Hostels vs. Hotels & walking to terminal

[ednotmilkman]

hi funseekers,

 

I've discovered that for cruises from Port Everglades @ Ft. Lauderdale, there are several hostels within 3 miles of the port. The public Broward county bus also picks up every 15 or 20 minutes from FLL airport for a $1.75 fare and then get off at 15th ST to be only 1 to 4 blocks from at least 2 hostels and 2 miles from the port.

 

So as long as your luggage is rollable and\or is in a backpack, try $52 for a private room or even $27 if you don't mind bunking with mostly the crew from private yachts in a Ft Lau hostel. Then if the weather is OK, spend zero on transportation walking another 2 to 2 1\2 miles to your ship. If you are short on time and need a taxi, have them drop you off right where the traffic starts JAMMING along Eisenhower and walk the rest of the way as fast as if you were sitting in the JAM.

 

Anybody heard if public buses can get you from other airports close to cruise terminals or hostels? I've been in the SouthBeach Miami hostel once, but I wasn't cruising then so don't know if it's convenient to get from Miami airport or not. How about Seattle or Vancouver connections for a great Alaska cruise?

[zoncom]

Courtesy of Feds we now have a $2.35 bus from MIA to South Beach with just several stops ending on Washinton just South of Lincoln Rd. Mall in front of Fritzs bike shop every 1/2 hour. Also maybe 3-4 blks. South of Fritzs is Clay Hotel/hostel, a really neat old Spanish place from 20s.Bus saves me a $45 taxi to airport.

[bqkali]

Anybody heard if public buses can get you from other airports close to cruise terminals or hostels? I've been in the SouthBeach Miami hostel once, but I wasn't cruising then so don't know if it's convenient to get from Miami airport or not. How about Seattle or Vancouver connections for a great Alaska cruise?

 

I've stayed in two hostels in Seattle - the Green Tortoise (at Pike Place Market) and the HI hostel, which I believe is technically in the international district. Both were about $30/night for a bunk, with private rooms available.

 

The light rail line from the airport into downtown Seattle will get you to either hostel from the airport easily, for just a few dollars and about 30 minutes of your time. To get to Pier 66 in Seattle for a cruise, you can get there easily with public bus/walking although I'm not sure if you can get to Pier 91 - it's certainly reachable but I don't know if for security reasons you can walk into that pier. You could definitely get very close by public bus and hope to find a taxi for the last stretch if necessary (I would imagine this would be possible with the amount of taxis headed to/from the pier).

 

Also very easy to get from the Seattle hostels to the Seattle train station for the Amtrak train to Vancouver. When you get to Vancouver, you could definitely get to Canada Place pier by public transport, but to get to Ballantyne Pier is easy. I suppose you could walk the whole way, or take a bus to get somewhat closer, but at a $10 taxi fare, it's so much easier to just taxi the whole way.

[Tikibird]

I used to stay in hostels a lot when I was younger so I can relate. If there are 2 people, you'd probably be better off bidding on Priceline and getting a bargain on a 3 or 4 star hotel. You can see details on http://www.biddingfortravel.com and http://www.betterbidding.com. You can't choose the hotel but you can choose what part of town it's in.