Two PortMiami terminals belong to Carnival and only one of them has a roof
Miami-Dade County pairs Cruise Terminal D with Multi-Level Garage D and Surface Lot D, and Cruise Terminal E with Surface Lot E alone. Both sit on the county long term line of $25 per space, per day, so a seven night Carnival sailing bills eight days at $212.00 with tax from either building.
One cruise line is named by Miami-Dade County at two open terminals, and that line is Carnival Cruise Line. Royal Caribbean’s second Miami building, Terminal G, is not expected to open until 2027. A covered ramp with a published ceiling serves Cruise Terminal D. Open sky covers Cruise Terminal E, whose lot the county describes as having no overhead clearance at all.
Multi-Level Garage D is the PortMiami garage with the lowest published upper deck clearance, 6 feet 8 inches on every floor above a first floor that takes 8 feet 2 inches. No other garage in the county table goes below 6 feet 10 inches. At the Terminal E lot there is nothing overhead to measure.
What follows is what the county publishes about each of the two Carnival facilities, what the cruise line publishes about its own Miami addresses, where the two issuers disagree, and which of the two buildings is better to be sent to once price stops being the variable. Every figure was read from the issuer’s own page in September 2026.
| Terminal that Carnival Cruise Line lists for Miami | Parking Miami-Dade County pairs with that terminal | Long term rate the county publishes | Overhead clearance the county publishes | Eight billed days with 6% sales tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cruise Terminal D, 1435 North Cruise Boulevard | Multi-Level Garage D at 1400 Cruise Blvd. and Surface Lot D at 1400 N Cruise Blvd. | $25 per space, per day for Garage D; no rate line carries the name Surface Lot D | 8 feet 2 inches on the first floor, 6 feet 8 inches on the floors above | $212.00 at Multi-Level Garage D |
| Cruise Terminal E, 1265 North Cruise Boulevard | Surface Lot E at 625 Florida Way | $25 per space, per day, and $50 per day if two spaces are used | None; the county calls it an open lot with no overhead clearance | $212.00 for one space, $424.00 for two |
| Cruise Terminal F, 1103 North Cruise Boulevard | Multi-Level Garage G at 921 N America Way | $25 per space, per day | 9 feet 6 inches on the first floor, 6 feet 11 inches on the floors above | $212.00 at Multi-Level Garage G |
Three addresses, one rate, three completely different ceilings.
One county page attributes two terminals to Carnival and the line prints three addresses
The cruise terminal page at miamidade.gov files D, E and F under a single heading and a single sentence of attribution: Carnival Cruise Line’s Terminals D and E were expanded in 2018 to accommodate larger class ships, and Terminal F was renovated in 2022. The 471,000 square foot figure and the LEED Silver certification inside that entry belong to the block, not to one letter.
Terminal F is the letter the county attributes in one sentence and withholds in the next. Cruise Terminal AA is attributed to MSC Cruises, Cruise Terminal A to Royal Caribbean International, Cruise Terminal B to Norwegian Cruise Line and Cruise Terminal V to Virgin Voyages, each by name. For Terminal F the county gives a renovation year, a square footage and a certification that names Carnival Cruise Line, while its expansion sentence and its parking pairing leave the letter out.
The gap gets filled from the other side. Carnival’s answer to the question of how to reach a cruise port terminal lists three Miami addresses under one heading: Cruise Terminal D at 1435 North Cruise Boulevard, Cruise Terminal E at 1265 North Cruise Boulevard and Cruise Terminal F at 1103 North Cruise Boulevard. No ship names appear beside them and no rule explains which address applies to which sailing.
Both issuers are telling the truth about different things. One is describing who paid for an expansion; the other is listing kerbs its guests are sent to. For a driver the practical difference is the garage, because Terminal F is paired with neither Carnival facility: Miami-Dade County pairs it with Multi-Level Garage G at 921 N America Way, the same building it gives to Cruise Terminal G and Cruise Terminal V. How the port hands out its letters, and why the garage letters stop matching the terminal letters, is worked through in the reference on the way Miami-Dade County letters its ten cruise terminals and pairs each with a facility.
One cruise line, three kerbs, three garages.
