Pre Cruise Lodging

[DollyXX33]

Does anyone know the company/organization/web site that rents out rooms at major cruise ports for half the price of hotels?

[slidergirl]

Never heard of such a thing,  Hotels love cruisers and that one day rental!   

The only thing I could think of would be to roll the dice and wait until arrival day, then try the Hotel Tonight app to see if you can find one.

[LHT28]

Are you thinking of Priceline or Hotwire?

[shipgeeks]

What port?  (I don't know of any answer to your question, just wondering what area you have in mind. We have always used hotels, researched through various sites, for pre-cruise stays. Since most of ours have been in Florida, I've used the Florida Departures section of CC for lots of good info.)

[trish1c]

AirBnB or Vbro but since Covid they are not the bargains they used to be.  

 

You can still get deals on the blind sides of Hotwire & Price line but you have to be careful with that.  

[SPacificbound]

I am not familiar with what you are asking, but typically I just put in the name of the port followed by "nearby hotels".

[Mike981]

Only thing that comes to mind are hostels. I have been reading some nasty stories about AirBnB and VRBO, on how they treat their clients.  As you are finding out, most travel has gone crazy $$$$.

 

Good luck in your search.

[Mum2Mercury]

On 7/25/2023 at 1:44 PM, slidergirl said:

Never heard of such a thing,  Hotels love cruisers and that one day rental!   

Agree.  I don't know if my family is typical, but we just aren't fussy about our night-before hotel stay.  We know we're going to arrive somewhere around 5:00-7:00, and then we'll be out early the next morning.  

 

Hotels near the cruise ports know you're going to pay, so they aren't giving you a big discount.  

 

One way to get a better price:  Choose a hotel a bit away from the hotel; for example, when we go out of Orlando, we always stop in Titusville.  The hotel prices are considerably cheaper, and the next-morning drive is just under 30 minutes.  

On 7/25/2023 at 1:44 PM, slidergirl said:

then try the Hotel Tonight app to see if you can find one.

I never heard of that, and I was excited to check it out -- but the prices were higher than the ones I've reserved through Priceline for our upcoming cruises.  I pretty much always "win" with Priceline.  

[Mike981]

18 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

 

I never heard of that, and I was excited to check it out -- but the prices were higher than the ones I've reserved through Priceline for our upcoming cruises.  I pretty much always "win" with Priceline.  

 

 

Since we fly the cost of Uber/taxi negates any savings of booking a hotel away from the port. Just a tad jealous. 😃

 

Color me paranoid, the way the world of travel has been so unstable lately I just won't book third party. I have heard to many stories where things go sideways and it is a nightmare to 'try' get things resolved. In the past I loved the savings, but at the moment I will be booking direct or using a site like Value Trips. As I  understand it, they act like a coupon site and you still work directly with the hotel.

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, Mike981 said:

 

Since we fly the cost of Uber/taxi negates any savings of booking a hotel away from the port. Just a tad jealous. 😃

 

Color me paranoid, the way the world of travel has been so unstable lately I just won't book third party. I have heard to many stories where things go sideways and it is a nightmare to 'try' get things resolved. In the past I loved the savings, but at the moment I will be booking direct or using a site like Value Trips. As I  understand it, they act like a coupon site and you still work directly with the hotel.

Third party bookings can save a bit of money - but can also come with headaches. Once in Paris and once in Rome the “booked” hotel (through third party) had no space when we tried to check in — sure, they got us a room elsewhere and provided transportation, but each time we lost a significant part of a day.  It is worth it to book direct with the hotel.

[Mum2Mercury]

2 hours ago, Mike981 said:

 

Since we fly the cost of Uber/taxi negates any savings of booking a hotel away from the port. Just a tad jealous. 😃

 

Color me paranoid, the way the world of travel has been so unstable lately I just won't book third party. I have heard to many stories where things go sideways and it is a nightmare to 'try' get things resolved. In the past I loved the savings, but at the moment I will be booking direct or using a site like Value Trips. As I  understand it, they act like a coupon site and you still work directly with the hotel.

I hear you.  A few thoughts: 

- I have been using Priceline for ... two decades?  If not, then close to it.  And I trust them and don't think they're going out of business any time soon.  All the others?  I dunno.  

