Talk to me about Miami cruises and WDW

[Clojel]

Hi all, we’re planning a family cruise for late 2022….probably a 4 or 5 night with a couple park days upfront, but, we really like the Dream and they’ve bumped that ship over to Miami. Has anyone done park days and then sailed out of Miami instead of PC? How’d it go? TIA!

 

[CamColt]

I have sailed out of Miami twice, but didn't do the parks on those trips. I think it would work out fine though. You could either drive down from WDW early the morning of the cruise, or go the day before and stay closer to the Port in Miami that night, whichever you would be more comfortable with.

 

[DCLMP]

Hi all, we’re planning a family cruise for late 2022….probably a 4 or 5 night with a couple park days upfront, but, we really like the Dream and they’ve bumped that ship over to Miami. Has anyone done park days and then sailed out of Miami instead of PC? How’d it go? TIA!

Are you renting a car or driving your own?

 

[cvjw]

We did. Drove down to orlando from Atlanta on a Friday. Stayed 2 nights at the boardwalk and did a park day. Got up on Sunday morning and drove to miami and boarded the magic. The drive was about 3 hours that morning. No traffic Sunday morning.

It was a 5 night cruise, so we drove back to Orlando Friday morning. Stayed at copper creek 2 more nights. Did another park day and drove home on Sunday.

We all agreed we would do the same again. The drive to Miami wasn’t that complicated.

 

[Clojel]

Are you renting a car or driving your own?

We’d be renting. Flying in and out of Miami

 

[DCLMP]

We’d be renting. Flying in and out of Miami

Hopefully, the price of rental cars come down by the end of next year. Prices are nuts. I have a car reserved from MCO to PC and it's 250.00. In the past, I've rented cars from MCO to PC for under 40 dollars. Let's hope the rental car shortage gets resolved soon. I priced out renting a car for the whole 9 days and was about 1k. Yikes.

Our last cruise was on Royal out of FLL. We rented a car after the cruise and dropped it off at the Disney car center. It cost us 55.00 dollars. That was February 2020. It's not a bad drive at all about 3.5 hours.

 

[pascalspal]

We have never actually done this, but had a few trips planned out that included this model. We were planning on a few days at the park, then checking out of the hotel and storing our luggage for an afternoon at disney springs. Bus back to the hotel to grab luggage and head to the airport. We fly Southwest, so we would fly Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale.

Often when cruising out of Miami we stay in Ft. Lauderdale the night before and uber in to the port in the morning (only for sailings that leave on weekends to avoid work traffic and commutes). Many of the Ft. Lauderdale hotels are nicer and cheaper. Other times we uber to Miami straight after our flight and stay at the Intercontinental and take a short 5 minute uber to the port the next day!

Definitely possible and can be a pleasant experience, I just wouldn't try to pack too much in on your travel day. This will allow you to be flexible if your travel plans get delayed and will allow you to recuperate some before starting your next part of your trip!

I think it would be a little more challenging with a rental car vs an uber, but definitely still possible and enjoyable!

 

[AgentMama]

We have never actually done this, but had a few trips planned out that included this model. We were planning on a few days at the park, then checking out of the hotel and storing our luggage for an afternoon at disney springs. Bus back to the hotel to grab luggage and head to the airport. We fly Southwest, so we would fly Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale.

Often when cruising out of Miami we stay in Ft. Lauderdale the night before and uber in to the port in the morning (only for sailings that leave on weekends to avoid work traffic and commutes). Many of the Ft. Lauderdale hotels are nicer and cheaper. Other times we uber to Miami straight after our flight and stay at the Intercontinental and take a short 5 minute uber to the port the next day!

Definitely possible and can be a pleasant experience, I just wouldn't try to pack too much in on your travel day. This will allow you to be flexible if your travel plans get delayed and will allow you to recuperate some before starting your next part of your trip!

I think it would be a little more challenging with a rental car vs an uber, but definitely still possible and enjoyable!

Southwest flies into MIA now.

 

[pascalspal]

Southwest flies into MIA now.

Wow! I havent checked in a while, but that is great news! I have cruise out of Miami in March next year, so I will have to look into that when flights open up! Thanks!

