[Young Pooh]

Flights/car hire

The cruise leaves Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday 28th July. Myself and Evie finish school on Friday 19th July so I knew we needed flights somewhere between Sunday 21st and Thursday 25th so that we arrived in good time for the cruise. My ideal was flying out on the Wednesday/Thursday into either Miami or Fort Lauderdale.

Once flights were released I spent hours searching for a good price. We got a great deal in 2017 with BA where we got a flydrive for the 3 of us for £1850 (including a 7 seater SUV for 17 days) so I was hoping to pay about £2000 for a similar flydrive. I was beginning to lose hope of even getting flights for £2000 (let alone a flydrive) when I saw on here that people were getting some good deals with Pillinger Travel. I assumed that our dates (peak school holidays) wouldn't be included but still sent a quick email to Gavin to see what he could offer. Anyway, a few emails later it seemed he could do something so I called him as soon as I got home from work. A short while later I had flights booked and paid for the total sum of £1054!

We have drive down to Heathrow (from Yorkshire) and fly VA to JFK, then Delta to Miami and then the same in reverse. We are flying out on the Tuesday, a bit earlier than I wanted but for that price I don't mind. We fly home on a Sunday so still have a full week after the cruise.

Next up is car hire. This is the only bit of the planning that Bill likes to be involved in - he is main driver over there and has got a thing for full size SUV's after having a Tahoe and then a Suburban on our last two trips. I contacted Andy at DFCH and was more than happy with his quotes - we have used him before and can't fault his service.

So we pick up a full size SUV from Alamo at MIA and return this to Port Everglades on the morning of the cruise. Then pick up another full size SUV from Fort Lauderdale airport after the cruise and return to MIA. Total cost for both hires is £767 which includes a full tank of petrol and additional drivers.

We decided to pick up from the airport after the cruise as I had heard a few bad stories about the Port Everglades location - there is no skip the counter facility and I think they go for a hard sell approach. Plus I think there will be a better selection of cars at the airport location. We intend to get a taxi van from the Port to the airport.