off bus are generally pretty good.
 
We are looking into this as well. Our flight does not leave until 3pm so this would give us something to as well as take care of the luggage.
 
I'm thinking that no one has yet done this tour! Maybe its not been offered on previous cruises last year when the ship was last in Miami? In which case I might be one of the first to experience it
 
I'm cruising in November and my flight isn't until 6 so this sounds really interesting. How do I find out more? I can't find it on the DCL site. Or should I be looking somewhere else?

And then I found it.....
 
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Hi. Just got back and wanted to update this with some info as there is very little on here about it.

So booked at port adventures on the first day and was told they weren't sure it was running. In reality it was the time they weren't sure on (which they confirmed 2 days later was the issue) and so we didn't get our port adventure tickets or time until around 3 days before departure. We also got different luggage tags (Ariel) to ensure our baggage was the first off the ship. We then met in Fathoms on the last morning at around 8am. We were escorted off and through customs which took a bit of time then there was a storage van waiting for us to put luggage on. You filled in tags for the luggage stating which shuttle you wanted to take to the airport although they said this should be the latest shuttle you are likely to take and if you did want to do an earlier one that was no problem. From there you get an open top bus to Bayside Market place. On the way they point out a few sites and then explain where you will get your bag and the shuttle to the airport. They go to both Fort Lauderdale (only 2 shuttles with last one at 2pm I think) and MIA (12:45pm, 1:45pm, 2:45pm, 3:45pm or 4:45pm). Then from Bayside you can catch any of the HOHO routes. I did all 3 as was catching the 4:45pm one. If however you are limited on time, the City loop (takes about 2 hours) is probably the one that covers the most interesting things. The Beach loop (around 1.5 hours) is OK and the Cultural/Uptown loop (around 1 hour) is fantastic if you like street art. All three told me things I didn't know about Miami so great info. When you are done and ready to get to the shuttle (you can go around Bayside etc or get off at any of the stops and then back on whereever you want) you just get back to Bayside and there is a little stand where they have an office to keep your bags. They recommend you turn up at least 15 minutes before your shuttle departure to get your luggage sorted. I was on the last shuttle of the day and turns out I was the only person so my luggage was the only things left. I then waited around 5 mins for the shuttle (which was a little van) and that took about 20 minutes to get to the airport. They drop you off at which ever terminal you need based on your flight info. It was really easy and definitely worth it for me as I was travelling solo. For families it would depend on how much time you have and what fits better.
 
Thanks for the great feedback, we'll keep this in mind for our January cruise from Miami, we are flying out of FLL so this could be a great option. I do have some reservations about it because DH and I just got back from Europe. And we did the big bus tour in London, and we had terrible service and waited for an hour for one bus, so many problems we through in towel and took the tube instead. However, when we complained they did refund our money due to the issues we experienced.
 
What I would say is, unlike London, Miami is probably not so easy to get around without a car (and I don't drive so this was the best option for me). It was a fairly detailed tour but I didn't do HOHO anywhere so not sure how long the waits were. I know they were saying buses were every 30 minutes but I was just lucky that I got to the depot at the same time as the next bus was waiting. I would say that when I asked for bus times I was told the one would leave at 2pm and actually it left around 1:45/1:50 but I just happened to have got back to the bus stop to jump onboard after getting a drink. Its worth researching what things you would like to see as the tour does show some places but stops were quite a way away from each other.
 
Hi
We did the Hop on Hop off prior to our Panama Canal Cruise in May. We paid for one day and got the second day for free which was great.

We did all three circuits as well as getting off at the beach and also in downtown. We used it as a mode of transportation too though it does stop running about 5-6pm so you can not use it to dine in another part of town.

There are two companies that run the HOHO - there is the Big red bus (a maroon coloured bus) and the original HOHO Bright Red bus. We did the HOHO Bright red business. They had headphones, free ponchos, water and great guides.

My two boys (8 and 11) LOVED the tour also which was great. Lots of laughter and the guides changed their storeis so that the kids were involved (particularly pointing out the celeb homes that the kids would know)

Both buses stop periodically at the Bayfront Marketplace which is a great place to stop for food (hard rock, bubba gumps, fast food, lots of other restaurants).

When we got off the bus, and had finished wandering around, waiting for the bus, we only waited for approx 15-20 maximum for the bus. (we are from a town where we wait for public transport for about an hour LOL)

hope that this helps :)
Deb
 

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