My final decision on Miami cruise parking

[wgeddings]

I have asked and have read all the various reviews about parking when going on a cruise in Miami.  I have had good experiences with off-port parking at other ports (Port Canaveral, FLL, Tampa, etc).  Everyone said today the extra for PortMiami and park at the on-site terminal. $22 per day just seems too much.  First cruise from Miami (Aug 2021)  we parked at our hotel and Ubered to and from the port.  Parking at hotel was $10/day. Uber/Lyft to/from port was $22-24 each way for the 2 of us.  So saved a little but having to call an Uber and how long it took to get to/from the port was a negative.  Just got back (Nov 2021) and this time I booked with Safe Cruise Parking ($8.95/day with free shuttle to/from port).  It was a nightmare!   Followed their suggestion that I drop off the other 3 of my party with our luggage and I went to park.  Facility was only 2 miles or so from port but it is surrounded by 1 way streets and lovely confusing streets (NW 21st St which is beside SW 21st Ave) and tons of homeless.  A kindly security guard at a trucking company tried to give me directions but that did not work. Finally, I was so frustrated and pathetic that a kindly meter maid just said “follow me” and led me to the facility.  Then things got worse.  It was mass confusion while SafeCruiseParking staff screamed at one another in Spanish.  So it took a little more than an hour for me to get back to my party at the port.  They were unhappy to say the least.  
 

We had a great cruise but sadly upon our return things got worse.  We had been told the wrong directions of where to go to meet the shuttle and when we finally got to the right place, someone from Safe Cruise Parking in a shirt that said Joe was angrily screaming at everyone.  I do not know what it was since the majority was in Spanish. A shuttle driver pulled up and Joe proceeded to scream at him n Spanish for quite awhile while we all stood in the heat.  When we finally got in a shuttle, it proceeded to circle the port attempting to pick up other passengers from the other ships for the next 20 minutes although we were mostly full and eventually only picked up 2 more.  So another hour wasted.  
 

from all this I learned 2 important things -

1 - Safe Cruise Parking is an AWFUL choice!  I do not know if they mainly speak Spanish but I do know that they scream it.  
2 - I will always pay the full price and park at the port in PortMiami if we ever go out of Miami again.  Wasting so much time (when port parking is literally right across the street from the ship) is not worth the savings and I will not repeat the body part my wife has explained I will lose if I ever park anywhere else at PortMiami.

 

I hope you will learn from my experience and benefit from it.  

[capriccio]

@wgeddings What a nightmare!  It was very kind of you to come back and post such a detailed report.  You did other cruisers looking for off-site parking in Miami a great service. They now know to avoid Safe Cruise Parking. I'm glad the cruise was great.

Edited November 28, 2021 by capriccio

[JohninDC]

Thanks for the feedback. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[rkacruiser]

20 hours ago, wgeddings said:

 Wasting so much time (when port parking is literally right across the street from the ship) is not worth the savings and I will not repeat the body part my wife has explained I will lose if I ever park anywhere else at PortMiami.

 

I appreciate the sharing of your "parking tale of horror" with us.  Thank you.

 

I have been mystified by those cruisers who are spending much money for a cruise and still think that it is worth the savings of a few extra dollars for parking arrangements that may turn out to be less convenient than parking at the Port.  (My comment applies to the Port of Miami as well as Port Canaveral and Port Everglades.)  For me, the knowledge that my car will be in as secure of a parking area as possible along with the convenience is worth the cost.  

[Duanerice1]

On 11/28/2021 at 6:38 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

I appreciate the sharing of your "parking tale of horror" with us.  Thank you.

 

I have been mystified by those cruisers who are spending much money for a cruise and still think that it is worth the savings of a few extra dollars for parking arrangements that may turn out to be less convenient than parking at the Port.  (My comment applies to the Port of Miami as well as Port Canaveral and Port Everglades.)  For me, the knowledge that my car will be in as secure of a parking area as possible along with the convenience is worth the cost.  

No need to be mystified.  Pretty simple really.  Why pay $100 more to park at the pier?  Sure, I'm spending money on the cruise but why throw money away?  That mystifies me.  Now Miami is a different story but Ft Lauderdale has it nailed.  They do a great job.  No different than taking the shuttle to the airport.  Very efficient and fast.  Pretty simple decision actually. 

[espmass]

On 11/28/2021 at 6:38 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

I appreciate the sharing of your "parking tale of horror" with us.  Thank you.

 

I have been mystified by those cruisers who are spending much money for a cruise and still think that it is worth the savings of a few extra dollars for parking arrangements that may turn out to be less convenient than parking at the Port.  (My comment applies to the Port of Miami as well as Port Canaveral and Port Everglades.)  For me, the knowledge that my car will be in as secure of a parking area as possible along with the convenience is worth the cost.  

We are parking off-site but nothing to do with saving money.  Here is our plan so maybe some of you experienced Miami cruisers can tell me if we are wrong.  We are driving from NJ and will be visiting friends in Boca pre-cruise.  Our cruise is on a Monday.  Never having cruised out of Miami and not being familiar with Miami at all and wanting to avoid Monday morning rush hour traffic, we are staying the night before our cruise at the Embassy Suites near the airport.  That way we can drive down with presumably less traffic on a Sunday afternoon.  They offer a secured long term lot where we can park for the cruise.  We will take the hotel shuttle to the port Monday morning and grab a cab back to the hotel and lot after the cruise thus avoiding getting lost anywhere in Miami going to or from the port.  Is this a good plan?

[JohninDC]

1 hour ago, espmass said:

We are parking off-site but nothing to do with saving money.  Here is our plan so maybe some of you experienced Miami cruisers can tell me if we are wrong.  We are driving from NJ and will be visiting friends in Boca pre-cruise.  Our cruise is on a Monday.  Never having cruised out of Miami and not being familiar with Miami at all and wanting to avoid Monday morning rush hour traffic, we are staying the night before our cruise at the Embassy Suites near the airport.  That way we can drive down with presumably less traffic on a Sunday afternoon.  They offer a secured long term lot where we can park for the cruise.  We will take the hotel shuttle to the port Monday morning and grab a cab back to the hotel and lot after the cruise thus avoiding getting lost anywhere in Miami going to or from the port.  Is this a good plan?

Sounds reasonable to me - expect to pay $30+ for the cab back to your car (UberX or Lyft would be about $10 cheaper).  Have a great cruise!  😎

[espmass]

Thanks.  We do realize the cost of the taxi and, as I said, we aren't planning to do this to save money.  I just hope we are making it easier for ourselves.

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, espmass said:

Thanks.  We do realize the cost of the taxi and, as I said, we aren't planning to do this to save money.  I just hope we are making it easier for ourselves.

 

I think your plan is reasonable and hopefully will meet your goal.  If you can figure out a way of getting to your hotel, even on a Sunday afternoon, without using I-95, I'd suggest to do so.  

[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, Duanerice1 said:

I'm spending money on the cruise but why throw money away?  That mystifies me

 

Don't be mystified.  I consider money spent by parking at the Port well worth doing so for the convenience of doing so.  I have observed too many guests waiting for a shuttle because the one they were going to take was full, had to go to their parking lot, unload, and return.

 

18 hours ago, Duanerice1 said:

Pretty simple decision actually. 

 

Yes, the decision for me as to where to park is a simple one.