Background Info We are past cruisers ages 63/59. This was our first cruise on Royal Caribbean, but it will definitely not be our last! Our previous cruises have all been on Carnival, and we recognize that there are some specifics about Carnival that often fit our needs; however, the character of this particular cruise on the Brilliance of the Seas took us into another realm, an entire new dimension of cruising. During this cruise we celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary.
Travel to Port Of Embarkation & Hotel Info We had previously made reservations at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami for Sunday night. It is literally across the street from the Port . (Our cruise day was Monday). However, on Saturday morning, we were so pumped, we opted to drive to Miami two days early, as we only live 3 hours away. We couldn't get a room at the Holiday Inn for that night so we stayed in Miramar instead. We drove down to the Port area anyway, and visited Bayside Market. We had dinner at Lombardi's that night, sat on the sidewalk overlooking the Marina -- watched Navigator of the Seas depart. Being this close to the port and watching all the ships and boats only served to get us more into the cruising mode.
On Sunday morning, we arrived at the Holiday Inn & Port of Miami around 10am. There were five ships in Port that morning; Freedom of the Seas; Explorer of the Seas, Norwegian Jewel, Carnival Valor, and Carnival Victory. All of this of course only heightened our cruise awareness. We attempted to get into the parking lot behind the hotel, however, the attendant informed us that we had to be checked in before she could let us in. So we spoke with one of the desk clerks, who allowed us to check in early (even though we couldn't get into our room until 2pm), and gave us the needed paperwork for the parking lot. Afterwards, we spent time at the Bayside Market until we could get in our room. We got back to the hotel at 2pm, but our room still wasn't ready. The clerk offered us a lower-priced room which was ready, so we opted for that. Later, I attempted to get online via my laptop, but couldn't get my wireless card to work. After inquiring at the desk, they loaned us a bridge connector and I was able to access the Internet with no problem. All in all, we found everyone on the staff that we spoke with to be helpful and courteous. We would definitely stay here again. Sunday night we met several of our Cruise Critic cruise mates at an informal gathering at the Hard Rock Cafe. Only problem was, they closed the outside bar around 7pm because it was so cold! A fast-moving cold front had really lowered the temperatures in Miami.