Happy Friday!!!! Can you believe that it's already November? Me either! I leave for a very short cruise in just 9 days. It's going to be a fun trip. I've never been on a travel industry familiarization cruise before. But I'm thinking that a cruise ship full of travel agents who are on board at a minimal price is going to be fun.
We'll sail out of Miami. So my travel buddy Jenny and I have decided to fly into Miami early on Saturday so that we can see a little bit of the city. I still have done no research on what we should do, so how about if we just do that research now? Let's take a look at what Miami has to offer!
I've only actually been to Miami once before and on that occasion, I landed at the airport and was met by a RCI representative who ushered me to a bus which took me to the port and directly to my ship. So I have seen NOTHING of Miami other than through bus windows.
Our hotel is the Hyatt Regency which is located at 400 SE 2nd Ave. which is about a block from the bay and right on the riverwalk. Apparently if your room is high enough you get excellent views..... I hope our room is very high although we won't be there long and will only use it to sleep because we are going to have a lot of stuff to cram into 24 hours in Miami.
After doing a little bit of research, I have located a Hop On Hop Off water taxi through Island Queen Cruises. One of the stops is literally at our hotel and this sounds like a great way to get around. They start daily at 11:00 AM with final departures on weekdays at 5:00 PM. But they have added 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM departures on weekends and holidays. Since we'll be doing this on a Saturday, it sounds kind of perfect. It has stops at Bayside Marketplace, Miami Beach Marina, South Beach, Sea Isle Marina, and the two stops on the Miami River with Finnegan's River Irish Pub being the other in addition to our hotel stop. They also have stops at Marlins Stadium and American Airlines Arena. If you had Miami Heat tickets it would be fun to arrive at a game by boat, huh?
I've never been to South Beach but I really think that we'll need to see the spectacle that is South Beach. All that I know about it I learned from watching Robin Williams and Nathan Lane in The Birdcage. It just seems very colorful and fun. But it's probably not the kind of place that I'll be interested in spending too much time in. I think it would be a riot to go to a drag club. But I'm not sure I'm up to it. Can you imagine this east Texas girl in a drag club? I don't really know what to expect from the two Marina stops. I hope this turns out to be like the Fort Lauderdale water taxi that we did a few years ago on the day before a cruise. Each stop had plenty of waterfront bars and restaurants to visit and we wound up just bar hopping for the day and having appetizers for our meals.
The Bayside Marketplace is apparently owned by the same people who own Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston. Of all the places I went in Boston that was the only one that disappointed me. I'm just not a big shopper. And I NEVER shop for anything while I am on vacation that can be bought at home. So, unless there are a lot of local shops, I have little to no interest. I'm sorry, Dallas has plenty of Anne Taylor stores. I don't need to waste part of my 24 hours in Miami at one.
I've also discovered that there is a Metromover in downtown Miami which is free! It is an elevated train system with Econoline van sized cars which you stand up in and it transports you from one location to another. It runs daily from 5 AM to midnight and runs on three loops with a stop close to our hotel. So this will be another great method of transportation. The Metromover has a stop in Little Havana which might be kind of interesting. What better place to get a Cuban sandwich, right?
The port is only about a mile from our hotel. So, we'll just take a taxi over there on Sunday. I'm still not exactly sure about what to expect on the cruise itself. The initial paperwork had the cruise starting on 11/10. Then once we were registered the departure date on the travel documents is 11/11. But I received an email stating that we would board the ship on the 10th and it would just sail out of the port and back into Miami on Monday. Then apparently, we will leave port again at some point on Monday and go to the Bahamas where we will have a day and then back to Miami again. So, we may have all day to spend in Miami on Monday, as well. It's all very vague. But you can't really question too much on a $150 cruise, you know?
Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you all on Monday!
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