Port of Miami

[dell]

We have booked with Carnival Valor in July 2005 sailing out of Miami, Florida.

We have only embarked out of Port Canaveral on our past cruises.

Any tips or suggestions about the hotels to stay the night before, or other info that may help us?

[Bunkie103]

We sailed out of Miami in October of 2003. Flew into FLL because it was much cheaper, and planned to arrive the day before sailing. Stayed at the Marina Marriott which I understand you can get for a good price from Priceline. We were able to walk to a liquor store and purchase our wine to take on board.

In the morning they have a mini-Starbucks Coffee Bar in the lobby and we had coffee and a huge muffin for $3.

 

You can arrange a Carnival transfer to take you to Port of Miami, but we treated ourselves to a towncar from floridalimo.com for $55 and it was worth every penny. We arrived around 11:45 and were on the ship before 1pm. The agents are very organized and insist on an orderly boarding.

 

On our return we just took the Carniva transfer to the FLL airport. Our flight was in the afternoon and we were already depressed because we had to leave the ship, so it didn't matter that we went by bus.l

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise.

:D

[Codfish]

Priceline is the way to go for a hotel in Miami. The Downtown region is the closest to the port and least expensive. Bid on a 3 star or above and you won't go wrong. Check out bidding for travel.com and better bidding.com for info on using priceline.

 

We stayed at the Radisson Biscayne Bay for $35 in May. A very nice hotel and we were able to see the our ship in the morning. They offered a shuttle for $4pp to the port.

[Cruising89143]

The closest hotel to the port is the Holiday Inn Marina Park.

 

http://www.marinaparkhotel.com/reservations_specials.html

 

It is directly across the street from Bayside Marketplace.

 

http://www.baysidemarketplace.com/

 

Other hotels in the area. Hotel Intercontinental, Biscayne Bay Marriott, Doubletree, Sheraton and several others.

[jemingway]

we are on the Valor july 10. When are you going?

[CruiseFever]

I still think of the Port of Miami as being THE cruise port. As far as hotels go, any of the downtown hotels 3 stars and above are great. We like the Sheraton Biscayne Bay, Intercontinental, Hyatt and Holiday Inn best. On priceline any 3 star downtown hotel will be a winner though. Here's more:

 

http://www.lifeiscruising.com/hotel_reservations

[LatinLadies]

Well I highly suggest staying just a few miles down the road from the Port of Miami on SOUTH BEACH/Miami Beach. Start the partying/vacation early and stay on a beautiful beach in a beautiful area. I myself will be checking into the Betsy Ross Hotel the night before I sail on my cruise. Check this link out for hotels in South Beach. A stay in Miami is not complete with going to South Beach.

http://www.miamibeach411.com/ocean_drive/ocean_hotels.html

[dell]

Thank you for your replies in Miami Beach. We tried checking into July but it will not go that far yet. It only goes up until June. We're going Eastern Carribbean. Have you heard of any deals.

We were thinking of seeing the family in Florida also.