mahdnc

I was wondering the same thing. Last month, I took a look at the Port of Miami schedule and I think it was Beyond that would continue to sail from Miami this year. Maybe this is the last year?

When my wife and I were leaving the hotel, we met a nice couple on our ride down the elevator. They obviously looked like cruisers. So I asked them what ship they were going on. They said "Summit--ummm maybe". This couple from Oregon explained that one of them had lost their passport on the way to Miami. They used their passports to board their plane but found it missing after they checked into the Marriott hotel. My heart sank for them and I felt sick as I was imagining one of my worst fears coming to life. They asked if they could ride with us to the pier and offered to pay. Of course I said yes to the ride but no to the money. I wished them good luck when we got to the cruise port. I told my wife that based on some similar horror stories that I have read on Cruise Critic, I didn't think they were going to be permitted to board. Too bad. 10:38 am A view of Summit as our Uber XL drove across the MacArthur Causeway.

The last two times we cruise out of Miami (2015, 2016), we took a taxi to the pier. This time I tried something different, I went ahead and pre-booked an Uber XL for my wife and me. I booked for 10:30 am pickup at the hotel. Our check in time was 11:00 at the pier. I am not sure if it would have been cheaper than getting a taxi (large enough for us and our luggage), but I liked the certainty of knowing that I had it arranged before I went to bed the night before. My wife and I have not learned the art of travelling light. Our ride promptly arrived at 10:30 am. 10:31 am Bags are packed and we are ready to go.

Here are a few more photos that I took from our 28th floor room before we checked out yesterday: In the above photo, Icon of the Seas (docked) is partially visible all the way to the left in the photo. Valiant Lady is docked next to us on the right in the above photo. Refueling barge is parked alongside Summit.

Here is the Celebrity Today for Day 1: link

Yes, I am still alive. It was a very busy day yesterday and I was so exhausted and I pretty much crawled into bed after dinner and slept for 12 hours--too tired or busy to post anything! I am back "on the job" and will resume with some catch up posts!

Sorry. We did a lot of running around today after getting onboard.

Thanks. Our Solstice transpacific has its double day on Apr 18 next year. I thought your itinerary would have the same double day on Apr 18

It's a six cruise ship day today!

It's another Miami sunrise, Starin' slowly 'cross the sky....

Apr 18th occurred twice for your sailing, correct?

The night time view from our room. Cruise port is on the top left. No ships now, but they'll be there when we wake up! Good night.

After dinner, we walked around South Beach.

We had dinner at Osteria Positano. It was pretty good. Marcia had the mushroom risotto. I ordered the cacio e pepe which was prepared table side.

Meanwhile, the Marriott hotel room we received was nice. We reserved a King Bed, Bay View, Guest Room for $321 + tax which used a AAA discount. We chose this hotel because we wanted a nice view of the cruise ships at the Port of Miami. And instead of hoping for a free upgrade, we simply paid for a room with the view we wanted. We were assigned a room on the 28th floor. The highest floors with rooms is 31. The bellhop told my wife that this room had one of the best views but I missed the actual language used because I was busy driving laps around the wrong JW Marriott at that time. By the time I got to room, it was just in time to watch some of cruise ships leave port.

Yes, now that I went through my Cruise Critic therapy, I am laughing!

We made it to the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. After we dropped off our bags, Marcia checked in while I drove the car to the JW Marriott to return it to Enterprise Car Rental. The return of the car is an embarrassing comedy of navigational errors on my part. I am only disclosing this to you as a form of self healing. It all occurred during the peak of Friday afternoon rush hour traffic in downtown Miami full of one way city streets where there is a large time penalty for each driving error. First attempt: I overshot and missed my turn because I wasn’t familiar the scale of the navigation map in the minivan screen. I had to go back around the block in gridlocked traffic (counterclockwise). Second attempt: Determined not to miss my turn the second time around, I made my left turn, but one traffic light too early. So back around the gridlocked block I went to set up attempt number three. Third attempt: the gridlock was aggravated this time by a bridge opening to let some expensive boat pass through. So going around the block took a real long time. You get to do a lot of pedestrian people watching. This time I made the correct turn (yay), but I missed the entrance to the hotel…. Fourth attempt: now that I had practice in making every error possible, I nailed the landing and proudly drove up to the JW Marriott Marquis entrance. I told the valet who approached me that I was just returning the car. He told me that I was at the wrong JW Marriott! I was supposed to go to the “other” JW Marriott only a mile away. I wanted to cry and beg the valet to take the car over there himself! Instead I asked him for the basic directions there. He told me that I had to drive 3/4 around the block and then continue on for a mile or so—during rush hour traffic…. This is why I cruise and don’t do any sailing on my own. I’d be “that guy” that ends up sailing to North Korea by accident. There. Therapy session over. Send me the bill.

and, they say that half the fun is getting there. I’d say that was especially true for you guys.

the ferry is a lot longer, too

Yes, we’ve visited this remote national park that can only be visited by boat or seaplane. We took the ferry option. We did snorkeling, not diving.

The drive between Miami and Key Largo isn’t as awesome as it is when you go further west onto the Overseas Highway.

Our car rental. No, it’s the white minivan in the back.

We will likely be on the road during the two most exciting minutes in sports.