TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Airfare prices (again)

Even though we're on the Gulf Coast of FL, decently priced direct flights from that area are not very plentiful. So, yesterday we booked out of Miami RT for $500 each, for Economy +. We'll make the 3 hour drive the day before. We were used to driving 2 hours when we lived in Philly to EWR. We've never flown out of Miami, so hotel ideas would be appreciated. We're not going 'til July - 7/11 to 7/26. First visit in 1 1/2 years, anxious. Thanks.

Good luck with finding something reasonable in Miami that includes parking. We have looked several times for about 10-11 days parking and the cost really seemed excessive. I don't want to scare you, but some folks in the past have reported getting their cars stolen and/or vandalized, at hotels in the Miami area.

We drive 3.5 hours one way when we fly out of Miami, which is where we normally fly out of. It makes for a very EARLY morning, especially considering AA did away with the noon flight from Miami and now there is only the 10:30 AM. Now, we always park at ParknFly, which is across the street from the airport. EXCELLENT parking service. You drive up and they help you with your bags, take your keys and valet park your car, and you walk to the waiting shuttle to the airport. Upon your return, they call the garage when you get on the shuttle and they have your car sitting there in the waiting area for you when you arrive. We usually don't even have to bother to call them to come pick us up at the airport, as they seem to have shuttles constantly circling there. You book online and if you do want to do that, recommend you do it ahead of time, as the garage does fill up. Last June we booked ahead of time and saw signs up there when we arrived that said they were fully booked.

FWIW, in mid-December, I booked a trip from Ohio to SXM for early February travel. Booked less than 8 weeks in advance.

Cost was under $550, in standard economy. A pretty good deal, IMO.

Leaving and returning mid-week. Which helps with the cost.

We live on the west coast of Fla. as well and use a different option that has worked out for us. We rent a car (usually from Budget). One way rental on each end of the trip. We used to fly out of Fort Lauderdale on Jet Blue, so we would drive over the day before, stay somewhere and drop car at the airport the next morning day of flight. On the return, we would just do the reverse. I'm not sure what it costs for Park N Fly in Mia right now, but Budget has cars for about $100.00 or so for each way right now. This way you don't have to worry about your car being stolen or tampered with. Might be cheaper depending on the cost for the parking for two weeks.

Sammy--we live in the sticks, so to rent a car here is kind of a production, to pick up the car and to return it. Park N Fly costs about $14 a day, more or less. I don't worry about it being stolen or tampered with there, as the cars are stored inside their facility.

We did exactly what Carol described in April 2021. We are a little South of you in Palmetto, so it's a bit closer. We had a great experience with Park n Fly as well. If you can handle the early wake up call and drive it's a good option.

I agree with Carol, we really like Park N Fly in Miami, especially if we are only going to be away for up to 10 days. We do one-way car rentals if we are gone for longer than that. We have stayed at Hyatt Place near the Miami airport the night before, if our flight is early. It is an easy couple of blocks from there to Park N Fly or to the Rental Car Return.

marisol--that is another option, to do a hotel the night before, and then still do Park N Fly, who does a great job. We have always been extremely disappointed with the shuttle service from hotels--only available every half hour, limited hours available, and often having to wait FOREVER for the shuttle on the return, etc., etc., etc. That is the worst part for me, when I'm ready to go home, it annoys the h*ll out of me to wait so long for the hotel shuttle. And, as I said, at hotels, they seem to take ZERO responsibility if something happens to your car, parked there, even though you pay for parking.

I honestly didn't mean to imply that Park Nd Fly was not a good option. When we go so SXM, we are there for a month or two so park and fly wouldn't work for us. I know since you folks have used it for a long time, as it seems many others on this site have done, that it absolutely a great way to go. I was merely adding an alternative that works for folks going there for a while that maybe hadn't occurred to them. i guess you have to crunch the numbers as well as know what gives you peace of mind.

Sammy--absolutely, a month's parking really is a whole different situation than mine. Maybe one of these days, I will have such problems!!

Wow, lots of ideas. Thanks. So, for a 10:30 flight we should arrive by 7:30. If we leave here at 4 we should be OK. One good thing is FL weather. I can remember waiting for the transport bus in Newark in winter and freezing.

Biturbo--I REALLY hate that early wake up call, but it seems that we often are scurrying around the last night, getting things ready to go. So, if we wanted to drive down the night before, we'd have to take another day off work and lots of times, we just don't have the extra time. If you do decide on Park N Fly, please do make a reservation. One time we made the mistake of planning on parking at the Miami airport. Somehow, we missed where any long term parking was and we ended up in a garage, at like $25 a day.

After discussing with my wife, we've decided to go that route. It's still 6 months away. I know, we're night owls and late sleepers, but for St. Martin it's worth 1 early day. Thanks again, after years of flying from EWR, it's a whole 'nother routine We'll see how far in advance Park N Fly will take reservations.

Biturbo--I think I have made reservations at Park N Fly several months in advance. You do have to pre-pay when you make the reservation, but if your plans change, you can get your money refunded.

We will be there for those days too. Will you be staying with Chloe any of that time?

We've already booked our 2nd week there.

After using all the suggestions that were made here over the years getting from suburban Philly to EWR we have found a perfect solution to get us to EWR. We are staying longer now that the bride retired and paying for parking was getting expensive. We found a retired man who worked with family for years who takes people to airports for extra income. So ask around family or friends if anybody knows of such a person in your area. we still have the early wake up travel day but getting into SXM at 1:30 is great!