Shadowmeboy's 2022 Encore Christmas and New Year's Southern Caribbean Cruise Adventure

shadowmeboy · March 30, 2023

Its still leaning

Finally adding decorations

Its finally done!

So, we made sure to get our stuff organized as tomorrow we head to Miami!

We called it a night, as we had to be on the road early the next day.

NikiPinkston · March 30, 2023

Love all of your photos and captions. And I'm with Susan - snakes are a hard no!

gotscrapz · March 31, 2023

Thank you for your review, I am along for the ride! We sail on the Encore in May and looking forward to it. Was lucky enough to book the Haven and I am very excited!

AKR2011 · March 31, 2023

Welcome back, Matthew and Susan! I remember you posting about one last cruise in 2022 and hoped to see a review pop up. I'm excited to find it! What state do you have left to travel to and is that trip coming soon?

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

1 hour ago, AKR2011 said:

Welcome back, Matthew and Susan! I remember you posting about one last cruise in 2022 and hoped to see a review pop up. I'm excited to find it! What state do you have left to travel to and is that trip coming soon?

We have Hawaii left. Yes, the cruise is booked for June 2024. We have a 16 night Hawaii Alaska Combo on the Spirit booked, starting in Honolulu and ending in Vancouver BC.

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

4 hours ago, gotscrapz said:

Thank you for your review, I am along for the ride! We sail on the Encore in May and looking forward to it. Was lucky enough to book the Haven and I am very excited!

sounds exciting! We enjoyed the Encore as you will see 😉

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

5 hours ago, NikiPinkston said:

Love all of your photos and captions. And I'm with Susan - snakes are a hard no!

Thank you! I tend to agree with that assessment as well.

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

December 22nd, 2022

Edgewater, FL

So we got on the road by 8am to head down to Miami. My parents were driving us down to Miami, we all were spending the night, then they are going to drop us off at the cruise terminal, and then they are going to head back home.

On Interstate 95 towards Miami! Up near Edgewater it was very overcast.

It was a bit foggy on the drive.

The closer to Miami we got, the better the weather got!

We stopped at chick-fil-a on the way for some lunch. I love me some grilled chicken nuggets.

I also got one of the grilled chicken club sandwiches.

Dad got the fried chicken nuggets.

Mom did too!

Heading over to Miami Beach to catch our city tour!

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

So we got to Miami just in time for our City Tour.

Susan and I were up top!

We had fabulous weather!

Edited March 31, 2023 by shadowmeboy

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

British Airways flight on final approach to Miami

We will be there tomorrow!

Its our third time sailing out of Miami and the first time since the new terminal was finished.

Light day for cruise departures

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

American Airlines on final to MIA

The tour took us through Wynwood

Another American flight!

Over by the University of Miami Hospital

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

Miami River

We made it to Calle Ocho and Little Havana!

Look another American plane!

So we got off the bus and had a little time to walk around. Enough time to get a mojito, do some shopping, or take in the sights and sounds of Little Havana.

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

Susan and I did some light souvenir shopping. We had to remember that we had 6 new port stops still to come.

We got back on the bus and we started back towards Bayside for the boat part of the tour.

Marlins Park

Susan and I shared a lemonade slushy drink.

Almost time to get on the boat!

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

Boat tour time!

Hard Rock - We ate here on a previous trip. I got the cup and Susan got the T-Shirt, so we didn't need to go back!

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

Celebrity on its way out!

Royal's Oasis of the Seas on its way - personally I feel this ship is too big.

The sun was setting and creating an awesome sunset!

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

While we were on the boat, we checked the weather back home. The "feels like" difference between Miami and home was 90 degrees! Glad to be Miami!

cool boat!

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

Remember that Sunset I mentioned!

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

We really enjoyed the boat tour. It was a lot of fun and we say parts of the harbor and islands that we hadn't of before.

Lupush · March 31, 2023

Miami is the most beautiful port to cruise out of and it's not even close. Even though I live here now, I'm always impressed by the beauty when coming off of 95 and getting onto the causeway.

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

I chuckled at this one! Duh!

We hopped back onto the bus to return to the office.

Getting off the bus to get into the car.

In the car heading to the hotel.

See you tomorrow NCL terminal!

We arrived at the hotel for the night. We were staying at the Best Western Premiere Miami Airport.

The room was really spacious!

We were exhausted after the drive and both the bus and boat tours, so Ihop a block or two up was an easy call.

Turkey with Mac & Cheese for Susan

Salmon and rice for Mom

Burger and fries for me

Salmon, rice, and fries for Dad.

Unfortunately, the service wasn't the best that night. Plus Dad was quite cranky, so it wasn't the best meal.

After dinner we returned to the hotel, and crashed. Cruise day tomorrow!

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

December 23rd, 2022

Miami, FL

Embarkation Day - Cruise Day 1

So our dinner at Ihop was ok. So we decided we didn't want to go back. I found a local chain restaurant that served breakfast that I thought we should try.

We headed to Caribe Restaurant

Breakfast menu

Cafe con leche! Susan and I really enjoyed this.

The bread with breakfast! The Cuban sandwiches are made with this type of bread. I loved it!

Bistec a caballo con dos huevos fritos o revueletos - steak and eggs

el mazclado jamon y huevo mixto - scrambled eggs with ham

Mom and Dad also got the steak and eggs

Breakfast was really, really good! I would go back in the future. When we walked in, there was a table full of cops (8-10) sitting and and eating breakfast. In my experience, if the cops are eating at the restaurant, then its generally a good restaurant to eat at.

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

We loaded up the car one more time. Yes, the song just played in my head as I read that back. Did it for you?

Ah! Miami traffic!

On our way to the cruise terminal!

As we got closer to the Port, the tunnel was open. Then right as we got to the entrance, the tunnel closed. We had to get turned around and go the other way.

I see her!

We finally made it to the drop off area. We unloaded the bags and handed them off to the porter. Time to head into the terminal!

Time for Security!

Check-in was super fast!

Boarding Photo time!

Our route map for this cruise!

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

Hanging out waiting to board!

Here we go!

Finally aboard!

Day 1 Daily - Can you spot the error on the daily? Somebody forgot to update it from the previous sailings the encore had been doing.

Note: On the dailies I scan all of the pages, that way you can see what inserts get added when, etc.

shadowmeboy · March 31, 2023

We headed to the Social to make some Show and Comedy reservations.

This is the awesome gingerbread display they had up! It even had a running train on the display! You will see multiple pictures of this, sorry!

Then we needed to fix one restaurant reservation, so we went across to Teppanyaki to fix the reservation.

Menu's outside Teppanyaki for people to look at

Show reservations ✓

Restaurant reservations ✓

Vacation mode ✓

Coco's

So as we were talking outside Coco's, making sure we had everything situated, we saw a familiar face. Jay Hizon, the Restaurant Manager, who we had sailed with in 2017 on the Escape. Below is a picture of Jay, he is the one holding the mike.