Flying into Miami, how to cheaply get to Fort Lauderdale?

[wander@sea]

My father, 88 years young, and I (dd) will be leaving on Zuiderdam Oct. 24 for 10 day Panama cruise. Due to scheduling, we will have to fly into Miami at noon on Oct. 23 and need to get to Fort Lauderdale to spend the night before the cruise. Have read the Florida departures posts and learned a great deal, however have a few additional questions. SAS has transportation from MIA to FLL at a reasonable cost. Can we do that and then call the free hotel shuttle from FLL to pick us up to take us to the hotel? Also, we really won't be doing much the afternoon prior to the cruise due to father's fatigue, so need just a reasonable place to stay that will provide a free shuttle to the port next morining. Have never bid on hotwire/priceline so not sure how to make sure we would have a free shuttle available. Also, we will be flying out of FLL the day we return so what would be the easiest way to get to the airport after arrival? Love the boards and have learned so much, cruised some myself but never been in charge of planning. This is my dad's first and want it to be fun.

[wilsonzoo]

We had this same cruise and flight schedule last December. It was a challenge to figure out the best way to work it. The long and short of it is that there's no easy -- or at least cheap -- way to do it! We priced out shuttle service from MIA to FLL and back again and in the end decided that it actually worked better for us to rent a car in MIA, drive to FLL hotel overnight and then return the car before the cruise. Even that wasn't easy, since we stayed at a hotel that didn't have a shuttle to the pier. That meant that I had to drive our 4-some to the pier in the morning, drop everyone off, then drive offsite to the rental place to return the car, then catch their shuttle back to the ship while my group waited for me before boarding. It was crazy. Then getting off the ship we made the mistake of renting our car from the rental site that's just outside the entrance to Port Everglades. That turned out to be about a 2 hour wait in line. WILL NOT do that again.

 

If you're just a 2-some, it might work best to just pay the money for the shuttle service. We wanted the flexibility that a rental car offered. Bottom line: no easy or cheap solution!

[wander@sea]

Thanks, good info. Don't really want the hassle with renting a card so will probably just pay for SAS from MIA to FLL and go from there. How did you like the cruise? Did you do any excursions and if so any recommendations? Dad is very adventuresome. We did a 7 day sail out of Camden, MA on a schooner about 3 years ago. He was the first one to volunteer to raise the sails, etc. Should have seen him scurry up on top of the deck house!:D So except for the 'flying fatigue' he is game for most anything. Since mom passed away I am his designated travelling companion.

[wilsonzoo]

Good for you both! Sounds like a great relationship. Treasure these times together.

 

We LOVED our cruise!!! We went with our 2 best friends and it was one of the best vacations we've ever had. We've cruised plenty in the past but this was our 1st 10-day cruise, so weren't quite sure of the sea days, how would we entertain ourselves, would we get bored, etc? Turns out it was BLISS! The sea days flew by, and even with all the various ports and excursions, it was a completely relaxing cruise. Lots of fun pool parties which were very entertaining to watch. Great food, great cabins, great staff. (Can you tell we LOVE HAL?!) The Canal was so interesting, and do yourself a favor by going to some of the lectures on it to learn about all the history. Good stuff.

 

Our favorite port was Willemstad, Curacao. Beautiful little town, very colorful. We didn't plan an excursion that day, just walked around town, did a little shopping, just enjoyed the place. In Aruba we did a snorkel "adventure", which was fine, but nothing special and I wouldn't recommend it. We also did the Gatun Lake safari once we went thru the canal, and that was THE most fun excursion! We got in these small boats that sped around the lake, nudging up to the shoreline right under various types of monkeys, sloths, even motoring up close to a 16' crocodile on a beach before scaring him into the water. They took us to a house right on the water for lunch which was really good. It was a full day tour and well worth it. It was a great time. Some other people we'd met on the cruise went on the Indian village tour and most really liked it, although it involved a 3 hour bus ride which wasn't at all pleasant, from what we hear.

 

We splurged and flew first class, whcih really helped with feeling good once we got there. We flew from Seattle so that really maximized the first class fare. And with our Alaska Airlines VISA we got a $50 companion fare, so it wound up being about the same price as buying 2 economy tickets. SO worth it!

 

Have a FABULOUS trip!!! Take LOADS of pictures!