Unchartered waters, booked our first cruise

[greenclan67]

Anyone want to help. I have finally convinced my family, 2 teen daughters and hubby to try a cruise just after xmas. It is the NCL sky. Only 4 nights ( on purpose) from Miami. We will be flying down Dec 30th. ( havent booked yet, waiting for SW) and think we will do that area ( ish) for 3 nights. Board cruise on the 2nd. We will need somewhere in the area, not necessarily Miami we will have a rental car. Anyplace within a 1.5 hour range. Any suggestions for places to stay, or see. TIA

 

[starvenger]

Fort Lauderdale is quite close by, may be easier to find places to stay there. Lots of hotels there as well, might be able to find a car+hotel package on Expedia.

Another option are sites like Airbnb, vrbo and Homeaway.

 

[grantclaire]

Hi, we just cruised out of Miami this past March. We stayed at the Marriot campus near the Airport, we stayed at Residence Inn precruise. Took a shuttle from the hotel to the port. Cost was 7 dollars per person. Miami is an expensive city. Parking is expensive. Hotels in Fort Lauderdale might be cheaper. We stayed in Fort Lauderdale before at the GalleryOne Doubletree. Was nice, had a 2 bedroom suite with a kitchen. Was close to the beach and across from a mall. I think most hotels in Miami and Fort Lauderdale charge for parking.

 

[minnie mum]

Get yourself over to Cruise Critic.com! Now! Check out all of the different forums. Especially the ones dedicated to your cruise line, ports of call and the Florida departure ports. The latter will have all kinds of threads about accommodations, restaurants, shopping, etc in both Miami and Ft Lauderdale.

 

[greenclan67]

Thank you all. Good starting points. I was thinking FLL. Have too say it needs a pool for moi. After my run in with man o war in Dec it has made me ocean shy. I was only up too my knees at cocoa beach anyhow. Miami is crazy for prices!! Atlantis my girls really want to do. Any suggestions on if buying them through the cruise is best?

 

[starvenger]

Totally understandable if you encountered a man o war in the ocean.

For Atlantis, look into booking a room at comfort suites paradise island. That gets you access to Atlantis, but for far less than the going rate.

 

[greenclan67]

Totally understandable if you encountered a man o war in the ocean.

For Atlantis, look into booking a room at comfort suites paradise island. That gets you access to Atlantis, but for far less than the going rate.[/QUOTE

I have heard doing this with the comfort suites! Take a cab there and check in get wrist bands. Has anyone tried the other resorts for day use? I think my teen girls will like Atlantis but just wondering if we are only in port 8 -6 is it worth it? Ahhhh decisions.

 

[starvenger]

I've been to the Colonial Hilton in 2014. 10 minute walk, and includes a food credit. I thought it was a pretty nice place to just chill out and enjoy the beach: http://www.resortforaday.com/British-Colonial-Hilton-Day-pass-p/nsnabch.htm

For Atlantis, we were on RC (Allure) and I think we were in port until about 3pm so going to Atlantis wasn't worth it for us (esp considering my girls were 3 and 6 at the time), so your port time would provide better value there IMO.

 

[grantclaire]

Hi again! We have stopped in Nassau five times now and have never been to Atlantis, I want to go but the price just seems too high. Also on our last cruise I was talking to some people who did the Atlantis excursion booked with the cruise line and they thought the waterpark was just too busy, there was four ships in port that day. Usually what we do is a self guided tour in Nassau for about half the day and then head back to the ship for a swim and lunch.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

Just returned from an NCL cruise with a port day in Nassau and, as with starvenger above, we spent the 'day' at the Hilton and loved it.

Not sure about your day in the Bahamas, but we only had a total of 5 hours in Nassau and there were 4 other ships in port, so the cost/benefit of going to Atlantis didn't work for us, both in terms of time we'd actually get to spend there and how much we could actually do with that many people/ships there at the same time.

My best recommendation would be to check to see how much time you actually have in port (NCL drastically reduced it for many of their sailings over the last year) and to see how many other ships are docked at the same time. And, as I look at your post again, I see that you are heading down right after New Year's Day, so you may also catch the tail end of the high season for families who are staying at Atlantis - I'd hate to see you pay $200/pp to get all of two rides on a waterslide.