- When I reserve a hotel, I always write it in my calendar -- I'm old-fashioned and still keep a paper calendar -- and I write in how I reserved it (for example, through Priceline), the confirmation number, the hotel phone and address, and whether it's paid in full.  That information has come in handy more than once.  

- I always call the hotel directly 3-4 days before our stay, tell them that I've reserved with Priceline, and I verify that "we're good".  If I have specific requests -- like if I hope to get a king bed (or whatever), I ask.  They always remind me that those things aren't guaranteed -- but I usually do get them.  

- Thing about many of these third-party discounters is that you pay when you book.  I got burned last summer:  My husband and I were super-excited to take a short trip for our anniversary -- we were going to ride the Virginia Creeper Trail, which is something we love -- but he had an accident and couldn't manage a bike trip.  I lost the money I'd paid for that hotel room.  I tried to give it to friends -- no one could take it.  

- We have two cruises "on the books" and two night-before hotel rooms reserved at the moment.  They're nothing special rooms -- both Days Inn, and we've paid $85/night for those rooms.  If I lose $85, I won't be happy, but I also don't have to cry.  

- In the past, I have (foolishly) waited too long to reserve night-before-cruise hotels, and all the low prices have been gone.  Rooms around cruise ports DO fill up!  Now I go ahead and reserve early.  I reserve the dog's spot at the kennel early too, but I suppose that's off-topic.  

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by Mum2Mercury

[slidergirl]

22 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Agree.  I don't know if my family is typical, but we just aren't fussy about our night-before hotel stay.  We know we're going to arrive somewhere around 5:00-7:00, and then we'll be out early the next morning.  

 

Hotels near the cruise ports know you're going to pay, so they aren't giving you a big discount.  

 

One way to get a better price:  Choose a hotel a bit away from the hotel; for example, when we go out of Orlando, we always stop in Titusville.  The hotel prices are considerably cheaper, and the next-morning drive is just under 30 minutes.  

I never heard of that, and I was excited to check it out -- but the prices were higher than the ones I've reserved through Priceline for our upcoming cruises.  I pretty much always "win" with Priceline.  

The price totally depends on what the particular hotel is doing.  One of the resort hotels I worked at played with Hotel Tonight.  If we were low occupancy that day, they would do maybe a 10% discount on HT for a same-day booking.  But, I'd give the same discount to someone who called and asked if we would match - I'm not fond of playing games and sometimes reservations through the 3rd parties don't come through the portal.  

 

[trish1c]

17 hours ago, Mike981 said:

Color me paranoid, the way the world of travel has been so unstable lately I just won't book third party. I have heard to many stories where things go sideways and it is a nightmare to 'try' get things resolved. In the past I loved the savings, but at the moment I will be booking direct or using a site like Value Trips. As I  understand it, they act like a coupon site and you still work directly with the hotel.

 

I may look into Value Trips but wanted to offer that when I book through the blind side of Hotwire -- you get huge savings because you don't know the hotel until after you pay -- I have a "trick".   The day after I "win" the hotel, I call it directly & confirm.  I jot down who I spoke to & get a new confirmation # from them.  There have been glitches but because we had time, things always worked out in advance of our arrival.  This is way better than getting a nasty surprise & no help upon arrival.  

[Mum2Mercury]

39 minutes ago, trish1c said:

 

I may look into Value Trips but wanted to offer that when I book through the blind side of Hotwire -- you get huge savings because you don't know the hotel until after you pay -- I have a "trick".   The day after I "win" the hotel, I call it directly & confirm.  I jot down who I spoke to & get a new confirmation # from them.  There have been glitches but because we had time, things always worked out in advance of our arrival.  This is way better than getting a nasty surprise & no help upon arrival.  

That's essentially what we've been doing, except we call a couple days before we leave for the trip.  We've never had any nasty surprises!  

[firefly333]

Wasnt a cruise port hotel, but I've been booking hotels across america distributing quilts to family. My last stop I used hotels . com. I booked a huge king room, got a tiny queen. The hotel was clearly lying to me about it. Complained but the ball got dropped. Coincidentally i also couldnt publish my review. 

 

Pricelines express hotels are very easy to figure out. Look at the star rate and the number of reviews and almost always easy to match up. If not look at a few of the other things, like name of area. Not such a good deal anymore when they add a booking fee into the total fees and taxes. The main hotel I like to book in Galveston is usually on another site not that one, so I check all the hotel sites.