Good Hotel Halfway between MCO and MIA?

[Boo Boo]

Does anyone have any suggestions of a good hotel about midway between MCO (Orlando International) and Miami?

 

We are flying into MCO on 21st September and cruising from Miami (Liberty of the Seas) on 22nd September. We are flying in from the UK and our flight lands at about 3.20pm - so I doubt that we will get out of the airport until about 5pm. The time difference from the UK is 5 hours. Husband's idea is to stay at the MCO Hyatt (nice hotel), but I think that it is worth getting an hour and a half or two driving towards Miami out of the way (less driving to do the following morning...).

 

If we DID head towards Miami, can anyone suggest a nice hotel along the way - am thinking "good Marriot/Westin/Hilton" type of hotel, but am open to suggestions?

 

Thanks

Boo

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Well you should know that the first two hours of driving south from Orlando is mostly swamps and orange groves and there are no towns until you get to Fort Pierce. In fact, that stretch of Florida's Turnpike (motorway) from Kissimmee to Yeehaw Junction is the longest stretch of expressway in the United States without an exit. So there are no Hiltons along that way. But if you can drive 3 hours then you'd be in the West Palm Beach area and there are plenty of nicer hotels there. If you can do without luxury and can handle clean and reliable, there is a Holiday Inn Express along the Turnpike at the Fort Pierce exit #152, State Road 70. Again, that's only about 2 hours from MCO.

 

To access the Turnpike from MCO, use the airport's NORTH exit and then head west on TOLL 528 (Beachline Expressway) and use Exit #4 to get on Florida's Turnpike southbound. Around Mile Marker 236 you pick up a toll ticket which you then hand back in to the attendant wherever you exit, whether in Fort Pierce or farther south.

 

It's only about a 4.5 - 5 hour drive to the port of Miami, so it may not be a bad idea to just stay at MCO, have dinner, and then go to sleep based on your body clock. You may wake up at 3am but then you could head on down to Miami with very little traffic.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

 

BobK/Orlando