First, I should say, the Hampton Inn is not a luxury hotel - it is a good basic chain hotel with basic amenities. That being said, my husband and I were treated betterat this Hampton Inn than we have been at $1200/nt hotels elsewhere.

We stayed at this hotel for the reason many others do - a pre-cruise night in Miami. We arrived early in the day, to accomodate a visit to Miami Beach to eat at a restaurant we'd been wanting to get to. Upon arrival, our room was immediately available (although it was before check in time). We had a lovely room on a higher floor, with a view of nothing in particular, but that was OK with us. Although it was in close proximity to the airport, there was no airport noise that we noticed.

The gentleman at the front desk offered the use of the shuttle, although we had a vehicle so we didn't need it. He also shared info about some local restaurants, and was in general very accomodating and friendly. We felt very welcome at this hotel.

Bed was very comfy - room was very clean. Check out was a breeze, and breakfast was great. I had my 'norm' - fruit and yogurt, but my husband partook in the hot breakfast of the day, which was an open faced bagel sandwich. He said it was much better than he'd expected, given that it was sitting in a chafing dish.

I'd highly recommend for a pre-cruise night, or even a visit to Miami, as long as you don't mind being 'away from the action' a bit.

We stayed here for a post-cruise night before a flight the next day. The hotel was conveniently located with a Walgreens just across the road and a Wendy's about a block away. Nice Hampton Inn rooms with the curved shower bar is nice. Secured parking lot and elevators. The hot tub was not hot during out night stay, but the pool area was nice. The staff were extremely helpful with locations, maps, weather and flight information. The shuttle begins at 5:00am to the airport, but since our flight was at 6:00am we asked for a taxi pickup at 4:30am and the staff called for a taxi and even paid for the ride!

I like the predictability of Hampton Inn. Breakfast was good...cheese eggs, biscuits, cereals, oatmeal, breads/bagels, yogurts, fruit. They also offer breakfast on the go bags...nice touch. Cookies were available in the evening.

The sheets on the bed were a little slimmer than other Hampton Inns that I've stayed in, but it was fine. Not the best, but fine.

Service was helpful and the front desk even had menus of area restaurants. Fitness center included eliptical maches, treadmills, and a weight lifting system thing...no free weights. Pool was on top of the parking deck.

Secured parking included.

I booked two rooms here for a one-night pre-cruise stay at the end of August. Upon arriving at the airport, it was a bit difficult to find the area where you pick up the shuttle, as there is a sign that points you outside and then nothing--however that's because of how the Miami airport handles hotel shuttles--total chaos!

You basically hail/wave-down a shuttle that belongs to your hotel, so until it gets right up on you, you really can't tell if it's the Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon, or another Hampton Inn. The shuttle driver asked us several times if we had the correct hotel shuttle and we confirmed before he would load us up. He wasn't very chatty, but it turns out that's because he doesn't speak much English, but he was nice enough to confirm that there was a Publix shopping center right across the street from the hotel.

When we arrived, check in was a breeze and the young lady at the front desk was very friendly and efficient. She told us about the breakfast and signed us up for the $10 shuttle to the cruise port.

The hotel is clean and secure--you have to swipe your room key before the elevator will work. One of the rooms we had was recently redone as it had a flat screen tv and the like. The other room had a regular tv, but the linens were the same as the other room. The bathroom was a typical hotel bathroom--it could use a refresh (maybe updated wallpaper), but it was clean and had all the amenties needed for a comfortable stay.

On either side of the hotel are drug stores, fast food restaurants and the like. If you're cruising and want to buy plastic bottles of soda/beer/water, do go to the Publix as the nearby Walgreens and CVS do not carry plastic bottles of these items (they have cans, large bottles or sell them individually).

We had breakfast at the hotel in their free breakfast bar area and it was very nice considering it was free. The coffee was good and you could take it with you in to go cups, they had sausage, egg patties (yes, you read that right) and biscuits, in addition to bagels, toast, danishes, juices, milks, cereals, etc. The manager of that area was very good at keeping things re-stocked and had a good morning for you when you walked in and a thank you for you when you left.

Check out was easy and the shuttle bus driver to the cruise port was on-time and ready to help with bags.

All in all, I would definately recommend this hotel, particularly for a pre- or post-cruise stay. You're very near the airport, you have a free shuttle there and back and access to food/beverage/tolietries and the like for any last minutes items you may need (like flip flops or sunscreen).