There will be lots of good advice from others here - I am a new rider myself. May I suggest that you also look at good hybrids as well, along with the others you are looking at. A hybrid also has an upright position and will give you more gears than a cruiser will, a mountain bike will as well. While you may not have much in the way of hills in South Florida, I can only assume that you do have wind to contend with and I've learned that gears do help with that.