advice for pre-cruise

[chazzeek]

I need some advice for planing my pre-cruise hotel stay.

 

we are probably flying into FLL and cruising our of POM.

 

we would like to stay within walking distance of Bayside. we plan to do a shuttle or hired car from the airport to the hotel and from the port back to the airport. then just do a taxi from the hotel to the port.

 

from reading on this site i have seen that it is best to reserve a backup room that can be canceled, and try to get a better price from a bidding site. we are cruising on july 3 2011, and would need 5 rooms.

 

1) is it practical to think i can bid and get a good price on 5 rooms?

 

2) we want to stay at the Intercontinental or the holiday inn, is it practical to think i could do this for $100?

 

3) what time frame should i be looking for best prices?

 

4) any suggestions on backups? or is it best to just get a more expensive room in the hotel you want and cancel if you get a good deal?

 

5) any recommendations for transport for 10?

 

 

sorry for all the questions, but it seemed like the best way to get the process explained clearly.

 

thanks for any help

[JohninDC]

I need some advice for planing my pre-cruise hotel stay.

 

we are probably flying into FLL and cruising our of POM.

 

we would like to stay within walking distance of Bayside. we plan to do a shuttle or hired car from the airport to the hotel and from the port back to the airport. then just do a taxi from the hotel to the port.

 

from reading on this site i have seen that it is best to reserve a backup room that can be canceled, and try to get a better price from a bidding site. we are cruising on july 3 2011, and would need 5 rooms.

 

1) is it practical to think i can bid and get a good price on 5 rooms? NO!:eek: If you need multiple rooms you should go to a conventional travel web site.

 

2) we want to stay at the Intercontinental or the holiday inn, is it practical to think i could do this for $100? Depends upon the time of the year - when do you cruise? July and August - maybe; Spring break and Christmas - forget about it!:rolleyes:

 

3) what time frame should i be looking for best prices? Bidding sites typically have better prices closer to your date, or they will have nothing. Check www.betterbidding.com for more advice.

 

4) any suggestions on backups? or is it best to just get a more expensive room in the hotel you want and cancel if you get a good deal? Look for back-up hotels in Fort Lauderdale - typically cheaper (but not always) than downtown Miami.

 

5) any recommendations for transport for 10? www.ridesas.com For a group of 10 you should save a dollar or two per person off of the typical $15 fare. They can also get you back to FLL after your cruise.

 

 

sorry for all the questions, but it seemed like the best way to get the process explained clearly.

 

thanks for any help

Good luck!:)

[chazzeek]

thanks,

 

one follow up question.

 

since bidding isn't the best option, what time would you expect a conventional travle site to have the best rate? i would think 10 months out is too early.

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

Check out the cancellation policies. If not penalized it may be best to have a booking and then continue to look for better deals.

 

 

thanks,

 

one follow up question.

 

since bidding isn't the best option, what time would you expect a conventional travle site to have the best rate? i would think 10 months out is too early.

[NoWhiners]

chaz

 

Why not start bidding now (after you study up on betterbidding!) and bid low? if you get a room, it will be a great bargain; if you don't, no loss.

 

I don't see why you can't bid on 5 rooms. We bid on 4 (at the same time) in Vancouver last year, no problem--got 4 rooms.

 

Good luck

ML

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

Someone on my roll call mentioned that they got the Intercontinental on last minute travel .com . It was listed as a 5 star in downtown Miami with 34 floors I believe. Right now it is at 83.50 for the end of October.

[chazzeek]

chaz

 

Why not start bidding now (after you study up on betterbidding!) and bid low? if you get a room, it will be a great bargain; if you don't, no loss.

 

I don't see why you can't bid on 5 rooms. We bid on 4 (at the same time) in Vancouver last year, no problem--got 4 rooms.

 

Good luck

ML

 

 

i guess it can't hurt to try, i could get a good deal. I will start bidding as soon as i know for sure who all is going. which site do you use for bidding.

 

maybe if i bid a bit higher than the last minute site i could snag some rooms.

[NoWhiners]

i guess it can't hurt to try, i could get a good deal. I will start bidding as soon as i know for sure who all is going. which site do you use for bidding.

 

maybe if i bid a bit higher than the last minute site i could snag some rooms.

 

Chazz-

 

there are several choices to get hotels. Bidding is only via priceline. This is where you pick your star level, area, and name your price. I recommend picking a 3.5* and bid $40-45 per night (seems doable for July!). Go to betterbidding site to read up on how to get free re-bids.

 

If you just want a good deal at a decent hotel, you can use Hotwire. You won't know hotel until you book, but you will know general location and star level. You can look at better bidding or hotel deals revealed to try and figure out the hotel.

 

or, you can use last minute travel (lastminutetraveldotcom/PageHotelSearch.aspx), select a listing you like, pretend you will book, then use:

 

touricoholidaysdotcom/en/PageHotelDetail.aspx?hotelId=1256&provider=localTgsProvider

 

to ID the hotel. (cut ID # out after = and before & in last minute link, then paste into ID of 2nd link and you will know the hotel before you book!!

