Bimini Ferry From Miami: Times, Price And What To Expect

Bimini sits about 50 miles east of the Florida coast, close enough that on a clear day the island feels like an extension of the Keys trip you already know. The catch, and the thing every first-time visitor needs to understand, is that no ferry leaves from a Miami dock. Every scheduled vessel on this route departs Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, roughly 30 to 45 minutes north of Miami, and the "from Miami" part of the trip is a hotel pickup bus, not a departure port. That single fact reshapes the whole day: you leave before dawn, you spend about two hours on the water each way, and you get roughly six hours on the island before the evening return sailing.

This page compares all five Bimini ferry packages sold from the Miami area, using each listing's own verified fares, ratings and inclusions. The prices below run from $270 to $299 per person, and the differences between them are not cosmetic: one is ticket-only with no pickup and no free cancellation, while the others bundle transfers, some with Miami Beach hotel pickup door to door. For the broader picture across both Bahamian ferry destinations, start with the companion ferry routes from Miami guide, then come back here for the Bimini-specific detail.

How Long Is The Bimini Ferry From Miami?

The crossing itself takes about 2 hours each way on Baleària Caribbean's high-speed ferry from Port Everglades, Terminal 21, in Fort Lauderdale. Door to door, the day runs longer: the full-package trips list about 11 to 15 hours total, because hotel pickup, check-in, immigration on both sides and the return drive all add hours around the sailing. You spend roughly 5.5 to 6 hours actually on Bimini.

Baleària Caribbean is the sole scheduled passenger operator on this route, running high-speed vessels such as the Jaume II from Port Everglades to the Bimini ferry terminal in the Alice Town area of North Bimini. The operator publishes its sailing calendar at its routes and schedules page, and that live schedule matters more than any fixed timetable printed here: sailings run year-round but not daily, typically on a fixed set of days per week with extra departures added in the summer peak. A typical day-trip pattern departs Fort Lauderdale in the morning, arrives Bimini around two hours later, and returns on an evening sailing.

The door-to-door math is where people get caught out. The most complete package on this route, the roundtrip ferry with Miami Beach hotel transfers, lists about 15 hours door to door: pickup in the dark, a drive north, check-in at the terminal, the crossing, roughly 6 hours of island time, the return crossing, US preclearance and customs, and the drive back to your hotel. The leaner Fort Lauderdale-departure packages list around 11 hours, but that assumes you are already at or near the port. If your day has a hard evening commitment back in Miami, treat this as a sunrise-to-late-evening commitment and plan accordingly.

A rough timeline for the fullest package looks like this:

The crossing is passenger-only: no cars, so plan to explore Bimini on foot, by taxi or by rented golf cart once you land. If you want a deeper treatment of crossing mechanics and seasonal timing, the how long is the ferry to the Bahamas guide covers both the Bimini and Freeport routes side by side.

What Does The Bimini Ferry From Miami Actually Cost?

Full Bimini ferry packages from the Miami area run from $270 to $299 per person, per the verified listings on this route. The cheapest full package is $270 with Gray Line from Fort Lauderdale; the Miami Beach hotel-pickup package starts at $299. A ticket-only economy fare also exists from $270, but it includes no hotel pickup and carries no free cancellation. Children's discounts, where offered, are set by each operator.

The price spread on this route is small in dollars and large in substance. Here is every Bimini ferry listing sold from the Miami area, with each operator's own figures:

Read the table as three tiers, not five equal options. The top tier is the $299 Miami Beach package: it is the only one with verified Miami Beach hotel pickup, it carries the deepest review pool on the entire roster at 681 reviews, and its 4.1 rating reflects a genuinely large sample. The middle tier, $270 to $289, trades some pickup coverage for a lower fare. The bottom entry is the one to treat with care: the ticket-only Gray Line fare is an economy ferry ticket and nothing else. No hotel pickup, no transfer, and no free cancellation, a combination worth stating plainly because every other listing on this route can be cancelled without penalty.

One cost that sits outside every fare is the Bahamas departure tax: $20 per person for travelers aged 6 and over leaving the Bahamas. Some ferry tickets bundle it into the fare and some do not, and which applies to which listing is not independently verified here, so check the operator's live listing for your specific ticket before assuming it is covered. The Government of The Bahamas publishes the underlying rules on its official arrivals and departures page.

