pvan Posted February 2, 2009 #1 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Does anyone have any advice? Our cruise is scheduled to dock at 7:00AM and my preferred flight departs MIA at 10:00AM. I have been reading in the ports of call forum that may be tight but most people were talking about the larger ships. Wondering if this holds true for Oceania. Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharicruz Posted February 3, 2009 #2 Share Posted February 3, 2009 Does anyone have any advice? Our cruise is scheduled to dock at 7:00AM and my preferred flight departs MIA at 10:00AM. I have been reading in the ports of call forum that may be tight but most people were talking about the larger ships. Wondering if this holds true for Oceania. Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks. Oceania suggests the earliest departure time should be 12:00PM or after. Shari ***** CCC Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capecodder2 Posted February 3, 2009 #3 Share Posted February 3, 2009 We were on the REGATTA Jan 2 cruise. We were scheduled back into Miami at 5AM and booked an 11AM flight out of Miami. Schedule changed to a 10:10 AM departure by airline. Yikes! We were told that normally Immigration and Customs would not let us off the ship until about 8:30AM! We got a "priority" disembarkation from Oceania and were ready to jump off when given the OK - it came at 8:40AM. We were 2nd folks off the ship, picked up our bags, out of Customs and looking for a cab about 5 minutes later. There were ONLY 2 cabs waiting!!! Luckily the dispatcher got us the 2nd one as another couple was fast on our heels yelling that it was their cab - no way. Our cab driver was great, knew how to avoid the heavy traffic and we saw parts of Miami we would never see otherwise. We really didn't think we would make the flight, but am pleased to say that we checked the bags outside the terminal, got through TSA security and at our gate at 9:42AM. Whew! we felt like we were part of the "Amazing Race". Bottom line is....IMHO a 10AM flight is too early to count on as you may not be released early enough or find a cab and get to the airport easily. We were very lucky. Don't believe anyone who tells you that there will be plenty of cabs waiting. Customs and immigration in Miami take their time and don't care about the time of passenger flights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted February 4, 2009 #4 Share Posted February 4, 2009 We have had a couple of debarkations in MIA one the ship was suppose to dock at 7am we did not dock till well after 7:30 then customs/immigration had to clear the ship which took till well after 9am Another time the ship was not cleared until 9:30 ...some passengers felt they did not need to report to the officials so held up the other passengers ...then there is the frenzy for taxis I would book noon at the earliest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pvan Posted February 4, 2009 Author #5 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Thanks all...that is what I thought...I will book later or perhaps next day, no need to be stressed out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcand1923 Posted February 4, 2009 #6 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Think well after noon for your flight. On our most recent O cruise, the first group did not get off the ship until after 10:00am. Customs would not clear the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potterhill Posted February 5, 2009 #7 Share Posted February 5, 2009 We were late being cleared in Nov as well. Customs were late boarding and it seemed to take forever for them to get set up. And there were NO cabs outside. People were going ape over the ones that did come. We finally walked up the road a bit and snagged one before he got there. At the time I swore I would never take another cruise that ended in Miami, but I am mellowing. I guess it's like childbirth... It was fine for us as we had an 8 pm flight so we had booked a car at the airport and spent the day on the beach and driving up the coast a bit. Wonderful day and we loved the area. Definitely want to go back. I had been there on a school break 30 years ago and DH had never been. We had the most amazing lunch in a little Mexican place in a strip mall, one of the best of the year for sure! Mo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanandJim Posted February 6, 2009 #8 Share Posted February 6, 2009 We were late being cleared in Nov as well. Customs were late boarding and it seemed to take forever for them to get set up. And there were NO cabs outside. People were going ape over the ones that did come. We finally walked up the road a bit and snagged one before he got there. At the time I swore I would never take another cruise that ended in Miami, but I am mellowing. I guess it's like childbirth... LOL, you made me laugh with the childbirth remark, so I'm going to share my Miami Cab secret with you. As soon as you get to the luggage area, find a porter and give him 2 bucks a bag.......not only will you have a best friend for life, but the porters are authorized to take you to the front of the cab line (I believe that the reasoning is so that they can get back quickly to help another passenger). We were in the cab 8 minutes after we stepped off of the gangway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friscorays Posted January 9, 2010 #9 Share Posted January 9, 2010 I wonder if you could have made the 10 am flight PVAN. We docked at 6:00 am, one hour earlier that scheduled. Customs began clearing non-US citizens at 7:00 am and the first groups began to disembark at 8:00 am. We were the last group called but were still off of the ship by 9:15 am. We caught a taxi relatively easily (and probably by luck as we did not use a porter) and we were at the airport by 9:45 am. Cost of the taxi