I Was SCAMMED Twice Before My Last Cruise (Avoid my mistake)

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Flat rate trips were made illegal in Miami/Dade county in 2022. If you are in a legit taxi, they must use the meter. The first “taxi” you encountered was an illegal one because the law requires a meter. The second violated the law by not using the meter. You do have the option to file a complaint with the Miami/Dade public transportation department.

I’ve found Uber to be the safest way to travel alone. When we were stuck in 45 min of traffic in Puerto Rico Uber called me twice to ensure that I was okay because they saw that the drivers car hadn’t moved and the trip was still occurring.

If you haven't been ripped off by a driver, have you even traveled? How not to get ripped off: 1) Ask about the fare before you get in. - Are you using a meter? - how much total (not just per person) - Is the place you want to go open? (They like to say your bar, restaurant, beach is closed but they can take you to a better one where they get a much back) 2) make a show of recording their Taxi license number when you get in (so they think you'll report if you need to) 3) Track the ride on a map to ensure they're taking you to the right place on the shortest route 4) Make sure you look behind when you get out to make sure you don't leave anything. Don't be in a hurry

As a former Lyft driver with my husband driving for Lyft since 2017 (with almost 20,000 rides, even taking a full year off during the Pandemic), we ONLY book Lyft rides when traveling.

This is one of the reasons I love Uber. I have used it now in different places all over the world, and I have never been disappointed or ripped off.

Sorry this happened to you. Thank you for your honesty. I think we all can learn from this.

Las Vegas used to have a problem with taxi drivers intentionally going a much longer route to fluff up the fare (you would have to tell them not to take the tunnel or they would go a long round about way to wherever you were going). So the city came out with set rates to go from the airport to the hotels. They can't go over those amounts, and it's based on distance.

All major airports have warning signs not to take the so cslled taxis. Im happy you are ok because this seens dangerous too. I always take uber or lift

I was scammed twice in Miami too. First time was directed by uniformed airport staff to take an unmarked car too. Flat rate charge $50 for 1.5 minute ride to hotel. I was furious but could find no recourse. Taxi shuttle to cruise port arranged by hotel clerk. I gave driver the royal Caribbean boat name 4 times. We were taken to a different RC boat. I protested and wouldn’t get out. Till we were taken to the right boat after a 15 minute extra drive which was drivers fault. $75 later and contacting an officer at the cruise ship he said it should have been about $20 but he couldn’t do anything about it. I’m done with Miami departures. 😢

After our last cruise in Seattle, I got in the legitimate taxi queue with my younger two kids, who travel with me all the time, and I had to explain to my dad and my son not to go with the guys who were walking up to people and trying to convince them to go with them in their "taxis". In most major cities, taxis are strictly regulated and the best case scenario (which we encountered most recently at New Orleans airport) is when there is a taxi stand attendant who asks you where you are going before you get into the taxi, tells your destination to the taxi driver, and then tells you how much it's going to cost (so it's regulated by the city and out of the driver's hands completely). Those are the type that make me feel the safest. I have had this same thing with the "flat fee" pulled on me a couple times before (San Diego and London Heathrow with a "private" driver that the hotel called for me instead of one of the actual black cabs) and it made me mad too. I learned my lesson to always look up how much it should cost beforehand and to always come to an agreement on the price before getting into the car.

What is frightening is that the Hotel they stayed at was involved in the scam and can't be trusted to do a basic hotel service for their guests. She asked the hotel to get a taxi. What kickback is this person who called this Taxi getting? This needs to be reported to the hotel manager and then I would put a negative review about it. See what happens to the employee that called this so called Taxi for you. The Hotel manager should offer compensation at a minimum along with an apology and this employee should be fired. The Hotel has a reputation to look out for.

Hi There Ilana, I watched another video on YouTube about travel scams about a few years ago from Don's Family Vacations that included taxi scams that occur outside the United States of America and that talked about having all of your luggage out of the taxi before you pay the driver or he/she might drive off with your luggage still inside the taxi and that is worse than being overcharged for a taxi ride.

Ilana thanks for the information. Stories like this are very useful. Please include any stories like this in the future. We are cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale in November. Any stories about that cruise port would be appreciated.

Yes! I've heard of this happening literally all over the world. I'm so sorry you experienced it. We've been advised to use uber/lyft/grab or take the public transportation. That's what we stick to and I think it's saved us a lot of money. Sending a hug!

I'm so sorry that happened. Quite a few years ago my son who was only 11, he's 32 now, so those situations have been going on for a long time. Anyway, we were visiting Orlando to go to Disney World. We got a taxi back to our hotel but all of a sudden he was heading out on a highway that I knew wasn't near our hotel. Fortunately, I knew that was not how to get back to the hotel. I mentioned it to the cab driver and he said "oh" and all of sudden we were at the hotel in minutes. I don't know what the cab driver was planning, but it was a scary situation. When we go on cruises we try to stay at hotels that have shuttle service that transfer you from the hotel to the cruise port. There's usually a fee per person, but it's worth it to us.

Iliana, lots of comments on this topic. This deserves a follow up video. You should go through all these comments and pick the top 5 taxi rip offs that your viewers have sent in. That would make for a very interesting and informative video. Thanks.

Happened to myself and my son in February in Miami. Unfortunately, when you arrive after a long flight, we grabbed what we thought was a legit taxi. Way overpaid, no meter or identification. I sort of realized halfway through the ride and was worried that "maybe this guy will kidnap us or something'. Won't make that mistake again!

Wow, definitely something to keep in mind. Thank you for this information!! Very informative ❤

I’m so sorry this happened to you! We are cruising out of Miami next year so we will keep this in mind!