Great Hotel, close to the Port
We stayed here two nights. Once before our cruise, and once afterward. The front desk staff is awesome, and the hotel is very very clean. The housekeeping staff here needs to be commended for their hard work. The place was absolutely spotless. The pool area is very nice, with a spa. The rooms are spacious, and we had a great king room that had a microwave,fridge, huge bathroom and very comfortable beds. Nice desk space, extra chair, and a place for your luggage. If you don't have a car, the only place to eat is Wendy's next door, but for one night that was fine. There is a gas station across the highway that is within walking distance, but be careful as you have to cross a 4 lane busy road. There are sidewalks most of the way. We walked over in the evening to buy soda for our cruise, and it wasn't bad. They have a plan that you can park your car during your cruise, and take a shuttle to and from the port. The parking at the hotel is less expensive than the port. We didn't have a car, so we just had to pay a few buck a head to catch the shuttle to the port. Talk to the desk staff so they know what you need. On our return, we actually got off the ship fairly quickly, and our rooms were not ready. We took a cab to a great big mall about 15 miles away. Ask for PETE....he was like having a tour guide. Very friendly, and wont rip you off being a tourist from out of town. We had to take another cab back from the mall as wanted to return before he was free to bring us back and paid almost double for a gator taxi service. The free breakfast was okay. The continental items were good, cereal, bagels, coffee etc. The eggs, were okay, but I am not a big egg person to begin with. They had yogurt, fruit etc as well. Great price and value. I can understand why they are so highly rated. They were also very busy, and still made sure we understood where to find things. THANK YOU HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS!!!