Miami Hyatt Regency review

[stingraynz]

If there is one piece of advice I could give anyone, it would be to ‘stay pre and post cruise’. If at all possible, this has always been the best decision we have ever done. We used to embark the same day we flew in and left right after the cruise and we always felt so tired and rushed. Doing the pre and post cruise stay just adds enough time to extend the cruise and make it so much more enjoyable. So we made this 7 day cruise a 10 day by staying in Miami.

 

I love Miami! It has a lot to offer. If you didn’t stay pre or post cruise you would miss out on a beautiful port city. It is so diverse, you can go to the beach, experience the nightlife of South Beach, walk around downtown, or even go to the everglades.

 

Again, since we have a diverse group of all ages, we decided to stay centrally downtown at the Miami Hyatt Regency. We all liked the location because it had a lot of options for things to do.

 

Miami Hyatt Regency

 

400 South East Second Avenue

Miami, Florida, USA. 33131-2197

Telephone: +1 305 358 1234

http://www.hyatt.com

 

The staff at the hotel was very friendly. I don’t have many negatives other than it was really busy. We expected this because it is attached to the convention centre and the hotel has 612 rooms. You must plan check out and getting your luggage downstairs accordingly. There was this woman absolutely freaking out at the elevators because it was taking so much time to get the bags downstairs. I don’t know who she thought she was ragging at because none of us cared she was late. This is a real pet peeve of mine, that people call the bell desk 10 minutes before the bus leaves and think they are the only ones that are checking out.

 

It was the ship hotel for both Carnival and Royal Caribbean. While we were there on the weekdays there was also a huge conference. Keep this in mind when making your decisions, it is not quiet nor quaint. It is a downtown location with downtown noise. The staff is great and it is very convenient.

 

I saw some complaints regarding the rooms on previous posts and I thought they were very comparable to a hotel that size and the price they are charged at. We stayed pre and post cruise at the Hyatt so we stayed in two separate locations of the hotel. Most rooms if not all the rooms have balconies, which I really liked. We had a room overlooking the convention center, the huge Bank of America tower and the front of the hotel the first time. The second time we had a view of the pool, the Miami river and way in behind we could even see some ships in port. Obviously the higher the floor the better. We requested a higher floor both stays but it seems the non-smoking rooms are on the lower floors so you must ask accordingly. If it were up to me I would have put up with the smell of hotel room stale smoke for a great view. Of course, this is not up to me since many of my family members have allergies to smoke. I felt the staff tried to accommodate our requests of a nice view and all of us being on the same floor together. The room configuration with the king size bed was really nice, we had three in our room so we had to have two double beds.

 

One of the most convenient thing I felt was the ability of the Metro Mover public transportation system. It had three main routes (that I noticed), the Omni, Brickell and the Inner loop that serves most of the downtown core and we used it all the time. It was free and the inner loop operated 24 hours a day. We took it a few stops to the Bayside Marketplace the station was called ‘College/Bayside’. We also used it for getting out for meals and shopping. There was a station beside the Clarion Suites & hotel adjacent to the Hyatt and there was a station across the street from the Hyatt in the Knight Center. The Hyatt was connected to this station you didn’t have to go outside. Between the Bayfront Park station and the 1st Street station there was a Walgreens across the street from a Marshalls in an area of Little Havana that offered a lot of small cafes and cheaper food alternatives that looked great. Just out front of the Bayfront Park station there was ‘Ross’ and a City Bank with an ATM. I think the Metro Mover might have been my nephew’s favorite part of Miami. We were always in a group so we were quite comfortable using it, but after 11pm I may have been a bit more cautious. We did find that most of the ‘tourist area’ stations had uniformed security or police visible. I must add they were a really great bunch as well. So we weren’t too concerned. If we were coming home from a Nightclub later on in the wee hours I would take a cab.

 

The Intercontinental, the Hyatt Regency and the Clarion Suites were all hotels I saw right on the Metro Mover line. The Sheraton was across the river from the Hyatt could also be handy to the MM.

 

The Bayside Marketplace was a worthwhile stop for some casual shopping and eating. One side is more the casual chains such as Sketchers, Foot Locker, The Gap, Guess, Bath & Body Works and the Sharper Image and similar. The other end was more like a stationary market that sold souvenirs and costume jewelry. In the middle there was Hooters, Bubba Gump’s, Hard Rock Café and a food court. We went to Bubba Gump’s and it was enjoyable and reasonably priced. The appetizers were large enough to be meal and there was something for everyone. The following dishes were enjoyed by my family; penne and seafood pasta, the ‘bucket of trash’, calamari, there was an appetizer that you could get either with chicken or shrimp that came with a mango salsa that was fabulous! The Caesar and the ‘Run Forrest Run’ salads were really good as well.

[BabsandPaul]

Wow, Awesome review..we're staying pre-cruise at the Hyatt this Saturday and you answered many questions that I had. Thank you. One other question please, were there Carnival Reps at the Hyatt so you could pre-register the day of your cruise? Thanks again, Paul

[MinniIndi]

Stingraynz,

Thanks for the great review, and I agree with you that a pre and POST cruise stay is a must. We cruise in the winter and weather is often unpredictable, so flying down a day early is peace of mind. Then you can board the ship, ready and rested. A post stay is now mandatory in my book. I need to get my land legs back and it really helps with the PCD we all suffer when our cruise comes to an end.

 

First time success with Priceline and we got the Hyatt. Nice to know you can see the ships from higher up rooms. I will request, but shouldn't be a problem because we both smoke.

 

Love to cruise, this is number 4. Leaving in 6 days. And right now we have freezing rain. YIKES.

 

 

BabsandPaul, Hope you are having fun, You should be well on your way right now. Post when you return.

 

Thanks all and Happy Cruisin

[stingraynz]

MinniIndi

 

I couldn't agree more.

[Kylie]

We appreciated the great review too since we are booked at the Hyatt before our cruise in May.

Thanks for taking the time to share all the information!