girlonthego

Hi all, and Happy New Year!
We traveled, family of four, two adults and two college aged kids to Fort Lauderdale for 6 nights from 12/27 to Jan.2.
We flew Jet Blue NON STOP (which is so wonderful and rare out of the Richmond airport!) from Virgina to Fort Lauderdale. Jet Blue is great and a very efficient airline.

We stayed on points at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale. It was a very nice hotel/resort. The hotel is well maintained with nice common areas, beautiful pools and a sort of private beach area (not next to the strip so it can be more private than other Lauderdale hotels claim to be).
The hotel staff was excellent, very pleasant, everyone we encountered was pleasant which is a very nice way to spend a vacation. We enjoyed our time at the resort and would definitely return to this hotel and location.
The rooms are a little small for 4 adults since my kids (both girls) are really adults at 18 and 20, but we made it work. The rooms are nicely decorated and kept very clean and neat. The housekeeping does a nice job.
The hotel was pretty packed being a holiday week,but we always had chairs at the beach and pool areas.
Food at the hotel pool areas was good. The restaurant 30/30 was very pricey and in my opinion not worth the cost. The menu is limited which made me believe meant everything would be fresh and delicious, but it was not that great. My husband was the only truly happy person with his meal. I had one glass of wine and my one daughter only had a salad with chicken on top and the bill was over 200 dollars. Not worth it. The area does afford great dining though so that is not a problem.
Other nights we dined at Matteos in Boca Raton. The food was excellent. Very good italian food. My sister in law lives in Boca so we were all visiting her and this is right where she lives. Very good food and have eaten here before and will definitely return.
We also dined at Benihana in Fort Lauderdale. It was traditional Benihana and was a fun meal enjoyed by all. Another night we went to Spazios on the strip. It is also Italian. My dinner was good, and my kids liked their meals. My sister in law did not like her food at all. She had snapper and said it was too fishy and lots of bones. So, not sure if it was just her meal or what, but it was okay for the rest of us. Another place we had lunch at was the Bubba Gump Shrimp place on the strip and it was tasty and fun.
Weather in Florida this time of year is always iffy. We had more clouds than sun, but the temps were in the 70s generally and so a nice reprieve from our 40s in Richmond!

girlonthego

Forgot, we also ate at JB's on the beach. The food is very good and the atmosphere was nice, but I have one complaint. You must valet the car and they charge a parking charge. I find that outrageous that you have to pay 5 or 10 dollar parking charge to eat in a restaurant and are then also expected to tip the parking attendant. Just seems a little excessive.

GBelle

What else did you do in FLL besides eat?

I'm looking at a short stop there but there doesn't seem to be a lot to do in the wintertime (too cool for beach?) and I'm not into shopping.

girlonthego

Yes we did eat a lot! We went to the beach and pool area of the resort mostly. The weather was mostly in the mid 70s which was fine for sitting on the beach. The pools were heated. DH and DDs both went in the ocean a few times. I will say when the sun went behind the clouds, which was often, the breeze was chilly, but coming from much cooler temps, we were happy with the mid 70s weather.

We walked the strip, and the Las Olas area of Downtown. That is about it!
We have family in the area and had other family staying nearby. So, we did the family gathering as well.

I am not into shopping either. If you stay at a resort, you can use the spa? We did not, but the Marriott does have one.

GBelle

Thanks for the info.