We started out a little leery of our trip. We had a flight booked out of Moline Illinois at 650 am Sat Jan 8th. We got a call from Delta at 10pm Friday that our flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. We were rescheduled to fly out at 10am on Sat. After getting our rides all switched around we got to the airport about 8am and found out our flight was delayed and we would miss our connecting flight out of Atlanta. They rebooked our flight from Moline to Detroit. I was not happy about going way north to go south but we were told it was the only way to get to Miami today so we took it. My wife and I sat and watched them load our plane and saw my luggage be the only one dropped on the tarmac. Just got new luggage this year because it was broken last year! We arrived in Detroit in time to hear that the flight was boarding! So we hauled it across the airport to get onto ours naturally we were last to get onboard. Nervous that our luggage wouldnt make it. We were sitting on our plane in Detroit when my phone rang and my father in law called to tell me that the transfer service I set up for them in Fort Lauderdale to Miami said my card was declined and he had to pay cash! I was furious because I thought they were screwing them over because it was my debit card. What a time for it not to work on VACATION!! Well I called them and found out they had put the wrong exp. date down and it was fixed.

We arrived in Miami about 6pm Saturday. I made reservations at La Quinta Inn East in Miami. They offered free pickup at the airport, free breakfast, and free shuttle to the pier in the morning. Very reasonably priced for all thats included. Not a super fancy place but more than adequate for our needs! The only place to go within walking distance was Bennigans across the parking lot. Loved it there as well they had 99 cent draft beer!!! What a way to start vacation!

The next morning we woke up and we had the noon shuttle scheduled. We also purchased a shuttle back from the pier to the airport from the same company for $10 pp. Great deal I thought and had it all lined up if we spent all our money on the ship! LOL. In hindsight we wished we wouldve done in excursion with Carnival in Miami we had way to much time between debarkation and the flight home. The Shuttle service dropped us off at the pier and was a little taken back at the line at customs it was HUGE! Read more