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Hilton Marina, Fort Lauderdale


teacher2cruiser
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My DH and I are going to arrive at our hotel, The Hilton Marina in Fort Lauderdale, two days pre-cruise at the end of June..  I know we plan to ride on the water taxi, but I'm hoping others might suggest activities and restaurants (possibly shopping) nearby.  I have researched the water taxi, but I still can't figure out particular restaurants that can be  at the stops.  We are interested in casual places with local food (like shrimp and oyster poboys). We may spend most of our time lounging by the pool, but I am hoping for some suggestions from my beloved Cruise Critic experts.

Thanks!

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Check out the 'cruise and save' section of their website:  https://watertaxi.com/save/.

 

You can cross reference restaurants with this site (including the Fort Lauderdale Restaurants sticky at the top of the page) and TripAdvisor. 

 

During the day the Sun Trolley (www.suntrolley.com) also gives you easy and cheap ($1 ride/$3 day pass) transportation to/from the beach and Las Olas but I think they stop around 6 pm so you would need a taxi/Uber/Lyft for dinner.  They are not expensive.

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4 minutes ago, capriccio said:

Check out the 'cruise and save' section of their website:  https://watertaxi.com/save/.

 

You can cross reference restaurants with this site (including the Fort Lauderdale Restaurants sticky at the top of the page) and TripAdvisor. 

 

During the day the Sun Trolley (www.suntrolley.com) also gives you easy and cheap ($1 ride/$3 day pass) transportation to/from the beach and Las Olas but I think they stop around 6 pm so you would need a taxi/Uber/Lyft for dinner.  They are not expensive.

Thanks!  This lets me see things I hadn't found on the watertaxi site.

 

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Things were easier to find on the old water taxi web site.  I knew the info had to be somewhere so I just kept searching but for someone who wasn't familiar with the old site or the fact that lots of restaurants near stops offer discounts it would be hard to find.

 

Make sure you check out www.sunny.org for lots of tourist information.  The Las Olas Blvd website (www.lasolasboulevard.com) has lots of info on stores, galleries, and restaurants along Las Olas.

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise and a great post cruise visit in Fort Lauderdale!

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5 hours ago, teacher2cruiser said:

My DH and I are going to arrive at our hotel, The Hilton Marina in Fort Lauderdale, two days pre-cruise at the end of June..  I know we plan to ride on the water taxi, but I'm hoping others might suggest activities and restaurants (possibly shopping) nearby.  I have researched the water taxi, but I still can't figure out particular restaurants that can be  at the stops.  We are interested in casual places with local food (like shrimp and oyster poboys). We may spend most of our time lounging by the pool, but I am hoping for some suggestions from my beloved Cruise Critic experts.

Thanks!

Did the same in November (only one day) and loved the hotel.  Here's some of my thoughts:

Water taxi was awesome.  Great guides, not uncomfortable like some boats,  and some even have bars.  It stops within an easy walk (coming from a not in shape person) to a ton of resteraunts and shops on Las Olas and elsewhere.  Shouldn't be a problem finding stuff near the route. 

 

Area around the hotel isn't quite as good for eating.  There is a shopping center with a grocery store and restaurants a mile or so up the road.  Might be worth an uber if you don't want super overpriced breakfast (my one real complaint about the hotel). Hotel restaurant has decent if a bit overpriced food. Lobby bar had a half price wine happy hour.  

 

Feel free to ask any specific questions :). 

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My family of 4 just spent 4 days pre-cruise there in March.

 

The pool area is nice we spent a good portion of each day there.  The pool bar had good service and food.

 

We ate breakfast at a place in a strip mall within walking distance called NY Marina Deli.

The food was good and very reasonable.  Regular breakfast items served on paper plates with plastic utensils.  I had an omelet and fried potatoes, the rest of the family had French toast, both were very good.  I went back later for a sandwich one day also really good.

 

We did an Everglades tour to Everglades Holiday Park.  It was about 3 or 4 hours long.  We booked a VIP package that included transportation from the hotel and back. It included airboat ride in the Everglades (about an hour) then a short (15min.) alligator show including complimentary picture and water.  We thought it was worth it the boat ride was very entertaining.

 

The hotel has a free beach shuttle to Fort Lauderdale beach , I think it left twice a day.  We used it once.  the beach is close by we saw people walking there from the hotel.  It's up over the bridge.  We had to call the hotel for pick up as the driver didn't return when he said he would.  I think it left a 11 AM and returned at 3 PM but it was more like 4PM. 

 

the hotel also arranges shuttles to the port for $12 a person.  We planned to walk to the princess terminal (births 1 and 2) it was maybe a 10min. walk. My 9y.o. and I did it the morning of departure, but our ship Crown Princess was birthed at birth 14 about 2 mile away.  We took an Uber for about $8 dollars for the 4 of us picked us up at the hotel about 10min. after we called it showed up and we were at the ship in about 15 min or so.

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Whenever I stay at the Hilton Marina FLL, I usually have breakfast at Fresh First http://www.freshfirst.com/ .  It is gluten free restaurant within walking distance from the hotel.  They have a great breakfast there with real french press coffee.  They also make smoothies and also offer lunch.  

In regards to restaurants that are on the water taxi line,  15th Street Fisheries https://www.15streetfisheries.com/ is right across the canal from the hotel and the water taxi stops there.  I've had dinner there twice and was very happy with their food.  They do have outdoor seating and you can watch the tarpon under the dock at night.

