Flymia

Thanks for the info! The cruise departs and arrives on a Saturday so I won't need to deal with commuters thankfully on any form of transportation. Will make a decision soon.

I will be using Southampton in May on RC. I have seen the bus prices to be pretty cheap, I know rail is a bit more expensive but seems to be much quicker. Anyone use rail instead of the bus?

Also, for either how far in advance should I book the tickets? Don't think the May schedule is out yet for either.

What dates are you looking at? I am only staying one night pre-cruise and one night post cruise, but I found luxury hotels in perfect London locations for under $200.00 a night. I found plenty of options for the $150.00 range. I used hotels.com Make sure the setting is set that you are on the U.S. website.

Pros for Bay: potential for an awesome view from your room, quieter location, larger hotel with more options to do in the lobby on the property of the hotel.

Cons: not right in the middle of downtown, but the metromover is nearby and takes you anywhere you want to go in the area for free.

Pros for Courtyard: location location location. Easy walk to Brickell, you are right in downtown with a quick hop on the free metromover to Bayside.

Cons: not as large of a hotel. Street noise, no views.

You won't go wrong with eithe, both are good locations. One is right in the middle, while the othe is a short walk and metromover ride away for anywhere you want to go in the area.,

was the Peruvian place called Embarcadero 41? we ate there in the fall of 2015 and it was AMAZING. got the recommendation from our driver, he gave us three rec's and we asked which one he would eat at. love local recs!

Embarcadero 41 recently "closed." I say this because it's name has changed, but it's still a Peruvian place. I only ate there once and it is good. Not sure what's going on with the name change, it was never very busy.

Best Peruvuian place in Miami IMO is Pollo Y Jarras, also in downtown less than two blocks from YVE hotel.

Again to the OP, downtown Miami has exactly what you are looking for. It's all about whethe it fits your budget, which it probably will.

While its a small chain I find the food at Havana 1957 to be very good for Cuban food. There is one near by in Mary Brickell Village. Its a 15min walk, 10min metromover ride, or 10min Uber/Taxi away.

Downtown Miami options are endless. Its a great location as long as you don't want to be on the beach.

Uber is by far the easiest and cheapest way to get around other than walking or the metromover, which is free.

If you want to see Miami (much different place than Ft. Lauderdale) there are tons of hotel options in what you are looking for. Port Miami is in Downtown Miami. Any hotel in Downtown Miami or Brickell area (the financial district) meets what you are looking for and its a 5-10 min drive to the port. An Uber or taxi from those two areas to the port will cost between $7-$15.00, with Uber being the cheapest.

So feel free to stay in Miami, cheaper options are the Hampton Inn Brickell, YVE Hotel, Holiday Inn Port Miami, and of course there are tons of other options.

I would recommend just making the trip down from FLL airport to Downtown Miami Hotel. It does depend on your budget, it is true hotels tend to be cheaper in the Lauderdale area, but if you want an easy time walking around shopping and places to eat, and things to do and see Downtown Miami is where you want to be. The dinning options are endless and the shopping options are good with Brickell City Centre near by, or a quick Uber ride you can check out Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.

Our flight is at 7:00 AM, so hopefully there wont be too much traffic at 4:30 AM :)

No there won't. That will be a quick drive down. Given the early flight I would say a shorter drive to the airport would be nice.

The airline is the one who would take care of this. Call the airline, they will give you the best options.

The JW is in a better location on Brickell but the Marriot is not bad either, and is close to the metromover that get you around Downtown/Brickell for free. You won't go wrong with either one, but I would say JW is a better choice.

From Downtown Miami to the BB&T center it would take at least an hour, and more if you leave any time after 3:30pm. Its a long drive with lots of traffic on a weekday. Transit is not an option honestly. Its safe, but would be miserable.

If the Heat are in town that is a nice 5 min walk from the hotel to the arena they play in and Heat games are great, typically, even this year, games are close to capacity and they put on a good show with a good atmosphere. Panthers games are not as popular, but when Montreal plays they typically have a full arena with tons of Montreal fans that live down here.

The drive time to the Miami airport depends on traffic and time of day. Without any traffic it takes at least 35mins from Downtown Ft. Lauderdale to MIA airport. But in the morning there will be traffic, and the drive will be about an hour to an hour and 20mins depending when in the morning you go.

What time does your flight leave Miami?

Coral Gables area is good, but for being able to walk to places it depends on the address and area. Downtown Miami and Brickell are also good options. Check the YVE hotel and Holiday Inn Port Miami, they usually have pretty good prices sometimes.

You are correct that the airport hotel is not exciting, it is an airport hotel after all. The good news is, even if you don't change your hotel Miami is not a large city by area and the airport is only 7-8 miles away from the popular spots. An Uber from the hotel to Miami Beach will be no more than $20-$25 each way, maybe even less.

If you want to stay beachside, you will need to stay in Miami Beach, which can be pretty expensive depending on the time of the year. You could also look into staying in the Downtown Miami and Brickell area, which is not beachside, but it is a great area with lots of options for things to do, especially for food and drinks along with being very close to the port.

