Hotel In Miami Near Ship

[Fred C]

Can anyone suggest a reasonably priced hotel near the pier in Miami in case I want to get there a day earlier than my cruise?

[starlite713]

We have always gone a day eariler when we need to get a ship from Miami.

We have always stayed at the Holiday Inn on Biscayne Blvd. It was about 10 minuets away from the port and was a very nice hotel. It also had a cute little shopping mall right across the street, in walking distance. Its so close to port, you can see the ships from you're hotel room. E-mail me if you need anymore information yesterdaysxhope@aol.com :)

[Alexis]

I agree on the Holiday Inn. Here is the website to see it. If you join the Priority club you get a discount. they are now taking bookings over the website for September/part of October, 2006.

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hd/miabb

[cmason]

why stay near the ship? The port is no more than a 10-15min cab ride from one of the top beaches in the world: South Beach Miami. For little more, you can stay on or near the beach, enjoy the nightlife of South Beach, shopping and all the restaurants. Downtown is no where near as interesting, and there are few shops and restaraunts.

 

I recommend the Doubletree Surfcomber, right on the beach.

[OliverTheCat]

One hotel I DO NOT recommend the Hyatt Regency by the port. Although its a beautiful hotel, the service is very very poor. Stayed there in May 1 night and that was enough for us.

[Nessa1dc]

One hotel I DO NOT recommend the Hyatt Regency by the port. Although its a beautiful hotel, the service is very very poor. Stayed there in May 1 night and that was enough for us.

 

Too late, I'm already booked there. Now I'm nervous.

[TrentS]

Don't be nervous Nessa1dc... Hyatt Regency Miami is a nice hotel, and extremely popular with many cruisers who stay there every time. The only frequent complaint is that it's "noisy" on the SE side due to cars going over the steel grating on the draw bridge next to that side of the hotel.

 

Fred C, there should be no "in case", you should ALWAYS get to your port of embarkation at least a day before your cruise! Too many things can go wrong, and the ship won't wait for you.

 

An above poster mentioned South Beach being 10-15 minutes away. True, but if you want "reasonably priced", the decent South Beach hotels are not inexpensive. If you're coming in the afternoon/evening before your cruise downtown Miami is fine.

 

These hotels are all very close to the Port of Miami, and Bayside Marketplace (a very popular open air mall with several restaurants right downtown)... http://www.baysidemarketplace.com/

 

The Marriott Courtyard and Holiday Inn are the least expensive...

 

JW Marriott... http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/miajw

 

Hyatt Regency... http://miamiregency.hyatt.com/property/index.jhtml

 

Intercontinental... http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ic/1/en/hd/miaha?irs=null

 

Biscayne Bay Marriott... http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/miabb

 

Marriott Courtyard... http://www.miamicourtyard.com/

 

Holiday Inn Bayside/Port of Miami (for the budget minded)... http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hd/miabb

[Karen Lynn]

I have stayed at the Hyatt and had a great experience. Not the greatest area, but the hotel and staff were very nice.

[Nessa1dc]

Wheeeewwww! I'm feeling better already. Thanks for the info.

 

 

 

Hyatt Regency here we come!

[SAS21]

I Have Intercontinental Booked. Has Anyone Stayed There? How Close Is It To Bayside Marketplace? Thanks For Any Help.

[csk]

we stayed there in April, it is right on the Bay and adjacent to Bayside. It is a first class hotel. The rooms are big and the bathroom hugh and has every little extra you can think. We did not have a bay front room, but our room had a side view. One downside, is the pool is on the side where they are building a hugh condo, and is shaded. We did not use the pool, was not there long enough but we did enjoy the hotel

[SAS21]

Thanks. I Won't Be Using The Pool. Getting There Late Friday.

Thanks Trudy

[Dave4120]

We are also booked through RCCL at the Hyatt in Miami before our December 11th cruise. We have always stayed at the Biscayne Marriott and never had a problem, but this time, RCCL listed the Hyatt as one of the pre-cruise choices, so we booked it.

 

I am not as concerned about the poor service that another person posted, because service varies from day to day, hour to hour, and person to person, however, another person's post said that the Hyatt was not in a good section of town, and that concerns us. We definetly want to go to Bayside Market Place like we did on our last cruise from Miami, but, if the Hyatt is not in a good section of town, does that mean we have to worry about being safe while trying to get to Bayside, especially if we wanted to walk versus taking a cab?

