hotels

did anybody get a group rate booking a hotel for the night prior to the cruise since they needed so many rooms? in fort lauderdale particularly

This is a very good question that I would also like an answer to. Have any of you lovely ladies (and guys) had luck booking group rates for hotels in FLL?

nobody???

I did! We booked a group room block at the Embassy Suites on 17th Street. We're sailing next Sat., so I'll be able to give a full review when we return. It's really close to the port and the new Publix is right behind it.

Here's the contact info for the sales manager.

Donald Reilly

Sales Manager-Tour&Travel/E-commerce Sales

Embassy Suites Hotel-Fort Lauderdale

Direct line: 954-315-1324

Main Number: 954-527-2700

Fax: 954-315-1314

http://esftlauderdale.hotel-brochure.com.

Miami too? I am looking at rooms for Fri/Saturday Feb 9 & 10, 2007.

Any info. for hotels in Miami for April 25-27, 2007 would be great. We don't want to be too far from the pier that the hotel's shuttle won't be able to bring us to the pier. :)

We got a group rate for the Tahitian Inn in Tampa. It was a little cheaper. I didn't have alot of luck calling around for rates. I did find that travelocity and cheaphotels.com are a great resource for researching hotels. I used them to find hotels and see pictures then I would take there price and call the hotel directly for pricing, The hotel was ALWAYS cheaper. I don't know why this is. I do recommend that you also call the hotel directly before you make any reservations.

We got a group rate for the Tahitian Inn in Tampa. It was a little cheaper. I didn't have alot of luck calling around for rates. I did find that travelocity and cheaphotels.com are a great resource for researching hotels. I used them to find hotels and see pictures then I would take there price and call the hotel directly for pricing, The hotel was ALWAYS cheaper. I don't know why this is. I do recommend that you also call the hotel directly before you make any reservations.

The Tahitian Inn is not really convenient to the cruise port. Hopefully, they made you aware of this when you booked.

I was aware, its only like 3.5 miles away. The price difference made up for the 5 minute drive for most guests.

I wasn't able to get a group rate as I only scheduled 5 rooms, but you can get discounts at some hotels if someone is a AAA member. Always ask a hotel if they give corporate discounts or other club discounts. Sometimes it pays to pay a nominal fee to join a club(e.g. AAA) to offset hotel costs.

We're taking Jewel of the Seas from Ft. Lauderdale. We booked Comfort Inn (very basic hotel, free shuttle from airport to hotel, free breakfast, free shuttle from hotel to boat). A few blocks away is Embassy Suites, a nicer hotel, but $75 more per night. I'm sure they offer similar perks. Across from Embassy Suites is a strip mall with stores, restaurants, etc. Both hotels are walking distance to the stores/restaurants and many people do that. You'd be surprised how crowded the hotels are with cruise vacationers. We found casual restaurants, something like Walgreens/QVC for our last minute supplies, and lots of liquor stores(big business down there) -- if you choose to smuggle some "party" supplies on the boat due to high cost of party beverages on the cruises, may i suggest if you buy clear liquid items and transfer them to water bottles so they go un-noticed.

Back to the hotels:

Comfort Inn: 1800 S. Fedderal Hwy, Ft. Lauderdale

Embassy Suites: 1100 se 17TH St Causeway, Ft. Lauderdale

Staying on 17th Street if far nicer (more local road) than staying on Federal Hwy (busy + no businesses).

These hotels are only 1.5 mile from the boat, so a taxi to the boat would be cheap.

BTW, I previously stayed at Comfort Inn and its a pretty basic hotel with basic, but clean rooms. the lobby is nice, but small, so it gets really crowded when people are boarding shuttle to the ships. One thing I was told is to immediately signup for the shuttle when you arrive at the hotel. They book quickly.

If looking for a hotel, my suggestion is :

* goto http://yp.yahoo.com and click "Change Location" (upper right of screen).

* Enter the address of where the ship departs (for Jewel of Seas departur, it is: 1850 Eller Drive, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316 -- got that info by calling RCI - 1 866 562-7625)

* now search for: hotels

* in the results, go past the Sponsored Businesses (yellow background). Under the 'All Businesses' results, you'll see the distance (in miles) each hotel is from the actual ship departure location.

for the address I provided, this link provides me hotels in the area:

http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypResults.py?Pyt=Typ&city=Fort+Lauderdale&state=FL&zip=33316-4202&uzip=33316&country=us&msa=2680&cs=9&ed=9CP1xa160SxfTFdeKrClrxfGUmQt2EOy5RaGBOMKrTYCBpDWdAytusWdL_yvxbtJnESHTH4ZIw--&tab=B2C&stx=7737307&stp=y&doprox=1&sorttype=distance&desc=Hotels+and+Motels&qtx=hotels&offset=0&FBoffset=100&toggle=&stat=ClkNxtUpper&ls=&lp=