Miami areas? which one?

[vmom]

I am in the process of trying to find a hotel for 12/2/06. When I went to Priceline and Hotwire, I need to pick an area. What areas should I look at and which to avoid? Also, I was hoping for an airport shuttle to take us to the hotel. I'm really not familar with Miami and don't know which direction to look at.

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Bequia]

On PL my preferences would be Coral Gables/Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, Miami Downtown and South Beach. ;)

[budgetED]

I booked the Hyatt Regency downtown Miami for one night pre-cruise on Aug. 12. Priceline accepted a $75 bid from me. The Hyatt's own website's best offer was $110.

 

They have a Metro Mover "monorail" type system that is free in downtown Miami. It stops right outside the Hyatt and will take you to Bayside Market for free. bayside is a great shopping/eating/people-watching place alongside the docks; very safe too. I took my son and niece and felt very safe.

 

As far as transportation, we flew into Ft. Lauderdale airport and rented a car there one way from Enterprise. I then drove 30 mins to the Hyatt. The Enterprise office was luckily inside the Hyatt lobby, so I returned the car there the next day, got a free ride to the catch the ship. Upon returning, we took a cab to Miami airport...it was $24.

 

Hope this helps.

[vmom]

so it sounds like Mami downtown is a good area to bid for? What about Miami-airport?

 

Wow...great bid for the Hyatt!!! How many stars was that? 3 or 4?

[lmondrop]

You definately want to do the downtown area if you want to be close to the port. South beach is a nice area...but its further away from the port and might run the risk of getting a fleabag hotel...make sure to aim high on PL.

 

I don't reccomend the airport areas as it is very congested and about 20 minutes away (highway time) from the port and not very many places you can go to within walking distance.

 

The downtown area is your best option and you can visit Bayside marketplace for some restaurants and shops.

 

I don't reccomend the metro mover, althought free, it does not exactly drop you off in a tourist spot and you might have to do some walking....some of the stops are not in the best parts of town either. I use it in the brickell area only to get to work....since I also live and work in Brickell.

[MamaParrotHead]

Depends on what time your flight is coming in, and/or what you plan on doing for that evening/time prior to leaving for your cruise. Last cruise we bid $65 and got Miami Courtyard (Mariott) Downtown (2 1/2 stars, I think it was), and it was OK. Not in the best neighborhood, but we were flying in the afternoon prior to departing on our cruise and planned on hanging out at Bayside for the evening.

 

This time, our flight is coming into MIA until like 11:00 p.m. No need for us to get a hotel near "the action" (we'll be headed for the hotel bar for a few cocktails, then to bed, most likely!), so I bid $100 for the airport area and got the (3 star) Crown Plaza MIA (whose internet rates start at $239, LOL). Free shuttle from the airport to the hotel, and either a $10 pp shuttle ride to the port or a $20 per cab (up to 5 people ) ride to the port. We actually come out about even with the last time we stayed at the Courtyard, with the cab fares and such.

 

Hope that helps!

[bluebreeze]

BID 80 for 4* downtown and got the Intercontential

[vmom]

Thanks for the feedback. I tried bidding today, but bid too low and didn't get anything. Not sure how long I have to wait to bid again, but next time I'll bid higher. My bid was $60 for 3 or 4*s and no luck, but I thought I'd start low and work my way up. I'm new at this and just trying out the system.

[vmom]

Any feedback on the Sheraton Miami Mart in the Miami -airport area?

 

Ok...I bid $70 for either Miami downtown or Miami airport and got the Sheraton Miami Mart Hotel by the airport. I had tried bids of 60-65 over the weekend and got nothing so I decided to increase my bid gradually. Went to their website and it looks nice. Recently renovated. Looks like it caters to business clients during the week. Free shuttle from the airport.

 

We're flying in late afternoon/early evening on Sat. and am not really interested in going out. Just interested in getting some sleep for the cruise the next day.

 

Hope its nice, because its too late now. I had checked out prices for all the miami hotels, even the low budget ones, and they're all high. So I guess $70 wasn't bad. I was hoping for either the Marriott or the Embassy Suites, but I'm sure this will work