South Florida Hotel (cruise, cost, hotels, airport)

[JagFan27]

We are taking a cruise this summer out of the Port of Miami. We are driving down from north Florida the day before the cruise, so will need to spend the night.

Since we will have our car, we do not need to stay right next to the port, nor do we need to have a hotel that offers shuttle service to the port.

I want a hotel in a safe area that will cost under $200 (but closer to $100 would be ideal). We are early risers, so it would not bother us to have to drive an hour to the port on the day of the cruise.

Anyone familiar with that area, could you give us a recommendation on what city or what area would fit our specifications? At one time, we were going to be cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale, so I had heard of a Hampton Inn in, I believe it was Plantation, that was good. Maybe we should just stick with that one, but I thought I would see if I could get some other options.

[RickMG]

Here's a great board that will already have posts with your answers. I would register on the board so you can look at the roll call for your ship and discuss this with other passengers on your same cruise. We had a get together for the people of the board on the ship and it was fun to see them all during the cruise.

Cruise Critic Message Boards

Here's where we stayed. I don't fully recomend it as a great hotel, just a room in a great location and just about 45 minutes from the docks. I picked it because it used to be a Marriott (I think) and was the least expensive on the beach. You do have to pay for parking at the hotel, but there is a public pay lot next door that is free from like 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.

http://www.deauvillebeachresort.com/default.asp (broken link)

Here are the pics of our cruise last May. Hit slideshow once it opens up.

http://picasaweb.google.com/RickMG/CruiseMay2008#

[Dd714]

Heck then if you have your own car, just stay on one of the reasonably cheap hotels off of 95. Who says you have to stay in Miami. You can stay anywhere down from Orlando/Cocoa to Miami and make it in time for embarkation, which isn't until the afternoon on most cruises. You don't need a room with a view, a beach, or anything fancy, which would be a waste - just something reasonably safe and cheap. I dare say you can leave early from Jax or wherever you are and make the cruise.

One note that you may want to consider however - parking charges at the Port of Miami, which is very expensive - $20 or $25 a day. Now if you do decide to stay in Miami, there are some hotels (mostly around the airport it seems) that will let you park at the hotel and have a shuttle to the port, thus saving you as much as $200 on a 8 day cruise. When you disembark from your cruise however you will have to probably take a taxi back to the hotel.