Category: Hotel Reviews

Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Hotel Review

9/10/2024

A photo review of Port Everglades Pre-Cruise hotel - Hyatt Place.

Arriving a day before your cruise is always the wisest course.

Before our Symphony of the Seas cruise we used Chase Points to book a night at the Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Hotel.

In This Post.

Our room.

The rooms at Hyatt Place are quite spacious and would be great if you're traveling as family or even if you want to split the cost with another couple. Our room had two double beds.

Standard Room Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Free Reward Night | Miles and Points Blog

search pre-cruise and post-cruise hotels near Port Everglades:

living space.

There is a large couch with ottoman which converts to a bed. As you can see the couch cushions were a little worse for wear. The room has a mini fridge, individual cup coffee maker, and a small sink in the area directly across from the couch, as well as a desk area.

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bathroom.

The sink is outside the bathroom door where you will also find a large mirror and very long counter top above built in drawers. If you're traveling with the circus :p, it can be nice to have the sink outside the bathroom so that while someone is showering, other members of the family can be brushing their teeth, for instance. In the case of this room, there are 2 sinks outside of the bathroom!

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Symphony of the Seas Reviews | Royal Caribbean Cruise Blog.

Breakfast Buffet.

The breakfast buffet is pretty standard for a US hotel in this category. These pictures were taken at the end of the morning shortly before the buffet closed. They served scrambled eggs, sausage patties, hash browns, bacon, pancakes, cereal, fresh cut fruit, bananas, oranges, a variety of bread and bagels for toasting as well as donut holes.

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gym.

There was also a small gym at Hyatt Place Ft Lauderdale Cruise Port, in case you want to get a quick workout in before your cruise!

Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Hotel Gym

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Manhattan Ny Pizza Fort Lauderdale Review

As one does when arriving to a hotel late after a long travel day, we ordered a pizza. Manhattan NY Pizza was nearby and touted their pizza being made with dough from NYC so we were intrigued.

One ridiculously long wait and $24 later ... and we were a lot less intrigued... Hopefully this subpar pizza was a fluke for this local shop and if you order you'll have a better experience, especially if you dine in and can eat it when it's piping hot. :)

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Fort Lauderdale travel blog.

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hyatt place cruise port hotel review

We were happy with our experience at Hyatt Place in Fort Lauderdale near Port Everglades. There is nothing particularly exciting about this hotel, but there doesn't need to be - you're going on a cruise! That's the exciting part of staying here.

The hotel is in a good location and offers the amenities you need for a night before a cruise - a place to sleep and free breakfast. Hyatt Place also offers a free airport shuttle and they do have a cruise port shuttle available from the hotel for a fee that you can sign up for on arrival. We opted to use Uber for convenience and it being collectively cheaper for us rathe r than pay a per person rate with the shuttle van coming at a set time. Choice is yours!

Our hotel night was totally free thanks to Chase Ultimate Rewards Points. We used 8,000 points transferred from our Chase Sapphire card. See the Best Chase Sapphire Sign Up Bonus Here so you can get free hotel stays too! ;)

more hotel reviews.

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Lagoas Park Oeiras Hotel + Centro colombo

9/8/2024

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When the guys had a one day school in Lisbon, us wives decided to join them on the trip up and hang out at the Colombo Mall in Lisbon.

We stayed at a hotel called Lagoas Park in Oeiras, Porto Salvo.

Lagoas Park Hotel Oeiras

In this post:

Lagoas Park Hotel Review
Lagoas Park Hotel Restaurant Review
Room Tour
Centro Colombo Mall
- Nespresso Store
- Serra Da Estrela Review
Uber Eats Reviews
- 100 Gramas
- The Kitchen

Lagoas Park Oeiras Review

I thought Lagoas Park Hotel was really nice. It's a well known corporate hotel on the outskirts of Lisbon and a fairly quick uber ride to wherever you'd want to go. While our mornings were entirely too rushed to get proper pictures, we felt this hotel had a solid breakfast!

Breakfast was included in our booking rate, which was around 200 USD inclusive.

The public restroom in the lobby is beautiful with wood and marble finishings.

Lagoas Park Lobby Bathroom

In the lobby you can also find the hotel bar as seen below.

Lagoas Park Bar

Just behind the bar is the seating area for the restaurant.

