Fort Lauderdale Travel Forum

We're taking our two kids, their spouses and children on a cruise over Spring break. We arrive in Ft. Lauderdale the night before our cruise that goes out of Miama. Transfers for 14 people add up to $784. There has got to be a better way to get to the boat and them back to the airport afterwards. Any suggestions???

http://www.tri-rail.com/schedules_fares/stm_wend.asp
then taxi

I went to Kayak.Com and did a search for car rentals between Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL) and downtown Miami on March 18th (seemed to be a reasonable guess for "spring break." Found that Avis would permit such a one-way rental with a van. Went to Avis.Com and confirmed that you could do a one-day, one-way rental of a mini-van ("seats 7") for $182 or a passenger van (seats 12) for $288. Both rates include all fees and taxes. If you started early, you could get everyone from FLL to the Miami docks in a few hours, have one person drop off the car in downtown Miami, and then have that person take a cab. Figure a similar price when you get back, and you'll spend a lot less than $784 even counting gas and tolls.

If you don't want to drive between FLL and downtown Miami, forget this idea.

This link has several options
www.fort-lauderdale-to-miami.com/Transportation%20In%20Fort%20Lauderdale.htm

and their advice is: "Fort Lauderdale public transit system is at best minimalist if you are seriously thinking of transferring from FLL to MIA allow 3-4 hours to be safe. All the Amtrak rail stations are a[sic] at least a mile from the points they serve, and not in the safest of areas the same can be said for the main bus station. If you are flying in to FLL and taking a cruise out of Miami A[sic] shuttle is your best bet. If your staying in Ft Lauderdale and can rent a car this would be my choice"

Use Dollar Rental, book two vans on one-way rental to Miami Port and same for return.