Just booked airfare for Magic/Miami Jan 2020

[bbn1122]

My family of 5 ( DH, me and 3 sons, 25, 21 and 19) will be on our first cruise out of Miami. We haven’t been on a family cruise since 2014. DH and I have done a couple out of NYC. We are really excited to be cruising during the winter and leaving chilly NJ behind. My boys have been asking for Christmas break vacation for a long time.

I booked us flying into Fort Lauderdale for early January, right after the New Year out of Newark. The prices for flying into Miami were so much higher. I have been looking at rates for a while and scored what I thought was a fantastic price of $222 round trip per person. FFL airport is only about 40 minutes to the port area, not bad.

I have a reservation for us at the Doubletree Biscayne Bay, which looks nice and super close to port. I believe you can see the port from some of the rooms.

Just so excite to lock in airfare....now just a 6 month wait. But, isn’t the planning and waiting part of the fun!

Okay, thanks for letting me share. If anyone would like their share experiences with flying into FFL, Miami or Fort Lauderdale Hotels and Port of Miami, I would love to hear them.

 

[Dug720]

The port at Ft Lauderdale (Port Everglades) is super close to where you booked...

But it is NOT super close to Port Miami which is where the Magic ports.

It is supposed to be a beautiful hotel though!

 

[hcox31]

We flew into FLL for our Miami cruise in Jan. 2018. We used Jiffy Jeff for transport to the port and they were A+. If i remember right we were embarking on a Monday, and traffic wasn't too bad from FLL to the port in Miami. The way home, the FLL airport was a gong show. Not gonna lie. We got there early, couldn't check our bags. So we had to wait at the entrance until bag check opened. it was like every cruise ship had emptied into the airport and there was zero room for anyone. Then beyond security we found the options for feeding our kids very limited, we ended up sitting on the floor at the gate cause there was no room. Maybe that was just a bad, crowded day, I don't know. But I wasn't impressed with the airport.

 

[pixiedustedme]

We flew into FLL for our Miami cruise in Jan. 2018. We used Jiffy Jeff for transport to the port and they were A+. If i remember right we were embarking on a Monday, and traffic wasn't too bad from FLL to the port in Miami. The way home, the FLL airport was a gong show. Not gonna lie. We got there early, couldn't check our bags. So we had to wait at the entrance until bag check opened. it was like every cruise ship had emptied into the airport and there was zero room for anyone. Then beyond security we found the options for feeding our kids very limited, we ended up sitting on the floor at the gate cause there was no room. Maybe that was just a bad, crowded day, I don't know. But I wasn't impressed with the airport.

We had a similar experience flying back home from FLL after our '15/'16 New Year's Magic cruise. It was the worst airport experience we've ever had. The line to check bags extended outside, so that we had to wait outdoors for quite a while, breathing in traffic fumes, before even getting into the terminal. And then we weren't allowed to go through security until around noon (we arrived around 10am and our flight was at 2pm). They said the people with morning flights needed priority. So we spent hours in front of security, with nothing to do and little in the way of refreshment. I vowed never to fly out of FLL again. The next time we cruised out of Miami, we stuck with the Miami airport & had no problem.

 

[bbn1122]

We had a similar experience flying back home from FLL after our '15/'16 New Year's Magic cruise. It was the worst airport experience we've ever had. The line to check bags extended outside, so that we had to wait outdoors for quite a while, breathing in traffic fumes, before even getting into the terminal. And then we weren't allowed to go through security until around noon (we arrived around 10am and our flight was at 2pm). They said the people with morning flights needed priority. So we spent hours in front of security, with nothing to do and little in the way of refreshment. I vowed never to fly out of FLL again. The next time we cruised out of Miami, we stuck with the Miami airport & had no problem.

Thanks for the heads up. We are only on a 5 night, so hopefully we can get everything into our carry on and avoid baggage check. But good to know.

We are flying United. Most flights I saw to Miami were $360 and up per person, so $222 to FFL won out. Especially, when you have to pay for 5!

 

[pixiedustedme]

Thanks for the heads up. We are only on a 5 night, so hopefully we can get everything into our carry on and avoid baggage check. But good to know.

We are flying United. Most flights I saw to Miami were $360 and up per person, so $222 to FFL won out. Especially, when you have to pay for 5!

Sometimes price wins out. Have fun! I hope the airport is a cake walk for you.

 

[hrhdhd]

The port at Ft Lauderdale (Port Everglades) is super close to where you booked...

But it is NOT super close to Port Miami which is where the Magic ports.

The DoubleTree Biscayne Bay is about 2 miles from PortMiami.

 

[Dug720]

The DoubleTree Biscayne Bay is about 2 miles from PortMiami.

Sorry. Misread.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We have sailed DCL out of Miami four times. Our first such trip (2015), we were booked on SW flying into FLL from Chicago-Midway. SW cancelled the flight (scheduled to depart at 6:30 am the day of the cruise), sending us an email after 9 pm the night before departure. Apparently the plane we should have flown on was stuck somewhere due to fog and had not arrived in Chicago. We could not get a different SW flight that arrived in time to make the cruise, so we finally had to book American Airlines from Chicago-O’Hare to Miami for a early flight the next morning, paying the last-minute fares that you get under those circumstances. Since then, we have been booking AA, ORD-MIA. American has a lot of flights into MIA from ORD, about every hour or 90 minutes, since MIA is a hub for their flights to the Caribbean and South America. AA fares to MIA have generally been comparable to SW to FLL, even considering the baggage fees on AA. We now always fly in one or even two days early, not wanting a repeat of the stress of a late cancellation or weather delay on cruise departure day.

 

[pixiedustedme]

We have sailed DCL out of Miami four times. Our first such trip (2015), we were booked on SW flying into FLL from Chicago-Midway. SW cancelled the flight (scheduled to depart at 6:30 am the day of the cruise), sending us an email after 9 pm the night before departure. Apparently the plane we should have flown on was stuck somewhere due to fog and had not arrived in Chicago. We could not get a different SW flight that arrived in time to make the cruise, so we finally had to book American Airlines from Chicago-O’Hare to Miami for a early flight the next morning, paying the last-minute fares that you get under those circumstances. Since then, we have been booking AA, ORD-MIA. American has a lot of flights into MIA from ORD, about every hour or 90 minutes, since MIA is a hub for their flights to the Caribbean and South America. AA fares to MIA have generally been comparable to SW to FLL, even considering the baggage fees on AA. We now always fly in one or even two days early, not wanting a repeat of the stress of a late cancellation or weather delay on cruise departure day.

Glad you were able to make the cruise!