For budget context beyond this roster, the cheapest way to get from Miami to the Bahamas breaks down where the money actually goes on a day trip, and the day trip cost guide adds the on-island spending layer.

Which Bimini Ferry Package Should You Book?

Pick the $299 Miami Beach package if you want the door-to-door version with the strongest track record: 4.1 from 681 reviews, hotel pickup included, free cancellation. Pick the $270 Gray Line full package if you can reach a Fort Lauderdale pickup point yourself and want the cheapest fare that still includes transfers and cancellation. Avoid the ticket-only fare unless you genuinely need nothing but a seat on the boat.

The decision genuinely comes down to where you are staying and how much of the logistics you want to own. If you are in Miami Beach without a car, the $299 Admiral Tours Miami package earns its premium: pickup happens at your hotel, the ferry departs Port Everglades, and the whole day is about 15 hours door to door with nothing for you to arrange. Its review pool, 681 reviews at 4.1, is the deepest on this route by a wide margin, which matters when you are buying a long day with pre-dawn timing.

If you are staying in or can reach Fort Lauderdale, the Gray Line full package at $270 is the cheapest fare on the route that still behaves like a package: hotel pickup and drop-off in the Fort Lauderdale area, about 6 hours of free time on Bimini, and free cancellation. It lists about 11 hours total rather than 15, simply because the pickup geography is tighter.

The Admiral day cruise at $289 sits between them, with pickup from select Miami and Miami Beach hotels and a 3.5 rating from 70 reviews. The listing itself reports 5 or more bookings last month, which tells you it moves steadily without suggesting a stampede. The US2U 12-hour day cruise at $284 is similar in shape, with transfer details confirmed at booking and 10 or more bookings last month per its own listing.

The ticket-only fare deserves its own honest paragraph because it is the route's one trap for bargain hunters. At $270 it matches the full Gray Line package on price, but it strips out everything: no hotel pickup, economy class only, check-in from 6:15am, and no free cancellation at all. If your plans are locked and you will drive yourself to Terminal 21 at 2021 Eller Drive, it does exactly what it says. If there is any chance of a schedule slip, the roughly equal-priced full package with cancellation is the better buy. The Bimini day trip expectations guide walks the on-island side of that choice.

What Is The Day Actually Like Once You Land In Bimini?

You get roughly 5.5 to 6 hours of free time on Bimini, and none of these packages include guided touring: the island hours are yours to fill. The ferry terminal sits near Alice Town on North Bimini, and beaches, bars and bonefish flats are reachable on foot or by short taxi or golf-cart ride. The optional excursions you may have read about, such as Pig Beach add-ons, are sold separately and, on some sailings, onboard.

Six hours sounds short and lands longer than expected. The terminal area puts you within walking distance of Alice Town's main strip, and the island's scale is on your side: North Bimini is a few miles long, so nothing is far. Some travelers spend the whole stretch on the beach and never move; others pack a swim, lunch and a golf-cart loop into the same window. What you cannot do is treat the island time as a tour, because every listing on this route is transport plus free time, not a guided excursion. The wider set of guides lives on Bahamas Day Tours From Miami.

The one add-on worth knowing about in advance is the Pig Beach option. It exists on the Bimini or Grand Bahama day cruise listing as an optional paid excursion purchased onboard, and no verified price is on file, so treat any number you see elsewhere with suspicion. It is an add-on to a different listing's day, not a feature of the Bimini packages compared above. The is a day trip to Bimini worth it post weighs the value question honestly.

On the return leg, US Customs and Border Protection preclearance operates on departures back to the United States, which means your immigration processing happens at the Bahamian end rather than after landing in Fort Lauderdale. Budget your last hour on the island accordingly, because the ferry will not wait for a late passenger, and check-in windows on the return are as firm as the outbound. The practical packing and timing details are covered in the what to bring guide.

What Documents Do You Need For The Bimini Ferry?

Bring a valid passport. US sea travel to the Bahamas falls under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which accepts a passport book, passport card, Enhanced Driver's License or approved Trusted Traveler card for the US re-entry side, but the State Department recommends a full passport book because a card cannot support an emergency air return. No visa is needed for US citizens staying up to 90 days.

