BoozinCroozin

Since you have zero control of traffic, just grin and bear it. Miami traffic will be what it will be. 3:30PM won't be as bad as 4:30-6PM. Just go with it and see.

Hotels and airport are minutes for PE. You can do taxi, Uber, Lyft easily.

I would go back into the Online Check-in to see if you can get an earlier time. I can't believe the earliest available is 2:30PM when the all-aboard time is probably 3PM (don't quote me on that). If it were me and there were none earlier, I would go right about 12-1PM. 80% of the ship should already be on by then and no one in the terminal.

Do it how you want. The real answer is your tips are paid in the service fee and drink packages if you get it. You can tip more on top of that if you like.

There are a lot of risks for flying in the Day Of. People are not acknowledging the fact that you are a solo traveler and things you need to think about. I would go down my list of things below to determine how to manage this Cost to fly into MIA, FLL, or PBI. If the price difference is large enough, choose the one that is cheapest. Understand that there may be additional costs for Uber, TriRail, etc. The luxury of the hotel is completely up to you. But for 1 night, you really want safe, some type of entertainment, and able to relax. There are so many places and many can be had for about $100. It will really depend on which airport you fly into. Anything near MIA you will not want to walk anywhere. I would just enjoy the hotel bar/restaurant, have food delivered, or Uber to a place. Just west in Doral it is a lot nicer and tons of places with restaurants right by the hotels. Easy, safe walk. If flying into PBI (last choice, but with the an extremely good price I would do it), you want to be down between Fort Lauderdale and Miami that night. The time you land would also be a factor. If landing at night, something convenient to whichever airport is best. If arriving earlier in the day, take a pick. One great place if flying into FLL is the Aventura area. Usually great deals on hotels, shopping and dining all right there. I just recommend figuring out what works for you. Join your cruise FB group and meet others. There may be others staying at a hotel you are considering and get to meet up before the cruise.

BUDGET is always the first piece of information needed. Rooms run from about $75 - $4,000 per night. With probably 200+ hotels within 30 minutes of MIA and POM, you have a ton of options. Once you have your list of requirements for amenities, pop those in Hotwire or Priceline to see what comes up.

For the cost of an "upgrade steak", I can just get a 3Lb Tomahawk steak at home, grill and season it the way I want, and enjoy it the right way. I don't need to pay that much from an extremely low quality cut of beef. We will be sticking to the included dining options this next cruise. Based on what I hear about the MDRs is that it is taking 2 hours from start to finish. That is an hour too long in my book. Too much other fun stuff to do than sit at a table and wait for food. If with a large group it could be different to catch up, but just wife, daughter, and myself, we can do that anyplace at any time.

We rented a car with Advance Car Rental. Plan to head to the north side for the beaches.

Every time I see a post asking the same question, all I think is how they are putting vodka or other clear liquor in the bottles, superglue and recap the tops. They will always say "no, we just want our water!" Then buy it because it is offered for sale on the ship.

In many cases, there are financial reasons. For our travel time, the cheapest flights leave before 9AM. The other available flights besides the one we booked is $750 more for the 3 of us. For other people, it can be $1,000s. Everyone has to have a comfort level. Each comes with risks and rewards. If we miss our flight, we don't pay a penalty. We just have to deal with standby which could mean the next morning.

If Gone Caribe cannot accommodate, is there really a choice unless planning on something else?

We have him in 3 months. Cannot wait. We want to be at Playa Piskado long before the excursions get there and gone when they do. We will go there first, spend an hour or so with the turtles and then off to Grote Knip. Not sure where after that or if it will be time to head back to the port for some shopping.

Stress, panic? Nothing stressful about it. You know what you are getting into and what needs to be done to make it. You have backup plans if you don't make it. Many people have made a 10AM flight. I would rather make the 10AM flight than listen to the people complain that they had to book 8PM flights and stuck trying to figure out what to do for 10 hours.

Most hotels with free shuttle from the airport are near the airport. Very few in the downtown area would even consider it. From there, there are few hotels if any that offer free shuttle. I also wouldn't want to be on a shuttle with a bunch of other people Terminal Hopping until they got to mine. An Uber is only going to be about $20-$25. The paid shuttles are usually $10pp. Why be stuck with others for the same price.

There are literally 100s of hotels ranging from $90-$2,000 per night. A few requirements are needed to give a suggestion.

All of the warnings are great and parroted all the time. The fact is there are always circumstances that happen. In general they are fewer and far between. You are probably asking because you are in a situation with the insane flight costs where a less expensive flight or other requirements make you book an earlier flight. We have an 11AM flight out of FLL. We have FTTF and if there are no delays, we should be off the ship around 7:45AM. That will put us at FLL around 9AM. We have TSA Precheck. We have about a 1-hour window of error. If we don't make it, we deal with SWA standby. From the people I have heard from FAR more people make their early flights than miss it. Those that do are accommodated and put on another flight without issue. The airlines have standby passengers already to take your seats.

I would just schedule a shuttle with someone like Cruise Control Tony. Probably the same price as an Uber and you don't have to wait for him.

People have done it. They go to Guest Services to get a card for the other room. I think that is all it takes.

Uber/Lyft

There is a snafu here. You need to be sure her documentation is correct in general, not for a cruise. If her BC and SS card are misspelled, the parents have quite a few things to get fixed. As for the cruise, I would enter the name as it is on the birth certificate. If taking without the parents, you are in need of a notary to take them. With last names not matching, they may not do it. I would go to the Dept of Public Records, get it sorted out, and get a new BC.

They are massive and part of the adventure. Don't think it is a 10-minute stop for gas and bathroom. Plan some time there.

Go to your hotel, at least check-in and see if they can take your luggage. You can relax there waiting for the room to be ready or head out an explore. If I had that much time, I would want to be near Bayside Marketplace, South Beach, or Las Olas Blvd.

DO NOT STOP AT SOUTH OF THE BORDER. It is a s-hole. Drive further south in SC and hit up Buccee's for an experience.

I think Holiday Inn offers breakfast for $20pp and I think Hilton has it for $22pp.

We have 9 hours after we get done with Woodwind. Our plan is to head back to the ship, clean up, eat and have a drink, then back in the port area for a bit of shopping and exploring. I have to expect there are some touristy stores around town that are open.