The ceiling at Cruise Terminal D falls to 6 feet 8 inches above the first floor
A clearance table covering eight PortMiami garages is what Miami-Dade County publishes, and Multi-Level Garage D holds the lowest figure in it. The entrance takes 8 feet 2 inches. Every floor above the first takes 6 feet 8 inches, which is 18 inches less than the door the car came through.
| PortMiami parking facility | Terminal Miami-Dade County pairs it with | First floor clearance | Second floor clearance | Remaining floors clearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-Level Garage D | Cruise Terminal D | 8 feet 2 inches | No entry in that cell | 6 feet 8 inches |
| Multi-Level Garage C | Cruise Terminal C | 9 feet | No entry in that cell | 6 feet 10 inches |
| Multi-Level Garage J | Cruise Terminal J | 8 feet 2 inches | No entry in that cell | 6 feet 10 inches |
| Multi-Level Garage G | Cruise Terminals F, G and V | 9 feet 6 inches | No entry in that cell | 6 feet 11 inches |
| Multi-Level Garage AA | Cruise Terminal AA | No entry in that cell | 7 feet | 7 feet |
| Multi-Level Garage A | Cruise Terminal A | 7 feet 2 inches | 8 feet | 7 feet 2 inches |
| Multi-Level Garage B | Cruise Terminal B | 7 feet 6 inches | No entry in that cell | 7 feet 6 inches |
| Multi-Level Garage K | Cruise Terminal J | 8 feet 2 inches | 8 feet 2 inches | 8 feet 2 inches |
| Surface Lot D and Surface Lot E | Cruise Terminal D and Cruise Terminal E | No row in the county table | No row in the county table | No row in the county table |
Height is where the two Carnival terminals stop being interchangeable. A minivan measuring 6 feet 10 inches with the roof box loaded clears the entrance at Cruise Terminal D and stops at the first ramp. That vehicle parks at Cruise Terminal E without a measurement being taken, because no clearance row exists for any surface lot and Surface Lot E is described in words rather than in inches.
Nothing on the parking page promises a first floor space to a tall vehicle at Garage D. Security patrols and attendant hours are what the county does publish there, with all facilities patrolled and garages staffed from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on cruise days, and no mention of holding ground level bays for anyone. Arriving early is a tactic, not a published right.
Measure the roof before the ramp measures it.
Nobody prices Surface Lot D and Cruise Terminal D is paired with it anyway
Surface Lot D is listed twice by Miami-Dade County and priced never. It appears in the terminal pairing list, where Cruise Terminal D is given Multi-Level Garage D and Surface Lot D, and it appears in the address list at 1400 N Cruise Blvd. The rate block that would cover it is headed Garages C, D, F, G and Surface Lot E. That heading omits Surface Lot D.
One more lot has the same problem and worse. Surface Lot C carries an address at 1720 Africa Way, no rate line, and no terminal pairing anywhere on the page. Between the two of them, PortMiami has two named surface lots on its own address list that no published figure claims.
The Terminal Tariff closes part of the gap without naming the lot. Under item 710 of PortMiami Terminal Tariff No. 010, effective October 1, 2025, the schedule opens with the phrase rates at County-owned and operated parking facilities are as follows, and then sets long term parking at $25.00 per vehicle, per space, per day. The one exception the tariff names is the opposite case: parking facilities that are privately owned, such as the Cruise Terminal A parking garage, may apply different rates.
Read together, the two documents put a county owned lot inside the $25.00 class even where the web page prints no line against its name. That is a deduction from two Miami-Dade documents, not a rate either document publishes for Surface Lot D specifically, and a driver sent there has no page to show at the barrier. The full schedule, block by block, is unpicked in the guide to every PortMiami garage rate the county publishes and the counting rule behind it.
A lot with an address, a terminal and no price.
No roof, no clearance row, and the only oversized rate PortMiami publishes
Surface Lot E is described by Miami-Dade County as an open lot with no overhead clearance with designated spaces for oversized vehicles, accommodating oversized vans, recreational vehicles and vehicles with trailers. Its rate is $25 per space, per day, and $50 per day if two spaces are utilized. Two telephone numbers, 305-960-5463 and 305-960-6454, are given for help parking one.
That makes Cruise Terminal E the address a Carnival passenger with a trailer wants, and it is the address the county gives every oversized vehicle at the port regardless of which terminal its ship uses. The summary line at the top of the parking page treats it as a port-wide fact rather than a Terminal E privilege: oversized vehicles can be accommodated at Surface Lot E at special rates.
The address is the part that catches people out. On carnival.com, Cruise Terminal E appears at 1265 North Cruise Boulevard, while Miami-Dade County puts its only parking at 625 Florida Way, a different street with a different number. Terminal kerb and parking entrance do not share a road name, which is not true at Cruise Terminal D, where the terminal sits at 1435 North Cruise Boulevard and both facilities carry 1400 on the same boulevard.
Two spaces double the arithmetic and nothing else. A vehicle and trailer occupying two bays for a seven night sailing bills eight days at $50 per day, which is $400.00 before tax and $424.00 with the 6% general rate the tariff names. That is $212.00 more than a car in one bay, and still below the $296.80 a Norwegian passenger pays for a single space at the $35 line, a comparison set out in the piece on why Cruise Terminal B carries the highest parking rate at PortMiami.
No roof means no limit, and no limit has a price.
