Flying out of FLL for Miami Cruise

mkb3

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
There is a $600 price difference between flying out at 1:30 PM vs 4:30 PM. If I take an Uber from Port of Miami to FLL about what time do you think we will get to the airport? 11 AM? If so it might be better to rent a car for the day as it will only be $70 more than the Uber for the one way rental and much cheaper than the earlier flight.
 
Planning on doing the same thing this summer on my next cruise. It's probably an hour at most. You'd easily make it there for the 1:30 flight.
 
Yeah trying to avoid the 1:30 flight as its waaay more expensive. Thinking of renting the car as a way to kill time by sight seeing vs sitting in an airport. At this point it seems worth the $70 extra vs sitting around for 5 hours.
 
We ended up with a 7 pm flight out of FLL (only other non-stop option was 10 am), and we are renting a car for the day. We found a minivan rental from the port for $110 through Costco.
 


We had an afternoon flight as well on our last cruise and we booked an Everglades Airboat tour with transportation to FLL through the cruise line. It wasn't DCL, but I believe we paid about $55 per person for the tour. We're in the same situation this cruise and are thinking about doing the same tour. It's a good way to kill a few hours and we didn't have to worry about our own transportation.

I don't know if DCL offers anything like that but just mentioning it as a potential option!
 
Yeah trying to avoid the 1:30 flight as its waaay more expensive. Thinking of renting the car as a way to kill time by sight seeing vs sitting in an airport. At this point it seems worth the $70 extra vs sitting around for 5 hours.
Renting a car might be a good way to go. One way surcharges in the MIA/FLL area don't seem to be that much, so it's not a bad idea.

Where is the nearest rental agency?
 
Renting a car might be a good way to go. One way surcharges in the MIA/FLL area don't seem to be that much, so it's not a bad idea.

Where is the nearest rental agency?

Hertz, Avis and Budget have shuttles for from the Port for cruise passengers. So far the best deal I have found for a full size car is $100 with the one way surcharge and Uber quotes to the airport were about $32. Will probably go this route vs hanging out at the airport all day.
 


Yeah I think that's probably the best way for you to go. You can brunch along the beach in Fort Lauderdale or something.

I've checked my flight and it's 1:40 going to Toronto. I'm anticipating being off the ship and out of the terminal around 10 - 10:30 (it's SymphonyOTS, so lots of people) so it's likely straight to the airport for me.
 
We were on the Disney Magic in December. We were able to get to Ft. Lauderdale airport by 8:45AM. We had a 12:40PM flight. We booked a private transfer from port to the airport.

Cheers!
 
Keep checking the car rental rates. I have a one day minivan rental for ~$48 from MIA to the car care center from Alamo.
 
We had a very late flight out of FLL in December so we booked the Hop-On Hop-Off Miami, Classic Ticket with Airport Transfer & Luggage Storage (Onboard Bookings Only) (MI06) through the Port Adventure desk on the Magic. We enjoyed both of their tours, South Beach and Miami/Little Havana. In addition, we had lunch and did some shopping at the Biscayne Marketplace which is where the buses depart from for the tours and for the trip to the airport.
https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...-with-airport-transfer-onboard-bookings-only/
 
We were on the Disney Magic in December. We were able to get to Ft. Lauderdale airport by 8:45AM. We had a 12:40PM flight. We booked a private transfer from port to the airport.

Cheers!
Who did you use for a private transfer?
 
We've done it a bunch of times. I'd rather fly in and out of FLL than Miami any day. Smaller airport, less traffic, the car rental lines are shorter, etc. The drive to Miami is only about 15-20 minutes and since the construction finished they also fixed the exit so you you can go south out of the airport instead of going north up to the u turn. There's a gas station just before you get to the airport and a few roads south at A1A and Stirling there's an Ihop in case you are like me and crave a stack of pancakes after your flight, there's a Walgreens with attached liquor store across the street. Stirling takes you to the I95 to Miami. The overhead signs are massive so you can figure how not to to get on to the toll lanes.
Just for fun we stayed at Comfort Suites on 36th a few years back. We took the rental back and should have walked back to the hotel but we took the shuttle. All we could get for help was to go to the ground level and wait. No specific area just flag down the first shuttle you see and hope it's not full. I was with my son, we waited about 10 minutes and got lucky with a shuttle. Oddly enough we met a family going on the same Wonder cruise who had been waiting for an hour for the shuttle and they were told the same thing. Had it not been for the rental return we would have steered clear of the Miami airport.
Now if I can figure out how to bank enough money to buy a place at the Palms in Fort Lauderdale when I retire...
 
We've done it a bunch of times. I'd rather fly in and out of FLL than Miami any day. Smaller airport, less traffic, the car rental lines are shorter, etc. The drive to Miami is only about 15-20 minutes and since the construction finished they also fixed the exit so you you can go south out of the airport instead of going north up to the u turn. There's a gas station just before you get to the airport and a few roads south at A1A and Stirling there's an Ihop in case you are like me and crave a stack of pancakes after your flight, there's a Walgreens with attached liquor store across the street. Stirling takes you to the I95 to Miami. The overhead signs are massive so you can figure how not to to get on to the toll lanes.
Just for fun we stayed at Comfort Suites on 36th a few years back. We took the rental back and should have walked back to the hotel but we took the shuttle. All we could get for help was to go to the ground level and wait. No specific area just flag down the first shuttle you see and hope it's not full. I was with my son, we waited about 10 minutes and got lucky with a shuttle. Oddly enough we met a family going on the same Wonder cruise who had been waiting for an hour for the shuttle and they were told the same thing. Had it not been for the rental return we would have steered clear of the Miami airport.
Now if I can figure out how to bank enough money to buy a place at the Palms in Fort Lauderdale when I retire...
Had to look up The Palms, lol! As you know I stay further north. Nice! Can even get a 3 bdrm for $777 in the lower building! I was down last week.
 
Who did you use for a private transfer?

We used Go Jiffy Jeff transportation.

When we got out of customs we gave them a call. They told us to meet at the center median, where everyone else is waiting. The driver drove up in a Mercedes Sprinter van. Loaded our stuff into the van. We had a shared transfer so there were 2 other families that we waited for before heading off to the airport.

Cheers!
 
We had a very late flight out of FLL in December so we booked the Hop-On Hop-Off Miami, Classic Ticket with Airport Transfer & Luggage Storage (Onboard Bookings Only) (MI06) through the Port Adventure desk on the Magic. We enjoyed both of their tours, South Beach and Miami/Little Havana. In addition, we had lunch and did some shopping at the Biscayne Marketplace which is where the buses depart from for the tours and for the trip to the airport.
https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...-with-airport-transfer-onboard-bookings-only/
We second the recommendation of this Hop-On Hop-Off experience. We did this tour the day prior to our cruise on the Magic earlier this month. The DCL package of this with luggage storage and airport transfer to either MIA or FLL seems fairly priced. We lunched at the Knife restaurant in the Biscayne Marketplace and recommend it. Food and service were both very good.
 

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