 

What other nice hotels, (price does not matter) are near Bayside and in a decent area that we can just walk over to Bayside?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Dave

[TrentS]

Hyatt's location is FINE! It's actually in a better neighborhood than the Biscayne Bay Marriott. I would not recommend anyone walk from the Biscayne Bay Marriott at any time. It would be a longish walk from the Hyatt, but if you do walk only do so during daylight hours on weekdays just to be safe. It's best not to attempt to walk at night or on weekends when the offices in downtown Miami are closed. I also don't recommend the Metromover at night either. It's a short, inexpensive cab ride, grab one and don't take any unnecessary chances.

 

The ONLY hotels I would recommend anyone walk to Bayside from are the Intercontinental or Holiday Inn... From the others grab a taxi. Downtown Miami is a MAJOR construction site at the moment, they're building huge new towers all over the place, and many sidewalks are closed.

[GigglewolfOfTheSeas]

Hey Dave,

Being a native Miamian, I happen to prefer the Biscayne Bay Marriott over the Hyatt; just nicer in-general. As to location, the Hyatt is much closer to Bayside than the Marriott, even though it will be about a 6 or 7 block walk.

Walking in downtown Miami is not very pretty at the moment (within the next five years it will be VERY pedestrian friendly; all of downtown's streets & sidewalks are being redesigned). Just be aware of your surroundings (as you would in any major city in the world) and stick to the busy streets.

I actually think "cmason" had the best idea, by suggesting a stay on South Beach. There are many more interesting sites & locales in South Beach than in downtown and certainly more pedestrian friendly (LINCOLN ROAD is GREAT and OCEAN DRIVE can be very interesting!). And, of course, you've the beach itself. As to hotel prices in South Beach...there are many hotel chains now located on the beach and with all the deals available on the internet now-a-days, virtually anyone can find a great deal.

I would always recommend buying it directly from the cruise line (like I believe you did), since they can then monitor your flight arrival & transfers and you don't have to worry about all those arrangements yourself).

Irregardless, have a GREAT time and Bon Voyage!

Gigglewolf-of-the-Seas

;)

[TrentS]

Buying your flights in particular from the cruise line is never a good idea. It's almost always much cheaper to get your own flights. Cruise lines don't book the flights until about 45 days out and you frequently get very strange times and very odd connections.

 

They will NOT necessarily hold the ship for you if one of their flights is late. They will only hold the ship for 2-3 hours at the most ONLY if a LARGE number of passengers are delayed.

 

Experienced cruisers NEVER book cruise line air, and ALWAYS fly in at least a day early!

 

Cruise line transfers are also rarely a good idea. They're almost always far more expensive than taxis or booking a limo or shuttle on your own, and with cruise line transfers you'll sit there until the bus fills up!

 

If you do decide to stay in South Beach, be aware that many of the hotels that call themselves "South Beach" are not really in South Beach. You don't want to be much north of about the 1700 block or it's too far to walk to the restaurants, shops, and clubs of South Beach. Many of the hotels are quite old, the nicer ones have been gutted and completely rebuilt, the not so nice ones haven't and many are quite scary! In South Beach the nice places are not cheap, and the cheap places are not nice. If you're only coming in the afternoon or evening before your cruise downtown is fine. It's far less expensive, and you won't have time to enjoy much of South Beach in so little time anyway... If you're coming in a few days early then yes, go for South Beach!

[Aliann]

Stayed at Hyatt year before last and it was great. Actually stayed 2 nights before and 2 nights after because we got the rooms for 45.00 thorugh Priceline. I often check out http://www.biddingfortravel.com and it gives you tips on bidding and what comes up on priceline in the areas you're looking at so you won't be surprised so much to end up in some strange city 5 cities away from where you want to be. YOu do take chances, and of course aren't guaranteed a certain hotel, but you bid by star rating, so you're going to get whatever rating you want. I ALWAYS go there to see what's been coming up and try to book my rooms through that. Have been successful 9 times out of 10 to get what I want.

 

Also, we did take the people mover over to Bayside and it was night when we returned, but we had about a dozen of us, I'd be a little leary otherwise. I've been lost in Miami before and been on roads that I'm sure aren't even on the map, they probably don't even know they exist, and seen things I probably wasn't supposed to, so if it had been just hubby and I, I wouldn't have taken it at night by ourselves.

