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Reasonably priced Hotel near Miami Dock


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Have cruise booked later in the year, currently pricing flying out of Detroit, to either Miami or Fort Lauderdale. We like to be in the port area the day ahead, so we are looking for a Hotel / Motel close to the dock for a NCL ship departing on a Sunday.. It seems to be cheaper to fly to FLL rather than Mia, so how much farther is Fort Lauderdale to the docks than Miami airports.

Shuttle service is in the $32.00 range per person fro Fort Lauderdale..

Thanks in advance

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Try the North American Home Ports Board for lots of info.

 

Fort Lauderdale airport is only about 20 miles from the Port of Miami.

 

We have stayed at Holiday Inn Port of Miami. Not fancy but fine for an overnight stay. You can walk to Bayside Marketplace. It's Miami so nothing is inexpensive.

 

Try SAS Transportion for reliable inexpensive transport from airport to hotel.

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We have stayed at Holiday Inn Port of Miami. Not fancy but fine for an overnight stay. You can walk to Bayside Marketplace. It's Miami so nothing is inexpensive.

 

We stayed @ the HI too earlier this year. As the poster said it serves its purpose for one night. We enjoyed the Bayside and a CVS was a block away for last minutes things you might forget. The port was 5 minutes away by cab. There are plenty of hotels in the area.

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Check the home ports boards, last Sept. I got a deal on the Intercontinental thru one of the sites that don't name the hotel but knew in advance it was the Intercontinental. I have stayed at the HI port of Miami also but Int. is much better and if you can get it for about the same price it's a great deal!

 

I always fly into FLL and as previous poster stated SAS is best for transport wether too the port or too a hotel!

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As noted, "reasonable" and Miami don't often go together, particularly near the port & downtown. Not too far from the port, on the south side of downtown near the Miami River, are a Hyatt, a Courtyard (Marriott) and I think a Sheraton. Right on the river is the Epic, which is a fabulous hotel that belongs to the Kimpton group, but it certainly is in the "expensive" category.

 

Further down Brickell Ave. (across the river) is a JW Marriott and a Mandarin Oriental, as well as a Four Seasons.

 

Again, you'll be paying at least business hotel rates at all of these, but all of them are very comfortable and most can probably arrange your transportation to the port for your cruise. If you're lucky, you'll get a room with a fabulous view of the waterfront & ocean.

 

Aside from the big chains like Holiday Inn, I would not suggest any motels in the downtown or fringe downtown area. I don't think you'll be very happy with the situation at those places.

 

All of the major hotel chains have hotels near the Miami airport. Taxi from there to the port is not expensive and very easy.

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You can also go to the NCL website and under the Get Ready to Cruise tab there is drop down on hotel packages..they give the rates of various hotels..and many of them include a free shuttle to the hotel..Not bad rates either..Have a great cruise..

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For our Oct Pearl cruise, We went with Best Western On the Bay Inn. We have stayed there before. Includes breakfast and they have a cruise package with airport and cruise transportation + a welcome drink. The cruise package add on was about $30.

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Stayed at the Holiday Inn - port of Miami the first trip because it was right across the street from Bayside Marketplace. Next time got some great advice and went to Last Minute Travel and got the Intercontinental for $83 in January (also close enough to see Bayside from hotel and no more than 5-10 min walk). Have booked that way ever since. IC is far and above the HI as the IC is a 4.5 star and HI maybe 3 star.

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We emailed SAS and we were confirmed for $15 per person each way from Fort Lauderdale to Miami. We are flying into Fort Lauderdale (we had 1 free airline voucher to use). We also reserved the Holiday Inn at the port for our night stay prior to the use. It was one of the more reasonable rates we could find.

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As mentioned, there are some hotels close to the port of Miami. The ones near Bayside are about a ten minute ride from the Port. There is the Intercontinental which is a very nice hotel which is a little closer; just a little over one mile from the port and the Holiday Inn which is no more than 1.5 miles from the port. Intercontinental is the nicer of the two.

 

Other option is to stay near Fort Lauderdale airport and take the shuttle the next day.

 

If flying in late at night I would consider staying in Fort Lauderdale but if arriving much earlier I would opt for Miami.

 

Check out the prices of these hotels and then let us know if they are in your price range.

 

Keith

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You can also go to the NCL website and under the Get Ready to Cruise tab there is drop down on hotel packages..they give the rates of various hotels..and many of them include a free shuttle to the hotel..Not bad rates either..Have a great cruise..

 

Usually the hotels offered by the cruiselines charge per person, so actually you end up paying a great deal more than if you booked a hotel on your own. For example the NCL website offers the Marriott Biscayne Bay for "starting at" $109/pp.....that would be $218 for 2 people and maybe more. Many people including myself have gotten this hotel for under $100. A cab ride to the ship from this hotel is only $10, so the free shuttle really is not important.

