Best FLL Hotel with BALCONY ?

[Ykgorbie]

I am searching for a pre-cruise hotel in Fort Lauderdale with a good sized balcony (hubby likes to drink copious amounts of coffee and read the paper in the a.m. on the balcony). I have found the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort and also Gallery One (Doubletree) that look like they have fair sized balconies. (also saw the Embassy Suites, but the balconies are standing only - no table, is this correct??)

If anyone has any info they'd like to share, much appreciated !

[Bobba22]

Hi YKgorbie,

This is a view from our balcony at the Hilton Marina ft.lauderdale for our Dec. 2009 Miracle cruise:

 

 

We will stay there anytime we cruise out of Ft.Lauderdale!!!!

[Nana G]

100% agree that the views from the Tower at Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Marina are the only way to go! We will return for our 3rd stay this year. Balcony is good size and again, can't beat the views! About 5:30 am on Sat/Sun you can watch the ships come in and again starting about 4-4:30 watching them leave. Minutes from the airport and really close to entrance to port. You will love it.

[cruzobsessed]

don't know your budget but we stayed at the MARRIOTT HARBOR BEACH. we had an ocean/intercoastal view......OMG:D:). the balcony was a very nice size (i too enjoy copious amounts of coffee on a balcony;)) look to your left....the ocean....look to the right....the intercoastal with all those mega yauchts. loved this place

[oncruisecontrol]

I am searching for a pre-cruise hotel in Fort Lauderdale with a good sized balcony (hubby likes to drink copious amounts of coffee and read the paper in the a.m. on the balcony). I have found the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort and also Gallery One (Doubletree) that look like they have fair sized balconies. (also saw the Embassy Suites, but the balconies are standing only - no table, is this correct??)

If anyone has any info they'd like to share, much appreciated !

 

 

Your information about the Embassy Suites balconies is absolutely correct.

[Perki]

Must book a Tower Room but their balconies are great, some are really huge actually and if you ask and get a room that looks at the cruiseship pier you will have a view just as spectacular as the one shown from the Hilton as it is just off to the left of that photo! We just stayed there not quite a month ago and got a balcony tower room w/king bed for $180/nt (including all taxes, etc) and the place is awesome! Tip...order breakfast from room service, prices on some things were better than the restaurant downstairs believe it or not! lol

[Lady Chew]

We had the same view in April from our balcony at the Hilton ... it was a thrill waking up the morning of our cruise with 8 ships in port! This hotel does have a great location, wonderful service and beautiful hotel grounds, but we & many others found the bathrooms to be unusable. There was a thread about this somewhere a month or so ago. We would never stay there again nor would be recommend it to anyone. We're looking elsewhere for our pre-cruise stay next January.

[Sam's Mom]

We stayed there last month and it was great! Booked the room for $78 on expedia.com. Even included a free breakfast and they gave us a second free breakfast when we arrived at 7am after a red-eye. We were planning on checking our bags and going to breakfast. Instead they had a room for us. They upgraded us to the tower with a view of the cruise ships. The rooms were on the smaller size, but much bigger than our cruise ship room! The staff were very friendly an d helpful. Mark, our bell man, took great care of us. The pool area was very nice, too. We'll stay there next time in FLL!

[smoothsailors]

:)Agree that the views from Marriott Harbour Beach are beautiful...and the newly-redone hotel is stunning...but the winter rates have been outrageously high. Our next pre-cruise we are staying at the Hilton Beac Resort next door as I was able to get a suite for HH points.

 

However, having attended a reunion recently at the Gallery One (Doubletree), I would definintely recommend the units facing the waterway...fantastic views of the ships from the balconies and pool deck!!! VERY clean and comfortable and easy walk next door to the Galleria mall with great shopping, restaurants & bars.

 

Will not stay at the Hilton Marina, either. The grounds and views are lovely and the Tower rooms may be alright...but we had a disastrous stay in a marina room at this location when it was the Marriott Marina. Bathrooms were infested with sugar ants, which in Florida can be impossible to fully eradicate.

[jaxsondville]

Riverside Hotel has some nice large balconies available also. One time we were able to see the cruise ship port/basin from our balcony. This hotel is on Las Olas Blvd, lots of activity, restaurants etc. Also, river taxi goes right to the property which I think is a good way to see Ft Lauderdale if you're there for a short time.

[kelligirl]

We stayed @ the Gallery One Doubletree in November 08 and were very satisfied with our room. There is a wonderful view of the intercoastal waterway and the water taxi stops right outside their door. It's conveniently located next to an upscale mall where there is a food court with anything you want. There is also a few bar & restaurants nearby.

 

We shared a room with 6 as it was a 2-bdrm suite. It saved ALOT of money!! Balcony was spacious. Would definitely stay there again.

[Langley Cruisers]

Will you have a rental car? Or mind taking a cab to and from? Let us know.

 

Last month we stayed at the Beachcomber Resort in Pompano Beach (Greater Fort Lauderdale), a little further up the coast. It was incredible and the balcony was HUGE. I am planning to write a review eventually, but if you have a car it is certainly worth the drive out of the city limits. It is right on the beach.

[Ykgorbie]

Thank you all for your help. The last cruise we took, Jan.2009, we stayed at the Fort Lauderdale Grande, which I think is what is now the Hilton Marina. We didn't have a super great experience with them; booked way in advance, paid a lot of coin for a balcony room and ended up with a room overlooking the dirty deck with the air conditioning units. We could see the 17th St bridge and a tiny bit of the port (we were not very high up). Anyway, just thinking of trying something else. I think I have it narrowed down to the Gallery One or the Hilton Beach Resort.

 

To Langley Cruisers, no we won't have a rental car - we will be relying on cabs....I will check out the Beachcomber Resort though....thanks !