I made the horrific mistake of trying to drive a rental car into the Port of Miami to drop off our friends and suitcases before returning the rental car to downtown Miami almost 2 weeks ago - Sunday Jan. 15. Traffic was a NIGHTMARE. Miami-Dade police had blocked off almost all the cross streets, making us go all the way down to Terminal A and across in front of ALL 7 ships in port every pass of the island. The ramp onto the bridge was closed, forcing us to go back in front of the cruise ships *again* to be able to get off that cursed island. I will *never* try to drive to a cruise out of Miami again.... We had 4 companions that drove to the port and parked, and they had a bit of a rough time too but they arrived before 10 am and didn't run into as much traffic as we did.
We used Uber to get to Miami airport when we got off the ship and traffic seemed to be much better at 8 am than it was at 11 am the week before, but still more cars than I ever want to deal with again...
Please allow yourself plenty of extra time, and brace yourself for what could be a harrowing experience if the police are out there blocking roads like they were 2 weeks ago.
Janis