Florida Airports/Cruise Ports

[KimRN41514]

Trying to plan a first cruise....sorry to sound like a newbie, but, I am. Which airports in Florida are closest to Carnivals cruise ports? Are there particular airports that are easier to navigate than others? Haven't chosen the cruise destination yet. Trying to factor in flight costs as well as taxi/uber costs too. Thanks for any help!

[Flymia]

There is really no difference. I believe Carnival goes out of all the major Florida cruise ports. Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, Port Canaveral and Jacksonville.

 

While you will want to take flight cost into consideration, you should first narrow down your cruise choices.

 

As for which airports for which ports:

Port Miami: MIA or FLL you could also consider PBI if renting a car and arriving the day before.

 

Port Everglades/Ft. Lauderdale: MIA or FLL, you can also consider PBI.

 

Port Canaveral: MCO, SFB, MLB and even DAB are options. MCO and SFB have the most flights, usually flights to MLB and DAB are expensive. MCO and SFB are about 45-60mins away from the port.

 

Tampa: TPA or PIE you could also look into SRQ though usually that is an expensive airport and not as close.

 

Jacksonville: JAX only.

 

Usually you want to fly in the day before the cruise so ease of navigating an airport is not that important. Then you will want to just time the flight leaving late enough in the day that you can get off the ship and head to the airport with enough time. For most ports-airport combos a flight by 12:30pm is fine. Usually even earlier is ok.

 

Some of the small airports above will have higher prices. Whenever looking at Miami or Ft. Lauderdale ports always look at both MIA and FLL. MIA, FLL and MCO are some of the busiest airports in the world. TPA is fairly large as well. The remaining airports are not busy.

[Captain Canuck]

FLL my pick. Miami is ok but FLL is just easier. Lots of hotel choices. If you come a few days early you can rent a car and stay further from the airport at lower price. can drive to everglades or go shopping at huge outlet mall....rental cars mostly drop off at airport and there is a shuttle to the ships.

[Flymia]

FLL my pick. Miami is ok but FLL is just easier. Lots of hotel choices. If you come a few days early you can rent a car and stay further from the airport at lower price. can drive to everglades or go shopping at huge outlet mall....rental cars mostly drop off at airport and there is a shuttle to the ships.

 

I wouldn’t say FLL is easier unless the cruise was from Port Everglades. FLL is a mess these days, packed and overflowing. The opposite in MIA at most terminals are spacious, modern and have many more amenities than FLL.

 

However it’s really just a sum of everything from price to which port to hotel that makes the pick of which airport.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Flymia

[Captain Canuck]

have to admit have not used MIA in a bit because it was old

[jamesr3939]

Few years ago I was surprised at how reasonable PBI was compared to MIA and FLL. If doing Port Canaveral I would also look at MBL (Melbourne). We dropped our rental off there and it's really small and appears super easy to navigate.

[nhraformula00]

FT.Lauderdale airport is 2-3 miles from the port everglades. Does not get any closer than this. Very easy in and out of the airport.

[Keith1010]

The airports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale are close to their respective ports and are only 45 minutes from the other port.

 

Carnival has a lot of ships sailing the port of Miami on 7 day cruises.

 

So if you can find a cruise that you like out of Miami you could fly in and out of Miami international airport.

 

Whatever you do I highly recommend flying in one or more days prior to the cruise and not flying in the day of the cruise because if the flight is delayed or cancelled you could miss the ship.

 

There are many hotels in downtown Miami which are relatively close the port of Miami and not too far from the Miami Airrpot.

 

Keith

[JohninDC]

Welcome to the boards! :D

 

Lots of good advice above, especially from Keith and Fly MIA. Cruising out of FLA is pretty easy, and if you are a smart cruiser and arriving at least one day early you have lots of options. We've flown into MCO (Orlando) for cruises from Tampa and from Miami - one way rental cars are relatively cheap! ;)

 

When you've narrowed down your plans come back with some dates and specifics (budget, who is cruising, etc.) and the suggestions on where to stay, transport, and dining options will be closer to your target.

 

Good luck with your planning! :)

[Roz]

Also consider what airlines are available to you and where they fly, plus fares. I cruise out of Pt. Everglades because Southwest flies into FLL and not Miami. As was already pointed out, the port, airport, and hotels are all in close proximity to one another. The one downside is that ever since Royal Caribbean put 2 behemoths at Pt. Everglades, FLL is a zoo - hot, crowded, not enough seats at the gates, not enough eating venues, etc. I really dislike the flight after the cruise unless it's a cruise that comes back in an odd day (not Sat. or Sun.).