Eight billed days at the county long term rate come to $212.00 from either Carnival building
Item 710 of Terminal Tariff No. 010 states that all established parking rates will be posted at each facility and applied to the day a vehicle enters the parking lot and to each succeeding day it remains on the lot. Entry day plus every following day is nights plus one, so a Saturday to Saturday Carnival sailing bills eight days and not seven.
The same tariff makes the tax explicit where the parking page does not. Rates and charges contained in the tariff are exclusive of any sales tax, and the Florida Legislature has set the general sales tax rate at 6%. Applying both rules produces a total that Miami-Dade County never prints as a total.
| Sailing length out of PortMiami | Days billed under item 710 | Multi-Level Garage D or Surface Lot E at $25 | Same stay with 6% Florida sales tax | Same stay at Multi-Level Garage B on the $35 line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 nights | 4 days | $100.00 | $106.00 | $148.40 |
| 5 nights | 6 days | $150.00 | $159.00 | $222.60 |
| 7 nights | 8 days | $200.00 | $212.00 | $296.80 |
| 7 nights with the car parked the night before | 9 days | $225.00 | $238.50 | $333.90 |
| 14 nights | 15 days | $375.00 | $397.50 | $556.50 |
Two other lines in the same block are worth reading before the barrier. A short term rate of $10 per day sits directly above the long term line and carries the words no overnight, so it never applies to a cruise. The lost ticket charge appears on the parking page as equivalent to an 11-day cruise, for a maximum of $275, while item 710 lists the same charge as a flat $275.00 with no ceiling wording, and either reading is $75 above what a whole eight day stay costs.
Payment happens on the way out, not the way in. Parking lot users pay upon exiting the parking facilities, says the county FAQ, and the parking page lists cash, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and any major U.S. Traveler’s Check while stating that debit cards are not accepted. That FAQ shortens the rule to cash and all major credit cards, which is the looser of the two readings and the one that fails at the exit booth.
Eight days, one rate, two documents to get there.
Nothing a Carnival passenger books decides whether the car goes to Terminal D or Terminal E
No published rule connects a Carnival ship to a PortMiami letter. The three addresses are listed with no vessel attached to any of them, and Miami-Dade County publishes buildings rather than sailings, filing its vessel listing as the Daily Dock Report under Online Services instead of under Cruise. Where that listing lives and what it returns is traced in the guide to how a booked PortMiami sailing gets pinned to one building.
So the berth assignment settles it, and the passenger reads the outcome rather than choosing it. That makes the useful question not which terminal to pick but which one to hope for, and the answer changes with what is being driven.
For an ordinary car with nothing on the roof, neither terminal wins, and the criterion is that the county charges $25 per space, per day at Multi-Level Garage D and at Surface Lot E alike. The eight day total is $212.00 with tax at both. The nuance is the walk, because parking for Cruise Terminal E sits at 625 Florida Way rather than on the terminal boulevard.
For anything over 6 feet 8 inches loaded, Cruise Terminal E wins outright, and the criterion is the county’s own clearance table. No row exists in it for Surface Lot E, because there is nothing above the car. At Cruise Terminal D the same vehicle depends on a first floor bay that Miami-Dade County describes but does not reserve.
For an oversized van, a recreational vehicle or a car with a trailer, Surface Lot E wins whatever the ship does, since it is the one PortMiami facility the county names for those vehicles, at $25 per space and $50 for two. The nuance is that a Terminal D sailing does not disqualify the driver: the lot is published as a port-wide provision, not a Terminal E benefit.
For a party with somebody driving the car home, the terminal letter stops mattering. Guidance from Miami-Dade County is to drop luggage off before parking where possible and to drop passengers at the terminal, and that route costs $0.00 in parking at both Carnival kerbs.
The ship picks the building, the roof box picks the winner.
What a Carnival driver has to read on two websites before leaving home
- Online check-in closes at midnight Eastern time on the day before sailing, and the arrival appointment selected inside it is described by Carnival Cruise Line as the time everyone in the stateroom should be at the cruise port terminal.
- Checked baggage service stops 2 hours before the ship’s published departure time, and guests arriving after that carry their own bags aboard. The same Carnival page writes the rule twice, once against the published departure time and once against the published sailing time printed in the cruise documents.
- Bag limits are dimensional as well as by weight: no checked or carry-on case above 50 pounds, and lying flat no bag over 16 inches high by 24 inches wide, with the length not counted.
- Guests scheduled to reach the terminal before 1:30 PM usually check bags with a porter, according to Carnival Cruise Line, because stateroom access has not opened yet.
- The parking attendant window at PortMiami runs 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on cruise days, and Miami-Dade County gives 305-347-4800 for anything outside it, which is a garage number and not a boarding number.
- There is no reserved parking at PortMiami, the county FAQ states flatly, so a Terminal D arrival cannot book a first floor bay in advance to solve the 6 feet 8 inch problem.
