Priceline Hotel: 3* Ft. Lauderdale (Beach) Doubletree Oceanfront

[Nunu]

We got this hotel on Labor Day Monday sept.6 for 1 night.

This was last minute as we were kept on our cruise for 2 extra days so needed a place until our flight left on tuesday.

Started bidding $50 for downtown and rejected.

Upped to $55 and added free zone and rejected.

Hit at $60 when I added beach zone.

Decent hotel with great beach location. However nowhere near the quality of hotel that our pre-cruise Marriott Marina was at the same price.

BTW, still working with priceline on a refund on our post cruise hotel which we couldnt get to because of being on the ship and Fort Lauderale being evacuated.

[thereuare]

This is in the Beach zone, correct?

From your post it sounds as if you were on a ship when the hurricane hit and therefore were delayed disembarking for 2 days. If that's the case i'd be interested in hearing your experiences:

-what happened to those due to board the day you disembarked?

-did the cruise line offer onboard activities for the extra two days?

-dining room stick to schedule of previous days or did everything become 'open seating'

-were the seas choppy

-overall mood of the passengers: happy for extra 2 days vacation at no charge OR upset that plans needed to be ammended

Thanks for posting your win. Did you just find an internet terminal once you left the ship and bid or did you bid from the ship's internet cafe?

[Nunu]

thereuare, yes this is in the beach zone and right across the street from the beach.

we were on the caribbean princess that was due back to fort lauderdale on saturday morning. on wednesday it was announced that we could not get into port until sunday and then the following day we were told that it would be monday morning. so we did get 2 extra days on the ship at no charge. we stayed overnight in cozumel so that was a bonus and the trip back from cozumel was done at 7 knots instead of 21 to kill time.

princess was great, the satellite phones were free (normally $5 minute) so we could change flights. internet access was also free and there were big lines during the day for computers so I would go down around 6 am.

they put on extra shows and there was a great mood around the ship. I think some people were upset but really what other choice was there? The food held up with the only thing noticed was no oj and very little breakfast on the monday morning in port but we were getting off the ship anyway.

the dining room stayed on schedule, on this ship you could do traditional or anytime dining so there was no change there for us.

The cruise that was scheduled to leave at 5 sat. afternoon didnt leave until 10 pm. on monday night. Princess was begging people to stay on at some great rates because there were so many cancellations. I have heard that this 5 day sailing is only two-thirds full if that. We couldnt stay as the kids had to start school on tuesday, which they missed as our airtran flight didnt leave until tues morning.

The seas were perfect the entire trip until sunday afternoon there was a bit of motion as we neared florida from the cuban coast but really very little.

I waited until we were off the ship to go to an internet cafe on 17th st. in fll and thats where i scored the hotel for the night.

Scott.

[Nunu]

I just received and e-mail from Priceline confirming that our hotel payment that was booked for Sat. Sept 4 in Hallandale Beach (Miami North) and didn't show up for due to the hurricane has been credited back to our account. Good work on Priceline because we were on a crise ship and I was unable to contact them to cancel ahead of time even though this was an evacuation zone. When we got off the ship on Monday and I called them the rep. said no refunds because I didnt call first. I calmly explained the circumstances of being on the ship and this being an evacuation zone and asked to speak to a manager. I pleaded my case to her and she said no guarantees but due to the circumstances she would try her best for us.

Lesson learned, don't take no for an answer from someone who doesn't have the authority to say yes! (yeah I read that line somewhere but it's so true)

Scott.

P.S. I went to the Hampton Inn on the Monday to try and get a room and they were of no use whatsoever. I'm composing a letter to their corporate office to let them know about their customer service.