 

I have also stayed at the Holiday Inn across from Bayside Marketplace, a standard hotel, and they don't participate in priceline (they didn't used to, could now but I'm not sure) but if you get a high floor facing the port, the veiw is tremendous in the morning when the sun rises and all the ships are in.

[Candleonwater]

How about some recommendations for hotels in South Beach? I lived there about 15 years ago, so I'm sure much of it has changed?

 

The only hotels I'm familiar with are farther up the beach. My favorite is the Alexander, and maybe the Fontainbleau? But for my spring break cruise, I'd like to take my daughter to South Beach.

[Dave4120]

Hello Trent and GiggleWolf...I would like to thank both of you for the information you provided about where to stay in Miami.

 

Trent...At this point, we are flying in a day early into Miami and have booked our room through RCCL at the Hyatt which I mentioned earlier. I see you also mentioned the Intercontinental.

 

At this point, do you feel we're OK keeping our reservation at the Hyatt and taking a cab to Bayside on Saturday afternoon, with a return cab ride back to the Hyatt at night when we're done at Bayside and the Hard Rock Cafe?

 

Or, is it better to try and switch hotels to the Intercontinental? I would still take the cab back and forth to Bayside even if we were at the Continental. Not sure if my travel agent could change the hotel at this point since final payment was already made to RCCL. Not sure if RCCL would let us change at this point. I suppose as long as the Hyatt is decent, and it's not a big deal getting to Bayside and back by cab no matter which of the two hotels we stay at, keeping put at the Hyatt might still be just fine?

 

By the way, we must have got lucky with our airline tickets. Most of the time we book them ourselves, but this time we went through RCCL custom air and got roundtrip from Syracuse, N.Y. for just #319.00 each, which seems to be much lower than anything I've seen on my own since the end of July.

 

Thanks again for all of your help and time.

 

Regards,

 

Dave & Loni

[cmason]

Courtyard by Marriott Miami Beach Oceanfront Orbitz lists at $129

Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott Miami Beach Orbitz lists at $89

Doubletree' Surfcomber Hotel Miami-South Beach Orbitz lists at $149

 

The Fairfield is a bit far away from the "action" but the other two are perfect. Doubletree is on the beach, Courtyard is about 2-3 blocks away. These prices are high, imho, as I booked directly with the hotel last year and got into the Doubletree for $90.

[TrentS]

There's no reason to change, you're fine at the Hyatt. It's a typical Hyatt hotel, nothing wrong with it. The hotel is very safe, it's just with all the construction and the fact that downtown Miami is rather deserted at night, it's safest to spend a few dollars on a taxi to go back and forth to Bayside rather than walk.

[TrentS]

Courtyard by Marriott Miami Beach Oceanfront Orbitz lists at $129

Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott Miami Beach Orbitz lists at $89

Doubletree' Surfcomber Hotel Miami-South Beach Orbitz lists at $149

 

The Fairfield is a bit far away from the "action" but the other two are perfect. Doubletree is on the beach, Courtyard is about 2-3 blocks away. These prices are high, imho, as I booked directly with the hotel last year and got into the Doubletree for $90.

The Courtyard Miami Beach Oceanfront and Fairfield Inn are BOTH too far away from the action! There's another Courtyard that's actually IN South Beach, on Washington Avenue that's fine, but it's 3 blocks from the beach, not Oceanfront if that's what you want. You don't want to be much above the 1700 block or it's too far to walk to restaurants, shops, clubs, etc.

 

In South Beach I like these hotels...

 

South Beach Marriott... http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/MIAMB

 

Loews... http://www.loewshotels.com/hotels/miamibeach/default.asp

 

Marriott Courtyard South Beach... http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/MIACB

 

Hotel Victor... http://hotelvictorsouthbeach.com/

 

Ritz-Carlton South Beach... http://www.ritzcarlton.com/resorts/south_beach/default.html

[cmason]

Thanks TrentS, guess I got the wrong Courtyard

[lovetocruiserccl]

I Have Intercontinental Booked. Has Anyone Stayed There? How Close Is It To Bayside Marketplace? Thanks For Any Help.

 

We loved it . You can walk to Bayside Markerplace. Very close to downtown. Walking distance. We will be staying there again next year when we go on the Freedom. They were filming Transporter 2 the last time we were there. Enjoy it.

[tronan]

does anyone have any experience of the radisson???

 

is it near to the port and bayside??does it run a shuttle to the peir??