from port to airport is fixed at $24. By way of comparison, Oceania was offering a coach transfer for a quite steep $65 per person. The Miami airport was a madhouse on January 4. I do not know if this always the case or if this had to do with a post holiday rush. I think it took us over an hour to check our bags and clear security but we still had plenty of time to catch our 1:40 pm flight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conan Posted January 17, 2010 #10 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Ok, it looks like I may need to pre-arrange a shuttle van/car/limo instead of banking on being able to get a cab. How much was the cab fare from the port to MIA airport. I like the $2.00/bag tip to a porter idea. Thanks, Conan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friscorays Posted January 17, 2010 #11 Share Posted January 17, 2010 ....How much was the cab fare from the port to MIA airport. I like the $2.00/bag tip to a porter idea.Thanks, Conan ....Cost of the taxi from port to airport is fixed at $24. By way of comparison, Oceania was offering a coach transfer for a quite steep $65 per person.... $24 dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonid Posted January 18, 2010 #12 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Why bother with MIA! We use Ft. Lauderdale and never have had a problem, especially if O get back to port mid-week. WE also take a limo/town car, which eliminates the frenzy for a taxi. With the exception of LaGuardia, MIA is the worst domestic airport we've ever used. Next would be DFW (arriving international flights) and LAX in general (tied). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare FlyerTalker Posted January 18, 2010 #13 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Why bother with MIA! We use Ft. Lauderdale and never have had a problem, especially if O get back to port mid-week. WE also take a limo/town car, which eliminates the frenzy for a taxi. With the exception of LaGuardia, MIA is the worst domestic airport we've ever used. Next would be DFW (arriving international flights) and LAX in general (tied). Not the OP, but a couple of reasons might be: 1) Greater number of non-stop destinations from MIA than FLL. 2) Far greater number of international destinations (OP and others did not say domestic only) 3) Better flight choices (times/routings) 4) Desire to fly AA for FF benefits/accrual. 5) More convenient to Port of Miami than using FLL MIA has made some great strides recently with the new terminal rebuilds. So it is not an unreasonable option by any means. But thanks for your opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaga04 Posted January 19, 2010 #14 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Why bother with MIA! We use Ft. Lauderdale and never have had a problem, especially if O get back to port mid-week. I'm pretty sure that my worst experience of mayhem at an airport was at FLL. Maybe it was a fluke, but it was really bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonid Posted January 19, 2010 #15 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Not the OP, but a couple of reasons might be: 1) Greater number of non-stop destinations from MIA than FLL. 2) Far greater number of international destinations (OP and others did not say domestic only) 3) Better flight choices (times/routings) 4) Desire to fly AA for FF benefits/accrual. 5) More convenient to Port of Miami than using FLL MIA has made some great strides recently with the new terminal rebuilds. So it is not an unreasonable option by any means. But thanks for your opinion. For DW & I, FLL makes much more sense than MIA. Since we can't get a non-stop to Reno, Cost is a big factor. Much more expensive out of MIA. We use Delta and have had no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conan Posted January 19, 2010 #16 Share Posted January 19, 2010 $24 dollars. Thanks for the info Friscorays. I must have been authoring my post as you were sending yours. I didn't see your post. I'm having trouble finding a Port of Miami shuttle service. One I was able to contact sent me 2 e-mail responses with 2 very different price quotes, therefore deemed unreliable. Leonid or anybody can you recommend a shuttle service? Leaving out of FLL is not an option for us. Is finding a cab in Port of Miami REALLY that bad?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted January 19, 2010 #17 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Is finding a cab in Port of Miami REALLY that bad?? Depends on your fellow passengers;) the first time we had to fight to get a cab 2nd time most people lined up & took the next available cab ..no problem. Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potterhill Posted January 19, 2010 #18 Share Posted January 19, 2010 It was wose than "that bad" when we were there. Apparently noone told the taxis that a ship was arriving. Cabs were very few and far between. Mo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friscorays Posted January 19, 2010 #19 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Plenty of cabs on the day we arrived, short wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roothy123 Posted January 30, 2010 #20 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Plenty of cabs and short wait when we came in to Miami; however, we were only ship there that day, which might be unusual! Immigration cleared us pretty quickly, even though there were apparently some folks who didn't report as requested to talk to Immigration - they kept calling the names over and over again! I kept thinking the folks must have overslept! Fortunately, it didn't seem to delay our departure from the ship, as the 'brown" group was called right when they estimated we'd be called! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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