Hotel in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale For Small Family For 2 Nights Before Cruise

[treefort]

Hi all,

 

My little family of 4(9 month and 3 yr old) will be flying from BC Canada into Ft. Lauderdale, renting a Hertz car at the airport and dropping it off 2 days later at the Hertz Miami 2nd St HLE drop off before taking their shuttle to the Miami port for our first cruise! 

 

I am now onto the task of finding a suitable hotel for us for the 2 nights before the cruise.

 

We would ideally like a reasonably priced hotel close to either a super cool play center or kids museums or anything like that for our toddler to keep busy and to keep things low stress for us parents. Maybe a hotel with large play areas and things to keep busy? We will be getting a lot of beach time on our excursions, as well as spending a lot of money on the cruise as well so we are not too interested in an expensive hotel on the beach in Florida.

 

If anyone has any recommendations on where we should stay or some super cool kid places we should go to, we would love to hear them! 

 

Thank you!

 

 

[treefort]

We were thinking maybe the kids museum in Miami or the Science and Discovery Museum in Fort Lauderdale. Which place would you recommend over the other?

[JohninDC]

Welcome to the boards! 😎

 

In general hotels in the FALL area are cheaper than comparable properties in Miami and the FLL area is more family friendly.  www.sunny.org has lots of ALL area hotel and tourist info.

Edited January 10, 2019 by JohninDC

[treefort]

Thanks John! Sunny.org is nice but its doesn't show prices. We are apparently looking for "budget" places. Everything seems really high, probably because or Canadian dollar is so weak  Even La Quinta or Comfort Suites come to $200/night. We may resort to using airbnb.

[FionaMG]

Something else to be aware of, since you're hiring a car, is the cost of parking, not only when you're out and about but also at the hotel. For example, the hotel in Miami where I did a recent pre-cruise stay charges  $22 per night for parking. So it's worth looking to see if a hotel you're considering has free parking. 

[treefort]

Hi Fiona, yes that is not nice to pay $22 per night for hotel parking! We ended using airbnb and the place has parking. It's not the nicest place but it was cheaper($160/night incl tax and fees) and in a pretty decent location. 

[BNBR]

Your toddler is young for the science and discovery museum.  I would recommend staying in Plantation, as hotels are a bit cheaper but only minutes from Ft Lauderdale and the drive to Miami is only 35 - 40 minutes when you do head that way.  Plus Plantation has tons of restaurants and even the Sawgrass Mall is down the street if you want - which has a game room, restaurants, shopping, etc.  You won't pay for parking at hotels in this area either.  None of that type of nonsense.

 

You can then go to Young At Art Museum which I HIGHLY recommend.  They have tons and tons of fun things for kids your ages, all sorts of art projects, play towers, goes on and on.  We live right near it and go all the time.  So much to do.  It's amazing.   You'll LOVE IT.  And in the same area is Flamingo Gardens which I highly recommend as well.  You could do both in a day.  See alligators and wildlife and get the museum.

Edited January 11, 2019 by BNBR

[Host CJSKIDS]

The Children's Museum in Miami is fantastic, my daughter took my grandson there and he loved it.  Your 3 year old is the perfect age.   Jungle Island is right there as well and another great option. 

 

Zoo Miami is a fantastic zoo and something your 3 year old would love.  It is a drive south but absolutely worth it if you have the time. 

Edited January 11, 2019 by Host CJSKIDS

[mwb826]

Miami Seaquarium is wonderful.