shuttle advice

[deborahv18]

It is much cheaper for us to fly to Ft. Lauderdale than Miami for our cruise on Explorer out of Miami March 8. We plan to fly in the day before and stay somewhere on Miami Beach. Any suggestions for 1)getting from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami(4 people) and 2)where to stay reasonably and enjoy the beach for a very short time?

[deborahv18]

It is much cheaper for us to fly to Ft. Lauderdale than Miami for our cruise on Explorer out of Miami March 8. We plan to fly in the day before and stay somewhere on Miami Beach. Any suggestions for 1)getting from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami(4 people) and 2)where to stay reasonably and enjoy the beach for a very short time?

[KEB]

When we sailed from Ft Lauderdale last year, I ended up with airline tickets that flew us home out of Miami. We found the cheapest solution to be a shuttle that we purchased from Royal Caribbean while on the ship. I think it was only about $15 or $17 - can't remember exactly, but that is per person. I think cab fare is pretty high, but if you have four people maybe it would work out.

Anyway, you could check with your cruise line to see if they sell a shuttle that direction.

[Scott H]

I think the flight price difference between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale depends heavily on where you're starting from. We're starting from Chicago and found Miami to be significantly cheaper. Our cruise leaves from Miami, but I know Royal Caribbean offers transfers from both airports.

Sadly, playing the airline schedule/fare game has become one of the more frustrating parts of travelling, even before 9/11/01. Most travel agents are now charging a per-ticket fee to do your research for you (ours charges $20!) - the airlines cut their commissions a while ago.

My advice is just to block out some time, get on Orbitz.com, Travelocity, or the individual airline websites and crunch the numbers. There just is no easy way.


-Scott H
Chicago

[chump1]

We're doing the same thing, but in the opposite direction. We are using airline miles to fly from Vancouver, Canada to Miami, but our cruise leaves from Ft. Lauderdale. I found this site:

http://www.topshuttle.com/ which offers shuttles throughout South and Central Florida. But I'm sure there are others, I just went to google and entered the search term "Shuttle b/w Miami and Ft. Lauderdale" and received a number of hits.

Good luck!

[sie625]

I saw on a different message board that there is a train that runs inbetween the 2 airports for a fee of only $4.

I am also leaving from Chicago, in May, and have found Fort Lauderdale flights to be cheaper than Miami. Going through the company sometimes yields better results than obrbitz, travelocity, etc. As sometimes the promotional fares dont come up with them.