 

good luck--you should do great!

ML

[RuthlessBunny]

Another thought might be to stay in Ft. Lauderdale and take your shuttle down the day of your cruise.

 

The prices are better.

 

Now is the time when I get up on my soapbox:

 

IC and HIPOM are both fine hotels and if you were coming into MIA and sailing out of POM, you could go further and fare worse, but I wouldn't go out of my way to stay there.

 

In fact, given that same scenario, I'd stay at the Embassy Suites Airport, just because they have a good Fly, Sleep, Cruise deal.

 

IC and HIPOM are downtown. Miami is not a vibrant downtown with nightlife and excitement. Downtown Miami is a place to work. Full Stop. The sidewalks roll up at 5:00.

 

Cruisers stay there because of the proximity to Bayside. It's no secret that Bayside and I are not friends. Bayside is just a tourist trap. Over priced shops, chain restaurants and basically has a captive audience from the hotels. Trust me, if there were no tourists, Bayside would close up and wither away.

 

If saving money is a goal, try for hotels on 17th Street in Ft. Lauderdale, or Blue Lagoon in Miami. Hotels near MIA are also a decent price. I also like Doral, which is on the back end of MIA. I used to work off of 42nd/36th street and there are plenty of clean, mid-priced hotels out there. The bonus is that there are also Cuban restaurants, some more authentic than others.

 

At any rate Miami is pretty big and there are WAY better places to stay, especially if you want to save money, than IC or HIPOM.

[stevekinmd]

I have sailed out of the Port of Miami a few times, and for an overnight stay, HIPOM for around $120 a night was clean and less than 1/2 mile from the port. Again, for an overnight stay, Bayside Marketplace is not a bad place to drop by, with restaurants like Hooters and Bubby Gump Shimp and an assortment of shops little bars and cafes. I also spent the night at IC and was one of the best rooms I have ever stayed in, but should have been for the $300 I paid for the night. I much rather have spent half that, at HIPOM. If you decide on HIPOM look to spend around $90 to $150. I booked through Hotels.com and directly from HI website and found no real difference in the price. I also booked it about 2 to 3 months in advance. Also on cruise day, leave the hotel no later than 10:30 for a very speedy embarking process, at least with RCCL. Boarding process will begin at 11:00, 11:15 and you will be on the ship by 11:30, 11:45.

[Marie51]

I have sailed out of the Port of Miami a few times, and for an overnight stay, HIPOM for around $120 a night was clean and less than 1/2 mile from the port. Again, for an overnight stay, Bayside Marketplace is not a bad place to drop by, with restaurants like Hooters and Bubby Gump Shimp and an assortment of shops little bars and cafes. I also spent the night at IC and was one of the best rooms I have ever stayed in, but should have been for the $300 I paid for the night. I much rather have spent half that, at HIPOM. If you decide on HIPOM look to spend around $90 to $150. I booked through Hotels.com and directly from HI website and found no real difference in the price. I also booked it about 2 to 3 months in advance. Also on cruise day, leave the hotel no later than 10:30 for a very speedy embarking process, at least with RCCL. Boarding process will begin at 11:00, 11:15 and you will be on the ship by 11:30, 11:45.

 

You can get a hotel in downtown Miami for much less than what you paid for the Holiday Inn and Intercontinental on lastminutetravel, priceline, and hotwire.

[chazzeek]

Thanks for all the advise.

 

the reason we were looking for places downtown miami is because several people in my family are fans of bubba gump. several of us look at a trip to bubba gump as a pre cruise ritual when leaving miami. granted if price made it a much better idea to go somewhere else we would get over it.

 

on our honeymoon my wife and I were at the Ft. Lauderdale Grande, we rode the water taxi from there to the river front area for dinner. we enjoyed the water taxi ride, but the per person cost of the taxi would mean that we would need to account for more than 30 dollars per room over a hotel that we could walk from. i also noticed that Embassy Suites would be a long walk to the water taxi for some in our group. if we went that route, are there any suggestions for dinner and evening activities in the area.

 

maybe we will book Embassy Suites as backup and try to find something downtown miami priced comparably.

[NoWhiners]

Thanks for all the advise.

 

the reason we were looking for places downtown miami is because several people in my family are fans of bubba gump. several of us look at a trip to bubba gump as a pre cruise ritual when leaving miami. granted if price made it a much better idea to go somewhere else we would get over it.

 

on our honeymoon my wife and I were at the Ft. Lauderdale Grande, we rode the water taxi from there to the river front area for dinner. we enjoyed the water taxi ride, but the per person cost of the taxi would mean that we would need to account for more than 30 dollars per room over a hotel that we could walk from. i also noticed that Embassy Suites would be a long walk to the water taxi for some in our group. if we went that route, are there any suggestions for dinner and evening activities in the area.

 

maybe we will book Embassy Suites as backup and try to find something downtown miami priced comparably.

 

chazz

 

sounds like you have a good plan--go for it! peace and harmony within the group is worth a lot, plus you have a tradition to uphold!

 

good luck

ML