Hilton Marina Hotel Ft Lauderdale

[sailing sue]

I just reserved this hotel for one night prior to my upcoming cruise. Could you tell me your thoughts about this hotel and if there is a Walgreens or similar store within walking distance. I tried to post on the Florida departures page but couldn;t figure out how.

Thanks very much

[dmarie25]

We stayed there in March.  We thought it was great.  Beautiful pool area.  There is a Walgreens on 17th Street (5-10 minute walk) where we bought our wine, water, and sunscreen.  

[ger_77]

The Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Marina is our go-to hotel when we cruise.  It's a quick ride from the airport, walking distance to Walgreens, many shops and restaurants, and another quick trip to the port. 

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

[dolita22]

Have stayed there twice -- once before a cruise a few years ago and once for a weekend getaway last summer (we live on the opposite side of the state). Nice hotel and easily walkable to restaurants and the nearby Walgreens. If you can, choose a room in the tower versus the marina view rooms, which have views that are often blocked by big yachts -- unless you want to admire those huge things for your entire stay. 🙂 There's a water taxi stop at the hotel, so you can hop that to different stops along the river (Las Olas, Margaritaville, cruise by to see which ships are in port, etc.) Super easy to get to the cruise port from there, too.

[cruiselvr04]

It's not fancy....but the location is great.  As long as you're not expecting luxury it will be fine.

[sailing sue]

Thank you for your replies! I usually stay at Embassy Suites but I have found them to be very expensive. The exterior of the ES is beautiful, but the guestrooms are in serious need of updating.

That said, I do like the Hilton product.

[nhraformula00]

Marina Hilton is nicer inside than E.S. Walgreens is across the street one block west. 

[frank808]

Also if you have gold or diamond status with hilton you get a pretty decent continental breakfast.  For i think it was $5 more you can upgrade to the hot buffet.  Stayed here a few times and love the location and cheap $7 uber ride to the port across the street. 

 

The ES on 17th definitely needs an update on their rooms.  It was pretty rundown this past feb when we were there.  

 

We have Hilton marina booked for a couple nights in jan before we board the Serenade.  Also echo another cruisers thought that the tower rooms are definitely better than the marina rooms.  Try to get a room facing the intercoastal.

[ger_77]

19 hours ago, sailing sue said:

Thank you for your replies! I usually stay at Embassy Suites but I have found them to be very expensive. The exterior of the ES is beautiful, but the guestrooms are in serious need of updating.

That said, I do like the Hilton product.

I agree with your impression of Embassy Suites - I was expecting much more from our room than what we received; everything was old.   We tried ES once last year and went back to the Hilton Ft Lauderdale Marina.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

 

[p2lockhart]

We are considering the Hilton Marina Hotel for our December cousin cruise.  There are 3 of us ladies so we need our space.  I ruled out the Embassy Suites due to the poor reviews.  In the past I have stayed at the Hyatt Place for the space but I would prefer a view & easy access to the water taxi.  From looking at the website, it looks like they only offer 2 double beds.  I did not see a sofa bed mentioned.  

Any thoughts & suggestions would be appreciated.

[frank808]

4 hours ago, p2lockhart said:

We are considering the Hilton Marina Hotel for our December cousin cruise.  There are 3 of us ladies so we need our space.  I ruled out the Embassy Suites due to the poor reviews.  In the past I have stayed at the Hyatt Place for the space but I would prefer a view & easy access to the water taxi.  From looking at the website, it looks like they only offer 2 double beds.  I did not see a sofa bed mentioned.  

Any thoughts & suggestions would be appreciated.

Option would maybe see if a suite that sleeps 3 or 4 is available.  Have only stayed in the single and double bed rooms.  At the most there is only 3 of us and son can sleep with me or mom on the bed.

