Fort Lauderdale to port of miami

[disneycruisegal]

Has anyone flown into Fort Lauderdale and sailed from the port of Miami?
If transportation readily available?/ how much?
Flights from my local airport are more available to Fort Lauderdale than to Miami.
Does Disney have shuttles running?

 

[Dug720]

Disney only does transportation to/from MIA for Miami-based cruises.

I know there have been discussions on getting from FLL to MIA - but I haven't paid attention to them as I make things as easy as possible and fly in and out of MIA (and American was actually less than JetBlue, so I'm better off anyway).

 

[jrabbit]

We have flown in a few days early to FLL and rented a car. Surprisingly, we've returned the car to the Miami airport and used DCL transportation to the port (holy Mickey Dollars )

Budget (I think) is fairly close to the port downtown, and a few years ago did not have a shuttle to the port, but was planning on adding one in the near future.

I guess the options kind of depend upon when you are arriving (day of cruise or earlier).
Rent a Car
Use a Car Service
Use a shuttle.

There are many older threads on this subject.

 

[anricat]

It's very common to fly into FLL as opposed to MIA since, for a lot of people, it's cheaper to fly Southwest or JetBlue.

Since its so common, it comes up here a lot. I did a search for you and found some threads that have some helpful information in them:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/fort-lauderdale-and-miami-departure-ports.3567572/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/mi...rport-transportation-recommendations.3556380/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/how-best-to-get-from-miami-port-to-fort-lauderdale-airport.3470721/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/transport-to-from-fort-lauderdale-and-miami-port.3453862/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/transport-from-fll-to-port-of-miami.3575189/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/first-cruise-out-of-miami-question-about-port-to-fll.3568756/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/port-of-miami-fll-questions.3565169/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/anyone-rent-a-car-from-fll.3563299/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/transportation-and-fll-hotel-recommendations.3505474/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/ho...n-suggestions-from-fll-to-miami-port.3478322/

 

[Mushu's Twin]

Yes, Disney does only provide transportation from Miami International Airport.

There are Taxi's available as well as Uber if you use that. I know it's about a $40 uberX from FLL to the Miami Cruise Port.

I've also used the Tri-Rail which is a train that runs once an hour and the journey takes about an hour on the safe side. The fare is like $4 for one person.

 

[Scoobypop]

We have done both, flown into FLL and sailed out of Miami, and gotten off the ship in Miami and flown out of FLL. There are several companies that are reliable and easy, and affordable. In April of last year we used MJS Transportation. I don't have exact numbers immediately available, but I'm sure the fare was less than $20 per person. It was a shared van, maybe about 8-10 people. But so easy, quick drive. Check out their website and pre reserve. But also a quick search should guide you to some others as well. We also love staying overnight in either Ft. Lauderdale or South Beach if you have time, but even if not, we still were off the ship by 9 and at FLL by 9:40 in time for an 11:25 am flight.

 

[Dug720]

Lyft also runs in the area. I find them less expensive and generally nicer than Uber was (before I quit using them).

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

We have flown into FLL and sailed out of Miami - rented a one way car both ways. Picked up at the airport in FLL, stayed the night in FLL area then dropped off the rental before our cruise downtown Miami and took a shuttle to the port.
I would not do that again... for several reasons. It took forever to get from the arrivals section of the FLL airport to where they have all the car rental companies. You had to take an airport shuttle there which took over an hour, not even kidding. The reason being, they would have a bus every 10-15 min which would fill up quickly with people and all their luggage. Had to deal with the luggage on the bus while it was standing room only. Took 40 min to rent a car once we got to the right place and this is with an advance reservation. (maybe we just got unlucky). We should have taken a cab there, but really didn't know what we were doing and even if we did that, the whole process was a pain. Including dropping the car off the next morning. We dropped off our family and friends at the pier and then went to take the rental back. Yeah.. we didn't come back for over an hour... our friends thought something happened to us. Navigating our way to the rental place downtown Miami and trying to find a gas station too (our mistake for not filling up earlier) was a nightmare.
I don't know what companies provide transportation from FLL to port of Miami, but I thought I would share our experience of renting a car one way. I wouldn't do that again from FLL. We did it at other airports (Orlando) with no problems though. Just the set up of that FLL airport...

 

[disneycruisegal]

Thank you all very much!! The Dis is so helpful.

 

[samily]

We usually fly in early so rent a car but when just DH and I were sailing a couple of months ago, we needed to fly in the day of. We used SAS - it was 15.00 per person for a shared van from FLL to the port in Miami. I had reserved it online ahead of time and they asked that we call them when we were off the plane and had our luggage. I called and they explained where they would pick us up and were there within a few minutes. On the way to the port we stopped at 2 hotels to pick up other passengers, which is a little frustrating when you are anxious to just get to the port, lol. We knew it was a shared van so knew it was a possibility that we would make other stops along the way but was hoping we would end up driving straight there.

 

[jrabbit]

@HappilyEverAfter80 - Wow!! that's nothing like our experience was at FLL and renting a car.

At MIA the rental car place is "off site" (not really, but almost). I remember that hike to where you caught the "monorail" to the car care center was pretty long, but the monorails ran pretty frequently.

and Yea, I don't really recommend driving, parking downtown Miami - its not a mess, but its not easy either. Thats one of the reasons we dropped our car off at Miami Airport and took Disney to the port (the more important reason is that we had first time cruiser friends with us and wanted them to get the "entire experience").

