2016 Miami Boat Show - Discussion Thread

Miami boat show gets approval of final permit; wants Miami Marine Stadium to become new home for the show...

Editorial from Boating Industry

The Tennis match screws up everything in Key Biscayne like nobody's business. Quite frankly, the marine stadium was on Key Biscayne a long time ago and when most of these people bought there. I feel it is a unique site and should florish for many people to enjoy it's waterfront location, not just the show but for other activities as well. I am delighted to see a vital piece of Miami's history being revived. I'm tired of all of these other people always trying to stop other people from doing legal activities for other's to enjoy. It's like everybody that bought a waterfront house directly on the ICW and then trying to make it a no wake zone after they bought it, when it was a fast speed zone when they knowingly bought it.

I am going to Miami for a meeting which coincidentally is at the same time as the boat show. Is it the forum's perception that the show is going to be "full scale", and that the political wrangling won't have affected the participation of vendors? I am interested in "loop" type boats, 50-60 foot (I hesitate to use the term "trawlers", co-opted as it is) coastal cruisers, that type of craft. Are there any particular strategies to getting the most from the Miami Boat Show?

Good afternoon all. Really looking forward to leaving the beautiful -46 Celsius weather here in Winnipeg and spend some time in sunny Florida. Going to the boat show on theThursday and Friday hoping to connect with any other members that may be there. Is there anything organized?

It should be full scale and even bigger than last year.

Going to be in Miami for the show Thursday and Friday. Any members out there interested in connecting for a cocktail or two?

I was suppose to pick up Tom Serio at 7AM to carpool down to the Miami Show this morning, but he was up all night sick with the flu and I woke up with cold symptoms after a long night with a sore throat. We are both skipping the Miami Show. We were scheduled to meet Judy along Collins today after she attends the BWI meeting this morning to receive an award for her Moonen 100’ review. Basically the Miami Show is a bust for us this year.

If anyone is attending the show, specifically Virginia Key, please post your thoughts on the venue. Also wondering how the diversity of locations will effect attendance along Collins.

Chamber of Commerce weather today but under the weather right now...

We are located at the new Island Park Marina on Weston Island. Nice new facility, it just opened last week is my understanding. Easy to get to right off of 395.

The foot traffic yesterday was mainly all brokers, am interested to see how the next few days go.

To get media credentials, we were instructed to pick them up at the Marine Stadium. I questioned the parking situation and if a shuttle was needed to pick up credentials so I opted to skip it. Don't need them for Collins anyhow, but I have to wonder how many consumers attending the show will opt out because of the parking/shuttle situation?

Went to the Virginia Key show yesterday. Thought the show was pretty good -- most manufacturers of center consoles were there, some cruising boats like Sabre and Sea Ray, a few large boats from Marlow. Equipment tents were good but not quite as many booths as in the old Convention Center location. A lot of boats availabke for demo rides which was fun.

Downside was the water taxi system -- a nightmare. I parked at Sealine Marina/Omni which was really easy -- no traffic, lots of parking -- but had to wait 1 hour 20 minutes for a water taxi to show up. The water taxi crew said two of three taxis scheduled to service Sealine had been redirected to another pick up spot that was overrun with people.

Leaving the show was worse. There were short cordoned off paths leading to each water taxi spot, but the crowds of people went way outside the pathways and tiny signs indicating each water taxi destination were impossible to see. The result was an enormous mob of people milling around, no one knew where their water taxi line was or if they were in the right line. Total, utter chaos. Many people ended up on a water taxi not going to their destination, so water taxis had to detour all over the place, slowing down everything. . Show management had a full year to plan the water taxi system, and blew it completely. They may improve it by the end of the show, but it was irritating to pay $15 extra for "premiere day" only to find out the transportation was really badly bungled.

Hi Surfli,

Are yacht builders present on Watson Island, or is it just brokerage?

Here's my take on the "new and improved" Miami show: I needed to be at the BWI breakfast at 8:00 on Virginia Key so I left Lauderdale at 6:00 thinking I-95 traffic would be bad. Traffic was a breeze so I thought I would be there early. As soon I we got to Va. Key, there were signs saying that the parking lots were full due to prepaid parking passes. So there was no parking if you just drove to the show expecting something silly like being able to park your car somewhere on Virginia Key but there was ZERO parking.

Since I couldn't chance missing the breakfast by going back to the mainland, I managed to ummm obtain a spot in Lot A for the standard $35 parking fee. Easy to take the shuttle bus to the show entrance, 3 minutes to the west of the lot. It took numerous people on walkie-talkies and 2 golf cart rides to find the Waterside Cafe where the media breakfast was. I found it amazing that there didn't seem to have been a class given on site layout to the half dozen or so people it took to get me pointed in the right direction. I had little time to spare for the 8:00 start. I left the show at 10:00 to take a shuttle bus to get back to Lot A. The shuttle uses leave the show entrance but have to go west to the mainland on Brickell to make the u-turn to back east, past the show, to the 2 parking lots. It took 45 minutes returning from what took 3 minutes going. Then, once in the car I had to go the same route that the bus had just taken and it took me almost an hour to get from the boat show to the brokerage show on Collins.

This post might be a little tedious but it helped me vent. I can't imagine anything that would compel me to go back to Virginia Key next year; well, maybe an award for the review on which I'm working ;-)

Besides, I like our YF virtual boat show from the comfort of my desktop.

Judy

It's just brokerage here. Silver Yachts new launch "Silver Fast" is front and center though.

I couldn't agree more with the organizers complete bungling of the transportation system. Waited for a shuttle outside the Four Seasons Thursday morning for over an hour and ended up taking a taxi. The traffic jam was unbelievable. Then taking the water taxi to Simply Sail was a joke. Confused lines no direction and an obvious shortage of vessels for the number of people. Today we waited for over an hour for a water taxi and I won't even comment on trying to get a bus to the four seasons. Enjoyed the actual show but with the poor organization I am not sure I will come back.

I heard that they will not be allowing any private boats into the stadium area to access the boat show. How that makes sense in one of the largest boating areas in the country I can not understand. How nice would it be to cruise on down, anchor your boat and take your tender or shuttle to the show!
I know if my boss had interest in going that's what I would have done.
Hopefully going forward they will address this.