The way you are proposing to do all of this seems unnecessary and expensive.
JMO, of course. When I was new to cruising, back in the mid-90's, and
internet access wasn't an option yet, I had the cruise line book our air,
for a total of two cruises. In the past many years with online access at
everyone's fingertips, it's so easy--and yes, usually much cheaper, to just
book your own airline tickets, and save money, and have the freedom to
choose your flight schedules, and even which airport you want to fly in to.
For lots of airlines, there is no penalty for booking one-way tickets
(Airtran, Southwest, AA). I think this is especially true for flights to
Florida, which are so plentiful and affordable. Here's what I would do if I
were you: Fly into Miami, pick up a rental car, spend the day in
Miami/South Beach (great place by the way, you will enjoy it!), and then
drive up to Ft. Lauderdale (about 35 minutes straight up I-95.) You can
have the convenience of the rental car during your two night stay and then
return it to the rental agency (they're all located at FLL airport, which is
only minutes from the cruise port), and most car rental agencies (at least
Budget does) will shuttle you to Port Everglades. It's all very easy and
you won't be paying inflated airline fees imposed by the cruise line, OR a
deviation fee.
Whatever you decide to do, I hope you have a great cruise!
Karen
Owings Mills, MD
"mgb" wrote in message
news:HiFyh.3912$R71.59648@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
> We've taken 3 cruises out of Miami so we're not newbies to cruising or the
> area. Next year we have the Radiance of the Seas booked for an 8 day out
> of Fort Lauderdale. As usual we plan on going down 2 days early and have
> already tentatively booked air and cruise together with RCI. In fact we
> did it last May when gas prices were high anticipating that the fee they
> were offering for air would only go up- early bird catches the worm.
>
> Anyway, my question is, we'll need to book air deviation and pay the $50
> pp to fly down 2 days early and I understand that (don't agree but
> understand). We've been thinking that it would be nice to fly into Miami
> instead of Fort Lauderdale and spend a day out at South Beach. Is it
> possible to request that RCI fly us into Miami instead? If so, how would
> they get us to the ship in Fort Lauderdale? I'm guessing that if they
> accommodate the Miami request that we would need to cab ride it out to
> Miami Airport and pick up the RCI bus to Fort Lauderdale but I don't know
> that for sure.
>
> Thanks for any response.
>
> -mgb
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