after cruise question - everglades excursion

[maggie0104]

Hello, After our January cruise we'll be flying out of Miami at 6pm after our ship returns at 8am. To kill time we're thinking about doing the 3.5 hour Everglades to Miami Airport excursion. Does anyone have experience with this tour? Does it really start at 8:30 am? Who takes care of the luggage? What time are you at the airport? etc.

 

I suspect we will be at the airport way early anyway, anything in that area to kill a couple more hours?

 

Any other suggestions of thigs to do, tour operators are very welcome.

 

We will be arriving in Miami 2 days before our cruise, staying in SoBe so beach would not be a priority, and we need to consider our luggage.

 

Thanks

[maggie0104]

Forgot to mention the cruise is with NCL.

[wrp96]

The actual start time of the excursion varies on when disembarkment starts, but you will probably be one of the first people off the ship.

 

Your luggage will go with you on the excursion bus and then onto the airport with you. I haven't checked NCL but on RCCL the description of the Everglades tour says for flights after X time. They try and plan to have you at the airport at least 2 hours early so use that to estimate.

 

With a 6pm flight you might consider renting a car and doing the Everglades independently. That way you would be free to do what you want to do instead of dependent on the transfer bus.

[PyrHeaven]

I booked this excursion for my cruise in October, so I will let you know how it goes. My flight leaves at 5PM. I believe it says on the website your flight must be after 3:30PM so we both definitely fall into that category. I would assume the excursion goes from about 9am to 1:30 or 2? Like I said, I'll be going in just less than a month, so I will let you know!

 

As wrp stated, you could always rent a car too, but one of the reasons I'm doing the everglades tour is because it includes transportation. No need to worry about how to get there, paying for parking (not sure if you have to pay, but always taken into consideration....), dropping the car off, etc.

[maggie0104]

Thanks for the replies.

 

PyrHeaven thanks in advance for your review, enjoy your cruise and Everglades.

 

We are considering getting a car, but would prefer less hassle. Last time we were getting a car at the Miami airport for a drive to Naples it took forever. It is definitely an option though.

[tmitchell82]

We did this excursion after one of our Princess cruises and it worked out great as our flight was not till 5pm. Killed off some time and really did not want to spend that much time at the airport. We got off the ship, were directed to a bus. Your luggage goes on the bus with you and the bus takes you to the excursion and then to the airport which was all very convienent. We were out of Port Everglades and the bus went to both FLL and MIA.

 

Tim