Miami hotel

[alafurtado]

Hi All,
Looking for suggestions as to a place to stay for a family of 5 (kids 5,8,9) to stay the night before the cruise - must have a pool and be close to port! Trying to find something with a suite to avoid booking 2 rooms. Any info would be much appreciated!!

 

[MunFam]

Well, this might not completely meet your requirements, but we stayed at the Homewood Suites Blue Lagoon near the airport and it was amazing. We booked the one bedroom suite and it slept 6. When we arrived, they upgraded us to a 2 bedroom and we got an additional king bed and it was fantastic. They have a free airport shuttle, free wifi, free dinner (that was really good all 3 nights we were there!), free breakfast and then we used uber to get to the port and since it was our first uber, it was $5.00. If/when we sail out of Miami, I will definitely stay there again. Also, there was a grocery store, within a (long and safe) walking distance or the shuttle would take you there for free. I think we paid around $135 when all the downtown properties wanted $250+ for a regular 2 double room. There were only 4 in our party, so it didn't matter that much.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Well, this might not completely meet your requirements, but we stayed at the Homewood Suites Blue Lagoon near the airport and it was amazing. We booked the one bedroom suite and it slept 6. When we arrived, they upgraded us to a 2 bedroom and we got an additional king bed and it was fantastic. They have a free airport shuttle, free wifi, free dinner (that was really good all 3 nights we were there!), free breakfast and then we used uber to get to the port and since it was our first uber, it was $5.00. If/when we sail out of Miami, I will definitely stay there again. Also, there was a grocery store, within a (long and safe) walking distance or the shuttle would take you there for free. I think we paid around $135 when all the downtown properties wanted $250+ for a regular 2 double room. There were only 4 in our party, so it didn't matter that much.

I think the Homewood has a Park & Cruise package. I'm wondering what their parking situation is. Is it just an open lot like any hotel has?

 

[MunFam]

I think the Homewood has a Park & Cruise package. I'm wondering what their parking situation is. Is it just an open lot like any hotel has?

Yes. There was not a gate or anything like that. It was not protected from the elements either.

 

[CesD]

Comfort suites Miami Airport North has a shuttle from the airport as well as to the port. Breakfast is included
Element Hotel by Westin by the airport may also be a good choice as the rooms have kitchens and breakfast is included

 

[Alabama GiGi]

We area family of 5 and we are staying at the Comfort Suites. It has free shuttle from the airport and a free shuttle to the port. A family room with 2 queen beds and a sleeper sofa is under $250. They also have breakfast free.

 

[JTBE]

We are staying at the Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon. It has free breakfast, free shuttle from the airport, and shuttle to the port (this you have to pay for). Across the hotel, there is a Publix, Walgreens, and CVS for last minute shopping for water, wine, etc. We also considered Homewood Suites in Blue Lagoon, it has suites, free breakfast, free shuttle from the airport. It is a few blocks away from Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon. However, in the end we selected Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon b/c the friends we were going with thought it would be easier carrying water if the hotel is across the street especially at night. Which we agreed.

 

[alafurtado]

Thanks for all of the leads!! We are flying into fll so the airport shuttle doesn't help us much. Will look more closely at the places mentioned

 

[skiingwife]

Try the Hampton Inn Brickell. We are staying there in December. They have a room with 2 queen beds and a sofa. They have a rooftop pool, restaurants nearby for dinner, and free breakfast. We'll take a cab to port. From the airport, we plan to take the Metro Rail to a station that is just a block or so away from the hotel. I got a decent AAA rate.

 

[JTBE]

HI-- you can check this website on FLL hotels: http://www.sunny.org/cruise-and-play/hotels-with-shuttles/. Not sure how current it is but you can have an idea of the different hotels in FLL that have shuttles, etc. Then for transportation from FLL hotels to the port, you can use SAS. Most of the shuttles to the ports that this website lists is regarding the Port Everglades in FLL and not Port Miami. So you could use uber, taxi, or SAS to get to the port. I am not 100% certain, but from what I read, I do not think SAS does drop-offs at Miami hotels but it does drive to Port Miami from a FLL hotel or from the FLL airport.

 

[hubbard53]

We stayed at the Hilton close to port the night prior to our last cruise. Was super convenient to ATM, Publix, and liquor store so we walked to get all our cruise supplies, walked to breakfast and took a quick cab $15 cab ride to the port. The convenience of the Miami port is awesome and we'll probably take all future cruises from there rather than PC

 

[YayaFreckles]

We are kinda in the same boat!! We intend to arrive 2 days early to explore Miami before our cruise. So we are looking for an inexpensive yet nice hotel to stay in that is close to locations we can explore before we cruise. Any suggestions for this type of hotel?

 

[gzmtlock]

DD and I landed at FLL, rented a car from Alamo, and stayed at a Hampton Inn in Coral Gables. Walked to shopping and dinner the evening before embarkation. The next morning, we visited the Fairchild Botanic Gardens - can't recommend these enough, we loved seeing all the tropical gardens. This actually felt like the first excursion of our cruise! We returned the rental car at MIA and caught the (free) Alamo shuttle to the port; got there about 1:30 and basically walked onto the ship. Were eating lunch within 30 minutes of being dropped off. It was great!! I'm not sure I'll ever show up at 11 am again to board. . .

 

[MunFam]

We are kinda in the same boat!! We intend to arrive 2 days early to explore Miami before our cruise. So we are looking for an inexpensive yet nice hotel to stay in that is close to locations we can explore before we cruise. Any suggestions for this type of hotel?

We did exactly what you did. We had arrival day, two full days to explore (we did Everglades on day and Biscayne NP and Kew West the other). Then the final day we boarded the ship. We chose Homewood Suites Blue Lagoon for all the reasons I listed in my other post...free parking included and there was an Enterprise Rental Car that was actually cheaper than the airport about 1/4 mile away at the Hilton (I think). Anyways, we were able to walk to pick up and drop off the car without having to deal with luggage.