 

Roz

[KimRN41514]

Thank you everyone! This is exactly the information I needed!

[Flymia]

Also consider what airlines are available to you and where they fly, plus fares. I cruise out of Pt. Everglades because Southwest flies into FLL and not Miami. As was already pointed out, the port, airport, and hotels are all in close proximity to one another. The one downside is that ever since Royal Caribbean put 2 behemoths at Pt. Everglades, FLL is a zoo - hot, crowded, not enough seats at the gates, not enough eating venues, etc. I really dislike the flight after the cruise unless it's a cruise that comes back in an odd day (not Sat. or Sun.).

 

Roz

 

FLL is like that everyday these days regardless of cruises. Though I am sure its at its absolute worst when those two ships come in and out. A normal Thursday or Friday night and the terminals are packed. The airport is really running at capacity.

[Roz]

Flymia,

 

You appear to be a local. Does FLL have any plans to expand?

 

Roz

[Flymia]

Flymia,

 

You appear to be a local. Does FLL have any plans to expand?

 

Roz

 

Yes, live in Miami.

 

And yes, they are currently still expanding. They are finishing up expansion to terminal 1 where Southwest and Alaska and a few others fly out of. It added more gates and customs and immigration to that terminal, but while its improvement it was not a big expansion. The gate areas they added are still pretty small. But at least its more.

 

Terminal 2 which is primarily Delta, United, and Air Canada is being renovated, but not expanded. Terminal 2 is certainly the least used terminal.

 

Terminal 3 and 4 are now connected past security and its really its concourse F-E-G. This is the busiest terminal with American Airlines, JetBlue who pretty much has a hub in FLL, Spirit who also has a hub, and most of the international airlines. It is a mess especially concourse F and E. They made some decent improvements adding food options, but there is just not enough places to sit or eat on a busy evening or morning. I usually fly out in the evening and that is a very busy time for FLL.

 

The Terminal 4 (concourse G) is undergoing complete construction, one large area has been finished and it looks great, its very airy and spacious, though it still lacks a lot of store/food options IMO. There is still some more concourse G work to be done and there will be more gate space open.

 

I really hope that terminal 3 (E-F) get some updates and some possible expansion though I really don't know how. The airport is not that big of a land area. The only thing I can see they could do left is try to expand concourse F out a bit. Then its done unless they build a new terminal somewhere else on the field.

 

I would not be surpsied if FLL become an airprot where remote stands are used on a daily basis.

[capriccio]

Flymia,

 

You appear to be a local. Does FLL have any plans to expand?

 

Roz

 

Check out http://www.broward.org/Airport/FLLair/Pages/Default.aspx for current projects and

 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-sb-fll-airport-expansion-plans-20170420-story.html for potential future projects. Some interesting information in that article includes

 

 

 

• "The number of passengers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport increased 23.4 percent in the past five years and it’s expected to be the country’s No. 1 airport in growth through 2035."
  
• "But the airport, one of the country’s smallest in acreage, has little room for growth outside its current borders, so most improvements will have to be squeezed into existing space."
  
• "There’s even potential for a northern extension (of a people mover) that would go out to Port Everglades to serve cruise ship passengers and people going to the county’s convention center.
  

[Roz]

Thanks to both of you for the updates.

 

One of the things I really dislike about FLL is you have to stay in one concourse after you go thru security, and very little is available before security if you have a long wait before you can check your luggage.

 

At the Nashville airport, we can move freely between the 4 concourses, and have access to all the shops and eating venues in the airport beyond security.

 

Roz

[BNBR]

Terminal 3 has 2 concourses and Chili's in the middle. You can walk between the two but not all that much there. FLL has turned into a disaster, unfortunately. I still fly out of it and it's not "that" bad but seems to only be getting worse. It also largely depends on arrival/departure times and can be hit or miss. Just getting an Uber has been INSANE before, buses blocking the pickup area, cars backed up the entire terminal, etc. MIA is so much better.

 

Remember that FLL just added the very controversial south runway, only increasing volume but with no improvements to traffic flow and they can't really make the airport any bigger! Even parking at the airport is horrible. We've had to park VERY far away and sometimes the parking garages are basically full with overflow all the way in the rental garage.

 

I remember when it was such an easy airport. Nowadays MIA is much better. I actually quite like MIA. They have the Centurion lounge, lots of dining venues, plenty of space, etc. Grabbing an Uber is 10X easier at MIA, too. They can just pick you up where you walk out and traffic is minimal since it's well designed with medium separating the inner/outer lanes.