Cruise from FL port- Which city is closest to the port?

clevebride2006 · January 2012

Looking to go on a mini vacation and thinking of going on a 4-night cruise, probably leaving from a FL port.

I know there are (4) FL ports: Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and Port Canaveral. Are any of these ports close to the airport?

linzee · January 2012

Tampa port is fairly close to the airport, its like a 10-15 minute cab ride deoending on traffic. Port Canaveral is not close to the airport, seemed like a 45 minute ride. I don't remember FLL or MIA being close to the ports either. I find that cruises are cheaper out of MIA.

GreenEire · January 2012

The one and only cruise I've been on left from Port Canaveral. We flew into Orlando and took a cruise shuttle to the port. It was around 45 minutes or so.

dalm0m · January 2012

Miami & FLL the ports are no more than 20 minutes from the APs. The cab ride is about $25. It's a bad idea to fly to your port departure city the day of your cruise. Too much can go wrong. Go a day earlier to be on the safe side.

TNT072906 · January 2012

The airport in Ft. Lauderdale is about 5 min away from the port. In Miami it is about 10 - 15. After a nightmare traffic situation at Ft. Lauderdale a few weeks ago, I will always look to sail out of Miami. With the new HUGE RCCL ships there and several other big ones, it took about 1/2 hour of sitting in traffic just to get to the ship.

Golfer'sLady · January 2012

dalm0m:
Miami & FLL the ports are no more than 20 minutes from the APs. The cab ride is about $25. It's a bad idea to fly to your port departure city the day of your cruise. Too much can go wrong. Go a day earlier to be on the safe side.

Yes

I'll also add that Tampa isn't that far either. Port Canaveral is the farthest from Orlando.

SuMmErKuTiE · January 2012

dalm0m:
Miami & FLL the ports are no more than 20 minutes from the APs. The cab ride is about $25. It's a bad idea to fly to your port departure city the day of your cruise. Too much can go wrong. Go a day earlier to be on the safe side.

Ditto this! Friends of ours missed their cruise because of a delay/cancellation for their connecting flight. They had to fly to the first stop and pick up the cruise there two days later missing the first part of their trip. DH and I went on the same cruise a few months later and flew in a day early and spent a day exploring San Juan (the port the cruise was out of).

My first cruise ever, I experienced a flight delay and started freaking out that we were going to miss the boat. Thankfully, the delay didn't last too long and we got there with some time to spare.

Now that we live in FL, we drive to the ports. Friends of ours from up north cruised with us last summer, and they flew in the night before our cruise. It's a really good thing they did because they had a huge delay leaving, and their flight ended up coming in several hours after it was scheduled to. If it had been the day of, they would have missed the ship.

Port Canaveral is the furthest from an airport at about 45 minutes away from Orlando, but they provide lots of shuttles to and from the cruise pier. When I flew into Miami, it was a pretty quick shuttle ride to the cruise pier.

MIGal2008 · January 2012

FLL is 5 minutes from the Port in Ft. Lauderdale. Miami is only about 20 miles or so but traffic can make it an hour!

KappaK · January 2012

Tampa airport is crazy close. They also have shuttles running from the airport to the port for only $15 or so, but ditto PP on the dangers of flying in the same day as you are cruising.

bringjoy2theworld · January 2012

I believe there are cruises that leave out of Jacksonville as well. I have no idea about the proximity of the port to the airport or city though.

Sibil · January 2012

TNT072906:
The airport in Ft. Lauderdale is about 5 min away from the port. In Miami it is about 10 - 15. After a nightmare traffic situation at Ft. Lauderdale a few weeks ago, I will always look to sail out of Miami. With the new HUGE RCCL ships there and several other big ones, it took about 1/2 hour of sitting in traffic just to get to the ship.

What week were you there. About a month ago Ft Laud set some kind of record for most passengers/ships. I think there were 60,000 people in one weekend. It's not normally that insane.

I think of all those listed, FLL is the closest. My grandparents live very close to the port, and it's about a 10 minute drive to the airport from their house. The port is closer by about 3 minutes. It doesn't require highway travel, so it doesn't get a ton of rush hour traffic.

Between MIA and FLL, though, choose the ship/itinerary/price that you want. The differences in travel hassle aren't enough to have that be the decision maker.

clevebride2006 · January 2012

I've been readint that Port Canaveral is 45 mins away from Orlando airport... but aren't the transfers there (from Orlando airport to the port) ridiculously $?

Is it approx $80+tip per person one way?

eta: At that rate, I'd rather just pay extra and go on the Allure or Oasis ships (their port is Fort Lauderdale).

Cruise from FL port- Which city is closest to the port?

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