Magic out of Miami

[mickeyluv]

Would love to hear if anyone has cruised the Magic out of Miami! Thinking of the 4 nighter to Key West/Castaway Day but have never cruised out of Miami. Any experiences cruising Disney out of Miami?

 

[ksh1111]

We did it in January, what sort of questions do you have?

 

[mickeyluv]

Is it as easy as cruising out of Port Canaveral? There are so many cruises out of Miami I just was wondering if it was hectic? Did you cruise with Disney &ifso which ship?

 

[Shanti]

Would love to hear if anyone has cruised the Magic out of Miami! Thinking of the 4 nighter to Key West/Castaway Day but have never cruised out of Miami. Any experiences cruising Disney out of Miami?

Yes, I did over New Years. I would advise you to stick with the Miami airport and avoid the Fort Lauderdale Airport. Also, the passengers on our cruise were at least 80% South American nationals (foreigners, not Hispanic Americans). Americans were in the decided minority, which is something you may or may not care about.

 

[dclpluto]

Miami I felt like I was in a differnt country. Which I have no problem with I like visiting other countries. Went to a restaurant and the person taking my order didn't speak English she had to get someone else to take my order. Also that night went to Wendy's to get a frosty and the same thing happened. I stayed not to far from the airport.

 

[dcassetta]

Great itinerary, it's nice to have the afternoon in Key West. The airport is not far from the cruise port at all which is also a bonus. The Magic is beautiful.

 

[disfam3mi]

Yes, I did over New Years. I would advise you to stick with the Miami airport and avoid the Fort Lauderdale Airport. Also, the passengers on our cruise were at least 80% South American nationals (foreigners, not Hispanic Americans). Americans were in the decided minority, which is something you may or may not care about.

Why do you suggest avoiding FLL? We're going in January, and so far return flight prices are WAY better from there.

 

[Shanti]

Why do you suggest avoiding FLL? We're going in January, and so far return flight prices are WAY better from there.

We flew into MIA and out of FLL. MIA was fine (even though it was New Year's Eve), and we got a DCL transfer from the airport to the ship. DCL does not do transfers to or from FLL, however, which means you have to arrange your own transportation (and we ended up disliking the highly-reviewed transportation we booked on our own) and you won't get any baggage service from DCL to FLL.

But the biggest reason is that FLL was an absolute cluster. Granted, it was the Sunday after New Years, a big day for travel out of Miami, but I've never seen anything like it. We had to wait almost an hour in line just to check our bags, and half of that wait was outdoors, because the line extended outside. After that, people with afternoon departure times (including us) were made to wait for a few hours downstairs by check in rather than being allowed to immediately proceed through security (& therefore to restaurants, shops and to our gate), to make things easier for airport security personnel (even though we have TSA pre-check & wouldn't have been in the main security line). With a child in tow, the three hours collectively spent in line and waiting by check-in, without access to food or shops, were misery, and I vowed never to set foot in FLL again.

 

[Capt_BJ]

Is it as easy as cruising out of Port Canaveral?

In some ways easier ...

the airport is 15 minutes away rather than 45 ... take a taxi $27 flat rate per VEHICLE. And since they opened the tunnel, the taxi does not have to run thru downtown. Quick and easy (and less $$ than the transfers . . )

but the terminal is not 'Disney" exclusive nor are shuttle busses DCL special pant job, so you might lose some of that early color ...


There are so many cruises out of Miami I just was wondering if it was hectic?

Most days I think you'd find the cruise ship load to be similar. Let's look today ... both PC and POM have two ships in ...

some days they each have 5!

Sail away is similar .. some might say Miami is better as you pass Miami Beach ....

If arriving 'day before', the hotels around Orlando or Canaveral are a bit more family friendly than those around Miami IMO . . . in Canaveral the night b4 get a pizza and play mini-golf or watch the ships from Grills. In Miami go to South Beach . . .

btw ... this year's MAGIC 7 day sailings from Canaveral stopped at KW too ... not just the Miami trips

 

[surran12]

I thought sailing out of Miami was very easy. We sailed the day of the Miami marathon/half marathon so some roads were closed and it took us a few wrong turns to find a good way to the terminal but parking was a breeze and a 5 minute walk to the terminal. While the terminal isn't as nice as PC I thought the terminal had a decent amount of space and was nice enough. We had 5 ships in the day we were leaving but there wasn't any traffic to speak of around 1030-11 getting into the port or parking garage.

