Pre and post cruise - Best way to get to Port of Miami from FLL

[William W]

Any help will be much appreciated as this is somewhat harder than I already envision.

We are booked on a cruise leaving Miami on Nov 29, and we will be arriving Fort Lauderdale on the the 28th at around 6:30pm. My plan right now is as follow:

28th - Rent a car at FLL and drive to hotel in Fort Lauderdale

29th - Drive down to Miami from Fort Lauderdale and return the rental, than head for the port.

6th - pick up rental and drive up to FLL. Spend a day exploring Miami/Fort Lauderdale. And stay the night at Fort Lauderdale

7th - return rental and flights leave 6am.

I will be traveling with my wife and our 2 years old.

My question is

(a) Should I stay in Fort Lauderdale or Miami the night before the cruise?

(b) Should I make my way to and from Miami using a shuttle instead of a rental car?

© Is it a huge hassle and will there be a drop off charge to return the car at a different location?

I'm thinking of using Priceline or Hotwire to do hotel and rental reservation. Is there anything that I should watch out for.

Any input will be much appreciated!!! I know the 2 may contradict each other, but I'm looking for the most convenient and economical way in accomplishing this feat.

Thanks!!!

[Loving My Life]

Are you sailing on the Liberty by chance?

 

We are also flying into FLL on 11/28 for our cruise on the Liberty out of Miami on the 29th. I just made all of our reservations today after doing tons of research on here and tripadvisor.

 

What I finally decided to do is the following:

 

~arriving FLL on 11/28 at 4:28pm

~independent shuttle service (http://www.ridesas.com highly recommended on CC) from FLL to our hotel in Miami for $15 pp

~Best Western on the Bay in Miami turned out to be cheaper than any hotel I could find in Ft. Lauderdale ($119.00pp for a king room, including a free full breakfast, and $5 pp shuttle service to Port of Miami in the morning)

~cruise Carnival Liberty

 

On the way back, we are flying out of FLL the same day the cruise debarks. Our flight is at 2:50pm and we are using http://www.ridesas.com again for $15 pp from the Port to FLL.

 

We decided not to rent a car because we won't be getting to the hotel until after 6pm. The hotel has a restaurant on the property we will have dinner at. We will probably go to be early in anticipation of an early start in the morning. We will have the free full breakfast at the Best Western, then take the shuttle to the Port at about 10:30am. We didn't want to bother with the hassle of renting a car, picking it up, turning it in at the port, etc. If we were going to be in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale longer, we might rent one though.

[danixbanani]

that's some great info!!! I have one question though about the shuttle company you're using...do you have to have a set # of people to get the $15 charge per person from FLL to Miami port or is just kind of a flat rate kind of thing? If it's based on #, how many are traveling in your group?

 

I'm traveling with 4 of my friends in March 09 and we're flying into FLL as well.

 

Thanks!

[Loving My Life]

that's some great info!!! I have one question though about the shuttle company you're using...do you have to have a set # of people to get the $15 charge per person from FLL to Miami port or is just kind of a flat rate kind of thing? If it's based on #, how many are traveling in your group?

 

I'm traveling with 4 of my friends in March 09 and we're flying into FLL as well.

 

Thanks!

 

 

We have 4 adults in our group. He asked how many people and I said 4. He said it would be a flat rate of $15 pp from FLL to most places in Miami (either the cruise terminal or a hotel). I don't know if that rate changes based on the # of people though. I spoke with him twice today and he was very nice, friendly, and easy to work with.