How do we get to Miami

[disneykins]

We're flying BUF to MCO or SWA. After a few days at OKW we are sailing on NCL out of Miami. How do we get from WDW to Miami. We wont have a car at WDW. When we return from the cruise we fly home from MCO so we have to get back to Orlando. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Tony

 

[Vijoge]

Airplane, train, bus, rental car, limo. . .

 

[DisneyDadNY]

I have used these guys a couple of times to go from Orlando to West palm Beach - never had any problems with them.

http://www.transfloridian.com/index.html

 

[goofy4tink]

We had a similar issue when cruising with DCL earlier this month. I had several options...I got some decent rates with Budget, so could have rented at DTD or at MCO. MCO was cheaper, so rented there. We took DME back to the airport, with all our luggage, and rented our car. Drove to port for the few days before our cruise. We could have returned the car then, and taken a cab/shuttle to the ship or kept the car, parked in the port lot while we were on the ship. The rate we got was so good we decided to just keep the car since we would have had to rent another one to get us to Tampa for the last 4 days of our vacation.
So......check out different car rental options...renting from various spots. DTD and MCO seem to be the best spots. Then, decide whether to keep the car while you are sailing, and then have it right there for your return to MCO. Or, return it in Miami, and then rerent when you get off the ship.
I can't tell you of other transportation options since I'm not familier with them. But, I'm sure someone here has some experience.

 

[ducklite]

In all honesty you'd probably be best off just renting a car and leaving it in the cuise terminal lot in Miami for the week. Taking a shuttle is going to cost as much as a car rental, and the hours are probably not going to work well for you.

Miami cruise terminal is a full four hour drive (I'd plan on five) FL Tpke to I-95 and follow the signs, it's really easy to get to, and there is ample parking at the terminal. I can't recall how much it runs, I think about $10 a day.

Anne

 

[tkldisney]

I agree with ducklite! Check car rental rates. (see if you have to pay to park rental too) It may be less expensive to rent car at WDW resort or MCO for just the one day, return to MIA, then take taxi to cruise dock, then do the reverse when going back except to MCO instead of resort.
I would check into driver services but think it's going to be a lot more $$.
There's lots of different codes for rental cars on mousesavers so that might help. Just remember to plan on 5 hours to get to MIA.

Depending on how many people, check flts. from MCO to MIA too!

 

[cbrfan]

In all honesty you'd probably be best off just renting a car and leaving it in the cuise terminal lot in Miami for the week. Taking a shuttle is going to cost as much as a car rental, and the hours are probably not going to work well for you.

Miami cruise terminal is a full four hour drive (I'd plan on five) FL Tpke to I-95 and follow the signs, it's really easy to get to, and there is ample parking at the terminal. I can't recall how much it runs, I think about $10 a day.

Anne

If I remember correctly, parking at the Port of Miami was $12 a day last Jan.

 

[safetymom]

I fly when I need to go to Miami.

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Flying to Fort Lauderdale can be reasonable at times because Southwest, Spirit and Delta Connection all fly the route. But flying to Miami has far less competition and is dominated by American, and is usually an expensive proposition. Worth checking though just to see.

Thus, no doubt the cheapest is two one-way rentals and the next cheapest is one rental for the full period, parking it at the port garage. You could look at AMTRAK but it's very slow going.

BobK/Orlando

 

[Seahunt]

NCL (and most of the other cruise lines) use a bus transfer option in FL called Cruise Connection. NCL's is called Freestyle Connections (using Cruise Connection motorcoaches), if you are interested in that. You might check with your TA, the cruise line or look on the web at cruise-connection

Special rates are available to NCL passengers who have booked a cruise and wish to travel to and/or from one of the NCL homeports by bus.
All rates are subject to availability at the time of the booking.
Miami Sailings Contact:
Cruise Connection - please call 941.379.7900

It's $75 roundtrip pp Orlando to Port of Miami on their luxury motorcoach and back again. We have done this a few times from Daytona (offered in lots of cities in FL including Orlando) - the good part is that they deliver and pick you up you right at your ship, you can relax and watch a movie on the way down, etc. and the bad part is that they do make several stops, including a short meal break (out of pocket), so it takes longer than if you drive yourself (though those bus drivers really do mooooove right along in those big busses! Without getting speeding tickets too, unlike my DH )

 

[dcgrumpy]

You could rent a car and return before the cruise. Hertz and Avis have dowtown locations just a few minutes from the port.

 

[pk1959]

We are renting a car after flying into Fort Lauderdale and dropping it off at Miami airport the day of our cruise. Both Thrifty and Dollar have free courtesy shuttles between the airport and the pier. After we disembark from our cruise, we will take the shuttle back to Miami airport and pick up another car and drive back to Fort Lauderdale for our return flight home.

We drove from Disney to Miami for a cruise in 2003. About half way to Miami, there was a major accident just up ahead of us that TOTALLY shut down the highway for 3 hours. Luckily we had left Disney plenty early so still made our cruise. Just give yourself PLENTY of time. You never know what is going to happen.