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For our Oct Pearl cruise, We went with Best Western On the Bay Inn. We have stayed there before. Includes breakfast and they have a cruise package with airport and cruise transportation + a welcome drink. The cruise package add on was about $30.

 

I stayed here in November 2010, 1 night precruise. I liked it. They had a restaurant next door that we ate at and the food was very good. I got a great AAA rate and just took a cab to the port (paid $10 per person as a shuttle instead of cab rate) because I wanted to get to the port early. 1st shuttle out was 12pm (I think). Its about 15 mins away from the port and not much in the area to do but if your looking to just wait & relax, its a good choice.

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I stayed here in November 2010, 1 night precruise. I liked it. They had a restaurant next door that we ate at and the food was very good. I got a great AAA rate and just took a cab to the port (paid $10 per person as a shuttle instead of cab rate) because I wanted to get to the port early. 1st shuttle out was 12pm (I think). Its about 15 mins away from the port and not much in the area to do but if your looking to just wait & relax, its a good choice.

 

 

In my opinion, there is no good reason to stay at the Best Western. It is not a "bad" motel, just not as good as the average MIA or FLL area hotel. It is poorly located 6 miles from the Port of Miami, 14 miles from MIA and about 25 miles from FLL. The "free" shuttle to the Port of Miami requires a $30 cruising upcharge and makes the hotel a poor value. If you don't need the "free" shuttle to the Port, why not stay in a better (and better located) hotel? I suppose if you left your car there for the week (probably safe, but I wouldn't recommend it) it could be a decent value.

 

http://pictures.cruisecritic.com/data/510/medium/Best_Western_1.jpg

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Have cruise booked later in the year, currently pricing flying out of Detroit, to either Miami or Fort Lauderdale. We like to be in the port area the day ahead, so we are looking for a Hotel / Motel close to the dock for a NCL ship departing on a Sunday.. It seems to be cheaper to fly to FLL rather than Mia, so how much farther is Fort Lauderdale to the docks than Miami airports.

Shuttle service is in the $32.00 range per person fro Fort Lauderdale..

Thanks in advance

 

Lots of reasonable hotels near FLL and as you mentioned you can shuttle to POM the next day with SAS or QLS. In FLL we like the Embassy Suites (free happy hour, free breakfast, and walking distance to dining options and shops) or if it is a special occasion, the Hyatt Pier 66.

 

If you arrive early enough and decide to shuttle to Miami then for hotels close to POM look for the Intercontinental, Holiday Inn (across from Bayside Market if that is important to you), the Hyatt, Marriott and Doubletree - all will be about a $10/five minute cab ride to POM the next day.

 

Have a good cruise! :)

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I found a Rodeway Inn (owned & operated by Choice Hotels) in Miami that offers FREE transportation from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the port....VERY reasonable....AARP discount (if you qualify)...good ratings (from what I've seen so far)...not near the shore, but heck, I'm gonna be on the water for 7 nights, I think I can sacrafice this one night...

 

Anyone familiar with this place??

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We are looking to stay at the Intercontinental for one night between our 2 cruises but I would really like to do some laundry while we are there! Can anyone tell me if there are washer/driers available for guest use? If not can you recommend somewhere nice to stay that has clothes washing facilities?

 

Thanks :o

 

Sue

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I found a Rodeway Inn (owned & operated by Choice Hotels) in Miami that offers FREE transportation from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the port....VERY reasonable....AARP discount (if you qualify)...good ratings (from what I've seen so far)...not near the shore, but heck, I'm gonna be on the water for 7 nights, I think I can sacrafice this one night...

 

Anyone familiar with this place??

 

ok...upon further research, we decided the Rodeway is probably not a good choice....

 

instead, I found a Hilton Garden Inn just west of the airport that offers free transport from the airport.....and they do offer transport to the cruise port for $12pp....the online price (today) is $76 for a king room, but that is to be booked online, paid in full upfront and non-refundable....

 

This is our #1 option at the moment.....but still looking at what else is available..............

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ok...upon further research, we decided the Rodeway is probably not a good choice....

 

instead, I found a Hilton Garden Inn just west of the airport that offers free transport from the airport.....and they do offer transport to the cruise port for $12pp....the online price (today) is $76 for a king room, but that is to be booked online, paid in full upfront and non-refundable....

 

This is our #1 option at the moment.....but still looking at what else is available..............

 

If they offer transportation to the ship for $12/pp that may end up costing more than just taking a cab as a cab is one price regardless of how many passengers there are.

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