Good hotel for night before cruise near Miami port

Are there any hotels that off free transportation from FLL and free transportation to port Miami (Carnival cruise)? Recommendations and suggestions please!!

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Welcome to Cruise Critic!

If you come over to the Florida Departures board, here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=495

You will see many discussions on the issues in your questions.

Summary...no hotel will pick you up at FLL for free and bring to their Miami hotel. It is a 45 minute drive. Options (shuttles, Uber/Lyft, limos) to make this work are discussed on the Florida Departures board.

A small number of hotels have free transport to the port, but is is very small. Again, Uber/Lyft and taxi work very well, and are discussed on the Florida board.

The Intercontinental Hotel on Chopin is literally half a mile from the port. Although no free shuttle, it's a very inexpensive taxi or Uber ride.

The Intercontinental Hotel on Chopin is literally half a mile from the port. Although no free shuttle, it's a very inexpensive taxi or Uber ride.

We always stay at the Intercontinental. If you get a bayview room you can see the cruise ships in the morning .... great sight.

We always stay at the Intercontinental. If you get a bayview room you can see the cruise ships in the morning .... great sight.

The InterContinental is also my go-to hotel in Miami! Lots of restaurants within walking distance as well as shopping!

Very few hotels offer free transport to the ports. None will offer free transport from FLL and to Port Miami. None.

Don't worry about free transport to the port. Either say near Port Miami, which is right in the middle of Downtown Miami tons of hotels to pick from. Or stay in Ft. Lauderdale and Uber/Shuttle down to the port the next day.

My suggestion is fine a hotel in the Downtown Miami/Brickell area. Your ride to the port will be no more than 10-mins and if you use Uber/Lyft no more than $10.00.

Welcome to the boards! :)

Or stay in the FLL area and then use a shared shuttle service for about $15 per person to get you to/from POM. SAS, QLS, MJS, Go Airport and others are often suggested on this board. UberX or standard Lyft from FLL area hotels to POM will run about $35+ for the car - good for 2-3 plus bags.

www.sunny.org has lots of FLL area hotel and tourist info - in general hotels near FLL will be slightly cheaper than comparable properties in Miami and Miami Beach, and we find the FLL area to be a bit more family friendly. Where you choose to stay will depend upon who is travelling, what time of year, your budget, and desires.

Good luck with your planning and have a great cruise! :D

We have stayed at the Holiday Inn on Biscayne Blvd across from the Bayside Marketplace which has many restaurants and shopping. Also, we have stayed at the Hampton inn downtown/brickell, which is also very nice, yet you have to go up to 5th floor from street to enter lobby. Many downtown restaurants in walking distance. We loved both hotels.

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I second the Holiday Inn from a previous post

Holiday Inn Port Of Miami is a 3 star perfectly adequate hotel for one night pre-cruise. Yes, a bit outdated but clean, staff has always been friendly and it's a $12 cab ride to the port. Our latest booking for a king harbor view was under $200, we pre-paid for breakfast (again adequate)in their cafe which pushed it right to $200. Bayside Marketplace is directly across the street with shopping and several restaurants with water views. Used this place quite a few times for a one nighter and never had a problem.