No Flights To Miami on Southwest?

[Snookum]

Cruising out of Miami in April.  Looking at flights on SW but I see none to Miami.  Friend mentioned to fly into Fort Lauderdale.  I'm not familiar with the distance so want to know if anyone knows if we can catch ride to cruise ship in Miami and if it's fairly close?  Otherwise guess I need to go on another airline.  TIA

[klfrodo]

Hundreds of cruisers fly into FLL and cruise out of Miami.

FLL is usually cheaper than MIA

 

For transportation you can look at Uber, taxi, or private. Don't forget luggage. $80 would be a general guess. Uber small car with no luggage would be less, party bus private limo would be more.

[Globaliser]

7 minutes ago, Snookum said:

Looking at flights on SW but I see none to Miami.  Friend mentioned to fly into Fort Lauderdale.  I'm not familiar with the distance so want to know if anyone knows if we can catch ride to cruise ship in Miami and if it's fairly close?

 

Southwest does not operate at MIA.

 

IME, it's about 45 minutes by road between the two cities. For similar routing reasons, I am more often flying to/from MIA when cruising from Fort Lauderdale/Port Everglades.

[Twickenham]

As you have discovered, WN does not fly to MIA, only FLL. They are about 45 minutes apart, and are frequently used interchangeably by cruisers. Indeed, I once was re-routed to MIA when my connection to a FLL flight was cancelled.

 

Various options for travelling between the 2, from cab (expensive but easy) to Uber to shuttles (probably cheapest but less flexible) to even renting a car (my favourite, means you don't have to stay as close to port and can choose a cheaper hotel a bit further out).

[Snookum]

I am use to just getting transportation right there at airport once we've landed.  Usually takes 15 - 20 minutes to get to our cruise ship.  I don't prefer a 45 minute ride after landing and especially at end getting off ship.  However, the biggest concern is getting the transportation.  There will be 5 and maybe even 7 of us.  I don't want to rent a car or do uber.  I was hoping they just had the transportation right there that you could pick up to take everyone and their luggage and not cost an arm and leg?  TIA

[Hlitner]

Uber X costs approximately $40 from FLL to the port of Miami and the journey takes about 45 minutes.  You might consider that it normally takes at least 20 minutes between MIA and the Port of Miami.  We have often used Southwest into FLL to take cruises out of the Port of Miami.  In fact, our personal preference is to fly-in a day early, spend the night in Ft Lauderdale (usually near 17th Street) and then Uber down to the port the following morning.    

 

Hank

[CruiserBruce]

There is tons of info on  the Florida Departures board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/

 

A good place to go, as this is really a ground logistics problem, not a flight issue.

[Twickenham]

15 minutes ago, Snookum said:

I am use to just getting transportation right there at airport once we've landed.  Usually takes 15 - 20 minutes to get to our cruise ship.  I don't prefer a 45 minute ride after landing and especially at end getting off ship.  However, the biggest concern is getting the transportation.  There will be 5 and maybe even 7 of us.  I don't want to rent a car or do uber.  I was hoping they just had the transportation right there that you could pick up to take everyone and their luggage and not cost an arm and leg?  TIA

 

Then fly another airline to MIA.

 

Life is all about choices and trade-offs. You might prefer to fly WN and it might be cheaper, but then you need to get from FLL to Miami with the increased cost, so is it really worth it?  You need to inform yourself of your options, and decide what is the best combination for you and your party.

[FlyerTalker]

Let's see...we bought a cruise out of Miami and then started thinking about the logistics to get to the ship.

 

As mentioned, WN doesn't fly to MIA.  Never have.

 

Google maps would easily show you the distances from FLL to the Miami Cruise port.

 

There seem to be a lot of "I don't want to" factors in your travel plans.  My suggestion is to just suck it up and fly into MIA (as you apparently usually do).

[Globaliser]

55 minutes ago, Snookum said:

I was hoping they just had the transportation right there that you could pick up to take everyone and their luggage and not cost an arm and leg?

 

I have in the past turned up at MIA and got a Super Shuttle (without pre-booking) to take me to a hotel in Fort Lauderdale.

 

If you really can't be bothered to do any advance homework, then you might at least check whether this is an option if you fly to FLL and need to get to a hotel in Miami.

[fbgd]

1 hour ago, Twickenham said:

As you have discovered

 

As the OP hasn't yet discovered the internet has maps or search engines that allow you to research basic information you are making a wild assumption!

Edited January 25, 2019 by fbgd

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, Snookum said:

I am use to just getting transportation right there at airport once we've landed.  Usually takes 15 - 20 minutes to get to our cruise ship.  I don't prefer a 45 minute ride after landing and especially at end getting off ship. 

