This was our 9th cruise but first time on NCL. We have sailed Europe and the Caribbean on Celebrity, RCCL, and Princess and we loved our NCL experience.
We arrived in Miami on Saturday, January 19 and spent the night at the Hyatt. We almost always book our own air independent of the cruise package so that we can fly on specific airlines or use FF miles. The Hyatt was a lovely hotel -pricey -but the other recommended hotels (Holiday Inn etc were booked). It was an easy walk or people mover (which is free) ride to Bayside where there is lots of shopping and an ample number of restaurants including a Hard Rock Cafe.
While we were in the airport, I stopped at the NCL desk which was next to our baggage claim to inquire how many NCL ships were leaving the next day. I mentioned I had read on CruiseCritic that sometimes bags got on the wrong ship when two were going out at the same time. They assured me this was rare and also gave me the old time colored, self-adhesive luggage tags that we used to get before E-docs. I was pleased to not have to scotch tape and fold the paper tags we had printed from home. Plus they were color-coded for the Pearl which was very nice. I suggest you stop at the NCL desk and get those tags for your luggage.