Hi all,

I'm sitting here in my room at the Holiday Inn PoM watching the GF get ready so we can go on our cruise. I just wanted to share my experience with the hotel. The location is just across from the cruise ship terminals and is about a $10 taxi ride away.

Also, directly across Biscayne Blvd is the Bayside Marketplace where there are several places to eat and have a drink. Choices currently range from Lombardi's, a decent Italian eatery where we ate last night, to Hooters, which had to have the longest wait of any of the restaurants and bars to get in. There are also several smaller spots including a Cuban place that looked good if but a bit pricey and a pizza place that had nice-looking pies, plus a few other chains including Bubba Gump's and Chili's.

The rooms here are small but functional. We landed one on the tenth floor, which is the highest. It is dwarfed by all the high-rise condos nearby. Here's a big tip for you: sign up in advance for the Priority Club Rewards program! You will get a better room, plus they gave us a special card that got us $5 off meals in the restaurant. We chose to have a menu-ordered breakfast (~$8) instead of the $12 buffet because we are going on a cruise now and will have plenty of the latter from which to choose. Also, check their website to see if they have any Internet specials. We did that and though we had to prepay when we booked, we managed to get the room for $83 taxes inclusive.

The bed is comfy and cozy and theyhave a pillow menu! The bath amenities are good. The tubs are slippery when you get in; be careful. They have free WiFi in the rooms with a good signal.

One other note, we rented a car one-way in Ft. Lauderdale where we landed. They have a small gated parking area that is currently $12/night. We rented from Avis which does not allow after-hours car drop offs and alternative overnight parking that looks safe in this area is not easy to find.

~ MattInSoCal

 Everytime we have sailed out of Miami, this is the hotel we go to. We love the location and really like the idea of having the market place near by. This works for my family. We find the rooms clean and moderate sized. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles like a lot of the fancy hotels, but it works for us. We fly into Miami the day before and stay overnight and get the ship in the morning. This way if our flight is delayed a couple of hours we don't have to worry about missing the ship. Then when the ship gets back into the port of Miami, we go back to the hotel and have a day to wind down and relax before we have to get on that plane and have to rush, rush, rush. This works out for all of us. We usually travel in a group of 9 or more. The hotel is in a great location for everyone in my group. As I said it doesn't have all the bells and whistles like the rest, but I do recommend for convience.

Thanks Matt and Froggy for your reviews. I have this hotel booked one night pre-cruise in Feb.'10.   I will remember to show my Priority Club card when we arrive.  I did not become a member until after I had already booked on the HI website.  I don;t need all the bells and whistles, either, a clean place to shower and sleep and something within walking distance to have something to do in the evening.

 Thanks again! 

how far in advance did you book the room when you got the internet deal of 85

Poohbenz10:

how far in advance did you book the room when you got the internet deal of 85

We booked it as soon as we decided to stay there. It was probably 8 weeks ahead of time.

~ MattInSoCal 

thanks for the information because I'm cruising Oct 5 and was looking for a inexpensive hotel for Oct 4.

This was very good information to pass on.

Thanks a lot.

I booked the Holiday Inn Port of Miami last month for October 10 (cruise leaves on the 11th).  The internet deal i got was $160.00 (normally $199 on all other sites).  Quite a jump from $85.  Guess it depends on when you go.

We booked the Holiday Inn last week thru last minute travel for $107.50 for Dec 18. under lastminute travel, on their home page it said hotels for $108 Good luck

Rubydo

what's the website you booked this on???

the holiday inn website.  all the other seach engines had the price at $199 for the 10th of October.

the website was lastminute travel  Good luck

Rubydo

I stayed there my last cruise earlier this year in March and paid $239.00 saw it on hotels.com for $108.00 thru Dec 2009, going to booked it early thru hotels.com for $136.00 for June 2010. What a wide range of prices huh?

Hi Mouche. I have been amazed at all the different prices not only for hotels but for flights as well. The price range on some hotels and flights are unreal. I watched prices for 3 weeks then took the bull by the horn and just booked, if they go down tough on me but if they don't I figure I did ok. We leave on the Carnival Liberty on Dec 19th for the western caribbean and it can't come soon enough esp. now we have booked everything

Rubydo

Happytraveller, How did you do that?  I can't seem to get any rates for a 1 night stay on Feb 13th, the night before my cruise, and my travel agent says that they don't book 1 night stays.