Miami

I usually only like posting good things about any place we visit unless it is just something that really sticks out… We have been to the port of Miami Florida exactly twice now, once for Carnival and once for Holland America, and both were not the best experiences at the time. The first time was for a Carnival cruise in the late 1990’s we had some flight delays and came in late so we were rushed and we did not get any time to look around at the city or the port and we only rushed in/out of the city to the cruise port. The cruise line booked both the air travel and the ground transportation.

This last time in April 2026 it was almost the same comedy of errors. The TSA funding fight in Congress was still going on, so we had a 1-hour long security delay in Austin leaving and barely made our 5 am flight with a few minutes to spare. Confusion was also that I am TSA-Pre approved, but my wife is not, and usually they let us pass through together in our home airport in San Antonio, but not this time in Austin so we had to wade the normal security lines together.

Arrival at the port of Miami was on-time and then we had to wait for our prepaid port transfer bus… and wait… and wait… and wait some more with excuses and lies. Then once we got into the bus, it got into an auto accident merging on the highway on the way to the port and we had to switch busses. Me and 4 other guys had to haul luggage from one bus to the other in the 90 degree Florida heat in the middle of the highway while the driver was dealing with the police report. At least we got the transfer charges credited back to our account through guest services later. Again the cruise line booked both the air travel and the ground transportation.

Lesson when flying to a cruise, always try to get the extra day at the port in a hotel the night before the cruise just in case of delays.

IF anyone from Miami city planning ever reads this, make a proposition for your fabulous local rail system to add a route from the airport to the cruise port which would see lots of use and would clear up many traffic problems at your airport and roads across the city.