 

[Ofinn]

Would love to hear if anyone has cruised the Magic out of Miami! Thinking of the 4 nighter to Key West/Castaway Day but have never cruised out of Miami. Any experiences cruising Disney out of Miami?

I find it easier than cruising out of PC. Its a 20.00 cab ride from airport to port. Lots of hotels close to port. There are hotels around the airport that offer free shuttles to the port....Embassy suites comes to mind. We stayed in South Beach it was fun. There is a bus that will take you to South Beach very cheap. The taxi ride from South Beach to the port was around 30.00-40.00. I also love the Fort Lauderdale area, but it is far from the Port.
We cruised in Feb the ship was mostly Americans. South Americans have there Summer break in Jan they tend to invade Florida including Disney World at that time. I have cruised on the Fantasy in January, and noticed there were a lot of South Americans onboard. It doesn't bother me. Hotels are expensive if you cruise in the Winter. Be prepared for that. I will never cruise out of Miami in the Winter again. It took way to much time to find a good hotel price.

 

[egesicki]

We flew into MIA and out of FLL. MIA was fine (even though it was New Year's Eve), and we got a DCL transfer from the airport to the ship. DCL does not do transfers to or from FLL, however, which means you have to arrange your own transportation (and we ended up disliking the highly-reviewed transportation we booked on our own) and you won't get any baggage service from DCL to FLL.

But the biggest reason is that FLL was an absolute cluster. Granted, it was the Sunday after New Years, a big day for travel out of Miami, but I've never seen anything like it. We had to wait almost an hour in line just to check our bags, and half of that wait was outdoors, because the line extended outside. After that, people with afternoon departure times (including us) were made to wait for a few hours downstairs by check in rather than being allowed to immediately proceed through security (& therefore to restaurants, shops and to our gate), to make things easier for airport security personnel (even though we have TSA pre-check & wouldn't have been in the main security line). With a child in tow, the three hours collectively spent in line and waiting by check-in, without access to food or shops, were misery, and I vowed never to set foot in FLL again.

Eek! Flights for our Thanksgiving are hundreds of dollars more each for MIA and we're seriously considering FLL, even knowing we have to arrange transfers, lack of luggage service, and farther away. I know if we do use FLL I will be worried about it the whole week. Ugh!

 

[hanscarlet]

We did Miami 5 night on Wonder in 2015, a few notes of my experience from what I remember
- I greatly disliked the Miami airport, it didn't seem well laid out and I remember a lot of walking
- the city seems like you are in a South American country, nothing wrong with that but it's an interesting feeling
- we stayed at the JW Marriott Marquis on Marriott Points and it was gorgeous, literally the coolest, nicest hotel I have ever stayed in but disappointed we didn't get to use the pool because they had a private event that day.
- we stayed close to the port thinking it would give us an advantage on taxi rates and we discovered this assumption was incorrect - they have flat taxi rates so even though we were 7 min from the port we still had to pay $27 plus tip
- our hotel was in a really nice, safe part of Miami so we were able to walk to dinner at a really nice steak house and eat over looking the water and also Whole foods was across the street and so we were able to get our alcohol and water no problem
- the port experience itself was fine, the port is much smaller and therefore the waiting rooms are more compact but it didn't negative impact our experience and the CM are still very nice
- the airport is much closer to the port than in PC so factor that into your travel time with booking a flight on the way home, we were able to get a noon flight and still take the time to eat breakfast in the MDR on disembarkation day

 

[hanscarlet]

I used to fly into FLL in the 2000s and I remember it being a fine experience, we would definitely go FLL over MIA if the price difference was worth it, but again, I'm no fan of the Miami airport

 

[Shanti]

Eek! Flights for our Thanksgiving are hundreds of dollars more each for MIA and we're seriously considering FLL, even knowing we have to arrange transfers, lack of luggage service, and farther away. I know if we do use FLL I will be worried about it the whole week. Ugh!

I'd hate for anyone to stretch financially just to avoid a certain airport. I recommend FLL for the savings, & hope my experience was a New Year's fluke.