Yes the pool is closed and will be for some time, they are going through a major lawsuit with the contractors and developer and the pool needs millions in fixes. That is likely the reason for the great price. Other than the pool issue its an awesome location right on the bridge that makes it easy to walk to both the best spots in Brickell and Downtown Miami.

I am not a fan of Ortanique, but lots of people do like it. I can't think of any restaurant in Miami where jeans and a nice shirt is not good enough to go in. There are almost zero places in Miami that require slacks and a jacket or anything like that. So if jeans and a nice shirt is what you will wear, you can go anywhere, especially in the Gables.

Other places I would suggest you look at is Bulla and Swine. They are right off miracle mile. Also, keep in mind Miracle Mile is going through some construction, and most of the stores are not open much at night.

If you want some place with lots of stores open late check out Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.

Missed the beach part. Your best option is something in Miami Beach. Typically I recommend something east of Washington Ave and south of 25th street. Given your budget you can't be too picky.

Also, Miami Beach is a pretty short taxi/uber or even bus ride away from Downtown Miami, you could easily check-in to a Downtown Miami hotel and then take a ride over to Miami Beach.

You should probably book your flights first and see the time you get into South Florida and which airport will make a big difference.

That being said, if you are flying into MIA check out the Downtown Miami area. Yve Hotel, Holiday Inn Port Miami, Hampton Inn Brickell are all good options. There you will be able to head to something nice for dinner and a drink. Tons of options in Downtown Miami area and getting around is very easy using an Uber or the free Metromover.

I suggest looking into Uber. First, if you never used it you can get some free credit. Second, its by far the best way to get around Miami without a rental car. Its very simple to use, and much cheaper than a taxi. Usually a cab is double the price.

Look in the downtown Miami area. The Hyatt Regency is a good choice, so is the Hampton Inn Mary Brickell, Yve Hotel, Doubletree Biscayne Bay. Downtown Miami is right next the port, the cab or uber ride will be very short. An Uber from most places in Downtown will cost no more than $5-$7 to the port.

Downtown Miami has tons of options for eating and getting a drink. You could also look in the Miami Beach area as recommended above. Prices are typically a little bit higher there, and the taxi/uber to the port is a slightly longer, but its not a long ride at all.

Well there are plenty of options for you to do. It all depends on what you want out of your stay. You want to see more typical tourist areas, just stay in the city?

For in the city without a car my must dos are the following.

As a local I have never taken the hop on and off bus, but I have heard good things, you can tie it into a tour boat ride as well, which is a great thing to do. So you could take the most of one day doing the hop on and off, and a tour boat ride around Biscayne Bay. Take the bus to little Havana, see the Biltmore Hotel, and take the bus to Wynwood. Have lunch in little Havana or Wynwood. Do the boat tour in the late afternoon. The boat will leave and come back to Bayside, a great place to grab a drink before dinner. Then get dinner in downtown Miami or Brickell. Tons of a great places to chose from, my favorite listed below.

Other day time options are going to the beach, going to all the very good shopping malls, (if you are big into shopping) going to the Everglades for the day. Biscayne National Park for snorkeling, the Miami Zoo is one of the best in the country.

The other dinner you must head to Miami Beach, I would highly suggest Yard Bird or Drunkin Dragon as two great spots, after dinner head to Lincoln Road and walk up and down the outdoor mall. Shops stay open late, lots of places to stop and get a drink or dessert on the sidewalk cafe. You can also walk over to Ocean Drive and check out the famous Art Deco buildings are night.

My favorite, non-expensive choices in Downtown/Brickell for dinner or lunch.

Pollo y Jarras

Fratelli Milano

Vero Italian Restaurant

Perricone's Marketplace & Café

Burger & Beer Joint

Crazy About You

Novecento

River Oyster Bar is a good choice too.

Garcias

Havana 1957 if you want Cuban food

There are more fancy places of course, which the list is even longer.

Do you want a house on the actual beach? As in walk outside and the yard is the beach? Are you ok with an apartment?

Yve Hotel and Doubletree Biscayne Bay both have rates (not totals) under $150.00 for May 17th on Hotels.com

Both are very close to Port of Miami and have lots of options for dinner/things to do right near by in the neighborhood. I always suggest staying in the downtown Miami area the day before. If your goal is to get to the port right away, its a great location for that too. An uber from either hotel to the port will be $5-$7. An Uber from the airport to one of those two hotels should be about $15-$18.00

Much cheaper than parking a car and renting, and much better location than the airport hotels that have free shuttles.

It if four people and 4 full size bags a shuttle may be cheaper because you will have to get a larger Uber. If its 4 people with 2 full size bags and maybe some small backpacks or something, than an Uber X will cost around $40. Cheapest option by far.

Terrible location, I wouldn't leave my car there. Also, I wouldn't leave my car keys with some random place.

Port parking is $20 a day, not too bad for a large city. It's safe, secure and easy to use. That's always my recommendation.

You can use Uber to go anywhere in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, there are zero restrictions.

You will want to use Uberx, not uberpool.

As long as you have data service the app should work anywhere where there is uber.