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When did po' boys become a Fort Lauderdale local food?!  🙂

 

If you want a low key local type place, try Southport Raw Bar.  15th Street Fisheries is also awesome as recommended but much less casual.  Kelly's Landing is really good but it's New England food.  Laspadas is a pretty well known sub shop in the area if you just wanted a quick lunch, basically best hoagies you may ever have.

 

Las Olas restaurants don't jump out as casual/local to me.  Think more "Las Olas prices" ($$$$).  Maybe The Balcony which is a NOLA concept and not too pricey, you can get your shrimp and oyster po' boys there for sure.

Edited by BNBR
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7 hours ago, BNBR said:

When did po' boys become a Fort Lauderdale local food?!  🙂

 

If you want a low key local type place, try Southport Raw Bar.  15th Street Fisheries is also awesome as recommended but much less casual.  Kelly's Landing is really good but it's New England food.  Laspadas is a pretty well known sub shop in the area if you just wanted a quick lunch, basically best hoagies you may ever have.

 

Las Olas restaurants don't jump out as casual/local to me.  Think more "Las Olas prices" ($$$$).  Maybe The Balcony which is a NOLA concept and not too pricey, you can get your shrimp and oyster po' boys there for sure.

Are shrimp and oysters not local seafood Florida fare?   I have certainly had my share of seafood po boys in the panhandle of Florida.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

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5 minutes ago, teacher2cruiser said:

Are shrimp and oysters not local seafood Florida fare?   I have certainly had my share of seafood po boys in the panhandle of Florida.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

Panhandle is a different world compared to South Florida. Shrimp and oysters, definitely not a local thing here.  Around here it's more snapper, grouper, hogfish, mackeral, spiny lobster and stone crab. And several other fish. It's actually not that easy to get at restaurants unfortunately. Very, very, few actually source local seafood outside of stone crabs.  So the snapper could very well be imported.  We go to the local markets and buy off the boats but restaurants aren't really doing that.  Miami has more spots that use local seafood than Fort Lauderdale. It's not much of a thing here even though it should be. 

Edited by BNBR
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19 minutes ago, voljeep said:

we plan to go there the day before our cruise  -  staying at the Embassy Suites - is it easily walkable there ?

It's 1/3 mile away and a straight shot up Cordova Road after crossing 17th Street intersection (where the Embassy Suites is located).  Check it out on google maps.

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24 minutes ago, voljeep said:

we plan to go there the day before our cruise  -  staying at the Embassy Suites - is it easily walkable there ?

 

It's just across the street. For sure you can walk. Kelly's Landing is right next door to Southport as well. 

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17 hours ago, teacher2cruiser said:

Are shrimp and oysters not local seafood Florida fare?   I have certainly had my share of seafood po boys in the panhandle of Florida.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

Shrimp is local seafood as it comes from the Keys.  It's not local to Fort Lauderdale but may of the fisheries like Key Largo fisheries do send it up. Nothing like a peel and eat Key West Pink Shrimp!

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I have a question maybe some of you can answer about the Hilton Marina FLL. We have a pre cruise room booked there for January 2020. I had read elsewhere that there are nice and not so nice parts of this hotel, but it was confusing when I was choosing my room type. I ended up with a “low tower bridge view” room - does anyone know if that’s a good choice or not?

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On 4/21/2019 at 1:02 AM, ErLee said:

I have a question maybe some of you can answer about the Hilton Marina FLL. We have a pre cruise room booked there for January 2020. I had read elsewhere that there are nice and not so nice parts of this hotel, but it was confusing when I was choosing my room type. I ended up with a “low tower bridge view” room - does anyone know if that’s a good choice or not?

 

This is what I got "upgraded" to when I was there. Basically this means you'll have a view of the bridge to the beach (not as good) and of Port Everglades beyond (which might not be picturesque, but utterly fascinating to see all the cruise ships in the morning.) I was perfectly happy with the one I had.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎4‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 11:53 AM, voljeep said:
On ‎4‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 12:09 PM, BNBR said:

 

If you want a low key local type place, try Southport Raw Bar.

we plan to go there the day before our cruise  -  staying at the Embassy Suites - is it easily walkable there ?

OK, changed plans this morning to stay at the Hilton Marina for one night - 5/13 - prior to cruise

 

tried to modify our 2 night reservation at Embassy, but was not allowed due to 2 night minimum for Mothers Day weekend on the 12th  - at least that was what we were told

 

lost the happy hour and breakfast at ESuites - not a huge loss

 

Side note - parking at ES raised to $ 30/day self park - same at Hilton Marina - but we were able to book a AAA rate for park and stay - and the 'package' on was $ 10 more than the room alone

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We usually stay at the Hilton Ft Lauderdale Marina because it's convenient to the airport and cruise port.  In the morning, we walk a couple of blocks to Einstein Bagels for breakfast, and make our way another couple of blocks along to stop at Dollar Tree for room snacks, etc., and of course, Ross Dress For Less (we don't have them up here!), and usually on to the Publix and Total Wine stores before heading back to the hotel.  Don't worry about the distance, it isn't that far (hubby has done it several times since getting his new knee and never complains), and it's all flat - no hills.  In between there are many different places to eat and drink, so you won't run out of options.  We like the Quarterdeck for their ribs and the cashew chicken salad - you can't go wrong with either!

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

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Unfortunately I can't edit my previous post, but I just checked the Quarterdeck website, and they closed their restaurant at the Cordova and 17th Street on April 21st after 53 years.  Darn.  I guess we'll have to find a new place to call our own.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

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