 

[mrp4352]

It's an easy drive - if you're going R/T driving out of Miami, you can go along the coast (which takes longer) one way and down the center on the interstate the other so you're not seeing the same stuff both ways.

Also, if you're renting a car - consider renting from an airport location rather than a cruise port location. We attempted to rent a car after our cruise a couple years ago and the agency told us it would be over 2 hours before cars were ready and we were about 10 parties back in line. we ended up just ubering to the airport and waiting there for our evening flight.

 

[Clojel]

We have never actually done this, but had a few trips planned out that included this model. We were planning on a few days at the park, then checking out of the hotel and storing our luggage for an afternoon at disney springs. Bus back to the hotel to grab luggage and head to the airport. We fly Southwest, so we would fly Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale.

Often when cruising out of Miami we stay in Ft. Lauderdale the night before and uber in to the port in the morning (only for sailings that leave on weekends to avoid work traffic and commutes). Many of the Ft. Lauderdale hotels are nicer and cheaper. Other times we uber to Miami straight after our flight and stay at the Intercontinental and take a short 5 minute uber to the port the next day!

Definitely possible and can be a pleasant experience, I just wouldn't try to pack too much in on your travel day. This will allow you to be flexible if your travel plans get delayed and will allow you to recuperate some before starting your next part of your trip!

I think it would be a little more challenging with a rental car vs an uber, but definitely still possible and enjoyable!

You uber from Orlando to Miami? How much does that cost? I didn't even really think uber would be an option that far of a distance....

 

[pascalspal]

You uber from Orlando to Miami? How much does that cost? I didn't even really think uber would be an option that far of a distance....

No haha that would be quite the bill! You can actually uber that far if there is a driver willing to do it, just cant go across state lines! For clarity we fly from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale. Then we uber from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami. However with Southwest flying into Miami now, we can eliminate that leg of travel which is exciting!

 

[Clojel]

No haha that would be quite the bill! You can actually uber that far if there is a driver willing to do it, just cant go across state lines! For clarity we fly from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale. Then we uber from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami. However with Southwest flying into Miami now, we can eliminate that leg of travel which is exciting!

Okay I thought that seemed excessive - hahaha!

 

[Weedy]

We’ve sailed out of Miami a few times (we live in Orlando). No real big differences. The terminal isn’t as Magical as Disney’s but you’re only there for a short time.
The terminal area is shared by multiple cruise lines.
Luggage drop off is about the same you pull up in front of the terminal and drop your luggage and then drive to the garage.
Parking is a little bit harder. You share the garage with other cruise ships and it can get full and you will be directed to an off site parking area.
One big differences is Miami is a BIG city. So you will be dealing with big city traffic.
Another option on traveling between Orlando and Miami could be the Brightline Train service is supposed to open in late 2022. Service will run from the Orlando airport (MCO) to the Miami airport then the Miami Cruise Terminal
https://www.gobrightline.com/florida-expansion

 

[Weedy]

This is a few months old but still some fun drone videos about the building of the train line

 

[mmouse37]

We’d be renting. Flying in and out of Miami

Have you thought about flying into Orlando and out of Miami? Then you only have the 3 hour drive once. Only downside is that sometimes car rental companies charge a one way drop off fee. You would also have to compare the airfare cost of doing a multi-city booking instead of a round trip.

We have stayed in WDW and then drove down to Miami. The ride was not bad at all. We had our own car so had an extra 3 hour drive back to NY on the way home.

MJ

 

[JoeFromSeoul]

When we lived in Miami it was about a 2-hour drive to WDW… unless The Boss Lady was driving. That usually cut the time to about 90 minutes. You may want your rental to include a device for the Sun Pass to cover the tolls, toll booths are unattended.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

No haha that would be quite the bill! You can actually uber that far if there is a driver willing to do it, just cant go across state lines! For clarity we fly from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale. Then we uber from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami. However with Southwest flying into Miami now, we can eliminate that leg of travel which is exciting!

I can't speak for other city pairs, but from Philly there are no non-stops to MIA. That's a big turn off for me since it's only a 2 hour flight. Once they add a connection, it's more like 4-10 hours.