murphfam4 Posted February 16, 2019 #1 Share Posted February 16, 2019 (edited) Currently looking at Hilton Embassy Suites and Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina for 1 night pre-cruise. Both have good and bad reviews. Any help in choosing would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Edited February 16, 2019 by murphfam4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulinda Posted February 16, 2019 #2 Share Posted February 16, 2019 We stayed at ES last Feb. It's convenient to shops, decent free breakfast buffet, offers shuttle to port for a price. It is also pretty well worn ( at least as of last year), the elevators are verrrrrry slow and on embarkation day will take time to get one. I thought it was kind of pricey but then that's me. This year we are staying at Hyatt place nearby. It's a much smaller hotel. Reviews aren't much better I guess but everyone has an opinion. We will see what our's is. Never stayed at Marina 1. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WatchHill Posted February 16, 2019 #3 Share Posted February 16, 2019 We always stay at Hyatt Place. Be sure to join their member program to qualify for the complimentary breakfast. The rooms are large and we like having the nice sitting area to spread out the luggage. It's a short walk to the Harbor Shops for anything you forgot to pack, wine, too. We always meander over to the other side of the parking lot to Mezzaluna for a drink at their bar. Depending on the night you are there, the restaurant/bar has a happy hour. For dinner, we gravitate toward the many restaurants off 17th Street, avoiding the chain restaurants, love Kelley's Landing for New England chowder and seafood. Wise to take the online reviews of hotels with a healthy degree of skepticism - toss out the overly positive and the same with the overly negative. Darcy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare vacationlover_mn Posted February 16, 2019 #4 Share Posted February 16, 2019 We love the ES 🙂. Nice happy hour, good food, nice pool, within walking distance of restaurants and that neat bridge 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphfam4 Posted February 16, 2019 Author #5 Share Posted February 16, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, WatchHill said: We always stay at Hyatt Place. Be sure to join their member program to qualify for the complimentary breakfast. The rooms are large and we like having the nice sitting area to spread out the luggage. It's a short walk to the Harbor Shops for anything you forgot to pack, wine, too. We always meander over to the other side of the parking lot to Mezzaluna for a drink at their bar. Depending on the night you are there, the restaurant/bar has a happy hour. For dinner, we gravitate toward the many restaurants off 17th Street, avoiding the chain restaurants, love Kelley's Landing for New England chowder and seafood. Wise to take the online reviews of hotels with a healthy degree of skepticism - toss out the overly positive and the same with the overly negative. Darcy Hyatt looks nice but a bit more than I really want to spent for 1 night being I need 2/3 rooms. Edited February 16, 2019 by murphfam4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseclan Posted February 17, 2019 #6 Share Posted February 17, 2019 The Hyatt place hotels can accomodate up to 6 if you don’t mind sharing beds. We did that once. We got 2 double beds and it has a sofa bed as well. For one night no worries. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulinda Posted February 17, 2019 #7 Share Posted February 17, 2019 16 hours ago, murphfam4 said: Hyatt looks nice but a bit more than I really want to spent for 1 night being I need 2/3 rooms. Some use value trips dot com to book a room. There's been a lot of threads about using a third party to book instead of using the hotel website direct. Don't know when you are going but currently they are offering rates at 239.00 for a room and off season 139.00. We used booking dot com and will be at HP soon at a better price than ES. Good luck on your search. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nhraformula00 Posted February 17, 2019 #8 Share Posted February 17, 2019 We have used Valutrips to book Hyatt Place about 5 times now without a glitch. Saves quite a bit of money depending on time of year. We love Hyatt Place, Hilton Marina tower rooms are nice, the low rise rooms get the bad reviews. Have been to Embassy Suites once about 2 years ago just to try it out. E.S. would be our last choice in the 17th street area, it is dated and shows. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzmund Posted February 18, 2019 #9 Share Posted February 18, 2019 On 2/16/2019 at 8:06 AM, WatchHill said: We always stay at Hyatt Place. Be sure to join their member program to qualify for the complimentary breakfast. The rooms are large and we like having the nice sitting area to spread out the luggage. It's a short walk to the Harbor Shops for anything you forgot to pack, wine, too. We always meander over to the other side of the parking lot to Mezzaluna for a drink at their bar. Depending on the night you are there, the restaurant/bar has a happy hour. For dinner, we gravitate toward the many restaurants off 17th Street, avoiding the chain restaurants, love Kelley's Landing for New England chowder and seafood. Wise to take the online reviews of hotels with a healthy degree of skepticism - toss out the overly positive and the same with the overly negative. Darcy Agree with Darcy. Hyatt Place is a solid pre-cruise hotel. Publix and Total Wine just around the corner. Kelly's Landing is our traditional night before the cruise restaurant. Love the clam chowder. