Miami

getmore4less

OK lets start with the scare there are some not very nice hotels in Miami been there done that etc. Some people seem to think south beach is not so nice at night but we thought it was fine but more than 2-3 nights is enough to do SOBE.

We have done a couple of cruise trips an stayed at the following.

For one night pre cruise then anything down near the port will do, taxis are cheap, we stayed at RiverPark hotel and suites 1n pre cruise and used the free people mover(just outside) to bayside, for an evening meal Los Ranchos was very good steak, Taxi back $5. If you have a bit longer then you can get the people mover and the train($1.25) to other places.

Hotel is basic and fine for the one night there is a pool. Bfast is not included but the shops are about a 2 blocks away but everything is closed on a sunday morning.
Taxi is cheaper than the hotel shuttle to the port.
$25 taxi from the airport <$10 to the port.

April the rates were around $75-$100pn

http://www.riverparkhotelandsuites.com/

Another pre cruise hotel is the intercontinental if you can get a deal through Priceline or Hotwire.

For post cruise Dec 06 fter a lot of research we stayed on SOBE 3n on a 3-4-2 deal at

http://www.thehotelchelsea.com/

Looks like they still have some good mid week rates.

The hotel is very basic but a good/great location, on the bus routes(including the 25c circular round SOBE) to everywhere 2 blocks from Ocean drive/Beach. Staff were OK, friendly enough, the rooms were fine clean but worn, the public areas a bit tacky and very dark. watch for the $20 early check in charge when getting off a cruise. Bfast is basic but after a cruise you don't realy need much more than a coffee and a pastry. we would stay there again if the price was good or use one of the other SOBE group hotels. There is a free shuttle to the airport but is not that frequent and you need to go to a hotel about a block away.

If you want full service hotel with pool etc then this is not the place but for a bed in a good location it worked for us.

Plenty of places for food but one "in place" if in season is Joes stone crab.

For future post cruise stays I think we will go elsewhere we have done the SOBE area.