Flying from uk for Panama cruise - how long is the stopover at the hotel in Miami?

[honeymoon06]

We are sailing on the Coral Princess in December for the Panama cruise.

 

We fly out from England on the Monday and stay over night at a hotel (Miami Intercontinental West) on the Monday night. We go to Fort Lauderdale the next day and board the ship that afternoon.

 

Has anyone else done this? Did you get much time at the hotel in Miami? Or just sleep there? Is it a nice hotel and did you enjoy the food?

 

I don't know what time our flight arrives in Miami at the moment. Think we are flying from Heathrow.

[JGR01]

From LHR the following arrivals exist for most Mondays in December:

AA - 2:30pm

Virgin - 4:00pm

BA - 2:20pm and 6:10pm

 

SO .. it will depend on which flight they put you on.

 

Typically it takes a good hour + to get thru immigration (hard to tell how busy it will be with AA & BA arriving at about same time .. and other international arrivals). Then find Princess rep and get on the bus to the hotel.

 

Have heard from here and other forums the IC West is nice not fabulous and cannot comment on food as have not yet stayed there. Princess uses this hotel quite a lot so it must be acceptable.

 

From Miami to FLL the dive is under an hour with the security of getting into the pier. While Princess says to show up later than initial boarding time (initial boarding like at 11ish they say 1:30 is a better time) .. the bus will probably pick you up and get you to the pier for 11-12 time frame. As such I would think (hope) a 10am hotel departure would be in order.

 

The IC West is not in the downtown area (that is the other IC hotel) so you will be more suburban and not walking distance to much.

 

And if they book you on the last BA flight .. your time gets cut a bit shorter.. tho perhaps a 9:40am LHR departure would be pretty early for you to get there!

[emdia43]

If you go to the pre and post Cruise Hotel page you can ask lots of questions and find lots of info re the ICHotel you are staying at. :)

[richardj]

We did this cruise on the Coral in February 2005. If i remeber correctly we arrived in Miami early afternoon and were transfered to the hotel. The Intercontinental is a nice hotel seems to be mainly used by business people (it was being extended when we were there), it's a bit isolated though. You can get a cab to one of the many malls as they stay open late most evenings. The following morning the hotel staff will collect your luggage ready for the coach transfer to the ship. The transfer leaves at about 12.00 and takes an hour or so depending on the traffic. On your return Princess takes you back to this hotel for lunch and then visits one of the malls on the way to the airport. However, as the UK flights dont normally leave until the evening you could take one of the Princess excursions as they will drop you off at the airport in good time for your flight. We think the Coral is the nicest Princess ship we have been on.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise

Regards

Richardj

 

Golden Princess, Sun Princess, Caribbean Princess(2) Coral Princess, Arcadia, QM2

[sleeky]

We stayed in this hotel April 05. Its much as described above. We arrived about 6pm and didn't eat at the hotel. We walked to a roadhouse type restaurant a block or two away which was OK. The hotel was being renovated which put us off a bit (very dusty), but it was fine. We ate breakfast in the hotel and then took a cab to the nearest Walmart to buy wine to carry on to ship. We were picked up from the hotel about 12.30 and taken to the ship.

Coming home was fine. Princess took us back to the hotel where after lunch you could either relax by the pool or go to the Dolphin Mall. We chose the mall and they took care of all the luggage while we shopped, and then picked us up and took us back to the airport.

There isn't much to do in the hotel area, but there is time to take a cab to do a bit of shopping. I felt that had we had a little more time it would have been nice to see Miami.

Kay

[sleeky]

I should add that we ate breakfast here which was nothing special and I think was charged extra. We have eaten better at Ponderosa or Golden Corral type restaurants. I think it was quite expensive.

[Globaliser]

From LHR the following arrivals exist for most Mondays in December:

AA - 2:30pm

Virgin - 4:00pm

BA - 2:20pm and 6:10pm

 

SO .. it will depend on which flight they put you on.

 

Typically it takes a good hour + to get thru immigration (hard to tell how busy it will be with AA & BA arriving at about same time .. and other international arrivals).

One of the other factors about the flight is that the cruise line may not put you on a non-stop. I've flown to Miami quite often with another cruise line, and am usually negotiating (via my travel agent) for my exact flight arrangements because I can be quite picky about my travel plans - and there have been times when the only viable options have been connecting flights (which could be via a number of different points).

 

The main issue with getting through immigration at Miami is the number of international arrivals that happen to have got there just before your flight. This is totally random. The flights from London are a small minority amongst international arrivals at Miami, so these timings of these flights don't mean anything. (I believe, in any event, that the AA flights may use a different immigration processing facility from the BA flights, so there may be no clash there, anyway.) Arriving at MIA on my usual flight (the late BA), I have sometimes been through immigration in 5 minutes, and sometimes in 50 - it is pot luck.

 

If you get to Miami by connecting via a different US city, you will clear immigration and customs there, so that your arrival at Miami is on a purely domestic flight.

[Stevesan]

TripAdvisor is a good source for info and guest reviews. Your hotel has overall positive responses, a few are Princess pax. There's always a grump or two, ignore them. In this case they're a distinct minority.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g34438-d224875-Reviews-InterContinental_Airport_West-Miami_Florida.html