Sorry for being a Debbie Downer about this...

 

[greenclan67]

Just returned from an NCL cruise with a port day in Nassau and, as with starvenger above, we spent the 'day' at the Hilton and loved it.

Not sure about your day in the Bahamas, but we only had a total of 5 hours in Nassau and there were 4 other ships in port, so the cost/benefit of going to Atlantis didn't work for us, both in terms of time we'd actually get to spend there and how much we could actually do with that many people/ships there at the same time.

My best recommendation would be to check to see how much time you actually have in port (NCL drastically reduced it for many of their sailings over the last year) and to see how many other ships are docked at the same time. And, as I look at your post again, I see that you are heading down right after New Year's Day, so you may also catch the tail end of the high season for families who are staying at Atlantis - I'd hate to see you pay $200/pp to get all of two rides on a waterslide.

Sorry for being a Debbie Downer about this...

No Debbie Downer I appreciate it. The cost was one but busy wont help me feel better. How was the Hilton?

 

[Maddysdaddy]

No Debbie Downer I appreciate it. The cost was one but busy wont help me feel better. How was the Hilton?

Fantabulous.

It was a very short walk from the pier (approx 10 min), and even though there we were one of five ships in Nassau that day, and didn't port until noon, the pool/beach were much less crowded than I had anticipated.

While most of the loungers around the pool were occupied by the time we arrived, the loungers on the beach (under umbrellas) were less than 1/3 full (and it's all of a 12 second walk from the beach to the pool, if you'd rather cool off in there, rather than in the ocean). Not sure how typical our experience was, because I've read multiple posts on that other cruise forum where the 'critics' hang out, about day passes being sold out if not booked well in advance. I booked about a month before our cruise.

By the time you factor in the food/drink credit, you're really only paying about $20pp for the experience. Drinks were good and the food was perfectly acceptable. The beach itself was nothing special, but I've certainly been to worse. If you're extremely polite to the front desk clerk and ask nicely, they might even give you the hotel's wifi password for free (rather than charging you $12) - not a great connection, but good enough to let me keep monitoring email from the office.

For us, the biggest positive was literally being on the beach 20 minutes after docking, including the walk to the hotel and paying for the passes at the front desk (you book them thru a 3rd party and put a small deposit down - the balance is paid to the Hilton).

 

[greenclan67]

Fantabulous.

It was a very short walk from the pier (approx 10 min), and even though there we were one of five ships in Nassau that day, and didn't port until noon, the pool/beach were much less crowded than I had anticipated.

While most of the loungers around the pool were occupied by the time we arrived, the loungers on the beach (under umbrellas) were less than 1/3 full (and it's all of a 12 second walk from the beach to the pool, if you'd rather cool off in there, rather than in the ocean). Not sure how typical our experience was, because I've read multiple posts on that other cruise forum where the 'critics' hang out, about day passes being sold out if not booked well in advance. I booked about a month before our cruise.

By the time you factor in the food/drink credit, you're really only paying about $20pp for the experience. Drinks were good and the food was perfectly acceptable. The beach itself was nothing special, but I've certainly been to worse. If you're extremely polite to the front desk clerk and ask nicely, they might even give you the hotel's wifi password for free (rather than charging you $12) - not a great connection, but good enough to let me keep monitoring email from the office.

For us, the biggest positive was literally being on the beach 20 minutes after docking, including the walk to the hotel and paying for the passes at the front desk (you book them thru a 3rd party and put a small deposit down - the balance is paid to the Hilton).

Thank you. This Sounds interesting. I will lay by the beach but swim in the pool. Man o wars are still too fresh in my memory. Thank you.

 

[starvenger]

Thank you. This Sounds interesting. I will lay by the beach but swim in the pool. Man o wars are still too fresh in my memory. Thank you.

Just a recommendation, but I would order the food relatively early, as it may take some time to actually get anything from the kitchen. Drinks are no problem since there is a bar by the pool. Also if you happen to have leftover credit you can use it as part of your gratuities.

As an aside I saw on the The Amazing Race they went to Atlantis Dubai again. That Poseidon's Revenge slide is kind of insane.