cj_one2000

As more people realize that the free chairs and umbrella areas are just fine and the regular buffet on CocaCay is fine, the less those overpriced cabanas are being purchased. Only been once but that was enough for me to be glad I saved $3k by not renting at that price, for what, barely 8 hours of use, realistically 6 hours maybe?? Who are these people renting then and what do they do for a living???! 😂

We are excited, first time on Allure. It’s been almost 20 years since I’ve been to Miami. We’re staying at Hyatt Place Airport East. They have a decent hot breakfast so that timing will be great to leave for the port at 10am. We’re coming from Tampa Bay Area so I get it when you say rush hour traffic 😩

That’s what we’re thinking, leave at 10:00 but we aren’t sailing until October so I won’t have our embarkation time slot until August. I like to plan ahead though 😂 hoping we get a 10:30 or 11:00 slot.

That’s what poopouri is for 🤣 but I get you. My house has four bathrooms, ha!

Agree with the extra bathrooms by having a second room. We had 5 (two teens and a toddler) of us in 2016 and booked early enough to snag a Royal Family Suite for a great price. It was an aft balcony room with an additional interior stateroom within it, so two technically two rooms = two bathrooms. Sharing a bathroom with two teen boys was not something I wanted to do (ha) and it allowed them to come and go to the teen programs on board without waking up their baby sister. This was not an Oasis class ship, but you could get connecting balcony rooms to mimic this setup so your girls can have their own bathroom and a bit of privacy but close with a connecting door.

Traffic has me worried now 😑 we have a Monday morning embarkation, getting ourselves to the port in our own vehicle from a hotel right outside the Miami airport. How much time should we plan on to get ourselves from the airport area down to the parking garage at Terminal A? Want to be realistic even when using a gps and it gives drive time.

Thank you. Yes, I saw that. Similar instructions were for the Port Canaveral parking garage and there was no attendant to help us exit. We had to wait for staff to come by about 10 minutes later on a golf cart to help us. Instead of a form to fill out they just opened the arm/gate thing for us to leave. My guess is they didn’t want to be bothered with the paperwork. So my trusting of what the website says vs reality has me worried. Hoping someone with disabled vet plate can vouch for the process.

Bummer! Must be due to the Thanksgiving holiday travel time-frame that prices might be different than what we are getting earlier in October, showing $149 for our date (we are using points so rooms are free for us). I'm sure you will have a great time. Enjoy your cruise!

@Itchy&Scratchy If you are considering airport area hotels to save some money, consider Hyatt Place - believe they have two locations in that similar area under $200 that also include a very decent hot breakfast. We have used them 50+ nights on our travels in the last few years. Not sure what your situation is, how many people, car or no car, etc. Great for families with kids as they have spacious rooms with two beds and an additional pull out bed (queen) from the sofa. We are planning on staying at the Hyatt Place Miami Airport East and driving to explore downtown the evening before, restaurants, etc. Next morning we'll get ourselves to the port to park as we get free port garage parking so this was the best option for a group of 6 people (two rooms) to spend pre-cruise. We saw the prices of hotels close to the port and just couldn't justify the cost paying for two rooms at the $300+ rate they all wanted, many not offering a free breakfast in the rate -- and having pay for parking for our car on top of that.

@Ret MP My husband is a disabled vet and we have the Florida handicap disabled veteran license plate. Do you happen to know with the Port of Miami Terminal A lot, what is the procedure to obtain free parking? Also, any chance that there other places in downtown Miami that follow the free parking at meters or city owned lots?