[Esmerelda]

We have stayed there 2 or 3 times over the last 4 years.  It’s a great location but the hotel does have some issues....not horrible issues but nonetheless.  If I had to choose between ES and this hotel, hands down it would be Hilton Marina.  I’m silver level with Hilton so I have stayed at many Hilton’s.  My favorite is Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale.  We will be there in September and the resort in itself is a vacation.  Beautiful rooms, great restaurants, the beach is right across the street and you can walk to more restaurants, Walgreens, etc.  it’s absolutely the best location we have ever stayed in pre cruise.  We actually plan a few days there pre cruise because we love it so much. Happy planning and I hope you have a great cruise!😊

[skrufy]

Does the Hilton provide a shuttle from FLL to hotel? Thanks

[voljeep]

On ‎5‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 3:59 AM, frank808 said:

We have Hilton marina booked for a couple nights in jan before we board the Serenade.  Also echo another cruisers thought that the tower rooms are definitely better than the marina rooms.  Try to get a room facing the intercoastal.

we just stayed - 5/12 and 5/13 before our cruise on 5/14 - Water View - Tower - King Bed - we ended up in 926 ... the intercoastal ... could see the port and cruise ships ... and walked down and took the water taxi around the 2nd day

 

very satisfied

[frank808]

11 hours ago, skrufy said:

Does the Hilton provide a shuttle from FLL to hotel? Thanks

Not a free shuttle.  I believe you could sign up for shared shuttle service in lobby for a cost.

 

Just use an uber or Lyft.  It was less than $10 with tip and got to terminal in minutes.

 

 

[voljeep]

On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 6:12 PM, voljeep said:

we just stayed - 5/12 and 5/13 before our cruise on 5/14 - Water View - Tower - King Bed - we ended up in 926 ... the intercoastal ... could see the port and cruise ships ... and walked down and took the water taxi around the 2nd day

 

very satisfied

oops. we did it again ... Just booked floor 9 or 10 same water view - tower - king bed for a 1 night stay for a pre-cruise night on 12/3 for our cruise on 12/4 ...

[Esmerelda]

Be careful on the ‘shuttle’ from the Hilton Marina.  When we stayed there March of 2018, I specifically asked for a cab to take our party of 4 to the port.  I told them a cab that’s a van would work best.  I did emphasize I wanted a CAB.  What we got on the morning of our cruise was crammed into the back of a van (I’m not very big, and it was bad) that was not big enough for the amount of people in it. They dropped us where we should not have been dropped and we had to drag our luggage across the port traffic.  This was not a pretty scene.  It wasn’t just the 4 of us, there were about 12 of us?  That was the icing on the cake for me with the Hilton Marina.  There were other issues with our stay as well but that was a mess (and dangerous!) We were fine with paying the extra for a cab but yet this was not what we ended up with after 3 requests.  

[frank808]

4 hours ago, voljeep said:

oops. we did it again ... Just booked floor 9 or 10 same water view - tower - king bed for a 1 night stay for a pre-cruise night on 12/3 for our cruise on 12/4 ...

How do you request a specific floor.  We have been lucky and have been assigned the lounge floors even though there is no lounge in hotel.  I believe it was the top 2 floors of the tower.  We will be ther again in early Jan for a couple nights before our serenade cruise.

[voljeep]

12 hours ago, frank808 said:

How do you request a specific floor.  We have been lucky and have been assigned the lounge floors even though there is no lounge in hotel.  I believe it was the top 2 floors of the tower.  We will be ther again in early Jan for a couple nights before our serenade cruise.

thought the same thing ... when making the reservation, I mentioned we had previously stayed 2 nights in 926 on 5/12 & 5/13 and wanted floor 9 or higher ... the reservationist  stated , yes, the were currently booking floors 9 an 10

 

guess we'll see when we show up - - what floors are the 'lounge' floors ? top 2 - is that like 12,14 ?

[frank808]

Yes I believe it was 12 and 14.  

[p2lockhart]

On 5/15/2019 at 6:08 PM, frank808 said:

Option would maybe see if a suite that sleeps 3 or 4 is available.  Have only stayed in the single and double bed rooms.  At the most there is only 3 of us and son can sleep with me or mom on the bed.

Thanks, frank808. I ended up calling (the Hilton Marina Hotel) to inquire & was told not available.  However, when I booked the 2 double bed tower room online, it gave me an option to request various suites at an additional cost, which I did.  However, I will not find out until I check in whether I will get the upgrade.