fort lauderdale hotel

Just booked on priceline and got the Sawgrass Grand Hotel for $79 for one night stay Feb 5th, we are planning on spending our second night in Miami. Hope we got delt a decent hand on this one!! We get in around 10 pm and plan on leaving just after breakfast so we werent looking for top notch. Now to look for a hotel in Miami

Just booked on priceline and got the Sawgrass Grand Hotel for $79 for one night stay Feb 5th, we are planning on spending our second night in Miami. Hope we got delt a decent hand on this one!! We get in around 10 pm and plan on leaving just after breakfast so we werent looking for top notch. Now to look for a hotel in Miami

That price is fantastic for anywhere in south Florida in February and the hotel looked nice on the website. While the tripadvisor reviews include some recent troubling ones, as you say you'll only be there for a short while. How are you handling transportation? I didn't see any mention of a shuttle from the airport to the hotel and it is about a 15 mile ride (and [probably a $35 - $40 cab fare). The much longer ride will be from the hotel to whatever hotel you chose in Miami (probably $75 on up depending upon the location of your Miami hotel). Are you considering renting a car? That would probably the most economical means of transportation.

That price is fantastic for anywhere in south Florida in February and the hotel looked nice on the website. While the tripadvisor reviews include some recent troubling ones, as you say you'll only be there for a short while. How are you handling transportation? I didn't see any mention of a shuttle from the airport to the hotel and it is about a 15 mile ride (and [probably a $35 - $40 cab fare). The much longer ride will be from the hotel to whatever hotel you chose in Miami (probably $75 on up depending upon the location of your Miami hotel). Are you considering renting a car? That would probably the most economical means of transportation.

Yes the hotel does look good, and it said it was 3 star. I tried to call to see if they have a hotel shuttle but had to leave a message. I didn't know the hotel was that far from the airport.

We are going to use http://www.fgcarservices.com/index.php to get to our hotel in Miami, we used them last year and they were very reliable.

Yes the hotel does look good, and it said it was 3 star. I tried to call to see if they have a hotel shuttle but had to leave a message. I didn't know the hotel was that far from the airport.

 

We are going to use http://www.fgcarservices.com/index.php to get to our hotel in Miami, we used them last year and they were very reliable.

How did you end up all the way out there? Priceline can work wonders if you know how to use them. You will not have a hotel shuttle; sorry. They are way too far from the airport to offer one.

What you do have is Sawgrass Mills, if you like to go shopping. Why go to Miami at all? Unless of course you need to be there the next day.

What you do have is Sawgrass Mills, if you like to go shopping.

Despite the name hotel is not near Sawgrass Mills but in a residential area north of the city of Sunrise. Pretty much no man's land for tourists so Priceline must just lump it in with Ft Lauderdale/north of downtown (?)

Thought that cab estimate a liitle low; checking Taxi Fare Finder came up with average fare of $47 from FLL to hotel though should be a bit less at 10 PM. If memory serves that hotel used to be the Sunrise Hilton and before being shut down for a good while it catered mostly to business travelers, though current hotel website pushes it as an event venue. Hopefully the money you saved on this blind booking is not all spent on the added transportation costs and you move up a category in Miami the next night. February is wall to wall happenings throughout Miami-Dade county and rates will reflect that--and you do get what you pay for (or not, as the case may be).

How did you end up all the way out there? Priceline can work wonders if you know how to use them. You will not have a hotel shuttle; sorry. They are way too far from the airport to offer one.

 

What you do have is Sawgrass Mills, if you like to go shopping. Why go to Miami at all? Unless of course you need to be there the next day.

Dummy me forgot to check "airport shuttle" so its all on me :( We are just there to sleep then heading to Hotel Urbano for a night

fishywood thank you for the taxi info.

You should just rent a car especially since you need to get to Miami the next day.

I can't imagine booking a worse property for a cruise.

I'm guessing with tip a cab will run you $60.

You should just rent a car especially since you need to get to Miami the next day.

 

I can't imagine booking a worse property for a cruise.

 

I'm guessing with tip a cab will run you $60.

ugggggg :( just might do that ! thanks.

ugggggg :( just might do that ! thanks.

