Wendy Broughton

Review of Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbo...

My husband had a work conference here so the kids ...

My husband had a work conference here so the kids and I joined in and we added a few days and made it a vacation on our dime. First of all, the hotel itself is beautiful and fancy. We have an ocean view and it's really cool. However it is the whole experience of staying here makes it a 4. I had it a 3 but now that s I ve adjusted my expectations I ve raised it to a 4. It s all about expectations - if you are reading this you ll know what s coming and not be surprised!). The combination of it being surprisingly difficult to get to a place you can buy any food or groceries that aren't from the hotel, combined with the high markup of all restaurant and store items made me feel a little trapped. My husband and I were discussing the unique stranded feeling and he said it best when he said "it feels like an all-inclusive resort but nothing is included." I will leave Fort Lauderdale with little sense of the city, similar as to when you go to an all-inclusive resort. There were no cabs around so we always had to have one called and wait. Walking to and fro seems discouraged, as you have to walk all the away around to the single front entrance. (As approached from other civilization.). The tiny fridge is full of expensive mini bar items with no room for the expensive restaurant leftovers. (It doesn't further reduce my review rating, but also, one of our two keys never worked.)

It's also not reducing my review, but because there was stinky brown kelp everywhere my kids didn't want to be in the ocean or wade in the water where it could touch them. I didn't mind it touching my feet too much but didn't want to go swimming with clouds of it, either!