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WatchHill Posted February 18, 2019 #10 Share Posted February 18, 2019 9 hours ago, Ozzmund said: Agree with Darcy. Hyatt Place is a solid pre-cruise hotel. Publix and Total Wine just around the corner. Kelly's Landing is our traditional night before the cruise restaurant. Love the clam chowder. We used to stay a few nights pre-cruise at Hyatt 66, now no longer part of the hotel chain, but always did a few days post at Hyatt Place. Now it's Hyatt Place on both ends of a cruise, always book directly on the Hyatt web site, entered my Hyatt member number to keep collecting the points [and have enjoyed a free night or two], and pick up the member reward of free water bottles and of course the complimentary breakfast. New Hyatt policy: free breakfast is members only- - so create an account, no cost, and get a slightly lower daily rate structure. We like to rent a car, but even without one, Harbor Shops is an easy walk for wine or picking up things you may have forgotten like travel sized toiletries at Publix...they have a wine section, too. I agree about Kelly's Landing. As a Bostonian who still remembers the original Kelly's in South Boston, the chowder is the best, and the seafood, fried clams and scallops, is great. We always manage to stop by for dinner on every trip through Ft Lauderdale. Darcy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiseapril Posted February 18, 2019 #11 Share Posted February 18, 2019 We have stayed at a near by hotel- on 17th St. - the Holiday Inn Express. It is quiet, but within walking distance of the Embassy Suites for a good lunch on patio. Many friends stay at the Hyatt Place and are pleased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeasideMemories Posted February 19, 2019 #12 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Check out Hyatt Place 17th Street booked through ValueTrips.com We’ve used them several times and it has worked pretty well! As an example, a sample price through hotel for Fall/Winter 2019 for a room where you can cancel up to 48 hours before is $261. Same room through Valuetrips is $159. Looks like you would need to add the optional $11 per room (not person) fee for the breakfast to the Valuetrips rate, if you wanted it, in order to compare apples to apples (this is a change by Hyatt from last time we booked to only include breakfast for Members). Hotel also includes a shuttle from the FLL airport to the hotel for $2.00 per room too! The hotel is close to shopping and restaurants. The surrounding area is nothing special but is just fine for a night before or after the cruise. Valuetrips may take a little bit of time to get back to you but I’ve never had them not. Once your reservation is confirmed then you deal with the hotel for anything further including a cancellation if you need to. Hope this helps.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare JamesEM Posted February 19, 2019 #13 Share Posted February 19, 2019 16 hours ago, cruiseapril said: We have stayed at a near by hotel- on 17th St. - the Holiday Inn Express. It is quiet, but within walking distance of the Embassy Suites for a good lunch on patio. Many friends stay at the Hyatt Place and are pleased. We stayed there recently and it was under construction, not quiet, breakfast was grim, they would not store our luggage, I also recommend the Hyatt Place or ES. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBumb Posted February 19, 2019 #14 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Hilton marina is my top pick. Great pool area with bar. Easy access to water taxi. Great view of cruise ships 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueHerons Posted February 19, 2019 #15 Share Posted February 19, 2019 The Embassy Suites is pretty worn out. I'd also pick Hilton Marina. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zendeck Posted February 20, 2019 #16 Share Posted February 20, 2019 On 2/18/2019 at 7:38 AM, WatchHill said: I agree about Kelly's Landing. As a Bostonian who still remembers the original Kelly's in South Boston, the chowder is the best, and the seafood, fried clams and scallops, is great. We always manage to stop by for dinner on every trip through Ft Lauderdale. Darcy Wow, I had to shout out....fond childhood memories of Kelly's in Southie. Not many people even know it was there! I'm looking for a hotel to stay the night before which is why I am on this board .......now I will have to try this Kelly's Landing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WatchHill Posted February 20, 2019 #17 Share Posted February 20, 2019 2 hours ago, Zendeck said: Wow, I had to shout out....fond childhood memories of Kelly's in Southie. Not many people even know it was there! I'm looking for a hotel to stay the night before which is why I am on this board .......now I will have to try this Kelly's Landing! You can look at their menu online - written is "southie" style. The restaurant has a few pictures of the real original Victorian structure, situated by the yacht club, long before it was destroyed by the hurricanes of the mid 50's. DH can't get get enough of their clam chowder and wishes he could get it shipped into BOS. Last time we were there, DH spotted a baseball hat with Kelly's named on one side, and the back had the logo of the major Boston teams - talk about one hat to celebrate all the teams! He has been wearing it ever since. I still remember fishing from the dock behind Kelly's and later feeding sea gulls along the sea wall. Lots of summer nights eating clams and fries, with my grandparents who had a home nearby. If you stay at Hyatt Place, walk toward 17th, [Mezzaluna will be on your right] turn right and cross at the next block - walk quickly! Shortest pedestrian light I've ever encountered. Kelly's is on the the far corner of the strip mall on your right. Darcy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueHerons Posted February 20, 2019 #18 Share Posted February 20, 2019 We eat at Kellys pretty regularly and it is good, New England, cold water seafood. Of course nothing beats a lobster roll in Maine, this comes pretty close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonyboy Posted February 23, 2019 #19 Share Posted February 23, 2019 On 2/20/2019 at 5:30 PM, BlueHerons said: We eat at Kellys pretty regularly and it is good, New England, cold water seafood. Of course nothing beats a lobster roll in Maine, this comes pretty close. As I was reading some of the posts about clam chowder in FL all I could think about was Billy's chowder house in Wells ME. Love clam chowder but rarely order it out of New England Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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