Lagoas Park Restaurant

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Hotel Restaurant Review

We did dine in the restaurant with our friends one evening. I ordered a nice fish dish which came with a side of mixed vegetables and some potatoes. Fish in Portugal is always delicious and fresh since the country is blessed to have access to so much coastline! The food was good and as one would expect, this is a light meal with a corporate hotel price tag. ;)

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When you get off the elevators to head to your room you will see these nice sitting areas overlooking the lobby. The chairs are comfortable, with side tables, and there is nice lighting from the floor to ceiling glass entry of the hotel.

Lounge Area Lagoas Park Hotel

More Hotel Reviews:

Room Tour

Here is a quick photo tour of our room at Lagoas Park Hotel.

The bathroom is spacious and they do provide the standard amenities. You'll notice on the second photo that a bidet is available at this hotel. In case you want to wash and dry your feet.

...lol. Just kidding. :p

The room is a bit on the dark side with the color scheme and lighting style, which isn't necessarily my favorite aesthetic.

Queen Room Lagoas Park Hotel

Our room had a large flatscreen TV and closets for hanging clothes as well as a full length mirror right across from the bathroom door. Some of our friends were joking that it was the last place they wanted a mirror after they got out of the shower. haha.

Jokes aside, I always appreciate a full length mirror in a hotel room.

Standard Room at Lagoas Park

Below is the desk area if you need to do some work or want to eat some takeout. Which... we did.

Work Space at Lagoas Park Hotel

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Takeout Reviews:

All Takeout Reviews

100 Gramas

We ordered Uber Eats the night we arrived as we were too tired to go out anywhere. There was a Buy one get one free promo for a restaurant called 100 Gramas. We ordered Prego Maminha Maturada which is a sandwich of thin steaks and the bread is slathered with garlic butter. We got one side of batata frites (French fries) and one side of feijão (beans).

The total for 2 sandwiches, an order of fries, an order of beans, and a coca-cola was 18.74€ including service fee, delivery fee, bag fee etc. While the pictures are not impressive due to the dim room and takeout boxes, the food was good! It was good for the price we paid. But if we had paid full price of 41.74€ it may have been a different story. lol!

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centro colombo

True to stereotype, the ladies spent the day wandering around the mall. I honestly don't care for mall days that much. There's nothing I really need to buy and the lights are too bright for anyone migraine-prone, but the company was top notch.

I took a few of the most random pictures that day starting with these women's button down linen shirts.

Women's Linen Shirts 24.99€ in Lisbon

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Nespresso Store

Our Portuguese friend educated us about visiting the Nespresso store for a free coffee. You actually take a ticket when you go in and when an associate is available they can give you a sample of any kind of Nespresso pod you would like to try. Afterwards you can buy a package of your preferred pod, if you'd like, of course!

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Serra da Estrela

There were many choices in the food court but I landed on Serra da Estrela and ordered a plate of Arroz do Pato (duck rice) and the fresh pineapple and mint juice.

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I was so fascinated by this art display of candy machines that I felt compelled to snap this crooked picture to remember it.

Art Display at Colombo Mall

For my final memory of Colombo Mall in lisbon, I leave you with this bathroom sign which I found amusing. It's asking if you knew that with the toilet lid open you can be projecting "particles". They implore toilet guests to pleaseeee close the lid before flushing.

It makes you wonder what atrocities have been seen in there? On second thought.. scratch that thought.

Funny Portuguese Bathroom Sign at Colombo Mall in Lisbon

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The Kitchen

We had a very long bus ride from Lisbon. We were starving and found another buy one get one free deal on Uber for a place called The Kitchen in Quarteira.

These 2 Gulosa pizzas cost 13.20€ in total after discounts. Not too shabby.

I hope you have enjoyed this very random combo hotel review post / mall day / uber eats review post.

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Hilton Free Night Certificate

9/3/2024

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Everything you need to know about Hilton Free Reward Night Certificates:
how to get them, how to redeem them, where you can redeem them, and what to do if yours is about to expire!

Post by: Travel Agent Marissa Books Travel

Conrade Algarve by Hilton

• Stay at Conrad Algarve in Portugal •

What to do when your hilton free night certificate is expiring

Last year I opened a Hilton Honors credit card and earned a great sign up bonus of 70,000 Hilton Honors Points as well as a Hilton free night certificate.

Hilton Honors Sign Up Bonus

Do hilton honors points expire?

While Hilton points do expire within 24 months of inactivity, I was more concerned about when my free night certificate would expire.