- On the day of the cruise and immediately after it, Carnival Cruise Line offers airport transportation, and it names seven embarkation ports where it sells none at all. Miami is not among the seven, although no Miami fare appears on the page.
Where the Terminal D and Terminal E parking assumptions break
Reading the $10 line as the cruise rate. It sits directly above the $25 line in the same block and carries the words no overnight, which excludes every sailing. The gap between the two readings over eight days is $120.00 before tax.
Counting seven days for seven nights. The tariff bills the entry day and each succeeding day, so the eighth day arrives whether or not anyone budgeted it, at $25 plus tax.
Treating Surface Lot D as cheap overflow for Garage D. No figure on the Miami-Dade parking page carries its name, and the tariff reaches it only as a class of county owned facility rather than as a named lot.
Assuming the entrance height is the garage height. The door of Multi-Level Garage D admits 8 feet 2 inches and the decks above it 6 feet 8 inches, and the second figure is the one a roof box meets on the ramp.
Assuming a Terminal E assignment means a garage. A surface lot at 625 Florida Way is what Miami-Dade County pairs with Cruise Terminal E, and nothing covered, which is good news for a trailer and weather news for everyone else.
When the Terminal D and Terminal E figures were read, and from whom
The figures in this guide were verified in September 2026 against the sources named in each section. Where a figure here is built on $35 a day, it is arithmetic across two county documents rather than a quotation from one. The tariff names the Florida general rate at 6% for the charges it prices, and its Item 710 prices the long term day at $25.00; the $35 line is on the parking page. Parking rates usually change in January, shuttle fares and cruise line transfer prices change by season, and ship schedules change weekly; check the issuer’s page before you travel. No provider paid for placement here, and none can pay to appear. Where a booking link earns Lot and Gate a commission it is marked as sponsored and flagged in this line, and as of September 2026 no affiliate link is live anywhere on this site.
What Carnival passengers ask about Terminal D, Terminal E and the $25 line
Answers below come from the Miami-Dade County parking, terminal and FAQ pages, from PortMiami Terminal Tariff No. 010 and from carnival.com, all read in September 2026.
Miami-Dade County attributes Cruise Terminals D and E to Carnival Cruise Line, saying both were expanded in 2018 for larger class ships. Three Miami addresses appear on carnival.com: Cruise Terminal D at 1435 North Cruise Boulevard, Cruise Terminal E at 1265 North Cruise Boulevard and Cruise Terminal F at 1103 North Cruise Boulevard.
Both fall on the Miami-Dade long term line of $25 per space, per day. Item 710 of Terminal Tariff No. 010 bills the entry day and each succeeding day, so a seven night sailing is eight days, which is $200.00 before tax and $212.00 once the 6% Florida general rate is added.
Cruise Terminal F at 1103 North Cruise Boulevard appears among the three Miami addresses Carnival Cruise Line lists. The county names Carnival Cruise Line with Terminal F exactly once, writing that Carnival Cruise Line’s Terminals D, E and F are LEED Silver Certified, while its expansion sentence covers only D and E and its parking table pairs F with Multi-Level Garage G. Terminal F is paired with Multi-Level Garage G.
The Miami-Dade clearance table gives Multi-Level Garage D 8 feet 2 inches on the first floor and 6 feet 8 inches on the remaining floors, the lowest upper deck figure published for any PortMiami garage. No clearance row exists for Surface Lot D or Surface Lot E, which the county calls open lots.
At Surface Lot E, 625 Florida Way, which Miami-Dade County describes as an open lot with no overhead clearance that accommodates oversized vans, recreational vehicles and vehicles with trailers. The rate is $25 per space, per day, or $50 per day if two spaces are used, with help available on 305-960-5463.
Within the arrival appointment chosen during online check-in, which closes at midnight Eastern time the day before sailing. Checked baggage service ends 2 hours before the published departure time, and every guest must be aboard by the Final Boarding time printed on the boarding pass, according to Carnival Cruise Line.
At PortMiami the letter Carnival hands you buys headroom, not a discount
Most parking questions at a cruise port end with a price, and this one does not. Miami-Dade County charges $25 per space, per day at Multi-Level Garage D and at Surface Lot E, so the eight billed days of a seven night Carnival sailing reach $212.00 with tax whichever letter the berth assignment produces. What changes between the two is physical: a ceiling of 6 feet 8 inches above the first floor at one, and open sky at the other.
The county sells the same day twice at the same price and delivers two different things.
Related guides
- PortMiami cruise terminals, the northside and southside layout and the roads that reach them
- PortMiami parking rates garage by garage, read against Terminal Tariff No. 010
- Cruise Terminal B and the $35 line Norwegian passengers pay at PortMiami
- Finding which PortMiami terminal a booked ship sails from