Flights for Nov 16 NYC-MIA cruise

[MaiTaiMary]

Any suggestions how to get reasonable airfare for the Nov 16th, 2016 cruise? In one city and out of the other? Airline suggestions? I know it's too early to book, but I'm trying to get an idea how much it would cost (times 5 :( ) to see if we can do this cruise or not.

 

Also, which airport do we fly into for New York?

 

Thanks. :)

[Mr305]

JetBlue is a good option but you'll have to take a ride to FTL. You can catch a shuttle to Tri-Rail from the Port of Miami then take Tri-Rail to FTL airport, about 25 minute ride. Once you get off the train, shuttles are there to take you to the airport for free.

 

Other option is flying out of MIA but the flights tend to be expensive at times since American is the biggest carrier. JetBlue has a lot of one way specials out of FTL to JFK or LaGuardia. JetBlue will make flights available about 10 months ahead of the actual flight date.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Mr305

[MaiTaiMary]

What is FTL? Fort Lauderdale? (FLL)

 

Yeah, we'll have three kids with us. I would really rather not take shuttles to the airport.

 

We will be flying an open-jaw. San Diego to New York and Miami to San Diego.

[Sam_Eagle]

I would also recommend checking out flying back from FLL instead of Miami. Flights tend to be cheaper from there, IMO. Unless you are looking at taking the Carnival bus to the airport, you will need to look at a shuttle for either Miami or FLL. SAS Transportation is a great shuttle from the port to FLL for $13 pp for 5+ passengers.

[Sam_Eagle]

I just did a quick peek at the cost of the bus transfer thru Carnival. It's $16.50 to Miami and $31 to FLL, pp. Based on that, you'd likely save money by taking a shuttle to FLL for a cheaper flight.

[MaiTaiMary]

I would also recommend checking out flying back from FLL instead of Miami. Flights tend to be cheaper from there, IMO. Unless you are looking at taking the Carnival bus to the airport, you will need to look at a shuttle for either Miami or FLL. SAS Transportation is a great shuttle from the port to FLL for $13 pp for 5+ passengers.

 

thanks for the tip. About how long of a drive is it from MIA to FLL?

 

I'm willing to be somewhat flexible to be able to make this awesome cruise work, but honestly... traveling with three kids I really don't want to make it TOO stressful! LOL! Sometimes it's easier to pay a little more for a lot convenience. But if it's a easy/fairly quick drive and save a lot of money, that would work. Thanks for the tip! :D

[MaiTaiMary]

I just did a quick peek at the cost of the bus transfer thru Carnival. It's $16.50 to Miami and $31 to FLL, pp. Based on that, you'd likely save money by taking a shuttle to FLL for a cheaper flight.

 

 

awesome! Thanks!

[Sam_Eagle]

A quick & dirty search of Southwest shows you'd be looking at about $450-500 pp on airfare, based on the same time frame this year. That's flying into Newark and flying out of FLL.

 

I also did a quick search on JetBlue, but did not see anything reasonable for flying a family. Trips to NYC are routed thru Boston overnight, while return trips are all routed thru either NYC or Boston (and it makes little sense to fly from FL up to NYC/Boston and then across the country)

[Sam_Eagle]

thanks for the tip. About how long of a drive is it from MIA to FLL?

 

I'm willing to be somewhat flexible to be able to make this awesome cruise work, but honestly... traveling with three kids I really don't want to make it TOO stressful! LOL! Sometimes it's easier to pay a little more for a lot convenience. But if it's a easy/fairly quick drive and save a lot of money, that would work. Thanks for the tip! :D

It's about a 40-45 minute (30 mile) ride between the port and FLL. I've done it myself with my kids for my Breeze cruise 2 years ago and I'll be doing it again for this one. :D

Edited September 15, 2015 by Sam_Eagle

[MaiTaiMary]

It's about a 40-45 minute (30 mile) ride between the port and FLL. I've done it myself with my kids for my Breeze cruise 2 years ago and I'll be doing it again for this one. :D

 

Oh, that's not bad. I didn't realize they were so close. About the same distance from the Galveston cruise terminal to the Houston airport. We just did that a few weeks ago and it was super easy.

 

 

Does Carnival provide the transfers from the Miami cruise terminal to the FLL airport??

[Sam_Eagle]

Does Carnival provide the transfers from the Miami cruise terminal to the FLL airport??

Yes, they do. Carnival charges $31 pp for the transfer service, which is why I suggested a private shuttle, like SAS Transportation at $13 pp.

 

Like I mentioned, I used SAS for my Breeze cruise, flying in/out of FLL, and they were very nice and even accommodated my after-hours arrival into FLL before the cruise. When the cruise returned, I simply had to call the driver to let him know I was thru customs, and I only had to wait 2-3 minutes for the shuttle to pull up to the curb.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Sam_Eagle

[MaiTaiMary]

This is a big help. thank you so much! :D

[riclop]

Good luck , you are flying close and on the thanksgiving holiday.

[evandbob]

I would not go the extra distance to FLL, traffic and time stressors. MIA is about a 15 minute taxi ride ($27 or 28) from the port to the air terminals. Keep it simple.

[sjb.illinois]

We've done a return flight twice now from Fort Lauderdale after our cruises returned to Port of Miami. It was super easy. On one trip we did a shuttle and the other we rented a car since we had a long tim til our flight and wanted to explore a bit. Both with kids and lots of luggage. I've done Miami Airport a lot, both for domestic and international flights, and for post-cruise travel it's absolutely worth going to FLL.

 

We always use Southwest. They don't charge for bags (unless you're overweight), and there's no fee to change.

[trixiegal]

We've done a return flight twice now from Fort Lauderdale after our cruises returned to Port of Miami. It was super easy. On one trip we did a shuttle and the other we rented a car since we had a long tim til our flight and wanted to explore a bit. Both with kids and lots of luggage. I've done Miami Airport a lot, both for domestic and international flights, and for post-cruise travel it's absolutely worth going to FLL.

 

We always use Southwest. They don't charge for bags (unless you're overweight), and there's no fee to change.

 

 

I 2nd this sentiment and have done the same with traveling with my two teenagers on 3 cruises from POM. FLL is a very easy airport to fly into and from on SWA. Not sure how fares are on SWA inbound/outbound from San Diego.

 

Easy way to check is to use their Low Fare Calendar on their website. Also, if you fly Southwest don't forget to sign up for the Rapid Rewards program for EVERYONE in your family. I'm a huge fan of SWA and getting free flights is a bonus. [emoji6]

[soccersharon]

Usually FLL is less expensive - but not always. Flight returning to Montreal December 20th: $99 from MIA, and a better flight time.

 

I would certainly check both options factoring in transport, flight times, etc.

[Adge01]

If you have a smart phone or tablet there is a fabulous app called Hopper. It provides predictions on when is the best time to buy for your itinerary. Really easy to use and highly rated.

[nyc12345]

Jetblue is around $169 from SAN to JFK non-stop (the price is generally better if you are flying Tuesday/Wednesday)

 

The return flight is going to be more expensive since it's after the Thanksgiving week...

Edited October 12, 2015 by nyc12345

[KCpumkin]

I actually rent a car and drive to Orlando. Inner state car rentals are cheap and many non-stop flights at a good price... We enjoy the drive and hate layovers which cause too much trouble on holidays...