Hop On/Off Bus Miami Tour through RCCL

[zebe912]

Has anyone done this excursion and can you give any details about how it worked, especially when you disembarked, started the trip & luggage logistics?  Thanks!  

Here's the description of the one were looking at:
"Enjoy a narrated bus tour and see how Miami became the cosmopolitan mecca of fashion, entertainment and beauty with its bustling streets and unique flair. Hop On or Hop off at over 25 locations throughout the city, including Miami Beach, restaurants, shopping centers and attractions. You’ll enjoy fantastic views of all of the city’s neighborhoods on an open air double decker bus, including the mansions of Coral Gables, Bohemian Coconut Grove and the typical Cuban flavor of Little Havana, which infuses the city with Latin culture."

[Merion_Mom]

I do not believe that the excursion you quoted is an embarkation day tour. That is what was listed for our cruise that made a port call in Miami. 

[zebe912]

It is listed as a disembark day option at the end of the cruise. It is in our cruise planner.

[LeeW]

Shows as end of cruises airport transfers on our Navigator B2B cruise planners.  The luggage is stored at Bayside Market Place (Central Terminal for HOHO) and when done with your tour will transfer to airport from there.  No room on HOHO for luggage.  We have seen HOHO in other cities go to the ship and pick up people there but have never seen them handle luggage.  They could do this and load luggage into a trailer at the ship, but have never seen this.  Tour does state it ends at Bayside.

 

We looked at this on turnaround day but will be easier and cheaper to take trolley over to Bayside and pick up the HOHO there.

[cementhands]

43 minutes ago, zebe912 said:

Has anyone done this excursion and can you give any details about how it worked, especially when you disembarked, started the trip & luggage logistics?  Thanks!  

Here's the description of the one were looking at:
"Enjoy a narrated bus tour and see how Miami became the cosmopolitan mecca of fashion, entertainment and beauty with its bustling streets and unique flair. Hop On or Hop off at over 25 locations throughout the city, including Miami Beach, restaurants, shopping centers and attractions. You’ll enjoy fantastic views of all of the city’s neighborhoods on an open air double decker bus, including the mansions of Coral Gables, Bohemian Coconut Grove and the typical Cuban flavor of Little Havana, which infuses the city with Latin culture."

We’ve enjoyed the hop on hop bus in Miami following cruises twice now. We use it because we fly out of Fort Lauderdale  fll airport with Southwest Airlines 2 free bags.Booking later flight. Great experience extra day in Miami.

Love news cafe south beach Miami. 

Love Little Havana. Seeing coconut grove.

Bus terminal has excellent Cuban coffee shop.

Try to get text updates on your flights. Last time we could have stayed later but text were late. Lesson learned now going to check flight status.

Excellent tour guides. We will do this again.

[klfrodo]

My wife and I did this 1 time to spend a morning before we had to be at the airport.

 

Our excursion was called, we went downstairs to claim our luggage and head to the buses.

Got on the bus and they took us to Bayside Market Place.

At Bayside, the tour operator took our luggage and stored it for us.

Then, off we went to catch the HOHO.

We decided to take the HOHO to South Beach

 

Honestly, we'll never do it again.

By the time it was time to head back, we actually had to back track, to be able to get on the bus it was so crowded.

(You know how sometimes you have to take the elevator up, just so you can be on it when it finally goes down?) That's how we had to catch the HOHO bus to finally get back to Bayside. When we did get on, it was very crowded and very hot and muggy.

 

The when we got back to Bayside, I thought the operators had lost our luggage. It all worked out but never again.

[micdee]

We are thinking of booking this thru Celebrity.  Can anyone tell me about what time it gets you back to FLL. our flight doesn't leave until 7pm.

[cementhands]

24 minutes ago, micdee said:

We are thinking of booking this thru Celebrity.  Can anyone tell me about what time it gets you back to FLL. our flight doesn't leave until 7pm.

Various times. But be careful the bus does a loop on a schedule. We usually use this because we fly southwest out of fll with Miami cruise. If I remember the bus to fll leave like 1, 3, pm. Check out the website for bus. Tour guides very helpful. We enjoyed both loops South Beach and Little Havana. 

[micdee]

1 minute ago, cementhands said:

Various times. But be careful the bus does a loop on a schedule. We usually use this because we fly southwest out of fll with Miami cruise. If I remember the bus to fll leave like 1, 3, pm. Check out the website for bus. Tour guides very helpful. We enjoyed both loops South Beach and Little Havana. 

Thanks.

 

[JerseyGem]

We did this last Saturday after disembarking the Symphony OTS.  All the Miami excursions (Hop On and Everglades) met in the Schooner lounge at 7:30 AM.  We were taken off the ship in groups to retrieve our luggage (all in one special area), quickly go through customs/immigration, and exit for our shuttle.  At that point, there was considerable disorganization.  No one outside the terminal seemed to know where we should go.  Finally, we found someone for the Everglades trip who pointed us in  the right direction.  It was a somewhat long walk (with luggage) to a truck where our bags were re-tagged and loaded.  Then on to the bus that took all Hop On tours to Bayside in Miami.  Once there, you could choose either loop  (downtown Miami or South Beach).  We had enough time to do both, eat a quick lunch at Bayside (several restaurants, stores, etc.), listen to a local band for awhile and then stand in line to retrieve our luggage from the truck, bring it to the right bus (going to FLL), load and when full- finally off to the airport.  We did not get off during  either loop, and our wait between loops wasn't too long (but you will be waiting in the sun). 

 

We used the 3 PM shuttle to FLL.  Shuttles left at 1, 3 and 5 PM (although they actually didn't leave promptly because people returned at 3 PM thinking they would just hop on the bus to the airport- no one warned us about the long line to retrieve luggage).  Several other cruiselines use the same company, so there were several trucks with luggage (one per ship), but just one long line to retrieve luggage from all the luggage trucks.  We had a 7 PM flight, so the 3 PM shuttle was perfect for the trip to FLL.  

[Robinhill]

On January 15, 2019 at 11:48 AM, zebe912 said:

It is listed as a disembark day option at the end of the cruise. It is in our cruise planner.

 

There are two different ones- one is during the cruise and then the other is as you say,is on disembark day.

Edited January 19, 2019 by Robinhill
mistake

[postmanrings]

Interested in this question as well as we stop during the cruise. I guess you have to book it through the cruise planner unless you want to take a cab to their first stop, but for like $18 more a person think it is worth it.

[LeeW]

On 1/19/2019 at 8:23 AM, postmanrings said:

Interested in this question as well as we stop during the cruise. I guess you have to book it through the cruise planner unless you want to take a cab to their first stop, but for like $18 more a person think it is worth it.

 

If you are thinking about using the HOHO during a port stop or B2B, there is a trolley that runs out to the cruise port.  If you download the Miami Trolley app it even shows you were the next trolley is.  Coral Way route.

[LeeW]

On 1/19/2019 at 8:23 AM, postmanrings said:

Interested in this question as well as we stop during the cruise. I guess you have to book it through the cruise planner unless you want to take a cab to their first stop, but for like $18 more a person think it is worth it.

Duplicate

Edited January 23, 2019 by LeeW

[normannna]

How do you reach the trolley from the ship as we're doing a B2B in Miami?  There didn't seem to be any way to walk from Terminal A as no pavement has been built for pedestrians.  Don't mind walking if there's a safe way to do so