Sleep Inn, Dania, FL Questions

[maladigiz]

Four of us are taking a Panama Canal Cruise in November and have booked 2 rooms at the Sleep Inn in Dania for three nights prior to the cruse. I booked this hotel for many reasons, but one of the main ones is that they have a heated pool. Can anyone who has stayed there answer the following questions?

 

Is the heated pool really heated or is it just "not cold"

Are the pool and hot tub in good condition and kept clean?

Is the pool area generally a nice spot (loungers, tables etc)

Is it easy to take a bus to the beach?

 

Anything you can tell me would be greatly appreciated. I still have plenty of time to change hotels.

 

Thanks so much in advance.:)

[pcvtmom]

I, too, am interested in answers to your questions. I've booked it pre-cruise and post-cruise for a night each. The reviews on these boards sure have been good! Anyone have answers?

[Bison]

Four of us are taking a Panama Canal Cruise in November and have booked 2 rooms at the Sleep Inn in Dania for three nights prior to the cruse. I booked this hotel for many reasons, but one of the main ones is that they have a heated pool. Can anyone who has stayed there answer the following questions?

 

Is the heated pool really heated or is it just "not cold"

Are the pool and hot tub in good condition and kept clean?

Is the pool area generally a nice spot (loungers, tables etc)

Is it easy to take a bus to the beach?

 

Anything you can tell me would be greatly appreciated. I still have plenty of time to change hotels.

 

Thanks so much in advance.:)

We have stayed here many times but have not made much use of the pools. The pool area is pretty basic, small pool which appears to be kept clean, as is the hot tub. The water when I have gone in appeared to be heated (it wasn't cold) more by the sun than anything else (maybe it is heated). The pool area does have loungers and a few tables. The beach is about a mile away and I believe it is on the bus route. When our friends stayed here they just walked to the beach.

[royalcruz]

You can take one bus straight to the beach.

[mondello]

I love it for a night pre/post cruise. However, not sure I'd want to stay there 3 nights pre-cruise.

[royalcruz]

I love it for a night pre/post cruise. However, not sure I'd want to stay there 3 nights pre-cruise.

I agree. This is not a vacation neighborhood or resort property and I wouldn't stay more than one night without a car. It's hard to find a truly heated pool, but the beach neighborhoods are more fun. Well priced and good beach hotels in Fort Lauderdale: Best Western Oceanside, Bahia Mar, Alhambra. These are close to the water taxi too.

[FlaGrl4Evr]

We have this hotel booked for one night pre-cruise next spring. We booked this hotel mainly due to the great AAA discount and availability of shopping and restarurants right next door and across the street. There is a Walgreens adjacent to the hotel and a Publix shopping center across the road. The front desk told me that there was an Italian, a Chinese and a Mexican restaurant in the plaza. I have the online menus for Pancho's and The Bamboo House if you are interested:

 

Panchos http://panchosbackyard.net/index.php#rt-feature-panel

 

Bamboo House http://www.urbanspoon.com/u/menu/1425613?p=0

 

 

 

I can't answer the questions about the pool but the front desk told me that there is sidewalk all the way to the beach and it is about a mile walk.

 

Good luck to you.

 

 

 

.

[Bison]

I love it for a night pre/post cruise. However, not sure I'd want to stay there 3 nights pre-cruise.

This is good advice, great for one night pre or post cruise but 3 nights I would look elsewhere.

[maladigiz]

Thanks so much to everyone who replied. You've given me a lot to think about and research. I'm going to check some of the other places that were recommended closer to the beach. Will let you know how I make out.

 

Thanks again.:)

[danfiveoh]

I'll chime in with agreement on what has been said. We stayed one night pre-cruise in April. Very basic hotel, standard self serve breakfast, small pool with only a few chairs. It was nice having Walgreens and Publix next door and Poncho's had great food. I really enjoy FLL and if staying more than one night, I would stay on the beach or at least on the Sun Trolly route.

[tkilrainrn]

We stayed there this past November and I have to agree, Pancho's does have great food. I highly recommend it. Other than that, there are not a lot of dining choices within walking distance.

[imluvncruzn]

We stayed here last month for a one night pre-cruise stay. The pool was very warm and clean. The pool area had loungers and three or 4 tables with umbrellas. Nice for playing cards! Didn't try hot tub but it did look clean. Being right next door to Walgreens was a real nice plus! We picked up our soda and water for the cruise. We ordered from the Italian place (forgot name) right across the road in the plaza. We ordered a delicious sicilian pizza for $18. The hotel front desk has menus for all the places across the road and if you show them your hotel key you get 15% off your bill. My only complaint was that the room smelled slightly of mold/mildew and the fitness room had some really old machines and smelled VERY moldy...almost like it had been underwater at one time. It was awful! But would definitely stay again for a short pre/post cruise stay. Oh yea...they also had problems with computers at check out and could not check us out so they had to email me my receipt.