My best friend lives less than two miles from me but because those two miles involve a minimum of SEVEN stop lights, two major intersections, and a river, it can take me up to 18 minutes to get to her house.

I can almost run it faster and have ridden my bike faster.

Yeah, in FLL give directions by minutes instead of miles.

 

My best friend lives less than two miles from me but because those two miles involve a minimum of SEVEN stop lights, two major intersections, and a river, it can take me up to 18 minutes to get to her house.

 

I can almost run it faster and have ridden my bike faster.

Yikes, I dont live near any really big cities so I dont really have to put up with any traffic.

I sent an email to the car service we are using to get from the hotel in Fort lauderdale to our hotel in miami, to see what he would charge to pick us up at the airport and bring us to the hotel. Hubby said he doesnt want to rent a car..... we had a bad experience once so he doesnt want to go through that again

You should just rent a car especially since you need to get to Miami the next day.

 

I can't imagine booking a worse property for a cruise.

 

I'm guessing with tip a cab will run you $60.

I think i might have talked hubby into renting a car, do you know of a rental agency that has a drop off near downtown?

Hockeyluver,

We too are in a similar situation. We fly into FLL on Friday, Feb 5th at 10:45pm. We are cruising out of Miami on Sunday. February 7th. We decided to just rent a car at the FLL Airport on Friday night when we fly in and then return it Sunday morning at Miami airport ant take free shuttle to the port.

We have a reservation through National for 1.5 days for a total of $75.04.

We don't have our hotel(s) booked yet, can't decide where to stay!

Good luck with your decision. I too would recommend renting a car given your hotel locations.

Amy

http://yellowcabbroward.com/fare.aspx

Yellow cab has this fare estimator. It will cost about $40 plus tip to get to the hotel.

It might be worth losing the $79 on the hotel and spending both nights in Miami. It doesn't make any sense to stay in Sunrise, plus you won't be able to check into the Miami hotel until 3 anyway, so what are you going to do all day?

http://yellowcabbroward.com/fare.aspx

Yellow cab has this fare estimator. It will cost about $40 plus tip to get to the hotel.

 

It might be worth losing the $79 on the hotel and spending both nights in Miami. It doesn't make any sense to stay in Sunrise, plus you won't be able to check into the Miami hotel until 3 anyway, so what are you going to do all day?

Unfortunatly that is not an option, with exchange you need to add an extra 25% for the exchange rate.

If we do rent a car we will probably drive around and check out a few plances in Fort Lauderdale and then spend some time at the Bayside marketplace. I found Budget has a rental for $63 and we can return it not far from our hotel in Miami. We will just bring dd's gps with us.

Unfortunatly that is not an option, with exchange you need to add an extra 25% for the exchange rate.

 

If we do rent a car we will probably drive around and check out a few plances in Fort Lauderdale and then spend some time at the Bayside marketplace. I found Budget has a rental for $63 and we can return it not far from our hotel in Miami. We will just bring dd's gps with us.

That sounds like a really great plan!

Boy I hate to be the person who keeps coming back with bad news but I hope you weren't planing to eat in that hotel's restaurant. Just saw this on the Sun-Sentinel website (fourth listing for 'Delilah's'):

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/crime/crime-safety-blog/sfl-restaurant-inspections-20150901-story.html

This link might require a subscription so here's what the state health inspector found

Delilah’s, Sawgrass Grand Hotel & Suites, 3003 N. University Dr., Sunrise was closed Aug. 26 after an inspector observed violations that included: Seven dead roaches on the premises; a cooler did not maintain cold food at proper temperatures; 100 live roaches were in the drain board and dishwasher area; 15 additional roaches were in the premises; two fresh rodent droppings were near a mop sink and a fresh lizard dropping was beside the stove; a stop sale order was issued for cooked chicken, rice, noodles, couscous held above 41 degrees Fahrenheit; a probe thermometer was not used to ensure proper food temperatures and raw/undercooked animal food was offered and the establishment had no written consumer advisory. The business was allowed to reopen Aug. 27. “Everything is good. We’re going to be doing a lot of renovation,” said Restaurant Manager Jeff Alcereau.

