Hilton Marina, Ft. Lauderdale

[nhraformula00]

Water taxi is great,plan on using it all day. Jump on jump off see the intercoastal.

[poffles]

On 11/6/2019 at 12:17 PM, doone said:

Reading the review for the Hilton Marina, Ft. Lauderdale and most are not good.  I am looking to stay at this hotel in March 2021, but am a bit nervous reading these reviews.  I have stayed here before and loved the hotel and location, but its been a while.  Has anyone stayed here recently and if so, share their thoughts on the cleanliness of this hotel.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I have stayed in this hotel three times.  Pre and Post one cruise and Pre another last July 2019.  This is my experience.

 

Location close to water taxi is awesome... steps away ... and there is a grocery store (Walgreens or CVS) a short walk away but otherwise there didn't seem to be anything right there.  Water taxi was fun to take as we hopped off to eat somewhere, hopped of too stroll areas ... was a fun time.

 

Room 1:  March 2019 (Intercoastal) Being a nut like the rest of us on here I did a lot of researching and booked a tower room as they are the newer rooms in the main building.  We did precheck-in (useless) and when we arrived and we waited hours and hours to be checked in, we left did the water taxi for the day came back still no room and by this time I was getting ugly and the guy who waited on me by chance was a manager (so he said) and he apologized and said he finally got me a room, one he said was better than what i had and I doubted what I booked so I went with it.  He also said he would upgrade us on our return after our cruise and made a note of where we would be on my booking receipt for that post stay.

 

The room we ended up with was the Intercoastal View Balcony and I DID NOT LIKE that location and the room seemed old.  The view was awesome but the room just felt ... ugh ...and even walking to the room though hallways and doors and ... ugh.  We said never again and we felt like we were snowed.  Oh well ... 

 

Room 2:  March 2019  (High Water View ) Night and day ... this room the view was everything, elevator around the corner from the front desk, seemed newer but same layout as the room prior.  This room was heaven and they got me back a bit so smart on them.  We still waited longer that I feel we should have for the room.  They have a serious problem with turnaround.  I think we did get into this room late afternoon so was before 4pm so can't say too much about that this time... but this was the only time as every other say it was later than that, later than the checkin time they claim.  We had a beautiful room with an awesome view of the ships and we got so many pictures of the ships as they sailed out and was a beautiful way to end the trip.  We watched our ship ... Celebrity Edge ... leave with all new passengers wishing we were still on her.  😞

 

Room 3:  July 2019 (High Water View) Same room as #2 so this was all the same and we liked it the same as the one prior.  The service had not improved though with checking in and this time we mentally prepared to wait.  Well even that can be pushed as around 5 we were still waiting and we arrived in the morning (having done pre-checkin online) and now we were getting very very upset as we watched others check in and we waited and waited.  How long does it take to clean the rooms, they are clearly understaffed for the foot traffic of this hotel.  This booking went very bad with the wait for the room, many conversations with the front desk to the point I expressed I would never stay there again.  I know it isn't the desks fault but the hotel needs room staff.  My frustration and experience at the front desk was so bad that this happened.  It was late, we were exhausted flying much of that day to get there, we turned the lights out around 9 I think and we hear knocking on the door ???  that's not our door ... must be next door ... wait ... knock knock again ... yes that's our door ... then the door starts to open ... what the !! .. .we have the guard on thank heavens... my roomie gets up and it is a delivery of a bottle of wine/champagne or something to make up for the experience.  LMAO that topped it off, really ... that late at night and you were going to just walk in the room ... how about refund me something or give me future credit ... the wine was in the room unopened when we left.  Nice gesture but little too late.

 

So the moral of the story is this:

 

Totally understand the room you are booking

Read reviews relative to the room you are booking IT MATTERS.

Be mentally prepared to not get in your room before 5pm, odds are good that will be your experience. 

 

So fast forward to now ... memory fades a bit and one thinks maybe I could try again 🙂  and after writing a review to the hotel on the last stay they did reach out to say they would do us right so we might consider for our next trip April 2021 as others we are traveling with want to stay there.  They just need to staff better for room turnover but I don't expect that to change.

 

Oh and the pool bar/restaurant is great, we sat there a lot and kept filling the glass and ate there too so we did make the best of our waits.   🍹🍻

Edited April 24, 2020 by poffles

[voljeep]

we've stayed twice - once 2 days pre-cruise, and the last 1 day pre-cruise - 12/3/19

booked AAA stay and park ( just for the night, then in the parking garage at the port) rate

 

high tower room - ninth floor overlooking the bridge, water taxis , and a great view of 'our cruise ship, Princess SKY' docked at

terminal 2.  very nice remodeled room 

 

got there about 11, room not ready, no problem, but let them know we were there and went to lunch - 15th street fisheries - good choice, spent about 2 hours there, then back to Hilton, room ready … NICE !

 

One downside to note … at that time, the room overlooked a construction staging area for materials, and trash - but very little noise, just not the best view looking down

 

will try to get in the same area in November coming up … IF, cruises are back up and cruising

[nhraformula00]

We have never had a wait checking into the Hilton Marina of more than 20 min. Have stayed there 3 times in the past 8 years.

