Miami hotels near port

[mucoyc]

Any suggestions for hotels in Miami?  We would love to be able to stay by the port or at least have access to reasonable/free port shuttles.

 

 

[tallnthensome]

Florida hotels, flights, parking transportation questions here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/ 

[dpepper64]

stay at Shuttle from air port and to cruise terminal.  Cheap taxi ride if you decide that times are not good for you to terminal.

[beerman2]

Intercontinental, Holiday Inn, Marriott, YVE to name a few.

[dpepper64]

meant to say Marriott

 

[newmexicoNita]

We have stayed at the Holiday Inn. Nothing fancy but nice, clean and you can walk across the street to the shopping center: lots of good restaurants and interesting shops, plus if you get on the right side of the hotel you can see the ships coming and going. 

[JillK]

We have stayed at the Intercontinental and Marriott previously and they are both nice and well located. Lots of folks choose the Holiday Inn as it is probably the closest to the port but it's always been full when I've been booking! 

 

As tallnthensome mentioned, try the florida departures board when you have some time to do a bit of reading. You will get lots of recommendations and insights there that will provide you with tons of guidance.

 

Enjoy your cruise!  

[newmexicoNita]

On 8/18/2019 at 6:25 AM, JillK said:

We have stayed at the Intercontinental and Marriott previously and they are both nice and well located. Lots of folks choose the Holiday Inn as it is probably the closest to the port but it's always been full when I've been booking! 

 

As tallnthensome mentioned, try the florida departures board when you have some time to do a bit of reading. You will get lots of recommendations and insights there that will provide you with tons of guidance.

 

Enjoy your cruise!  

I too would recommend the Intercontinental if Holiday Inn isn't available.  

[suometar]

On 8/17/2019 at 6:15 PM, mucoyc said:

Any suggestions for hotels in Miami?  We would love to be able to stay by the port or at least have access to reasonable/free port shuttles.

 

 

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn by the port. The rooms are small, as is the bathroom. However, the location can't be beat, it is just across the street from Bayside marketplace with shops and restaurants, and Bayfront Park. We booked a package that included breakfast and shuttle to the port. However, the walls are paper thin and you will hear your neighbors in the next room, so if you are a light sleeper you might want to take that into consideration.

[bkrickles1]

Has anyone stayed here?

La Quinta Inn by Wyndham Miami Airport North

I got a pretty good deal for Jan. 18, 2020 to sail Encore on Jan. 19.

We just need a simple room for the 3 of us and we'll be heading over to the pier early in the morning.

We just need it to be clean.

[newmexicoNita]

23 hours ago, bkrickles1 said:

Has anyone stayed here?

La Quinta Inn by Wyndham Miami Airport North

I got a pretty good deal for Jan. 18, 2020 to sail Encore on Jan. 19.

We just need a simple room for the 3 of us and we'll be heading over to the pier early in the morning.

We just need it to be clean.

If you are just looking for a good deal there are lots of hotels that are nice near the airport. Most do not include shuttle to the port which is pretty far away so take that into consideration. when we stay near the airport we generally try to get a Hilton brand hotel but that is just us. La Quintas are ok and usually clean. 

[david_sobe]

3 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

If you are just looking for a good deal there are lots of hotels that are nice near the airport. Most do not include shuttle to the port which is pretty far away so take that into consideration. when we stay near the airport we generally try to get a Hilton brand hotel but that is just us. La Quintas are ok and usually clean. 

The Miami airport is a 10 minute drive to the port of Miami (without traffic of course).  Most main stay hotels have shuttles to the port or airport.  Not sure what you meant by "pretty far away"

 

 

If you are only staying the night before your cruise, I would save money and stay at one of the hotels near the airport off 836 (Dolphin Expressway).  

[bkrickles1]

6 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

If you are just looking for a good deal there are lots of hotels that are nice near the airport. Most do not include shuttle to the port which is pretty far away so take that into consideration. when we stay near the airport we generally try to get a Hilton brand hotel but that is just us. La Quintas are ok and usually clean. 

Thanks for the response.

Yes, we are looking for a good deal and I'm actually still looking at both hotels  by the airport and ones by the pier.

I checked with my uber app and it should be 25 minutes and less than $20 to ride to the pier on a Sunday morning and that's ok by us. I've already removed the transfer fees from NCL so my uber would be covered easily.

I was able to book this La Quintas with no money (pay at hotel) up front so I'll see what else I can find over the coming months but I think this may be perfect for us. 

Thanks again.

[newmexicoNita]

7 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

The Miami airport is a 10 minute drive to the port of Miami (without traffic of course).  Most main stay hotels have shuttles to the port or airport.  Not sure what you meant by "pretty far away"

 

 

If you are only staying the night before your cruise, I would save money and stay at one of the hotels near the airport off 836 (Dolphin Expressway).  

David, I have probably made the trip from the airport to the port a couple dozen times and never had it take as short of time as 10 minutes: I am guessing more like 20 minute usually. It seems every time we sail out of Miami there is construction near or at the airport. This is just our experience. I didn't mean an hour or anything like that, I was comparing to the airport in relationship to staying at one of the suggested hotels near the port. 

[GA Dave]

Marriott Biscayne Bay.  Here is a view of the Getaway from my room's balcony.

 

[david_sobe]

38 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

David, I have probably made the trip from the airport to the port a couple dozen times and never had it take as short of time as 10 minutes: I am guessing more like 20 minute usually. It seems every time we sail out of Miami there is construction near or at the airport. This is just our experience. I didn't mean an hour or anything like that, I was comparing to the airport in relationship to staying at one of the suggested hotels near the port. 

