Flights, hotels and car rental in Fort Lauderdale or Miami

[cessnabmw]

Hi! We just booke last night and looking forward to a cruise!

 

We're coming from Toronto. Likely flying out of Buffalo, but debating if we should fly to Fort Lauderdale or Miami.

 

Need hotels and car rentals too prior to and after the cruise.

 

Any suggestions on hotels that are reasonably priced?

 

Do some of the rental companies do shuttles to the Port? Debating if we should even bother with a car rental this time with everything looking so expensive. 

 

Thanks!

[CruiserBruce]

Have you looked down the book? Dozens of discussions going on. 

 

Where you fly to might depend on where you are sailing from, which you don't tell us. In most cases a rental car is not needed, as there are plentiful taxis,, Ubers and shuttles, but not sure what you would need one for.

 

"Reasonable " hotels is a tremendously vague term. Hotel prices can be very high during various seasons and events. Again,  some reading and research here could answer a lot of your questions,  and help you narrow down the broad essence of your questions. 

[cessnabmw]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Have you looked down the book? Dozens of discussions going on. 

 

Where you fly to might depend on where you are sailing from, which you don't tell us. In most cases a rental car is not needed, as there are plentiful taxis,, Ubers and shuttles, but not sure what you would need one for.

 

"Reasonable " hotels is a tremendously vague term. Hotel prices can be very high during various seasons and events. Again,  some reading and research here could answer a lot of your questions,  and help you narrow down the broad essence of your questions. 

Thanks! Sailing from Miami.

[skrufy]

2 hours ago, cessnabmw said:

Hi! We just booke last night and looking forward to a cruise!

 

We're coming from Toronto. Likely flying out of Buffalo, but debating if we should fly to Fort Lauderdale or Miami.

 

Need hotels and car rentals too prior to and after the cruise.

 

Any suggestions on hotels that are reasonably priced?

 

Do some of the rental companies do shuttles to the Port? Debating if we should even bother with a car rental this time with everything looking so expensive. 

 

Thanks!

The advantage of flying into Ft. Lauderdale and staying there is the flights and hotels are usually less expensive than Miami. The advantage of flying into Miami is the port is only 15-20 minutes away and if you stay in the downtown area the port is 10 minutes away, Cab/Uber to port around $10.00. Prices in both cities vary depending on what time of year and what’s going on, boat show, convention etc. I use booking.com and Hotels.com and compare the pricing. There’s plenty of public transportation and shuttles to and from the ports in both cities. The popular areas people stay in Miami are Downtown, Mary Brickell, Miami Beach, Coral Gables and the Blue Lagoon area by the airport. Ft. Lauderdale people stay on 17th St, ( group of hotels to choose from ), Hollywood Beach, and Dania Beach areas. Have a great cruise.

[JohninDC]

How many night pre and post cruise?  If staying in downtown Miami or Miami Beach you probably do not need a rental car (and the nightly parking fees will kill your budget). If it's too far to walk just use UberX or Lyft.

 

as mentioned by Skrufy above, the tourist season and events will affect room rates - the $300+ room in Feb can go for under $100 in August.

[cessnabmw]

55 minutes ago, skrufy said:

The advantage of flying into Ft. Lauderdale and staying there is the flights and hotels are usually less expensive than Miami. The advantage of flying into Miami is the port is only 15-20 minutes away and if you stay in the downtown area the port is 10 minutes away, Cab/Uber to port around $10.00. Prices in both cities vary depending on what time of year and what’s going on, boat show, convention etc. I use booking.com and Hotels.com and compare the pricing. There’s plenty of public transportation and shuttles to and from the ports in both cities. The popular areas people stay in Miami are Downtown, Mary Brickell, Miami Beach, Coral Gables and the Blue Lagoon area by the airport. Ft. Lauderdale people stay on 17th St, ( group of hotels to choose from ), Hollywood Beach, and Dania Beach areas. Have a great cruise.

Thanks for the info! Really appreciate it.

[cessnabmw]

4 minutes ago, JohninDC said:

How many night pre and post cruise?  If staying in downtown Miami or Miami Beach you probably do not need a rental car (and the nightly parking fees will kill your budget). If it's too far to walk just use UberX or Lyft.

 

as mentioned by Skrufy above, the tourist season and events will affect room rates - the $300+ room in Feb can go for under $100 in August.

We're 4 people and looking at probably 3 night pre and post each for hotels and cars rentals. 

 

Contemplating driving down from Toronto (done it twice before).