This is our third cruise and my parent's first. We chose a cruise out of Miami since we were building the ultimate vacation  a cruise followed by a trip to the final NASCAR race of the year in Homestead.

We flew down the day before into Fort Lauderdale. We hired an Executive Sedan from Florida Limo, paid the few extra dollars for the meet and greet  it was so worth it! It was great to feel so pampered at the beginning of our vacation! Our competent and professional driver whisked us to our hotel in Coconut Grove, the Wyndham Grand Bay. We checked in and walked to downtown Coconut Grove. What a neat place  wish we had more time to explore!

After a comfortable night's sleep, we went across the street to an amazing grocery store called "Fresh Market" and got a few last things for the ship - a few bottles of wine and DH's hard to find N/A beer. We went back to the room, repacked and had the concierge call a cab for us. We had a bit of excitement on the way to the port, our cab was hit in the front fender by a semi truck! Too bad for our driver, he was so flustered! We were all ok, and that is what mattered. Our cab was still driveable and DH helped the driver get the offender's information and we were back on our way. Read more