 

[KDG]

We cruised on the Magic out of Miami last Oct. We drove down from WDW (rental cars) after going to the MNSSHP the night before. It was easy to get to the dock. The Magic was the only ship in port that day. I do have to say, we arrived a little early for the earliest boarding and they would not let us in the building to use the bathroom. We were directed to go to a restaurant across the street and it wasn't the best experience for my 3 year old granddaughter and I. The boarding area is shared with other cruise lines on different days, but Disney banners were hung everywhere to make it feel Disney-like.

Flying home, my daughter's family flew from FLL because Southwest was so much cheaper for them. We flew from Miami and it was a quick taxi ride away. I thought the Miami airport was fine.

We also went to Key West and enjoyed visiting the island. We rented electric cars (more like fancy golf carts) and drove around as well as shopped, enjoyed lunch and key lime pie. You will enjoy your cruise!

 

[gatordoc]

I thought sailing out of Miami was very easy. We sailed the day of the Miami marathon/half marathon so some roads were closed and it took us a few wrong turns to find a good way to the terminal but parking was a breeze and a 5 minute walk to the terminal. While the terminal isn't as nice as PC I thought the terminal had a decent amount of space and was nice enough. We had 5 ships in the day we were leaving but there wasn't any traffic to speak of around 1030-11 getting into the port or parking garage.

We're Florida residents and will be driving down. The port maps I've been able to find look confusing as to the best place to park. Is it pretty obvious, i.e. is there good signage, as to which lot/garage is best for a Disney cruise?

 

[monarchsfan16]

We cruised out of Miami on the noro-cruise...I mean...the Wonder in April. I've never cruised from PC before (this was our first cruise), but found it to be easy at Miami. We cruised out of Terminal F. The porters at curbside directed us to garage G after we dropped off our luggage. So they will tell you where to park. The day we cruised out, we were the only ship in port. On our return day, we were one of 4 or 5. The departure process was easy. I found security to be exceptionally efficient and check in and boarding were also very efficient. They had Disney signs up and CMs wearing Mickey hands, so we definitely felt the Disney, even though it was a shared terminal. Debarkation took awhile, or rather, the wait for customs took a LONG time (an hour from scanning our KTTW card to saying goodbye to the customs agent), but I also read that people were throwing up in line so they had to stop the line to clean, so this may have been a fluke.

We flew in and out of FLL. We got a REALLY good rate on a rental car, so we didn't have to worry about arranging car service. This ended up being really good, since debarkation took forever. FLL will not let you through security more than 3 (I think) hours before your flight time. We had a plan in place (since we had a rental) to go elsewhere and explore if we needed to kill time. We ended up going straight to the airport. I think we made it there after the mad rush of passengers from the port in Fort Lauderdale (It was a Sunday), since we got there about 11:30. NO line to check in and only 10 people ahead of us at security. We had a 1:20 flight, so this worked well for us. We found the FLL airport to be a breeze to navigate. Our only complaint was lack of food options in the gate area.

I wouldn't hesitate to cruise out of Miami again. We flew down a couple of days early and enjoyed some time in the Everglades and at the Cape Florida lighthouse state park (Bill Baggs?). We stayed at a hotel downtown with a view of the cruise port. It wasn't my favorite city I've explored, but honestly, I didn't have time to plan that portion of the trip as much as I would have liked.

 

[MPS516]

I fly in and out of FLL 3 or 4 times a year for business, much prefer it to MIA. We cruised DCL out of Miami last year, flew into FLL, spent the night and used Jiffy Jeff's for transportation to terminal the next morning. Weekday with heavy traffic but no serious back up so got to port earlier than I had planned. Drop off was simple, got right into port, checked in and waited maybe 15 minutes before boarding ship. Sailing again in February, will use FLL.

 

[surran12]

We're Florida residents and will be driving down. The port maps I've been able to find look confusing as to the best place to park. Is it pretty obvious, i.e. is there good signage, as to which lot/garage is best for a Disney cruise?

The signage was very easy to locate and understand to make your way to the correct terminal and garage. The garage was across from 2 terminals down when we sailed but it was an extremely easy walk and we kept all the luggae with us and handed it off on our walk in.