Have you made the trip since the port tunnel opened a few years ago?  No need to go downtown with the stop lights and then the port bridge.  Once you get on 836, its nonstop all the way to the port underground.  Amazing improvement mostly for the port trucks but also cruise passengers.  Barring an accident or rush hour traffic, its a hop, skip and jump.  If you stay downtown, you still use the port bridge.  But those not staying downtown have a direct pathway with no stopping (barring an accident of course).

Edited August 20, 2019 by david_sobe

[bkrickles1]

6 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Have you made the trip since the port tunnel opened a few years ago?  No need to go downtown with the stop lights and then the port bridge.  Once you get on 836, its nonstop all the way to the port underground.  Amazing improvement mostly for the port trucks but also cruise passengers.  Barring an accident or rush hour traffic, its a hop, skip and jump.

All of you have so much experience and I, for one, appreciate the input.

My crew has been cruising out of NYC/Bayonne for most of the past 10 years to avoid the flying and transfer stuff but that was always our summertime cruises.

With our daughter now going to college and having the longest winter break known to man, we decided to do a winter cruise and so we're dealing with those logistics.

Even if the trip from our hotel to the pier takes 20 -25 minutes on a Sunday morning, it will be worth it as we're going to save well over a $100 on the hotel itself. But, as you said, I expect it to take less time than that and we'll probably leave pretty early, like 8:30am so I'm sure we'll be at the port before 9am.

Too bad the new terminal won't be finished when I'm sailing.

thanks guys.

[RedwingHockeyFan]

I've always found it to be cheaper for my family to fly into Fort Lauderdale, rent a car and stay in that area for a night prior to the cruise.  The next morning we return the car to the Miami airport car rental and take the free shuttle to the port.

[newmexicoNita]

2 hours ago, bkrickles1 said:

All of you have so much experience and I, for one, appreciate the input.

My crew has been cruising out of NYC/Bayonne for most of the past 10 years to avoid the flying and transfer stuff but that was always our summertime cruises.

With our daughter now going to college and having the longest winter break known to man, we decided to do a winter cruise and so we're dealing with those logistics.

Even if the trip from our hotel to the pier takes 20 -25 minutes on a Sunday morning, it will be worth it as we're going to save well over a $100 on the hotel itself. But, as you said, I expect it to take less time than that and we'll probably leave pretty early, like 8:30am so I'm sure we'll be at the port before 9am.

Too bad the new terminal won't be finished when I'm sailing.

thanks guys.

Totally agree saving money, even if it is slightly inconvenient is worth it. That is why we are using NCL air on our next cruise. We are saving probably $1000 so we don't care if we have to sit in the nose bleed section of the plane or leave earlier than we want or even fly in the day of, which we have only done maybe twice in our lives. 

[newmexicoNita]

2 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Have you made the trip since the port tunnel opened a few years ago?  No need to go downtown with the stop lights and then the port bridge.  Once you get on 836, its nonstop all the way to the port underground.  Amazing improvement mostly for the port trucks but also cruise passengers.  Barring an accident or rush hour traffic, its a hop, skip and jump.  If you stay downtown, you still use the port bridge.  But those not staying downtown have a direct pathway with no stopping (barring an accident of course).

You know I was going through our last few cruises and we have not gone out of MIA I don't think. We went out of NYC, Boston, NOLA, San Juan, and Port Canaveral but it might have been 5 years or more since we did MIA> This is good to know. If I remember when we get back I will let you know how long it takes us from MIA to the port.

[david_sobe]

34 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

You know I was going through our last few cruises and we have not gone out of MIA I don't think. We went out of NYC, Boston, NOLA, San Juan, and Port Canaveral but it might have been 5 years or more since we did MIA> This is good to know. If I remember when we get back I will let you know how long it takes us from MIA to the port.

If you stay outside the city, you will get to experience the port tunnel that takes you nonstop from the 836 interstate underground directly to the port of Miami.  Saves so much time and traffic because the tunnel is only for port traffic.  No worries about road closures downtown due to marathons, concerts or construction.

 

Edited August 20, 2019 by david_sobe

[Noworkforme23]

We stayed at the Hilton Miami Airport Blue Lagoon and we loved the location.

They do have a bus shuttle with a small fee, but we chose to take a Uber that we prescheduled thru the Uber app the night before. 

[cementhands]

Clevelander on south beach is a party place. If you’re young and crazy look it up.

[mucoyc]

Thank you, everyone!!!  I'm a first time cruiser and appreciate all the info.  We ended up at the DoubleTree Biscayne Bay.   It allowed the 5 of us to stay together in a "condo" at a really reasonable price!

[david_sobe]

34 minutes ago, mucoyc said:

Thank you, everyone!!!  I'm a first time cruiser and appreciate all the info.  We ended up at the DoubleTree Biscayne Bay.   It allowed the 5 of us to stay together in a "condo" at a really reasonable price!

Nice place.  Its in great shape but when you walk into the lobby its 1987 all over again.  When the hotel/condo opened in the late 80s, Don Johnson actually owned one of the units while he filmed Miami Vice around Miami.

And when I say the lobby is pure 80's, I mean that as a compliment.  Its full gold and brass glory but very clean.  If you like the a 1980s, you will love the lobby.  It also has some great little bars/restaurants in back with a view of the bay.