Fly Snooze Cruise and Snooze Park Cruise Packages at the Florida Hotel will unite everything that a cruiser needs while on shore, before and after their cruise. Combined with amazing retail shopping at the Florida Mall, and the excellent hospitality of the Florida Hotel, these packages are perfect for any cruise goer looking for a great start/finish to their vacation.
Cruisers who choose to drive instead of fly to their Port Canaveral cruise can enjoy gated onsite parking at the hotel. The Florida Hotel is the only hotel in Orlando that offers onsite parking for the duration of your cruise. The Florida Hotel’s unique location lets cruisers combine an Orlando theme park vacation with a cruise on the Caribbean.
Cruising from the Florida Hotel
The Florida Hotel isn’t like other hotels.
For a start, it is not a franchise. What you see at the hotel in the guestrooms, lobby, and other spaces, was chosen by someone that comes in to work at the Florida Hotel every day. You may very well meet them during your stay there. Another element that sets the Florida Hotel apart is the way it treats its staff. Turnover is low, and Florida Hotel employees stay on with the hotel for years. Two of the hotel’s public venues are named after those long time employees: Cricket’s Lounge (pictured to the left) is named for a bartender, and Marcelo’s Bistro is named for one of the hotel’s original chefs.
There is no need to wait for your cruise before sampling the bounty of the sea. Both of these venues offer great seafood including Mahi-Mahi sandwiches, lobster sliders, and lobster rolls for lunch and dinner, but to have your dinner at Marcelo’s you’ll need to make a reservation in advance. An option that should be exercised for a romantic dinner the night before departing on a romantic couple’s cruise. The Florida Hotel boasts a heated pool and whirlpool outdoors, and a large fitness center inside. The lobby has a wonderful place to meet up in the form of a Starbucks Coffee Shop. There is also a Grab-N-Go shop that sells gifts and sundry items. You probably won’t need to leave the Florida Hotel. Everything you need is right there inside of the hotel, but you’re going to want to go out at least a little because the location can not be beaten.
The Florida Hotel is only 10 minutes away from the Orlando International Airport (MCO), and close to every reason people bother to fly to Orlando in the first place. Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure are both less than 15 minutes away. International Drive and all of its shops and diversions are a similar distance away. The vibrant nightlife of downtown Orlando is only 20 minutes away. The Florida Hotel is also directly attached to the Florida Mall, and it has more than 200 shops. You walk out of the lobby directly into the mall in the same way you would from the Sears, Macy’s, or any other one of the Florida Mall’s anchors.
The Florida Mall
The Mall has over 1 million square feet dedicated to retail shopping. The exact dimension is 1,849,000 square feet. This makes the Florida Mall a super regional mall, but at over twice the required standard of 800,000 square feet, the Florida Mall is really in a class of its own. It’s simply that no one has gotten around to naming the category yet. It really is a destination all on its own. A few of the highlights follow.
Cruising families with young children will be the ones that get the most out of the Crayola Experience, but to be honest we would kind of like to spend the day there ourselves. Not surprisingly the whole experience is about color, what may surprise you (it did us) is just how far that concept can go. Not only are there the coloring stations with crayons, there are three-dimensional statues and figurines that are waiting for a kid to go wild with brightly colored markers. Add in educational demonstrations of how crayons are made, and the opportunity for kids to see their drawing come to life on the video wall and you begin to see just how wonderful color can be. As part of the activities, kids get to create their own color of crayon, wrap it in official Crayola paper, and take it home with them. A souvenir par excellence for cruisers.
Once you’re done with the Crayola Experience you may be able to recall a preschooler’s determination to color outside of the lines too.
Color is a theme that extends to M&M’s World as well. The Orlando store has a wacky factory vibe with pipes full of M&Ms overhead that will be appreciated as you make your own colorful mix. There are colors you don’t normally see in your usual bags of M&Ms here, and a variety of ways for you to pack them in your own unique box or bag. There is also a full size M&Ms NASCAR race car in the store, and an assortment of merchandise, but the real star of the show is the candy. We’re not sure exactly what the customs regulations are when it comes to chocolate wrapped in a candy shell, but we don’t think a bag or two to enjoy while on your cruise would go wrong.
Also, in the Florida Mall is the American Girl store. For those who aren’t familiar with the brand, American Girl is a line of dolls noted for their quality, and for each of the dolls having deep characterization in a backstory spread across six books. The books aren’t afraid to deal with issues a young girl might confront in the real world, or would have had to confront historically. Unlike other popular doll lines, the girls represented by American Girl dolls have broader career choices than “fashion model”, “rock star”, or “homemaker”. The real star of a trip to the American Girl store is of course the young lady who is closest to your heart, and the store does host tea parties for her, the whole family, and of course her doll. It should be noted that the menu items are gourmet with a price to match. The Florida Hotel also offers an American Girl package so your young lady’s special friend can enjoy a night sleeping in her own bed.
Other shopping highlights include the Disney Store. While you can find Disney Merchandise in retail outlets like Target and Walmart, the Disney Stores sell the merchandise you can’t get anywhere else. With Disney properties now including Marvel and Star Wars, this is the place to pick up a t-shirt that’ll drive your friends back home wild with jealousy.
Another place to think about picking up a t-shirt is Thinkgeek’s first brick and mortar store. This formally online only retailer has opened up its first store in the Florida Mall, and its stocked full of collectibles that sci-fi, fantasy, and well, geeks love. We’re especially fond of their pranks and office warfare section.
The technologically savvy may want to swing by the Apple store to check out the latest offerings. Even if you’re not looking to pick anything up right now it’s a valuable chance to try before you buy without a cellular salesperson pushing you. For the Xbox gamer in your life, you may want to check out the Microsoft store. Even if you’re not looking to pick any technology up while your cruising it can be nice to do a little hands-on shopping before you decide to make a final purchase when you return home.
Other shopping includes Dick’s Sporting Goods, giving cruisers a chance to pick up goggles, snorkels, any other beach items. Zara’s, Forever XXI, and other clothing outlets will let you shop for any clothing items you may need before your cruise, say if you or your spouse forgot to bring something for the formal night. You may just find something that you like, and want to show off while you’re underway on your cruise.
All of this and more is now available to the Port Canaveral cruiser in a neat and easy package thanks to the Florida Hotel’s new partnership with Go Port.
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