Miami hotels for park and cruise

Hey, I need some advice on good reasonably priced hotels for the park and cruise in Miami. We have never driven there before and we want to be sure our car will be safe for the week and the hotel is nice and clean in a good area. Thanks!

www.parksleepfly.com and www.stay123.com are two sources for hotels offering cruise parking deals. Most will be out near the MIA airport and some include a free shuttle to POM - just about all will require you to cab back to your car ($25-30) after the cruise.

Springhill Suites Medical center is oftne suggested on these boards, as are hotels in the Blue Lagoon area near MIA (Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, etc.). Budget options in less attractive areas near MIA include the Comfort Suites North and La Quinta East. MIA Embassy Suites (next door to the La Quinta East is another option.

Depending upon your cruise dates the downtown Hampton Inn Mary Brickell Village sometimes offers a cruise parking package - taxi back to the hotel will run about $13-15.

What we're doing (driving in from Orlando) is spending the night before in Ft. Lauderdale, then driving the final 30-45 minutes in the morning. For parking we're using globalairportparking dot com. Use the code MDC14 for a $5 discount.

It's a parking garage that the lower levels are used for the adjacent School Board Building, and the upper levels are leased out for cruise parking. It's close to port and a free shuttle gets you there and back.

I've never, ever wanted to go to Miami before, but this ship leaves on DW's birthday and has a concert with our favorite band playing. To mitigate things we are spending the night outside of Miami. And we won't be able to get out of Miami soon enough.