Please Help, FL Visitor!

[GR1]

Hello everyone...visiting from the Grand Rapids forum

I'm going on a cruise in September, leaving out of Miami. I'm flying into Ft. Lauderdale, and I'm looking for the best transportation method to get from the Ft. Lauderdal airport to my hotel in Miami...then to the cruise. Then...back from the cruise to FLL after the vacation.

I'm hoping someone on this forum can offer some good advice, I'm extreamly confused!! Thanks in advance!

[Urban_Legend]

Hi, and welcome to the sunny Florida forums....

What hotel are you staying at? It might be possible for you to take the Tri-Rail (regional commuter rail) there. If not, then just get a rental car and take I-95. It's pretty much a straight shot from FLL airport to downtown Miami, where the port is.

Good luck!

[GR1]

Thanks for your reply! I was thinking about taking the tri-rail, but I'm not familiar with the area, but I've heard it's pretty easy. It looks like that's the way we'll go.

Thanks for your help!!

[diva7553]

FLL has a service called Shared Ride-- you can take a bus for $15-20 to Miami Beach. You can find the shared ride desks outside every terminal on the baggage claim level. You can take a taxi fron your hotel to the port for our cruise.

Don;t take tri rail-- it doesn't connect to Miami Beach.

[bic]

I took the ride share service from FLL to my place in South Beach two weeks ago and it was $18 each way. It's called Airport Express and you can find the web site here.

On your trip TO the airport, you need to make a reservation and they will pick you up within a 30-minute window about 2.5-3 hours before your flight. However, going from FLL to anywhere else does not require a reservation. You simply walk up to their curbside booth and tell them where you are going. When I used this service after arriving at around midnight, nobody else was going to my part of town and they didn't want to use one of their vans for just me. So after about 20 minutes of waiting, they called a cab for me because they were not going to be able to honor their 30-minute wait guarantee. The cab ride was as quick as can be, there was no traffic, and the meter ended up reading $74.50...but I only had to pay $18 because it's Airport Express' policy to pick up the remainder of the tab.

I've done a lot of researching on this subject and from what I've seen, Airport Express is the cheapest shuttle service available unless your hotel/cruise line offers one. Unless you are a mass transit freak, I would not recommend that a tourist use tri-rail if they can avoid it, especially if you are going to be carrying baggage.

[tombarnes]

Tri-Rail is definitely easy. The downtown Fort Lauderdale station is a bit out of the way, but I think there's a station right at the airport. I have also used the Airport Express in the past. You should have no problem getting to Miami from FLL.

[gvsusean]

Hi, resurrecting this dead topic for a quick question... Can anyone tell me of a huge festival that happens in may-july. I need to do a project on a road trip and Miami is my destination (ergo i need a reason for going to Miami specifically!) thx.

[123]

Um....I dnt kno about May-July but in i think its in March that Calle Ocho takes place wich people say is the biggest street party in the world.