Our planning for this cruise started at 312 days out.

Pre-Cruise: We flew on a red-eye flight from Denver to MIA on Friday night before we boarded the ship on Sunday. We hadn't done red-eyes in the past, but it worked really well for us. Having never flown in to MIA before, we experienced some culture shock. I wasn't sure if we had accidentally landed in Cuba Surprise. We found baggage claim okay, but there were no directional signs to where we could pick-up the hotel shuttle. Finally, we approached an airport police officer who directed us to the right location. After less than 15 minutes our hotel shuttle arrived. We were staying at the Hampton Inn Airport Blue Lagoon. We had called the hotel on Friday night from the airport and they confirmed that they did have a couple of available rooms and that we would be able to check in immediately when we arrived. The front desk agent took our names and flight information and passed those on to the shuttle driver, who was watching for us. The drive from the airport was very quick. Upon arriving at the hotel, we were very warmly greeted by the front desk staff who was very efficient in checking us in. They gave us our room keys and invited us to drop our bags in our room and then enjoy the hot breakfast before knocking out for a few hours. The hotel location was absolutely perfect. It was right across the street from a Publix grocery store. There were also several fast food restaurants, liquor stores and even a Starbucks across the street. There are also two pharmacies (CVS & Walgreens) on opposite corners from the hotel. The hotel was very comfortable. After knocking out for a couple hours, headed over to Publix and purchased our last minute cruise items; wine, soda and water to take on the cruise. We grabbed some Subway and headed back to our hotel. We had originally planned to rent a car and check out the sights and maybe go out for dinner, but after seeing the traffic, we cancelled the car reservation and just hung out at the hotel. We ordered dinner in and had some of the best hamburgers ever. Since I had lost 75 pounds in the previous year, I hadn't had a good cheeseburger and fries in months and it was delicious. The front desk staff was very accommodating. They even arranged for a taxi to be at the hotel to take us to the port at 10:00 AM. They do offer a shuttle but it is $10pp and makes several stops and gets filled very quickly. A taxi was about $22 and much faster. We got up on Sunday morning and went down for a nice hot breakfast. The dining area was really full with lots of cruisers, but they never seemed to run out of food and were always replenishing and cleaning.

Embarkation: We arrived at the port at about 10:30 AM and were checked in within 10 minutes and had comfortable seating. It was nice to meet other cruisers and get to know them. We had FTTF and when we cruised out of Fort Lauderdale last year, they had designated Priority Boarding seating. They did not have this at MIA. There was some confusion among the employees at the port where the FTTF passengers were to sit. At one point we were told that we needed to sit on the opposite side of the waiting area only to move over there and told something else. I think we prefer to sail out of Fort Lauderdale. They seem a bit more organized. After Platinum/Diamond boarded, we were allowed to board and we were on the ship by 11:30. Read more