Water Taxi Stop #F1 — Attraction in Fort Lauderdale

Wow!

That about sums it up as a Miami resident I was THRILLED that Water Taxi was going to be here for a week during Art Basel. Our traffic is bad enough on a regular basis but during Art Basel traffic is downright evil! Lol.

I am retired but still work 2 days a week on the beach at the MDPL as a concierge. We were given info about the Water Taxi for our guests and I decided to take it myself. During Art Basel I always ditch my car-I leave it at home, take an Uber to work from Brickell Key to the beach and then I walk back home afterwards for a good 8 mile walk which I love doing. But yesterday was a bit too cold for me and it gets dark earlier and I figured I’d try to cut some of the mileage down by using the Water Taxi that departs from Maurice Gibb Park ( right before you enter Venetian Causeway) and brings you into Miami at the Venetian Marina. It was so easy, so enjoyable and a pure pleasure. Our captain and driver ( around 5pm) were so delightful and the 20 minute ride was lovely.

PLEASE I’M BEGGING YOU WATER TAXI to come to Miami PERMANENTLY! It’s a shame we don’t make good use of our waterways for locals and tourists like it’s done by Water Taxi in Ft Lauderdale.

When I come to the beach from Brickell Key the traffic is fine, I’m at the beach in about 17 minutes (leaving the Key at 7:30 am) but going back home at 5pm it’s a nightmare- sometimes up to 2 hours to go 5 miles and that’s just during regular times outside of Art Basel!

We’d alleviate the traffic if Water Taxi would come here! I’d gladly pay a monthly fee for unlimited rides and I know locals and tours alike would go between Miami Beach and Miami more often benefiting each locale economically. I know outside of having to go to the beach twice a week, my husband and I would come over to the beach more frequently if we just didn’t have to sit in traffic!

So please Water Taxi consider making a home here in Miami. Once advertised well, I’m confident it would be used. I know I’m not the only person completely sick of our ridiculous traffic!

Sign me as BIG FAN...

We recently spent our honeymoon in Hollywood, Florida and utilized the Water Taxi to spend a day around the River Walk in Fort Lauderdale. We boarded the taxi at 10am at the H1 stop near Margaritaville. It's a 40 minute ride to the taxi stop to switch boats. We enjoyed the information shared with us along the boat ride. They share info about the sights and area. Once we switched boats it was a short ride over to the River Walk stop. The rough part of the trip was the way back to Hollywood, Florida. We walked over to stop 6 a little after 3:10pm and waited nearly 30 minutes for a taxi boat to get back to stop 4 in order to switch boats and get back to Hollywood. The boat to Hollywood only goes back on odd hours- 5pm, 7pm, 9pm. The boat pulled up around 3:35pm only to notify us they were full and that we would have to wait for the next boat which took another 30 minutes. We board that boat and still had to stop at 2 other stops before getting to stop 4 for the 5pm boat back to Hollywood. As we pulled up- the boat for Hollywood was arriving. We made it, but it took us nearly 1 hour and 40 minutes to get to stop 4 from stop 6 (which includes the time waiting for the taxi), then we still had a 40 min. trip to get back to Hollywood. We got back to our hotel around 6pm, so nearly 3 hours after starting our journey back. We were very tired at that point. If we would have taken a Lyft it would have been a 25 minute ride, but we had already paid for the all day water taxi passes. So, it was great with the exception of the long venture back. So, use the water taxi, but not if you have reservations to be somewhere by a certain time. Make sure it's just a fun sight seeing day with no reservations, and with the expectation of waiting on boats between stops at least 20 to 30 minutes, with the possibility of full boats and having to wait longer. Hope this info is helpful. Again, the boat staff were friendly,...

Last week, I attended the CruiseWorld Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, where we met with many local tourism partners, including the Broward County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Water Taxi was highly recommended as a top way to experience Ft. Lauderdale, so I looked forward to it as I was invited to attend a familiarization dinner and tour some of the sights of Ft. Lauderdale with influential travel advisors by the Northstar Travel Media team.

After a wonderful dinner at 15th Street Fisheries, our group of eight headed to the dock to enjoy an evening on the water. Unfortunately, we waited nearly an hour for the Water Taxi to arrive. When it finally did, the captain very abruptly told us that there would be only one more stop that evening, at the Hilton, where most of the group was staying.

I explained to the captain that this was a significant group of travel advisors who were looking forward to the experience and who play an essential role in promoting tourism for the county. Rather than welcoming us aboard, the captain backed up the boat without docking and shouted, “We’ll be fine without their business,” leaving the eight of us stranded on the dock.

As a local resident and advocate for our tourism industry, I was both embarrassed and insulted by how we were treated in front of our guests. To make things worse, one of the travel advisors returned to the restaurant to discuss the incident and was informed that similar issues have reportedly been happening frequently in recent weeks.

I’ve used the Water Taxi in the past with clients and friends, but after this experience, I no longer feel comfortable recommending it. It was disappointing to see such disregard for customer service, especially when this group represents so much potential business for...