How to keep hilton honors points from expiring

To stop your Hilton Points from expiring you can simply use your Hilton Credit Card, stay at a Hilton Hotel, Redeem Hilton Points, Buy or Donate Hilton Points, or even just signing up for a Hilton promotion. When in doubt, buy a pack of gum with your card every so often. :)

Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam

• Stay at Waldorf Astoria in Amsterdam •

How long are hilton free night certificates good for?

Hilton certificates are good for 12 months from the issue date. My certificate was issued on September 5th. I had a daily reminder on my calendar to use this free night for the past year and here we are on September 3rd and time is up!

What to do if you free reward night is about to expire?

I have great news for you! If your free hotel night is about to expire you can actually contact Hilton for an extension. I logged into my Hilton account, chatted with a lovely agent, and was able to get a one-time extension of 14 days for my Hilton free night certificate!!

Travel Credit Cards:

Where is my hilton free night certificate?

Once a Hilton free night certificate has been awarded to you, whether as a credit card sign up bonus or for your brand loyalty in some other way, you will receive an email from Hilton Honors (mine was from [email protected]) with instructions on how to redeem.

What is the hilton honors customer care phone number?

Call Hilton Honors Customer Care at 1-800-446-6677

Can i redeem my hilton free night reward online?

While you currently cannot redeem the free night by yourself on the website, there is a way to redeem it online.

Hilton Free Night Email

Log into your Hilton account and utilizing the Hilton Chat you will be able to redeem your reward night with the chat agent. Just type "redeem Hilton free night certificate - chat with agent" into the chat box!

Free Hilton Award Nights

Are there exclusions with the hilton free reward nights?

Surprisingly, Hilton has very few restrictions and exclusions on using these certificates. There are no black out dates and you can book any night of the week. You can get a free night at any Hilton property (standard room, double occupancy) with the exception of these properties.

What is the value of a hilton free night certificate?

You may be wondering what a free Hilton award night is actually worth. The truth is, it varies. You can use this (foolishly) on a cheap hotel night costing $50 or you can take advantage of the opportunity to use it for a hotel like Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam that would normally cost upwards of $900 a night!

Where CAn I see my hilton free night CERTIFICATE in my account?

Log in to your Hilton Honors account.

Click near your name at the top right of the page.

Next click Account as shown here.

Scroll down past the section "Manage your stay" and the section about your loyalty status with Hilton.

Hilton Account

Here in your Hilton Account you will see your Free Night Reward(s), the last 4 digits of the certificate number, and their expiration dates.

Hilton Free Night Award

Hilton Best Welcome Bonus

Waldorf Astoria Doha West Bay

• Stay at Waldorf Astoria Doha West Bay •

do i have to travel before the expiration date or just make the reservation in time?

I asked the Hilton Chat representative the very question and she gave such a helpful, clear answer.

"The checkout date must be before expiration or till the expiration date"

"If your coupon is expiring on September 04, then you can make the booking with check out date of September 04"

Hilton Chat

can someone else use my hilton free night certificate?

Yes and no. So the Free Night Reward is not transferable to another person. You can't send the certificate to another Hilton Honors account. But what you can do is contact Hilton and redeem free night award certificates for someone else. Simply have them book the stay in the other person's name. A free night at a nice hotel can be a great gift!

Get the Hilton Honors Card

Hotel Reviews:

Hilton Distinctive Properties List

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Turim Saldanha Lisbon Portugal Hotel Review

7/23/2024

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See More: Lisbon Hotel Reviews • Lisbon Restaurant Reviews

When we go to Lisbon for a conference we try to stay in a different hotel each time, where possible.

This allows us the opportunity to explore different neighborhoods in Lisbon, experience a variety of restaurants, and ultimately enables us to share more information with you to help you plan your trip to Lisbon.

For this weekend in Lisbon we stayed in the Saldanha (Sal-don-yah) neighborhood at the Turim Saldanha Hotel.

In this post:

Looking for something specific? Jump ahead:

Turim Saldanha Hotel

We grabbed an Uber from the Sete Rios Bus Station to Turim Saldanha Hotel.
The main entrance is to the left of the man standing in the photo below, sort of tucked in from the street.

Turim Saldanha Hotel in Lisbon Portugal

Upon entering the hotel lobby you'll see some seating and the bar area. To the right you can see the elevators and just out of view is the reception desk. Checking in was smooth.

Lobby of Turim Saldanha Hotel

About checking in to hotels in Lisbon

Language - Throughout Lisbon if you are staying in a traditional Hotel there is almost certainly going to be someone at the front desk who can speak English. Nevertheless, we do like to use these opportunities to practice our Portuguese and if we don't understand then staff is gracious enough to switch to English.

