Beachfront (or very close) hotel in FLL?

i saw the recommendation for Sun Tower, and it looks really nice.

Does anyone have any other recommendations for hotels in Ft Lauderdale that are either on the beach or a quick walk? My son would LOVE to be able to hit the beach the day before our cruise!

We are newbie cruisers, so this is all a learning experience for us. Any help is appreciated!

Bonus points if breakfast is included, and also if there happens to be a airport/cruise port shuttle!

Check http://www.sunny.org for lots of FLL area tourist and hotel info ;)

Thanks! Checking it out right now. Still hoping to be lazy and find someone who has located that "unicorn" hotel that has everything we'd love!

We love Bahia Mar! Beach and Ft. Lauderdale Beach Boardwalk is right across the street. Water taxi is a block away. We always stay here when cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale.

We have booked the Best Western Oceanside Inn for our upcoming cruise in December. Have not actually stayed there before but it gets very good reviews. It's very close to the beach without being beachfront and has breakfast included. No shuttles though.

We have booked the Best Western Oceanside Inn for our upcoming cruise in December. Have not actually stayed there before but it gets very good reviews. It's very close to the beach without being beachfront and has breakfast included. No shuttles though.

We're booked here as well for our Sept. cruise. All reviews I've seen have been positive and I had some expiring airline points I used to book the room so finger crossed.

We're booked here as well for our Sept. cruise. All reviews I've seen have been positive and I had some expiring airline points I used to book the room so finger crossed.

We booked with Last Minute Travel, which we have never used before, so also keeping fingers crossed! :o

We booked with Last Minute Travel, which we have never used before, so also keeping fingers crossed! :o

We have used Last Minute Travel a couple times and never had any problems.

I stay at Bahia Mar on occasion. Alternate between there and Hilton Marina.

Both nice properties.

But a word of caution. On my last visit to the beach (April 2017), I encountered a few bits of broken bottles in the sand.

Just be careful when you go.

We have used Last Minute Travel a couple times and never had any problems.

Good to know. Several other posters here have said the same. I am just a born worrier! :o

Thanks for the input, everyone. We booked the Hilton Marina. Think we got a good deal. So glad to have the last piece of the cruise puzzle in place!

Hilton Marina is nice, make sure you get a tower room.

Thanks for the input, everyone. We booked the Hilton Marina. Think we got a good deal. So glad to have the last piece of the cruise puzzle in place!

Excellent choice. :cool:

I want to mention that if you;re still up for the beach, they offer a shuttle between the 2 properties.

Have a good time time!

Between the Hilton Marina and which property, Vic The Parrot? A shuttle to the beach would be great!

Between the Hilton Marina and which property, Vic The Parrot? A shuttle to the beach would be great!

Oops, sorry about that!

The shuttle is between the Hilton, and Bahia Mar. But last time I used it, they had included a stop at Hyatt Pier66.

We love Bahia Mar! Beach and Ft. Lauderdale Beach Boardwalk is right across the street. Water taxi is a block away. We always stay here when cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale.

I just checked into the Bahia Mar and the beach access is closed. The room is disgusting, old and broken. And they charged my credit card $100 over what my room rate is supposed to be for "incidentals". I would say don't stay here!

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I just checked into the Bahia Mar and the beach access is closed. The room is disgusting, old and broken. And they charged my credit card $100 over what my room rate is supposed to be for "incidentals". I would say don't stay here!

 

 

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I'm sorry to hear this. Are you staying in a tower room (that is where you want to be)? The other area is older. You can always get to the beach by just walking out the main entrance to the street and cross there. The $100 drops off your card after checkout which is common practice (just happened to us in a hotel here in Iowa). Incidentals are if you use something in the room that would cost extra, like maybe room service or movie rental, etc. Go to the front desk and tell them you are extremely unhappy with your room and hopefully they can get your into the tower. Good luck and I hope the rest of your stay goes better!

I'm sorry to hear this. Are you staying in a tower room (that is where you want to be)? The other area is older. You can always get to the beach by just walking out the main entrance to the street and cross there. The $100 drops off your card after checkout which is common practice (just happened to us in a hotel here in Iowa). Incidentals are if you use something in the room that would cost extra, like maybe room service or movie rental, etc. Go to the front desk and tell them you are extremely unhappy with your room and hopefully they can get your into the tower. Good luck and I hope the rest of your stay goes better!

Stayed in a lot of Hilton branded hotels...usually they authorize a hold on an amount but do not charge it up front and have you sign for it. I checked out this morning but it had yet to be refunded to my card.

I did complain about the noise...nicely I might add. I am not a complainer type at all. We arrived very late from the west coast and at 7am construction began with beeping trucks hauling away dumpsters under our window. That was followed by hammering, drilling and pounding until mid afternoon. I begged to be moved but was told they were "sold out." I would need to check out and they would hold my bags until another room would be ready after 4pm. Wouldn't really have helped with the desperate need for sleep, so just tried to do that between pounding.

This room desperately needs renovation, and I'm sure it will be lovely when it's completed. I would suggest anyone thinking of booking this hotel triple check on the construction plans during their visit. If it had said anywhere on the Hilton website when I was booking it there was construction going on I would have made another choice. In the end they did credit me for one night after I insisted on it, but I would have paid double for some sleep!

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Bahia Mar has been through some serious changes over the years. We got married there in 2004 it was a Radisson then and they did a great job, we had to move our wedding there last minute from Marco Island due to Hurricane Charley. Then it dropped the Radisson flag for a few years before Hilton came in. It had needed updating for some time so I'm glad to hear that it's being renovated but sorry it messed up your stay.

Thanks for the input, everyone. We booked the Hilton Marina. Think we got a good deal. So glad to have the last piece of the cruise puzzle in place!

Just thought I'd mention, Hilton Marina is in walking distance to a Walgreens. Perfect in case you need to stock up on essentials. And they're open 24hrs. :cool: