Marriott Biscayne Bay, Miami Florida

We arrived late on our flight from Charlotte, North Carolina and our friends the Kollers picked us up and dropped us off at the Marriott Biscayne Bay and we had a nice check-in because I did get an upgrade bump to a corner Junior suite which is approximately 500 square feet with three walls of floor-to-ceiling windows, a large living room and a large dining room were included. There is a coffee station underneath the TV and there are two long hallways which I would have used the space from one hallway to make the bathroom bigger.

This hallway I would have kept because it was a natural flow to the room with a long bench with drawers to put your luggage on and a tall mirror which were both very helpful.

The bathroom was a disappointing size. It would not be what you would consider a four or five star bathroom. It's quite small with really no room for two people to be at the sink at once because there's a toilet very close to the sink area and then a large stand-up shower. I requested a tub but they were fully booked and I could and not get me the tub. I was disappointed in that but also just the quality of the bathroom for Marriott. It did not even have a makeup mirror so it definitely did not appear to be a four or five star bathroom. 

Some other nice touches are a full length mirror in one of the hallways and a place to put your suitcases in one of the hallways and then a waste of space hallway where there's absolutely nothing and that could have been an enlarged more luxurious bathroom with a bathtub. 

There was a lot of seating in this room. We had four dining chairs, one chair at the desk, one chair in the corner and then a couch that seats about 5 and then another chair in the living room.

 On my original booking I did have a balcony and for some reason with the upgrade I lost the balcony which is too bad because the views from the 17th floor were amazing of the marina and Biscayne Bay. Quite pretty day and night.

This was our ship Resilient Lady with Virgin Voyages.  She was the reason that we were in Miami

Night shots were so pretty of Biscayne Bay.

Some of the very disappointing things about this hotel were it was understaffed from what we could see and it was packed so some extra staff on a full house could have been added. We were very disappointed that the M Club was not open both nights that we were there for hors d'oeuvres and drinks and this is one of the reasons why I stay at Marriott brand Hotels is to get in the complimentary Lounge with my elite membership. Who closes on the weekends. We thought was ridiculous! Another thing about the M Club is the breakfast was not that great. We got a complimentary breakfast if you are platinum titanium or ambassador level.  The M Club was super packed for breakfast and both times we had to eat with the plate on our lap. 

There is a resort fee and of the horrendous resort fee price $18 is credited for you if you spend it at at bars or restaurants at the Marriott and I thought that I could use the $18 to get a glass of wine but all the wines were of low quality.  I ordered an Old Fashioned and didn't look at the price. The drink was $29.64 and I tipped so it ended up being 31 for one drink which is highway robbery. We felt that the resort fee was a blatant money grab and were again disappointed. 

We tried to go to the restaurant the Golden something and we stood at the sign that said, 'please wait to be seated' and the two hostesses stood there and looked at us and then walked around, they did a few things, stood there and looked at us again and about 5 minutes later one of them said "Well would you like to come in?"  We thought that was extremely rude and did not feel remotely welcome.   I said "yes that's why we're standing by the please wait to be seated sign"  and then she took us to a table and had us sit down and we looked at it and it was filthy it had not been cleaned so I said this table's dirty and she looked at me rolled her eyes and said "oh I'll take you to another one'. She took us to another one we just about sat down again but it also was filthy dirty as well. It had not been cleaned.  I looked around then and I thought do we really want to eat at this establishment? It was such a turn off such a poor welcome and who wants to sit at dirty tables and be treated rudely. I just thought oh God, it is the food going to be as gross as the tables, we didn't eat there and I was going to go complain. In fact, I walked directly to the Elite Membership desk to complain about what just happened to us.  That was the only restaurant choice to use our forced credit and it was also pricey.  There were six people waiting at the Elite Membership desk. 

We ended up going out into the mall and eating at a Sushi Restaurant which was very welcoming.

It was just a litany of poor things we witnessed.  I would have to say staff are not trained well enough in that area and then the last kick in the pants was that one of the days we were there the pool was closed at 3:00 p.m. for a private party.  These are why you go to hotels is for the pool and if you're an Elite Member to the M Club etc etc. And these things were closed so I was not impressed at all. And I'm still thinking I might call Marriott and complain. I would not stay at that hotel again. I was not overly impressed and it's supposed to be a five-star hotel.  Some big improvements need to be made before I would ever go back.  Train the staff better in the restaurant, hire more staff when the hotel is full and lose the bogus Resort Fee and don't close the M Club on any night, Elite Members expect it to be open and don't close the pool for a private party, that is rude towards all Marriott guests!