Post Cruise Vacation

[pedro47]

We are looking at Marriott" s Villas at Doral, Miami, Fl and Marriott's Beach Place Towers, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl for a post cruise vacation. Any recommendations?

 

[pwrshift]

I own at BP so I lean towards it as a holiday. It's centrally located in an active part of Fort Lauderdale, right across from one of the best beaches in the world and all kinds of shops, restaurants and bars are just an elevator ride away. You won't need a car, although there's parking in the building for $12 a day now which the HOA put in as a misguided attempt to reduce owner maintenance fees. They have 2 bdrm suites, 1 bdrm stuites, and studios.

Doral is great if you like golf - they are all two bedrm suites but not near the beach, and some might say in a rather run down part of town where you certainly won't go out for a walk at night (and perhaps not in the day). You'll need a car here.

Brian

 

[dougp26364]

Just to toss another one in on you, next December we'll be taking a 6 night W. Carib cruise out of Fort Lauderdale and are combining it with our regular December timeshare vacation at Ocean Pointe.

Ocean Pointe has a great location right on the beach but, it is somewhat secluded. So if your idea is to have a nice relaxing vacation, it could fit the bill. If you're looking for more excitement or night life, you'd have to do a little driving.

Ocean Pointe is only about 30 miles north of Fort Lauderdale.

 

[pedro47]

Thanks! I am now shooting for OP. There were two (2) key elements in your responses location and seclusion.

 

[dougp26364]

I have several pictures of Ocean Pointe from our stays there since 2001. We are almost always there for a week in either November or December. Both of those months are in Silver Season. Silever Season is a realtively easy trade. Once you get into Platinum season (begins the last two weeks of December and runs through April I think), it's a more difficult exchange. OP has very high owner occupancy rates during Platinum season from what I've been told.

At any rate, here's the links to our pictures. It should give you some idea of what to expect. Keep in mind that these are from Silver season stays. I'm sure the beach would be busier during Platinum or Gold seasons.
http://community.webshots.com/album/189441756DFDsxn

 

[Art]

We are slightly out of phase with Doug.

In January, we did a cruise out of FLL and stayed at Ocean Pointe. OP is a shade over 50 miles from FLL. I had that memorized since I had to get my rental car back by 6 AM in order to catch an early morning flight

In December, we are doing another cruise out of FLL, but that will be followed by a week at BeachPlace Towers. From BPT, you can actually see the ships, well at least their top decks, docked at Port Everglades.

A secret big advantage of doing the timeshare week after a cruise is that you can book your return flight that leaves before 10 AM. This lets you avoid the hordes of disembarking cruise pax catching their return flights at FLL.

Art

 

[dougp26364]

You're right. According to mapquest Fort Lauderdale to Palm Beach Shores is 54 miles.

Still, not a long ways and OP is a great resort if you're wanting to relax rather than be right in the mix of things.