Identification - It is common for all guests to be asked for their IDs whether that be a local residence card or a passport from your country.

City Tax - A city tax of 2 euros per person per night may be due upon check in. This is capped out at 14 euros per person. So if you stay at one hotel for longer than 7 nights at 2 euros per night, you will not have any further city tax charges.

Lisbon City Tax Increase - An increase to the Lisbon tourist tax has been approved and is to be in effect beginning September 1, 2024. The tax will go from 2 euros per person per night to 4 euros - doubling. source

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standard room turim saldanha

Here is a view of the standard room from the entry way, just passed the bathroom door.

Standard Room at Turim Saldanha Hotel in Lisboa

It's very common in Europe to have two smaller beds next to each other instead of one Queen or King like Americans may be used to.

Room for 2 at Turim Saldanha Portugal Hotel

To the right of the bed a sliding full length mirror (see photo above) opened to the closet which housed a small safe, and a few hangers (see photo below). A phone was available at the side of the bed.

Closet Space Turim Saldanha Hotel

Have a look at the room from the head of the bed. A TV is mounted to the wall and below it is a floating shelf perfect for your keys, sunglasses, and whatever bits and bobs are in your pockets.

To the right is a desk area with mini fridge and hot beverage set up.

Turim Saldanha Television

For some reason the garbage can is right beneath the chair. It's always good to have a little garbage can in your hotel room outside of the bathroom.

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Space to work and eat at Turim Saldanha

Some hotels we have stayed at recently do not have space to really eat a meal or work on your computer or even charge your devices. While not a ton of space, you do definitely have some options in this room between this desk and the small round table in the corner of the room.

Turim Saldanha Work Space

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Free beverages at Turim Saldanha

Taking a look at the beverage set up above the desk, you can see there is a glass bottle labeled "Courtesy Water". It was great to have this free water in the hotel room! The housekeeping staff will replace it.

As you can see, the outlets are European style. So you will need to bring an adapter.

Shop European Plug Adapters

In-room Complimentary Beverages Turim Saldanha

The coffee situation, on the other hand was rather sad. The coffee was instant, to be used with the electric kettle, and upon arrival there was one package of black tea, one package of caffeinated coffee and one of decaf. I found it really strange that there wouldn't be two of each given that there were two guests booked into this room.

1 each - instant coffee, decaf, black tea

Each day of our stay I had to ask the front desk for more coffee packets. The staff down there was great and it was no trouble at all, but it would certainly be better for the guests if they just put a couple more in the room.

And let's be clear - no one is trying to take this coffee as a "freebie". It's not good. Like... at all. You only drink it out of pure necessity to fuel you until you can get a proper cafezinho. ❤

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Mini fridge prices in lisbon

Taking a peek into the mini fridge we found water, juice, coca-cola, sagres beer, a Toblerone Swiss candy bar, mixed nuts, some liquor and a tiny can of Pringles.

Mini Fridge Turim Saldanha Hotel

Curious how much mini fridge items cost in Lisbon?

Mini Fridge Price List in Portugal, stains not ours

This grubby little price list was in the room and no, we were not the ones who soiled it. lol. Kind of gross, but still informative. I never use stuff out of a mini fridge, and here's a great example why. One can of Coke 4.50 euro? that's almost $5. come on... I always bring my own snackies and this weekend was no exception.

Would you like to see the view from our room?

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View from Hotel Room Turim Saldanha

Turim Saldanha Restaurant Menu and Prices

At the small round table near the window we found a menu for the room service from the restaurant in the hotel.

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Turim Saldanha Standard Bathroom

Now let's check out the bathroom.

Turim Saldanha Bathroom Sink Area

You've got your standard toiletries along with wall-mounted tissues, hair dryer, and mirror.

Turim Saldanha Bathroom Toilet Area

Shower with bathtub with a glass door that doesn't slide enough to keep water from splashing out...

Turim Saldanha Bathroom Shower Area

Overall a nice bathroom! Until I washed my hands and realized there was a design flaw - where do you put the bar of hand soap when you're done?!

The sink ledge is curved, so you can't set it on the sink.
The toiletry stand has openings cut out to fit each toiletry in packaging. No where to set the soap.

Until I realized... that roll of toilet paper in the corner. It's not just the back up... it doubles as a soap rest! 8)

Turim Saldanha Bathroom Design Missing One Thing...