The honest instruction is simpler than the rulebook: bring a passport book and the question disappears. A passport card is confirmed sufficient for the sea side of US re-entry under CBP's WHTI requirements, but its sufficiency for the Bahamas-side entry on a scheduled ferry is not independently confirmed, and the State Department's Bahamas country page recommends the full book precisely for the emergency case: if something goes wrong and you need to fly home, a card will not board a plane. On a day trip where the whole margin is hours, that recommendation is worth following literally.

On arrival, every non-resident visitor completes a Bahamas Immigration arrival form and keeps the stub for departure. Personal items are declared orally to customs. There is no Bahamas travel health visa or e-visa currently required for US visitors; the COVID-era program is not referenced as active on the current official arrivals page.

When Does The Bimini Ferry Run, And What About Weather?

Bimini sailings run year-round but not daily: Baleària operates a fixed set of sailing days per week, with extra departures in summer. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, and NOAA's 2026 outlook predicts below-normal activity, but winter cold fronts from December through April can also push rough opposing seas across the Gulf Stream. Shoulder months, April-May and November, are the lower-risk compromise.

The schedule question is the one where a printed answer goes stale fastest, so treat this as shape rather than fact: a typical Bimini week has sailings on a fixed pattern of days, roughly three to five per week, with the operator adding departures for the summer peak. The day you want to travel determines which package can serve you more than the price does, which is another reason free cancellation matters on this route. Check the operator's live sailing calendar for your specific date before booking anything non-refundable, and if you are weighing the two islands rather than two dates, the Bimini versus Freeport comparison lays out the trade.

Weather cuts both ways across the year, and neither half gets the headlines it deserves. In summer, the official season window is June through November, and NOAA's 2026 outlook forecasts below-normal activity, which is genuinely reassuring but not a guarantee about your specific Tuesday. In winter, the quieter risk is the cold front: from December through April, north winds behind a front hit the north-flowing Gulf Stream current head-on and can build short, steep seas that make the two-hour crossing miserable or cancel it outright. Sources across the board converge on the shoulder months, April-May and November, as the sensible compromise, and the best time for a Bahamas day trip guide develops that calendar in full.

Cancellation handling differs by package, which is why this guide keeps returning to it. Every full package on this route offers free cancellation, so a weather scrub costs you a rebooking conversation rather than your fare. The ticket-only fare does not, and a winter booking on that fare is a genuine bet on the forecast. If your dates are flexible, book a shoulder-month sailing with pickup included and let the operator's terms carry the weather risk.

What A Bimini Ferry Day Gets Right, And What It Costs You

A Bimini ferry day buys you a genuine Bahamian island, beaches and immigration stamps included, for $270 to $299 and about 11 to 15 hours of your life. It costs you sleep, since pickups start before dawn, and it commits your whole day to a fixed sailing you cannot be late for. For a Miami or Fort Lauderdale base, it remains the only same-day sea route to the Bahamas that includes hotel transfers.

The value case is strongest for travelers already in Miami Beach or Fort Lauderdale who would otherwise spend the day on a Key Biscayne beach. For the price of a nice dinner per person, you add a second country, a two-hour open-water crossing and six hours of a small island that feels nothing like Florida. The honest ledger, which the is a Bahamas day trip worth it guide runs in detail, includes the pre-dawn start, the fixed ferry times and the fact that a rough crossing can color the whole memory.

Where this route has quietly improved is in packaging. A few years ago the choice was a bare ferry ticket or nothing; now four of the five listings bundle pickup, cancellation flexibility and a known operator, with ratings that reflect hundreds of travelers rather than a marketing claim. The fast ferry operator guide explains who actually runs the boat and why that matters for reliability.

If Bimini's six hours sound too short, the alternative is not a different ferry but a different structure: the day trip versus multi-day cruise comparison sets the one-day ferry against the overnight options honestly. And if your heart was set on Nassau specifically, know before you book that no ferry reaches Nassau from any South Florida port; that requires a roughly one-hour flight and is a different mode of travel entirely.

Common Questions About The Bimini Ferry From Miami