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Which ones do I recommend?

Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale is one of my favorite cruise ports: It’s close to the airport, and it’s not nearly as congested as some other port options (ahem, Miami).

As a travel agent, I’m always asked for my recommendations for hotels in port cities. So I try to stay at a new hotel every time in order to come up with the options I recommend (and the ones I recommend avoiding). Here are the Ft. Lauderdale hotels I’ve stayed at in the past year:

1. Wyndham Garden Ft. Lauderdale Airport and Cruise Port. I was pleasantly surprised by this one given its reasonable price. The hotel was convenient to the airport (for which there was a free shuttle) and the cruise port. A shuttle was available to the cruise port, though I opted to take a Lyft instead.
2. Fort Lauderdale Marriott North. I picked this one because I was driving down to Miami from NC, and I wanted to stop somewhere on the north side of Ft. Lauderdale for the night before my cruise. The room was spacious and clean, and there was plenty of parking. I wouldn’t recommend this if you were flying in — it’s not convenient to either the airport or cruise port — but it’s a great option if you’re driving to either Port Everglades or Miami.
3. Candlewood Suites Ft. Lauderdale Airport/Cruise. This hotel was a great budget option that was close to both the airport (with a free shuttle) and the cruise port. There were a number of walkable restaurants and a shopping center across the street in case you’d forgotten to pack anything.
4. Hotel Dello Fort Lauderdale Airport. This funky little hotel had clearly been recently remodeled, with a nice bar/restaurant in the lobby. It was close to the airport and there was a free shuttle pickup from the airport. There was a Walgreens nearby that you could walk to if you needed any essentials (always good).
5. avid hotels Ft. Lauderdale Airport. avid hotels are the most basic hotels you could think of, but like this one in Ft. Lauderdale, they’re clean and they have everything that you need (although they don’t have much of anything that you don’t need). This one is weirdly located in a neighborhood that’s not near much of anything else, but there is a shuttle option from FLL airport.
6. Crowne Plaza Ft. Lauderdale Airport/Cruise. This was a great find, and it’s my go-to suggestion for people who are arriving late into the airport and just need a place to crash before heading to the cruise port in the morning. It’s close to both and the rooms are clean and comfortable.

In the end, I found these all to be good options, especially when you’re arriving late and just need a place to crash. If you’re planning to fly into Ft. Lauderdale earlier in the day, you might want to venture out beyond the airport/cruise port area to stay near the beach or in the Las Olas neighborhood to have an easier point from which to explore Ft. Lauderdale.