hugger

I am hoping that someone who lives in the area will advise or someone who has stayed at this recently opened property.

I have a reservation that I made last summer at the new Holiday Inn Express on Federal HWY in Dania.

Now I'm wondering if it's a safe area and IF our car rental will be safe overnight in the parking lot?

Might we be better off staying over in Plantation at the Staybridge Suites. I'm trying to use my point balance with IHG hotels. However, I only have 22,000 points to use :(:confused:

Try staying in hotels south of cruiseport. There is a brand new holiday inn express on federal highway in Dania Beach. I would think staying on 17th street in Fort Lauderdale would be more expensive.

What is the area like to leave our rental car overnight with our luggage - is it safe?:confused:

We are cruising out of Port Everglades in December on Princess.

I am trying to use my IHG reward points for an overnight pre cruise.

We will be driving in with a rental car that we will be PARKING overnight at the hotel.

I have 3 hotels to choose from with my points balance

I currently am booked at the Holiday In Express in Dania Beach on Federal HWY. It just opened in the past couple of months - so it's a new property. There are no reviews that I can find other than on tripadvisor. People seem quite happy with the hotel itself and the staff.

However, they are reporting that the area is a bit questionable maybe???

Wondering if it is safe and IF our car rental would be SAFE? It certainly is close to where we need to drop off our car rental on 17th St.

After seeing that the area may be iffy. I am wondering IF we should change to the Staybridge Suites or the Holiday Inn Express in Plantation. They are both further out but not that bad from what I can tell.

Anyone have any idea's or advise on this?

THANKS:confused:

:)

We finally got a room assigned today, yay! 10 days out appears to be the magic number. We had an SC guarantee and ended up with an SA right across from the Neptune Lounge. :D Very happy and excited!! This is our 2nd cruise but our first time in a suite.

Enjoy your cruise !!!

My cruise leaves in 2 days (Eurodam) and only just now did I get my cabin assignment.

 

P.S. I booked SC and got SA.

NICE UPGRADE ENJOY

wish we had been so lucky - we got no upgrade on our guarantee

I had to have my TA call three times over a 30 day period to get something out of HAL on my Dec 1 sailing (SC category), after HAL dropped the price by $400 pp. I ended up getting a $400 (total for 2 persons) OBC.

 

Good Luck

 

DaveOKC

Thanks for the info as I'm still disappointed would feel better if they gave us some OBC.

Hugger,

 

My TA, yesterday, said they were still allowing an upsell but they were still sticking with $499 pp price. If you are willing to pay that much, I would call your TA and get her/him to try to see what they can do.

 

Catherine

Thank you - but we already had paid full fare for our SY - we couldn't get any of the prices drops when they did it 2 days after our final payment - so just can't justify another grand to upsell - THANKS though.

I had the TA call again last Friday to see if they would give us a break on the upsell being we'd paid the same for our SY guarantee as others paid for their SA upsell. No Go - TA really thought they'd do something OH WELL we'll have a wonderful cruise in an SY :)

Sorry Hugger, mine is the first I have ever gotten that jumped to a whole other catagory. You still are going to have a nice, spacious cabin. I sincerely hope and wish for you to have a wonderful cruise. And keep trying in the future, I sure didn't expect it, sometimes they just happen.

 

So where did you end up exactly?

for your kind words - we will have a fantastic cruise - I had so wanted the upgrade for my DH more than myself. I had tried several days ago to get an upsell - but NO they wouldn't offer one to my TA. We thought are chances for an upgrade were good being the ship is WIDE open. I know there is a reason for everything just wasn't meant to be this time around. We did get a SY guarantee and that is what we were assigned 6101 - so nice mid ship cabin.

Have a wonderful day - thanks again

no upgrade for us :(

Just got our assignment for Dec. 9th cruise. We got a SB stern wrap verandah for our SC gty. Needless to say, I am very happy!

What an awesome upgrade - ENJOY :D

We leave in 13 days - still no assignment on our SY guarantee. So I'm thinking that maybe on Wednesday we'll get it - hope we get the type of upgrade you do - 2 cat's up and we'd be in an SC would LOVE THAT!

Can I ask what time you received it today? I've heard it's normally between 4-5 p.m. pacific time. Does that sound like what happened for you?

Again, CONGRATS Have an AWESOME cruise!

I had forgotten some of the great hint's on this thread.

All newbies should read this over ;)

here on this thread we have finally booked a ver. cat b guarantee on the Veendam for 11-4.

I wanted to drop in and say THANK YOU again for your help and info.

We normally sail with Princess and are anxious to try HAL this time around.

I appreciate the info on the verandah suite's - sounds as if you've got plenty of room in the bathroom then. Hate those little tiny shower's that they have in the cabins sometimes.

What kind of furniture is on the balcony - is there room for a lounger?

do you get any sun or are they are enclosed?

The Veendam sounds nice -

we need to get a cruise planned so we have something to look forward to - we were so disappointed when our Star Princess cruise had to be cancelled.

I want to thank you all for educating me on the suite cat's available on HAL.

I can't tell you how much we appreciate the clairification.

If I could ask one more thing - so many people seem to LOVE the Veendam - which I've heard has been recently updated. And, we live in Tampa Bay area would be great to sail from home. However, just can't quite justify the S cat on this ship - it appear's there are no SS cat's. How are the verandah VA cat's? In fact, from what I'm reading it looks as if the VB's are even the same size - 225 sq. ft with a 63 sq. ft. balcony. Does this sound correct?

What are the bathroom's like? Do they have a frig in them?

Or, would you think that we might be much happier with the Zuiderdam or the Westerdam in an SS cat?

By the way what is the Neptune lounge - I see that the rate on the above mentioned ships is only 200.00 more for the SC cat = is it worth the extra 200.00?

It's over 1200.00 more on the Veendam.

THANKING you in advance for your help. . .

I was fooled as we were looking at the SS cat.

So I take it that you don't get anything with these suites?

WOW - it is really very confusing the way HAL does their cat's.

We've cruised on several line's only once on HAL 20+ year's ago. At that time the crowd was bit to mature for us LOL

Now that we are in the "mature" crowd we were trying to decide between trying RCL or HAL - normally we cruise with Princess and love them.

However, after reading the past 11 pages of this thread we're hooked on HAL.

We're thinking of the Veendam, Westerdam or the Zuiderdam for the fall.

Which is your favorite and why?

Are all S class suites created equal???

Are the amentites the same for all S class suites?

We are platinum level on Princess do you know if there are any priviledges that are extened with HAL being they are all part of the VIP program?

THANKS everyone

What a FABULOUS job of sharing your tips on HAL.

They should give you all a discount.