How far is Miami port area from West Palm Beach airport (PBI)

[Lori-n-NY]

Anyone know how far it is from the airport in West Palm Beach to the port area of Miami? I am flying in day before cruise and renting a car for the day. Is it mostly highway driving from one to the other? ANyone have directions?

 

You may be thinking why is she flying into PBI?

Well the cost was so much cheaper I had to.

SYR-MIA was $485

SYR-FLL was $380

SYR-PBI was $218 with good flight times.

This is for next April, spring break week for us and Sunday the 16th is Easter Sunday. We crusie from 4/9-4/16.

Flying in on Sat the 8th, arriving PBI at noon. I have been watching airfare and not sure if it will hit that low again so I grabbed it.

 

So now my quest for information begins....

1. Driving route from PBI to port area of Miami

2. Hotel in port area, when to book it

3. rental cars available at PBI and return to MIA

4. transportation from hotel to port in am or from airport to port in am

(could drop car off late Sat night and not have to deal with in Sunday AM)

5. transportation back to rental car after cruise

 

I will keep reading the post and jotting down thigns as I go. Thanks to all of you experienced crusiers that help out us new cruisers.

 

Lori :D

[jezzdogg]

West Palm beach is no where near the Port of Miami. If I remember correctly it is an 1 1/2 hour drive. You can pick up the Flordia Turnpike or I-95 and just head down south to Miami and follow the directions. For April you may have been able to still f ind better fares, also between renting the car fboth ways and gas, not sure what yu are saving. As for Hotels, if you do Priceline downtown Miami(the area the covers the port and bid around 50-60 dollars) you will usually get the Hyatt. which is a nice place to stay there....but has a parking fee that is addtional

[falcon5travels]

Miami is about 1-to 1 and1/4 hour (not in rush hour) and almost all highway. What about car service from the airport (I can suggest one if you would like) and maybe the hotel has a shuttle. But I dont know how many people you are traveling with. I think you're right, $218 is definately worth the inconvenience. I live 45 minutes north of Miami and about 25 minutes south of West Palm. I am not familiar with hotels near the port. It is also a downtown area, and you might consider South Beach. But whatever you decide try to book asap, it is Peak vacation time in florida. I usually book hotels way in advance and verify I can cancel and/or get a better rate if I see it elsewhere (just keep checking back for lower specials, verify at booking if you find a special they will honor the better price and get a new confirmation.)

 

Another thought is SuperShuttle at the airports, I never used them but always see them.

lf

[Lori-n-NY]

I was planning on renting a car to drive from the airport to hotel no matter which airport I flew into.So an hour and a half drive is ok with us. We have from 12 noon until later Sat night to do things around town. sight see, shop, eat etc...

There are three of us, and I could of waited to see if it goes any lower into MIA but every flight out of SYR is high to begin with. SYR is the 8th highest cost airport to fly in or out of. So knowing that air is booked I can work details around that. We planned on one night at hotel and two different one day rental cars.(one day before cruise and one day after cruise) We will get off the ship Easter Sunday and hope to have lunch with friends (also getting off ship) before they head back to St Louis and we head home.

 

 

I'll post some other questions on the correct boards.

Thanks for the info and if anyone has anything else to add please do.

Lori

[FLACRUISER99]

Take the Turnpike(Lots of construction on I95) its worth the toll. A lot of car rentals do not charge drop off fees between PBI and MIA. Hertz will pick up & drop off at the port. most rentals will not because of the construction at the port. Also PBI is a much nicer airport