Our first time in Miami, we stayed at an airport area hotel and took their shuttle back to the airport to take DCL transportation - because of the ease of doing it and it was our very first time in the Miami area and had no idea what to expect. I found that I kept watching the "Mickey and Gang go on a Cruise" video instead of looking around at the new sights

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned SAS yet. That's who we used. Book ahead. $15/pp for 1-4 people & $13/pp for 5+. There's an additional $3 service fee. When you get to FLL you go get your bags from baggage claim, give SAS a call, then get to the pickup point. They'll be along to pick you up. We were in a vehicle akin to a Sprinter van. SAS transports to Miami downtown or port area hotels only. They do not go to the airport. We went to the Doubletree downtown Miami. That was just a couple blocks from a Publix, etc. and plenty of restaurant options around. If I had it to do over I'd probably stay in the Miami Brickell area. Not 100% sure if SAS goes there. I'd think they would but you'd need to check.

I also do NOT recommend driving around Miami. We live in the Houston area so traffic and aggressive drivers aren't really a big deal to us. The drivers there DO depend on their brakes a LOT. It reminded me of driving in the islands. LOL! We found their road systems rather confusing and not always marked the best. Just my $.02 there.

 

[moosecrouse]

Just used Uber from Port Miami to FLL and it was under $40. Would guess it probably about the same heading from FLL to Miami. Less then half the price I usually pay for the regular yellow taxis at the port.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

@HappilyEverAfter80 - Wow!! that's nothing like our experience was at FLL and renting a car.

At MIA the rental car place is "off site" (not really, but almost). I remember that hike to where you caught the "monorail" to the car care center was pretty long, but the monorails ran pretty frequently.

and Yea, I don't really recommend driving, parking downtown Miami - its not a mess, but its not easy either. Thats one of the reasons we dropped our car off at Miami Airport and took Disney to the port (the more important reason is that we had first time cruiser friends with us and wanted them to get the "entire experience").

Our first time in Miami, we stayed at an airport area hotel and took their shuttle back to the airport to take DCL transportation - because of the ease of doing it and it was our very first time in the Miami area and had no idea what to expect. I found that I kept watching the "Mickey and Gang go on a Cruise" video instead of looking around at the new sights

Yeah I thought that maybe we just had a bad experience... we are very easy going and I expect mishaps when you travel, but the whole renting the car at the FLL was a nightmare for us. Could be that many different planes arrived at the same time? I don't know.
Didn't even think to drop off the rental at MIA and taking the Disney transportation
It was our only time cruising out of Miami, I only have the whole Port Canaveral thing down pat

 

[anricat]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned SAS yet.

I don't mention them because the last time we used them the driver was completely reckless and unsafe. I will never ever use them again and I will use every opportunity here to share my experience. They have not so great ratings on Yelp. I see them recommended here a lot. On Yelp Jiffy Jeff and FG Car Services have really good reviews for the same price as SAS.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I don't mention them because the last time we used them the driver was completely reckless and unsafe. I will never ever use them again and I will use every opportunity here to share my experience. They have not so great ratings on Yelp. I see them recommended here a lot. On Yelp Jiffy Jeff and FG Car Services have really good reviews for the same price as SAS.

Our experience with them was just fine but I think that's subjective, TBH. We didn't have small children that needed car seats or anything like that. The husband and oldest son said they saw the speedometer around 90 mph a couple times but this doesn't necessarily bother any of us. We live in Houston. We have lived in Atlanta. I grew up in Orlando. That's fairly *normal* to us. You have to keep up with the flow or you create a dangerous situation. Fast driving happens. We are very accustomed to very large metro area driving/riding. I imagine if you don't experience that in your normal life it would be scary. I've had relatives ride with me through Houston and have had various reactions: scared, fun, exciting...all the way through "I didn't know you could drive like that!"

They showed up on-time. We got where we needed to be. Definitely convenient. We didn't sit in crazy traffic but we sure passed by a lot of it! The price was good. The value was there. I'd use them again. I'd have no problems puting my parents in one of their vans.

I know it's probably totally tacky but I'm one to find a little humor whenever it's in front of me. I'm reminded of The Hangover 2: "But did you die????" LOL! That's awful! I know. In our family whenever something scary happens in traffic & someone does a gasp it's our most-used line.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We used SAS Transportation both ways from FLL to Port of Miami and return. Could not have been happier with them!

 

[monarchsfan16]

I think the FLL rental car experience depends on which terminal you fly into. We flew in on Southwest so we were in the terminal that connected to the rental car garage. Combine that with being a member of one of the rental car frequent flyer programs and the longest part of the rental car process for us was leapfrogging up the escalators to the 4th floor. So, I guess if you're planning on renting a car in FLL, take a look at what terminal your airline flies into and what terminal the rental car building is attached to.

 

[anricat]

Our experience with them was just fine but I think that's subjective, TBH. We didn't have small children that needed car seats or anything like that. The husband and oldest son said they saw the speedometer around 90 mph a couple times but this doesn't necessarily bother any of us. We live in Houston. We have lived in Atlanta. I grew up in Orlando. That's fairly *normal* to us. You have to keep up with the flow or you create a dangerous situation. Fast driving happens. We are very accustomed to very large metro area driving/riding. I imagine if you don't experience that in your normal life it would be scary. I've had relatives ride with me through Houston and have had various reactions: scared, fun, exciting...all the way through "I didn't know you could drive like that!"

I drive a VW GTI so I know something about speed. We have a tollway here in Austin with a speed limit of 80 mph and I will say that I take advantage of it. But there's a difference between just plain fast going with the flow to weaving in and out of traffic and driving aggressively. If traffic is going 65-70, going 85-90 and tailgating until you can get into the next lane isn't okay. Sorry, I know I wasn't super specific and this was a case where there were toddlers not in car seats in the vehicle. It was NOT OK.

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

Another good experience with SAS. We used them last week.