[maladigiz]

Thanks so much to everyone who replied. I took your advise, and have changed to the Alahambra Beach Resort. We got the last two rooms. It's very near the beach, on the Sun Trolley route and two blocks from the water taxi. It is three blocks from Beach Place and has a host of good places to eat nearby. I will still probably try the Sleep Inn in Dania when I only need to stay for one night because it does sound like the perfect place for a single night before or after a cruise. For three nights though, I'm really looking forward to the Alahambra. Thanks again for the recommendations.:p

[royalcruz]

Thanks so much to everyone who replied. I took your advise, and have changed to the Alahambra Beach Resort. We got the last two rooms. It's very near the beach, on the Sun Trolley route and two blocks from the water taxi. It is three blocks from Beach Place and has a host of good places to eat nearby. I will still probably try the Sleep Inn in Dania when I only need to stay for one night because it does sound like the perfect place for a single night before or after a cruise. For three nights though, I'm really looking forward to the Alahambra. Thanks again for the recommendations.:p

Good choice! I hope you like it. I walk by there often and it looks nice. Alhambra is one of the top rated small hotels in the country on TripAdvisor.

[tkilrainrn]

Thanks so much to everyone who replied. I took your advise, and have changed to the Alahambra Beach Resort. We got the last two rooms. It's very near the beach, on the Sun Trolley route and two blocks from the water taxi. It is three blocks from Beach Place and has a host of good places to eat nearby. I will still probably try the Sleep Inn in Dania when I only need to stay for one night because it does sound like the perfect place for a single night before or after a cruise. For three nights though, I'm really looking forward to the Alahambra. Thanks again for the recommendations.:p

 

I agree, good choice!

[Volunton]

I posted a review of Allure of the Seas Nov. 13/2011 sailing and included a lengthy diatribe about Sleep Inn in Dania. I also did a review on Trip Advisor.

 

We stayed there one night post-cruise. I would never recommend anyone stay there when there are SOOOOOO many other hotels to choose from in the area!

 

Basically, they wanted to charge us an extra $10 to check-in at 12 noon. Please understand I am FULLY aware that hotels say check-in is at 3 or 4 p.m. but I have never had a hotel try to nickel and dime me this way. In fact, last summer in Philadelphia and environs, hotels let us check in at 11 a.m. They also wanted to charge me $1 per page I printed in the business office. I believe you can buy 500 sheets of paper for $4 so that's a bit of a mark-up!

 

The pool was not warm! It was dirty as well.

 

We put pillows and sheets around the sofa bed in our room so our kids would feel safe (and we would too). As soon as I walked into the house after returning from our trip, there was a message from the hotel manager advising that my credit card had been charged $75 because a mini-blanket was missing. I was livid! I called them back immediately and had the manager check the room, which had yet to be re-booked by anyone. While we were on the phone, he advised (at least I'll give him this much credit) that he'd found the blanket under the bed. I asked him who reported it missing. He told me it was the maid - and I left her a $5 tip for a one-night stay DESPITE not being happy with the service there.

 

So, would I stay at Sleep Inn again? NO.

 

Cambria Suites is a newer hotel but it is a 15-20 minute walk to restaurants, other than a Cuban restaurant about a 5 minute walk out of the hotel lobby. The breakfast there is good but it's not free.

 

There are a lot of other hotels closer to restaurants in the general area.

[funinthesun1964]

has anyone used last minute travel dot com and booked the dania sleep inn through that website? Which one would I be looking for?

[FlaGrl4Evr]

I called the hotel to ask some questions about the area and what was within walking distance as we want to be withing walking distance of both a store an some restaurants. The Mgr, who took the call, was very pleasant and went above and beyond to give me information. We have done tons of research for a hotel that has smoking rooms and also has things within walking distance. There were vey few to choose from that met this criteria. The hotel has a free airport shuttle so that is a plus too. We will probably arrive in the evening so the pool is not a huge priority, we just need a clean place to sleep for the night with a restaurant and store nearby. We are cruising in April so the hotel rates are sky high. We were able to get a decent rate with our AAA card here, so we will give it a try as I have read where the hotel is fine for a one night pre-cruise stay. We will be using an outside shuttle service for our trip to POM and then back to FLL airport.

 

:):)