cruisemom2

Thank you so much for posting all this! I'm excited to hear all about your cruise since we're on Spirit next year on the same itinerary. We'll be spending six days in Hawaii before the cruise but not sure yet where. I'm on a wait list for a timeshare resort in Maui but have a hotel booked in Oahu as a backup. So I'm trying to research both. 🙂 I'm loving your review and pictures!

Ray, how can that be? Judging by this thread no one likes it. 😉 Funny how everyone thinks their favorites are so much better. We like to go to a local brewery here, Florida Beer Company. They have some great beers and ciders that they brew and bottle onsite. However, we also drink Bud Light and Mich Ultra - no beer snobs here. 😎

Here's another Marriott in FLL that we LOVED - we stayed there for a wedding on property last year and thought the resort was pretty amazing. I wish we would have gone a day or two earlier and spent more time there. https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/fllsb-fort-lauderdale-marriott-harbor-beach-resort-and-spa/

We stayed there a few years ago and enjoyed it. Elevators at the time were incredibly slow because they were working on them the whole week. Elevators are actually in the parking garage under the Marriott (which is across the street from the beach, not directly on it). Those are the only real negatives I can think of and none of them were a deal breaker for us. We stayed on points and our room was fairly high up so we had a pretty good view of the sunrise. We had a really nice two bedroom unit with plenty of space.

So did you ask this same question on a Keys forum? 🙂 Key West is the reason we got sidetracked from cruising several years ago - we have three trips booked there this year. BUT next year we're cruising again in Hawaii - on Carnival. And we'll still probably go to Key West for a week later in the year, can't stay away. Which cruise did you book?? 😎

I love Southern Charm - we go there often for breakfast. Currently they're only open late enough for dinner on Thursday and Friday nights. Uber and Lyft are cheap and we use them often to go to the Port restaurants on the weekends. Grills is our favorite.

379 days until our Carnival Spirit Honolulu to Vancouver cruise - can't wait!

Can't wait to hear all about it - the more pictures, the better!

Schooner Wharf Bar actually has a pretty good Key Lime Martini as well. It's on the water and the view from the dock there is definitely Instagram-worthy.

I was super excited to find that cabin when we booked. I hope it's not too cold to enjoy the balcony but we can take blankets out there if we need to. 🙂 Yesterday I started going through TripAdvisor looking at hotels and marking some as favorites so I have an idea of what to expect when they become available to book, probably next month.

I think there are a few of us anxiously waiting for Xmansmom to go on her cruise and report back. lol CCRUZER, we too have a port side balcony for the April 2020 cruise and wondered the same thing. But we're not changing now because we're booked in 7258 with a super long balcony. We have a request in for a Hyatt timeshare in Maui, but if we don't get it we'll need to decide whether to stay in Maui or Oahu the week before the cruise. Oahu would be easier so I may start looking for a hotel there that I can cancel if my wait list comes through. I'm so excited about this trip! 🙂

Yeah, no wind here. We live on the beach a mile south of the shipping channel where the ships leave the port. We were at work earlier in the day but didn't have anything more than a light breeze in the evening. Thanks Organized Chaos! I love taking pictures from our balcony - that was taken with my phone. 😊

Here she is leaving Port Canaveral a few minutes ago.

It's been a few years since we stayed at the Miami ES. The manager's reception was chaotic the last time we stayed there - long lines and the area was a mess. We like the FLL and Boca Raton locations better.

Also take a look at La Quinta and Best Western near the Cocoa Beach Pier. Not all rooms are oceanfront, so make sure you know what kind of room you're booking if that's what you want.