Ft Lauderdale or Miami??

[mousehousemom]

Needing some suggestion and advice...we (myself, husband, our 2 boys - 15 & 8, another couple and their 2 kids - 18 & 15) are flying into Ft Lauderdale for a cruise on the Epic out of port of Miami at the end of December. Our flight is an overnight flight and we arrive in Ft Lauderdale at 5:30 am. We are planning on using SAS shuttle service to get to Miami. My question is should we get a hotel room in Ft Lauderdale and shuttle to Miami the morning of the 28th or should we shuttle to Miami as soon as we arrive? I'm not sure what we could do from around 6:00 am till check in time at a hotel in Ft Lauderdale? Hotel rooms seem to be considerable cheaper in Ft Lauderdale compared to Miami. Any suggestions or ideas would be great!

[JohninDC]

I would choose to stay in the FLL area - comparable hotels are usually cheaper and the area in general is much more family friendly. If you cannot check into your room early your hotel should be happy to watch your bags while you hang out by the pool, explore, or grab some lunch etc.