We loved sailing out of Miami. Soo...we flew in 2 full days early. We arrived on a Wednesday morning (red-eye from West Coast) for a Friday sailing. We stayed at the Homewood Suites Blue Lagoon-Airport. They offered free wifi, parking, weeknight dinners with wine and beer and daily breakfast. At the hotel next door was a Enterprise rental location.
Upon arrival, we met up with my MIL at the airport and then called the hotel for the shuttle which was getting new tires at the moment, so they said to take a cab and they would pick up the check. Well, we were traveling heavy as we were going on the WBPC cruise, so 3 adults, a child and all that luggage needed 2 taxis...and they paid for both of them! Win. We arrived at the hotel a few minutes later and they upgraded us to a 2 bedroom suite (vs the 1 bedroom that we booked). Win again. I was impressed that they had a room ready for us at 10am. We put our stuff in the room and I went next door to the Marriott to pick up our rental car. It rained all day, so our plan of going to the Everglades got squashed and we ended up shopping in Miami and going to a long lunch.
The next morning, we got up early and got on the first Airboat Tour (Everglades Safari?) that morning. It was incredible seeing all the alligators. We then went to the actual Everglades National Park and our kiddo earned her junior ranger badge. (Our goal is to visit every US NP before she graduates high school). We grabbed lunch and ate on the road. Our next stop was Biscayne Bay National Park. Not much going on there as they boat concessionaire was having problems and not running at the time. Kiddo still did her junior ranger book and earned another badge. We then continued down to the Keys and had dinner at Sunset in Islamorada and the original Islamorada Fish Company. Oh and we stopped at Homestead race track (because I work for a race team and was able to handle some business there...and write off this portion of the trip
)
The next morning, we had breakfast, ran to the local super market for wine and Costco for some snacks (DD has food allergies) and then MIL got on the airport shuttle back to the airport and we hopped in an Uber XL (all the luggage) and for about $35 made our way to the port.
**One note, make sure you are set up for the toll roads in your rental car. Holy moly, we are used to tolls, but Miami was FILLED with them. And you had to have a Sunpass. There were not toll booths.