Fly into Miami or Ft Lauderdale

[jerwick]

Trying to decide which airport to arrive at for Fll cruise. Nonstop from SFO to Mia but arrives 5am. One stop from SMF arrives 10am. We have always flown into FLL but hate the changing of planes and layover. Any ideas of what to do in Mia that early? If we take Princess transfer from Mia, would probably arrive day early but would have to rent car to pass time until hotel checkin.

 

Which city better for fun, Miami or Ft Laud?

Thanks

[TrentS]

Whatever you do, always ALWAYS fly in at least a day early!

 

It depends on your market, but in many cases it's cheaper to fly into FLL than MIA, shop around... Having said that though I personally will always pay more for a nonstop just for the convenience of it.

 

If your hotel wasn't full the night before, and/or have rooms ready, they'll let you check-in that early, otherwise most will store your luggage for you so you can go off and do whatever you want until they have a room ready.

 

Define "fun"... That means very different things to different people ;)

 

Both Miami and Fort Lauderdale have great beaches, malls, restaurants. South Beach though probably has the most "fun" that you can easily walk to from many of the hotels (just make sure you get a hotel that's really IN South Beach though, some claim to be, but are a long way from the heart of it).

 

If you're flying into MIA though and cruising on Princess from Port Everglades I would rent a car. Renting a car is generally the least expensive way of getting between MIA & FLL. The majors have no drop fees in FL and you can return the car at FLL, which is adjacent to Port Everglades.

[sunluva7]

When we sailed out of Miami two summers ago, we flew to FLL because we got a better rate. We pre-reserved a town car driver who drove the four of us to Miami. I forgot the name of the company - it's one always mentioned on these boards, and I think it was $60. After the cruise, we did a Miami post-cruise tour through the ship, and they took us back to FLL for our flight home.

[TrentS]

Tri-County... http://www.floridalimo.com/

 

Or Larry's Limo... http://www.larryslimo.com/

 

Both are reliable, reputable local companies

[sunluva7]

TrentS:

 

Thanks - that's the one I was thinking of - Tri-County. Good service and very quick. :)

[kitty1]

Go for which ever one offers cheaper airfare. It's not a bad trip from FLL to the port of Miami.

[Sea_Weed]

Air traffic/control at FLL airport has gotten really heavy over the past couple of years. They have more runways available to use, but are restricted to a very busy couple of runways due to noise problems and it is a mess. I always used to want to fly into FLL, but ... now... really look at the other alernatives and also how much time I have to make any destinations if the flight is a couple of hours (or more) late landing. So you might want to factor this into your planning as well.

 

Dean