Travel help porting out of Miami

[phawk1423]

Hi, Family of Six(kids ages 17,15,13,11) will be sailing out of Miami Nov 23rd-29th on the Magic. We are considering flying into Miami on Nov 20th for a few days. I see the days before being pretty chill with hopes of hanging out by the pool, some shopping, eating and general relaxing. I am looking for advice on the following:

1.) Should we fly into to Fort Lauderdale or Miami? Right now, flights are similarly priced. With kids that are teens and pre-teens, what area do you think they are likely to enjoy the most.
2.) Since the majority of the time we will be on the cruise, do I need to rent a car to enjoy the area? If I save on parking and car rentals, I would be okay with paying more for lodging.
3.) Recommendations on where to stay.
4.) Recommendations on what to do, where to eat, etc. 11/20 is basically be all travel since we are traveling from SD so we would have two full days before the cruise. Looking to fly out on the 30th so just one day/night after the cruise.

Thanks!

 

[sweetpeama]

As far as what to do look into a city pass https://gocity.com/miami/en-us.

It looks like there is a fairly extensive mass transit system in place https://www8.miamidade.gov/global/transportation/home.page
I would get a pass for each day though do the math it might be cheaper to get the 7 day pass even though your only going to be using at most 4.
Places to stay I would start with the triple A website even if your not a member. I would look for a place that has a shuttle to either the airport or the port (if you can find both grab it) free breakfast either full or expanded continental ( which will add things like eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, waffles to the cereal, juice, milk and pastries selection typical of a continental breakfast). These room will run slightly to significantly more than a comparable (pool vs no pool ect) place but I have found what you save in not having to go to a fast food or sit down place makes up for it. Another advantage is everyone can go and eat during the time that breakfast is open instead of waiting till everyone is ready to go.
Other places to eat I like to use google maps put in the place I am staying at the days inn on N Lacrosse in Rapid I can see that there is Millstone, Golden Coral, Pizza Ranch, Subway, and McDonalds close to there along with some other places. I can click on the blue link which takes me to a directions pop up right on the map I then scroll down and can usually get a link to their menu.

 

[Cupcakesmum]

We're a family of 6 and we cruised out of Miami in March. For us it was too expensive to fly into Miami so we flew into Ft. Lauderdale. What we did was fly in the night before and we stayed at a hotel that had a free transfer from the airport and then took a car service to the cruise the next day. After the cruise we took a car service to the airport and then picked up a rental car fr the next couple of days. This worked well for us. Our kids are younger so we choose to stick to Ft. Lauderdale after the cruise but had they been older we would have stayed in Miami for sure.

 

[SamFaniam]

Unless you’ve been there already, I would recommend renting a car for at least one day, or with a family your size I guess a van, and visiting the Everglades. They are amazing, and late November would be a nice time to visit them because the weather should be nice.

I find that the hotels in the Fort Lauderdale area tend to be a little bit less expensive than those in Miami. However, if you want to stay at a hotel right on the beach, that would be more expensive.

 

[ajo]

We're a family of 6 and we cruised out of Miami in March. For us it was too expensive to fly into Miami so we flew into Ft. Lauderdale. What we did was fly in the night before and we stayed at a hotel that had a free transfer from the airport and then took a car service to the cruise the next day. After the cruise we took a car service to the airport and then picked up a rental car fr the next couple of days. This worked well for us. Our kids are younger so we choose to stick to Ft. Lauderdale after the cruise but had they been older we would have stayed in Miami for sure.

We did this exact same thing with our family group of 8 (3 adults and 5 kids) except we rented the car near the port on debarkation day. I think you are going to want a car given the number of days you are spending in south Florida.