Hi we have a hotel booked in Miami the night before our cruise its the Continental Bayside
opp the Bayside marketplace booked with Bookit.com its near the port,leaving on Carnival
Liberty 2weeks today[aug2nd]can,t help for post cruise as hireing a car and driving to
Orlando
Ann

I have stayed at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami and the Intercontinental downtown, both great hotels,prior to cruises. If you ask for a room overlooking the port at the H.I. you can see your ship come in..... it's in a great position, just stroll across the street to the Bayside Marketplace which has dozens of shops/restaurants/bars/live music in the evening. It is set around a Marina and you can take a short 'cruise' around Biscayne Bay to see how the other half lives. The Intercontinental is lovely, a bit more expensive and a bit further to walk to Bayside, but good place to stay pre cruise. Both these hotels are in downtown Miami and apart from Bayside, there is nothing you can walk to, the area adjacent is under a lot of construction and becomes decidedly tatty and not somewhere you'd want to walk late at night once you get out of the 'tourist' zone along the shore. For a few days post cruise I would head for a South Beach hotel for lots to do and see. Will you have a car or be dependent upon taxi/public transport?

Thanks for that. I think I have some ideas for the pre-cruise night - been bidding on priceline to try to get the Hyatt or the Hilton. Up at £40 and £32 now respectively but only done two bids on each. Might have to go a bit more as it's a saturday night.

After the cruise, we have sun-thurs to get a hotel for the remaining nights. Been looking at Coral Gables and I really like the sound of it, however....girl at Carnival I spoke to said to go for Miami Beach to give access to South Beach in the evenings. Not sure what to do!

I got the Intercontinental (Downtown 3 stars) for $90 on Priceline last September.
Unless you have your own transport it will cost you about $15+ to get to South Beach every evening from downtown. South Beach hotels are more expensive as it's the 'happening' place for night life, beach, dining etc.
Coral Gables - YES, nice.

Thanks emdia. Do you think I'd find enough to do in the evening in coral gables? We'd consider going over to Miami beach in the afternoon early evening by bus, then travelling back either by bus or taxi if later. Would like some things on the doorstep of the hotel too. Also, being brits in america with the good exchange rate we will want to shop a little too. Might even consider a bus up to Ft Lauderdale, but wouldn't be bothered hiring a car.

If you're close to the Miracle Mile there should be.
http://www.shopcoralgables.com/index.cfm

If you want to shop til you drop go to Sawgrass Mills.

Hi, we have booked to go to Orlando in October 09 returning back to the UK via Miami. Wondered if anyone can give me some information about places to visit/the area while we are there - as not sure how many nights to book there for? We have 2 sons, 15 and 11. Many thanks. Sue

We stopped there for 1 night pre cruise and 4 nights post cruise back in November (hence posting on the forum for more info).

We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown on hubby's Marriott points, so the hotel was a freebie. It was fine, but downtown is possibly not the best place to be. It was suitable for us because we wanted to do some shopping, so we went to Dolphin Mall, Dadeland etc from there. There was also shopping downtown and over on Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. Lincoln Road was great. It was full of shops, bars and restaurants and a great place to be in the evening. It was pedestrianised, and really nice to walk along there, and then down the side streets into the Art Deco district. If budget allows, it would be a nice area to stay in, there are a couple of nice hotels right there on the beach at the end of Lincoln Road which would be fab, but I suspect they are expensive.

You also have the option of staying at Coral Gables or Coconut Grove. We went to Coral Gables one evening and although it was nice enough, it was a little boring for an evening out on holiday. Would be a lovely place for locals though. The only thing to do in the evening downtown is go to Bayside. They have a website so you will be able to see what you can do there. We took a bus over to Lincoln Road 2 nights, one night we managed to spot the bus stop to come back and a bus was due so we took that, the other night we took a taxi back. Coral Gables we took bus there and Taxi back. Both taxis were around $20.

There is a huge shopping centre at Fort Lauderdale, Sawgrass Mills. If you have a hire car it might be worthwhile stopping there on the way down to Miami. It's not easy to park in Miami, and very expensive even at the hotels, so you might want to get rid of your car as soon as possible if you are driving down there.

If you want to know any more about the above just ask, and I will try to help.

I would look at something out on South Beach.
Downtown Miami is more commercial, business, than vacation hotel zone. There are a few hotels downtown, we have stayed at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami and the Intercontinental which are both opposite the Bayside Marketplace. There's enough to keep you busy there for a day but no more- shopping (tourist stuff) restaurants and fast food, a marina to watch boats coming and going, and live music in the evenings. Go a couple of blocks from there and you are in a very rundown area.....
Depending on your budget you should be able to find something in South Beach.
Things to do in Miami?
Take an Everglades Tour.
Shop at Sawgrass Mills. You will need at least one whole day. About 350 shops if I remember right.
People watch on South Beach.
Miami Seaquarium, swim with dolphins.
Parrot Jungle Island.
Take guided tour of Miami/ Biscayne Bay area.
Watch a professional sports game- basketball. football, whatever.
There is a water taxi that runs from Ft Lauderdale to South Beach, return, that's a nice way to get around.

aarond wrote:

Hi we have a hotel booked in Miami the night before our cruise its the Continental Bayside
opp the Bayside marketplace booked with Bookit.com its near the port,leaving on Carnival
Liberty 2weeks today[aug2nd]can,t help for post cruise as hireing a car and driving to
Orlando
Ann :)

Stay away from this Hotel, it's a doss house, filthy. Have a read at trip advisor

Not to be confused with the INTERContinental, which is lovely..

If anyone would like to add their review of the Continental Bayside, please do so HERE

I hope someone does review it. I cancelled after seeing so many bad reports and some photos from someone who stayed there. I think there is no such thing as a cheap good hotel in miami.

As someone said the area around Bayside is run down, I too would go for South Beach. Bayside is getting run down too, shame I used to love it there.

Hi we stayed at this hotel 1 night pre cruise last Aug its a seedy place did not feel comfortable there
at all,its grubby and run down,our door into the corridor had a gap in it we had to hang a towel over it
in case somebody looked in, there were lots staying there just the night pre cruise,but would book a
better class hotel next time,
annx