 

There are at least five large airlines that fly domestically to Miami Int'l Airport, take one of them. If you're limiting yourself to one airline and one airport, you'll have to make sacrifices - cost, convenience, both, maybe more, etc.

[klfrodo]

3 hours ago, Snookum said:

  I was hoping they just had the transportation right there that you could pick up to take everyone and their luggage and not cost an arm and leg?  TIA

You're going to have to readjust your expectations.

[waterbug123]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Uber X costs approximately $40 from FLL to the port of Miami and the journey takes about 45 minutes.  You might consider that it normally takes at least 20 minutes between MIA and the Port of Miami. 

 

The OP may have as many as 7 people, plus luggage, so for the OP- if you go the Uber route, you likely need 2 Ubers.

[Hlitner]

6 minutes ago, waterbug123 said:

 

The OP may have as many as 7 people, plus luggage, so for the OP- if you go the Uber route, you likely need 2 Ubers.

Yep...or 2 taxis.  They might want to explore booking a private transfer (we have never done this and have no clue as to what companies provide this service).

 

Hank

[Tapi]

4 hours ago, Snookum said:

I am use to just getting transportation right there at airport once we've landed.  Usually takes 15 - 20 minutes to get to our cruise ship.  I don't prefer a 45 minute ride after landing and especially at end getting off ship.  However, the biggest concern is getting the transportation.  

Honestly, the difference in time between flying into MIA or FLL is negligible in my opinion. Geographically, the distance may be less, but sometimes getting out of MIA is more complicated, with more congestion both at the airport and on the expressway.

 

For our last family cruise, some family members flew into MIA and some flew into FLL around the same time. We texted each other when we landed and agreed to meet at our hotel by the port of Miami. Those of us coming from FLL arrived ar the hotel first, so go figure.

 

Just select the airport that provides the best itineraries and price combination. This is one place where flying into one airport vs the other isn’t that significant. 

 

As far as transportation goes, the same exact options that you have at MIA you’ll also have at FLL including cruise line provided transfers, so this shouldn’t be a deciding factor either. 

Edited January 25, 2019 by Tapi

[horseymike]

Try the shuttle bus organized by your cruise line. The fare is usually quite economical and they handle the luggage for you.

 

Have a great cruise however you choose to get to the ship. Bon Voyage.🏖️

[Tapi]

Just for comparison purposes, I checked the distance and current travel time. From MIA it’s 8 miles and 26 minutes while FLL is 28 miles and 39 minutes. MIA may be closer but it may be a slower ride due to traffic. 

[sumiandkage]

I think we're also running into the Southwest or Nothing cult, which I just don't really get. (I'm not in love with LUV but would call them perfectly adequate and put them above American but not as good as Delta in terms of current passenger experience) 

 

Personally, I'd probably chose to go into Ft. Lauderdale regardless of carrier because I find it a less stressful airport to deal with than Miami is. 

[waterbug123]

So at this point this is what it sounds like:

OP, you want to fly Southwest, I'm guessing due to finding a lower price, but this would mean flying into FLL, instead of MIA.

You also want to get off the plane and find transportation ready and waiting at the airport, but you do not want to take taxis or Ubers.

You also prefer not to travel 45 min from one airport, when another is only a 20 min ride.  But you cannot do this if flying your preferred airline, since Southwest simply doesn't offer service into MIA. 

Lastly, you will have a party of 5-7 people.

 

My suggestion would be to pre-arrange a private car service.   This would allow you to get your entire party and all luggage in one vehicle.  It would also allow you to have your transportation guaranteed to be ready and waiting for you.  It will be more expensive than a couple of cabs/Ubers, but if the cost is split between the 5-7 people in your party, it's probably pretty reasonable.  The only downside is that you will still have an additional 20 or so minutes ride from FLL to POM than from MIA to POM.  But that seems a pretty small price to pay when the alternative is having all 5-7 people buy (presumably) higher priced airline tickets so they can fly into MIA. 

[Flymia]

I think everyone has it covered. You can easily fly into FLL and not have any issues. On a weekend you are looking at adding maybe 20-25 minutes to your ride. 

 

You can take two taxies ($80 each) Maybe two Ubersx or an Uberx and UberXL or booking private transport/shuttle. 

 

Surprised no one has told you flying into the port city the day of is not a smart move though. I would try to fly in the day before. 

 

Also, as someone who uses both MIA and FLL often, I find FLL to be a mess much more often than MIA. FLL is a bottleneck these days, is more prone to ATC delays (especially with a soon to be runway closure for repairs) and the drop off area is a mess. 

 

The highways around FLL are less congested though.