We chose to stay at the Hampton Inn Miami - Brickell Downtown for our two night pre-cruise stay. Our cab from MIA was $30 with tip. The hotel has only been open since November 2011, so we understood when the cab driver didn’t quite know what hotel I was talking about! Luckily I had the actual street address, which helped him. We arrived at the Hotel at about 8:30pm and were given a beautiful room on the top floor (the 16th floor). We could even see a bit of Brickell Bay out our window, which I didn’t expect.
I wouldn’t hesitate to book this hotel again for a pre-cruise stay. The newness of the hotel itself is definitely a draw, and the convenience of the location makes it a ridiculously easy choice to make. The pool area is beautiful, and the Lobby bar looks out onto it. The bar stayed open until the pool closed at 11. Loved that. For dinner, we walked over to Mary Brickell Village and ate at Burger & Beer Joint. AWESOME! Excellent burgers...rare beers that I have a hard time finding where we live.
My only complaint about the hotel was the breakfast. I am HHonors Gold, and do stay at quite a few Hampton Inns. I am usually happy with the free breakfast, but even going down for breakfast at 8:30 both mornings, we were greeted with an empty vat of oatmeal, and NO bananas. Two things I eat for breakfast every morning! We actually laughed about the fact that we were in Miami and there were no bananas. We were there just before the Miami Marathon, so we thought maybe the runners bought out the whole city. :)
During our free day in Miami (Friday), we hopped on the Metromover (just steps from the hotel) and rode it down to Omni Station, where we boarded the Beach Max #120 -- limited stops to South Beach for $2. It was a quick trip out to the beach. We ate at Front Porch Cafe, strolled along the sand, did a fair amount of people watching, and then headed back out and found a bus stop back to downtown. There are also two Publix supermarkets within walking distance, so we were able to buy some items for the cruise.
The shuttle to the Port of Miami was $8 per person.
If we ever cruise out of Miami again, we will definitely stay here.
