Port of Miami?

[billethkid]

We are going on a cruise in October leaving from Port of Miami.
Is unloading baggage and getting to the parking garage much any worse than the pot of Fort Lauderdale?

We have cruised a lot over the years but have never tried Celebrity. We are going on the ship the Millenium. Their web site virtual tour does a good job of pictorials for the ship. Have you done Celebrity? The Millenium before? What was your experience?

We have a group of 6-8 couples. Is there a good shuttle service/bus/other to and to and from TV and the Port of Miami? The parking garage is $20 per day?

btk

[manaboutown]

I have sailed out of Miami. You may want to overnight in a hotel near the port, take a cab or hotel shuttle to the port and leave your car at the hotel parking lot or a commercial lot near it. You may find a hotel offering reasonably priced or perhaps even free parking on the internet.

I love Celebrity ships. They are a 4+ star in my opinion, not as upscale as Crystal, but very nice.

[Freeda]

I can't remember what it is like at Ft. Lauderdale, but at Miami port there are parking garages right across the street from the ship terminals. So if you don't mind the $20 per day for parking, it is pretty convenient. There are a numbef of nearby off site parking lots which charge much less, around $8 per day, and give you free shuttle to and from the terminal, and you can prepay and reserve these online...

You asked about a bus, and Cruise Connection (they have a website under that name) does offer bus service from McDonald's on 441 to the port of Miami; the last time we took it in December we didn't like that we had to change buses in Orlando, and there were a few stops on the way back, so it seemed to take a long time both going and returning. But overall it's okay as an option, and at least everyone can rest on the way there and back. The cost was in the neighborhood of $85 per person roundtrip (may have increased since then due to gas prices).

As was mentioned above, there are several hotels (do an internet search) that offer cruiseport parking to leave your car during the cruise, included in the price of the room; the hotel will give you a free shuttle to the port, but you will probably have to get a taxi back to the hotel when you return from the cruise. The hotels are nearby, though. This is a nice option because then you can get there the night before and have a leisurely pre-cruise morning. It's about a 4 1/2 hour drive to the port from here (if you drive a little too fast, like my husband does; otherwise, it's 5 hours).

If you drive to the port, taking I-95 South where you can hook up with it from the east tollway past Orlando, to get to Miami, instead of taking the Florida turnpike, will save you about $15-20 in tolls each way, and overall the distance is about the same.

We have been on Celebrity ships, very good experiences, but have never been on the Millenium.

[Jakel]

We cruised on Norwegian out of Miami a few weeks back. I found an offsite parking garage on the internet, it was Airport Parking, but was for the Port. The cost for the week was $75, and unless you are impatient, it worked just fine. They put our luggage in a van, packed it with cruisers, and it took about 10 or so minutes to drive us right to our ship. Many of the people in our van were on different cruises, and were all dropped off at their ships. Hailing the van for the trip back was a little more hectic, but we were on in less than 20 minutes. A few bucks for a tip each way, and we saved app. $60.

[TednRobin]

We have sailed from Miami Port on a couple of occasions and find parking in the Port Garage was very convenient and we like being able to get off the ship and walk a short distance to our car and get out of Dodge. Worth the extra money to us.