Let's get a close up of this design genius... It's like a little crown for the TP! :)

Makeshift Soap Holder :p

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Oh wait.. our door lock doesn't work

It's about this time when we came to the realization that our door did not lock properly. You know how when you turn a deadbolt lock the deadbolt comes out of the door? Well in this case, the part you turn just turned 360 degrees and the deadbolt didn't ever emerge.

After a quick ring to the front desk, someone from housekeeping came by. The dear lady did not speak any English at all. While front desk staff will often speak English, as noted above, other staff may not as you can see here. Another great opportunity to practice Portuguese presents itself!

We explained and demonstrated the issue and while she didn't seem too fussed about it, she did get on the walkie talkie to her colleague. Her colleague laughed and said in Portuguese "Oh room # _____. It's just like that." And then the lady parroted that back to us as though it was a solution. So we asked if we could just switch rooms. She had to walkie talkie her colleague again, but conveniently turned the volume down this time. And a few minutes later someone from reception came up to meet us with a new room key and escort us to the new room - next door. The lock functioned normally there. :) He said he would put a maintenance request in for the other room.

So after all, these pictures are of the room we did not stay in. The room next door was almost identical though, don't worry. :)

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Overall Review of turim saldanha

Turim Saldanha Hotel is a nice place to stay in a great area of Lisbon. The rooms were nice, simple and clean with modern touches and had everything you would need. You're in close walking distance to a lot of great restaurants and you're a quick uber away from anything you'd want to see. This hotel does not offer free breakfast and we did not try their paid offering. The staff was very nice and I would not hesitate to stay here again.

Lobby of Turim Saldanha Hotel

There are lots of other hotels for us to review, though. ;)

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More from this weekend in Lisbon

Coming Soon

A June Weekend In Lisbon

Forno d'Oro Lisbon Pizzeria Review

Ararate Armenian Restaurant in Lisbon Review

An Instagrammable Brunch Joint in Lisbon - Hygge Review

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Traveling through food

Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Hotel Review

In This Post.

Our room.

search pre-cruise and post-cruise hotels near Port Everglades:

​living space.

bathroom.

Symphony of the Seas Reviews | Royal Caribbean Cruise Blog.

​Breakfast Buffet.

​gym.

Manhattan Ny Pizza Fort Lauderdale Review

Fort Lauderdale travel blog.

hyatt place cruise port hotel review

more hotel reviews.

Lagoas Park Oeiras Hotel + Centro colombo

In this post:

Lagoas Park Oeiras Review

Hotel Restaurant Review

More Hotel Reviews:

Room Tour

Takeout Reviews:

​100 Gramas

centro colombo

Nespresso Store

Serra da Estrela

The Kitchen

Cruise Travel Blogs

Hilton Free Night Certificate

What to do when your hilton free night certificate is expiring

​Do hilton honors points expire?

How to keep hilton honors points from expiring

How long are hilton free night certificates good for?

What to do if you free reward night is about to expire?

Travel Credit Cards:

Where is my hilton free night certificate?

What is the hilton honors customer care phone number?

Can i redeem my hilton free night reward online?

​Are there exclusions with the hilton free reward nights?

What is the value of a hilton free night certificate?

Where CAn I see my hilton free night CERTIFICATE in my account? ​

​do i have to travel before the expiration date or just make the reservation in time? ​

can someone else use my hilton free night certificate?

​Hotel Reviews:

Hilton Distinctive Properties List

Turim Saldanha Lisbon Portugal Hotel Review

In this post:

Turim Saldanha Hotel

About checking in to hotels in Lisbon

standard room turim saldanha

Space to work and eat at Turim Saldanha

Free beverages at Turim Saldanha

Mini fridge prices in lisbon

Turim Saldanha Restaurant Menu and Prices

Turim Saldanha Standard Bathroom

Oh wait.. our door lock doesn't work

Overall Review of turim saldanha

More from this weekend in Lisbon

Oh, Hey!

​Check out this recent cruise post:

​Check out this recent Restaurant Review:

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living space.

Breakfast Buffet.

gym.

100 Gramas

Do hilton honors points expire?

Are there exclusions with the hilton free reward nights?

Where CAn I see my hilton free night CERTIFICATE in my account?

do i have to travel before the expiration date or just make the reservation in time?

Hotel Reviews:

Check out this recent cruise post:

Check out this recent Restaurant Review:

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