Miami port arrival, hotel, and transportation help?

[econwiz]

Hello my fellow Disney Cruise mavens! We are headed to Miami for a 5-day cruise on the Magic. We've always sailed out of Port Canaveral. We would appreciate some recommendations from veteran Miami cruisers. Our first question is which airport to fly into (with respect to relative flight costs and convenience)? Secondly, are there any recommended hotels that offer shuttle service to/from airport and cruise port? Finally, what ground transportation recommendations do you have?

Happy cruising!

 

[monarchsfan16]

Honestly, airport depends on where you're flying from. For us, it was substantially less expensive to fly into FLL. It was only about a 30 minute drive to Miami from the FLL airport, so it was no big deal for us. We chose to rent a car. We were there for a couple days before the cruise (and wanted to explore beyond the city limits), and we had a flight home on debarkation day, so it was much more convenient for us. We got a pretty good rental car rate, so we didn't mind paying to park at the port. So someone else will have to answer the ground transportation questions. For some it will be better to fly into MIA, depending on what airlines are easily accessible for you.

 

[goodferry]

For us flying into FLL was cheaper as well. We fly on a Friday, rent a car, return it to Miami airport on Sunday, our rental car company has a shuttle to the port. We are staying at Embassy Suites at the airport

 

[Dug720]

Given that a) I don't drive and b) I avoid Southwest unless there is NO other option (including bus or train), I fly into Miami.

Christmas I stayed at a Hampton Inn in Doral - not my favorite Hampton, but I was only there a few hours. This upcoming cruise I'm flying in a few days early to play in Miami and am staying at a Hilton Garden Inn in South Beach. For my April fathom cruise, I'm staying at the Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon - which has great reviews.

And I use Lyft to get to the port. (The Hampton Inns had/have airport transportation. And I'm using Super Shuttle to the Hilton Garden Inn.)

 

[aksearaven]

We fly directly into Miami Airport and our favorite place to stay is
Hampton Inn & Suites Miami/Brickell-Downtown
50 SW 12th Street, Miami, FL 33130
T: 1 305-377-9400

They have a shuttle service you can sign up for and pay for in the lobby but we have found it is actually less expensive to just take a cab.

We love this hotel because there is a lot of choices at breakfast and it is kept well stocked and runs until 10am. its also a block away from the people mover (that is free monorail) that we used to go to the sight see around town, bayside market and riverwalk are great outings also within walking distance to ALOT of different restaurants!! If you stay there go around the block to Havana 1957 for some awesome cuban food!!! We have only ever sailed out of miami so we are in the opposite boat our next cruise is out of port canaveral.. any tips?

 

[1Winston]

We flew into Miami. Stayed at Loews and highly recommend it. Cabbed to port.