[bigrednole]

Glad I saw this. I know it is a little old. We will be renting a car from Miami. Having a Budget car return here makes life simple. Since we would only be sleeping here pre-cruise one night, I am fine with anything. I have to use airline miles and this was one of the few options. We will be able to cruise up A1A in the afternoon, meet up with friends near LHP, and relax without having to worry about car rental return and anything else the next morning. Having the car rental will also allow us not to have to pack sunscreen and stuff like that for our flight. I can hit up CVS right up the street.

[jus10cruise]

20 hours ago, bigrednole said:

Glad I saw this. I know it is a little old. We will be renting a car from Miami. Having a Budget car return here makes life simple. Since we would only be sleeping here pre-cruise one night, I am fine with anything. I have to use airline miles and this was one of the few options. We will be able to cruise up A1A in the afternoon, meet up with friends near LHP, and relax without having to worry about car rental return and anything else the next morning. Having the car rental will also allow us not to have to pack sunscreen and stuff like that for our flight. I can hit up CVS right up the street.

 

 

Stayed here last December and returned my rental car at the hotel (not sure if anything has changed). Everything went fine, and I would definitely do it again, but in terms of a rental car office, I never saw one. Make sure you discuss with the front desk, when I spoke with them they explained that the rental car people aren't really at the hotel all that often. I was told to put the rental car keys in a safe right next to the front desk and they'd pick it up later.

 

I was pretty skeptical and a little worried about all the what if this or that happens since I never got a receipt, but I never saw any extra charges and was never contacted by the rental car company with any concerns. It wasn't exactly what I expected going in, but I would definitely do this again. It was nice to have a rental car before the cruise, and not need to worry about taking it back before shuttling over to the cruise port.

 

[rkacruiser]

8 hours ago, jus10cruise said:

I was pretty skeptical and a little worried about all the what if this or that happens since I never got a receipt, but I never saw any extra charges and was never contacted by the rental car company with any concerns. It wasn't exactly what I expected going in

 

Yikes!  I'd be very concerned about this arrangement that you described as well.  Glad it worked out OK for you.

[bigrednole]

There are a few hotel options that I have through American Airlines points. I trying to determine which is the most cost effective and convenient. I also realized we will be down there during Spring Break on a Saturday night. That means beach is not going to happen. I can even look at options away from the coast and not necessarily near the port. We can always Uber from FLL rental car dropoff or even the ones near the cruise gate. The convenience of having car rental return right at the hotel makes things easy.

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, bigrednole said:

I can even look at options away from the coast and not necessarily near the port.

 

Since you will be there during Spring Break time and you have decided a beach area property is unlikely, I'll recommend the Fort Lauderdale Marriott North Hotel on Andrews Avenue, just North of Cypress Creek Road.  Even though it's a full service Marriott, its rates have consistently been lower than those closer to the Port or the Beach.  If you have a rental car, they have a parking garage attached to the hotel and it is free.  Access from/to I-95 is simple; it's about a 30-45 minute from the hotel to the Port depending upon traffic.  (In January, I made it in 25 minutes and I was not speeding.  That's been my best time ever.)

 

There are some other hotel properties along Cypress Creek Road:  a Sheraton Suites and a Courtyard by Marriott.  I have stayed at the Courtyard a couple of times, but I prefer the Marriott.  (Plus, it has been less expensive than the Courtyard😮 for some reason.  The hotel is near the Executive Airport--a private plane type airport which is fairly busy.  That could be the reason for being a bit more expensive.)   

Edited September 23, 2020 by rkacruiser

[bigrednole]

Thanks for the info. We will be stuck with the hotels AA offers as miles. There are plenty of options and I can go all the way north to Boca Raton if necessary. I have friends in Lighthouse Point that we plan on meeting up with that night anyway. Where I stay is not as important as the general vicinity and what AA offers.

[rkacruiser]

11 hours ago, bigrednole said:

We will be stuck with the hotels AA offers as miles

 

I am curious.  What are the hotel chains that will accept AA miles?

[bigrednole]

Just now, rkacruiser said:

 

I am curious.  What are the hotel chains that will accept AA miles?

I don't think it is specific chains. If it was, there would be more Hilton options. The issue is price. I need a rental car and room. I am limited to ~$400 total for all of it. I singed up for the AA Citi card for the mile bonus. It was a grey area that miles could be used as a statement credit. We were originally out of PC but moved to Easter week out of PE. Easter flights are not cheap. I got 3 RT flights for $900. It includes a $250 statement credit for flights ($650) and 40,000 miles (~$250 for all 3 flights). But, they don't do statement credit. We will use the miles for the rental car and room the night before.

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, bigrednole said:

I don't think it is specific chains. If it was, there would be more Hilton options. The issue is price. I need a rental car and room. I am limited to ~$400 total for all of it. I singed up for the AA Citi card for the mile bonus. It was a grey area that miles could be used as a statement credit. We were originally out of PC but moved to Easter week out of PE. Easter flights are not cheap. I got 3 RT flights for $900. It includes a $250 statement credit for flights ($650) and 40,000 miles (~$250 for all 3 flights). But, they don't do statement credit. We will use the miles for the rental car and room the night before.

 

Thanks for responding.  I hope you find a rental and a hotel that suits your needs.