Sorry for the late update.....
We booked a room at the Hyatt Centric using two award nights and we paid for one. We found the Centric to be very nice. There was a big sales meeting at the same time we were there, but we never felt crowded. The one downside was that we got the usual "resort" fee charge for each night. I hate that - just a profit maker for the hotel. They have a pool on the roof that was small and the water was cold so we never used that.
Normally we would rent a car but since the hotel parking cost per day was a little steep we chose to use ride share services to get around. It was much less expensive to do so.
We got rides from the airport to the hotel, then to/from the Publix supermarket on SE 6th street. The last ride was from the hotel to the port. Much cheaper than a rental and parking and very easy using the appropriate phone app.
Restaurants - We chose to explore places that we could walk to.
We ate dinner the first night at an outside table at Eddie V's prime seafood. Very good.
Second night was got takeout sushi from a place on E. Las Olas. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was OK.
We did get a take out lunch from the restaurant in the hotel. Not bad.
Dinner the night before the cruise was at The Boathouse at the Riverside. Not easy to find, but we eventually found our way to the entrance. There is a sidewalk along the canal that is the best way to get there. We had an outside table on the canal. Good enough food and it was fun watching boats go by. We enjoyed the night so much that we stayed after dinner for a cocktail or two.
Could not be easier to get the the port.
We are planning on going back to the Centric in August for our ABC islands pre-cruise.