Hey fellow Southern Ontarian. Good idea to rent a car. Shuttle services will be either rare or non-existant at a 10pm arrival and the taxi fare will be brutal. Driving around down there is pretty basic, despite the heavy traffic. The hotel is easy to get to from the airport, west on 595 7 miles, north on University 5 miles and you are there. I notice your nickname of hockeyluver. If you felt like staying at that hotel one more night, the Penguins are at the Panthers Saturday night the 6th, and you are only a couple miles from their arena across from Sawgrass Mall.

If not, the Hotel Urbano you mentioned is also pretty easy to get to. Just go back the way you came towards Ft Lauderdale airport, and then take I-95 south about 25 miles, and the hotel is just a couple blocks east of the highway at the Key Biscayne exit.

I think i might have talked hubby into renting a car, do you know of a rental agency that has a drop off near downtown?

Try Alamo. We've had great luck with them & the best price! :)

Hey fellow Southern Ontarian. Good idea to rent a car. Shuttle services will be either rare or non-existant at a 10pm arrival and the taxi fare will be brutal. Driving around down there is pretty basic, despite the heavy traffic. The hotel is easy to get to from the airport, west on 595 7 miles, north on University 5 miles and you are there. I notice your nickname of hockeyluver. If you felt like staying at that hotel one more night, the Penguins are at the Panthers Saturday night the 6th, and you are only a couple miles from their arena across from Sawgrass Mall.

 

If not, the Hotel Urbano you mentioned is also pretty easy to get to. Just go back the way you came towards Ft Lauderdale airport, and then take I-95 south about 25 miles, and the hotel is just a couple blocks east of the highway at the Key Biscayne exit.

Thanks for the info!!

Thats one thing i cant understand about Florida they have 2 hockey teams but you can never find a game on tv!! I dont think i could handle watching a Penguins game, yes I'm Canadian but I cant stand that whiny suck Crosby!!!

GO WINGS GO :D

fishywood YUCK!!!! thanks for the heads up!!! We probably wont get any meals there for sure now!!! We will probably pass a drive thru or two on our way to the hotel , and will wait untill we are on the road to get some breakfast!!

Boy I hate to be the person who keeps coming back with bad news but I hope you weren't planing to eat in that hotel's restaurant. Just saw this on the Sun-Sentinel website (fourth listing for 'Delilah's'):

 

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/crime/crime-safety-blog/sfl-restaurant-inspections-20150901-story.html

 

This link might require a subscription so here's what the state health inspector found

Thank you sooo much for this information !! I contacted Priceline with this information and they cancelled my reservation with a full refund!!

Now to find another hotel ...... could someone point out to me what area i should be looking at when booking?

Thank you sooo much for this information !! I contacted Priceline with this information and they cancelled my reservation with a full refund!!

 

Now to find another hotel ...... could someone point out to me what area i should be looking at when booking?

That's great news!!!

Airport FLL and Downtown areas are all close to the airport.

Avoid the Airport North FLL area...the hotels are not nice there.

Also, if you do rent a car, note that most of the hotels that are over 3 stars charge for parking.

That's great news!!!

Airport FLL and Downtown areas are all close to the airport.

Avoid the Airport North FLL area...the hotels are not nice there.

Also, if you do rent a car, note that most of the hotels that are over 3 stars charge for parking.

Thank you , Its great to know which area I should be looking at!! This time I will make sure the hotel has a shuttle !! :eek: If we werent getting in so late after a busy day I would just look to book in Miami but since we have a 5:45pm departure time hubby and I both are going to go to work, so it will be a very long day! :eek:

We have a shuttle company that we have used before ($15 pp) to take us from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, so as long as we can get a shuttle to the hotel the first night we wont be needing the extra cost of the car rental :D

Honestly I would just look for a Miami hotel for both nights. Then you are there and are settled, yes its late, but really, only an extra 30 minutes that time of night for travel, and you are done. Sleep in after your long day and not have to worry about checking out and moving to another hotel that you might not get into for hours. With advance reservations, you should be able to get ground transportation to Miami at that time of night (I just don't think the on demand vans work much past 10pm if I recall from a couple websites).

I don't know where you are flying from in Ontario but did you check out air to Miami instead of FLL? It is sometimes less expensive

Hotel suggestion

Check out the Sleep Inn in Daina. It has a shuttle and is often used by cruise passengers. We have stayed there and it is quite nice. Restaraunt across the street