bajathree

When cruising out of FLL/MIA I always drive the night before. Like mentioned...you can use it to your advantage by choosing a less expensive location staying a little further from PE but only have a short drive the day of.

Agree with the above....look in the Las Olas area by Federal Highway.

You might want to give Coconuts a try next time instead of 17th St Touristy Fisheries...lol.

Yolo is a seen and be seen high testosterone atmosphere.....thus all the $100+K cars parked in front. Good drinks and lively night pick up bar crowd...it's less known for it's food

Having lived right on Las Olas.....if you want upscale seafood Lobster Bar is excellent. Boathouse is nice open atmosphere...decent food. Louie Bossi's very good Italian ...lively atmosphere. Caffe Europa...a locals favorite. Luigi's Tuscan Grill another good Italian. Eddie V's Prime Seafood for another upscale.

If you can find a good price fly ....check out Southwest and Silver Airways. Other choice like mentioned is rent a car and drive...it's about a 4hr drive from Tampa to FLL.

Odyssey (Quantum class) is esentially a Solstice series ship that has been "Royal Carribean'ized." Odyssey is a great ship. I am a Celebrity fan but have lots of Royal perks...so sailing Odyssey for me is kind of like a combination of the best of both lines. I have 20 plus Oasis sailings under my belt so Odyssey is a nice change.

Technically thats not supposed to be happening either. If you use one of your diamond plus coupons to buy yourself a drink and give it to someone...thats kind of hard to prevent people from doing. However if someone other than you is ordering a drink at dinner or at a bar and you are just telling the bartender or waiter use my diamond plus coupon for their drink.....they aren't supposed to be allowing that.

Not sure what terminal you are going out of but I have parked many vehicles at different terminals in Port Everglades over the years for dozens of sailings....never had an issue. Very safe port as you have to pass through a security gate just to even get into the port area.

Correct....I have has several times where my casino booking wouldn't show up till the next day. The reservation is created...you will get a reservation # and confirm e-mail...but it wouldn't show up in the planner usually till the next day.

It depends what you're looking for. If you are looking for some serious shopping Sawgrass Mills is a much better option. If you are just looking for a nice lunch/dinner and some indoor mall shopping and walking around then Galleria will be fine.

Yea...unfortunately they commonly use stock photos that aren't always specific related.

That is a picture of the over the water cabanas at Nellie

Stick with Barefoot 😉

There is a 24/7 CVS at Beachplace just a few blocks away that has groceries and wine/beer.

I would choose Barefoot over Nellie....Barefoot is private and much less crowded. Just a heads up on the hilltop cabanas...you have to walk up and down a bunch of steep stone steps to get to your cabana and up and down from the beach each time. I have done all the cabana categories on Barefoot and now just book a standard..least expensive and very convenient location for food/bar/water ...you honestly wouldn't be spending as much time as you think in the cabana.

Yes...I have stayed there several times. Great location with the beach right across the street. There are many restaurants within walking distance as well as a Starbucks and a Mexican restaurant attached to the hotel.

Overall Windjammer on Oasis class does not function as well as it does on other class ships. With over 20+ Oasis class sailings under my belt that is a venue I try to avoid. They have now redesigned Windjammer for Wonder of the Seas to add more space but I haven't yet sailed Wonder so can't comment much on it. Like mentioned there are many other options on Oasis class so I would agree with....don't let the fear of a crowded Windjammer sway you from going on Harmony. In comparison they did a very good job on Windjammer on Odyssey.

Actually Brightline calls it exactly ..."HIGH-SPEED RAIL" We're here to get you to South Florida's top events, concerts, beaches, or the office with high-speed rail service between Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach. The future looks even brighter. Service from Miami to Orlando begins in 2023, with stops at our shiny new stations in Aventura and Boca Raton along the way. https://www.gobrightline.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwl6OiBhA2EiwAuUwWZT9H8AcgnecQOfpN8Oz0JlK7YoyHDhzsCdiGJ0J-mvd1489suK7D-hoCi7gQAvD_BwE

Thats a shame.....the ride time is pretty much equal to drive time....making it much less appealing IMO. When you think of a high speed train you think of FFFFaassstttttttt....

So it's taking 3.5hrs to get from MCO to Miami.....thats pretty darn slow for what they call a high speed rail.

They do other than some have the bed facing in the aft direction some have the bed facing in the bow direction.

The Maren is a different hotel.....this is the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina that is the topic of this thread https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/fllgrhh-hilton-fort-lauderdale-marina/?SEO_id=GMB-AMER-HH-FLLGRHH&y_source=1_MTIyMDgxNi03MTUtbG9jYXRpb24ud2Vic2l0ZQ%3D%3D

There is more than enough to keep a teenager occupied on both class ships. Oasis class and Odyssey are quite different. To very briefly summarize I would say Odyssey is more a traditional cruise ship experience but with all the bells and whistles. Oasis class is an entirely different cruise experience...it has a Central Park area....a Boardwalk area with an Aquatheater...not quite your traditional cruise ship design. Oasis class also has cabin options....not necessarily for the better or worse ...that most other class ships don't have so be careful choosing. Both have excellent entertainment but I would probably give Oasis class a bit of the edge there. Like suggested watch videos of both and see what seems like a better fit. I am not sure if you have ever sailed Celebrity...but essentially Odyssey is a Solstice class ship that was "Royal Caribbeanized".

I was on that Odyssey spring break sailing and while I did notice the damage to some of the elevators I never in 8 nights personally ran into any groups of unruly kids. I did hear the stories but fortunately didn't have it personally affect us....we however were sailing with no kids. That is unfortunately a spring break thing that can happen on any ship/cruise line when you put over 2000 kids together. I have been on many spring break sailings through the years and remember similar stories and occurances on pretty much all of them.