Written by Kim
We took a short detour to visit Alex’s mom in Tennessee so our trip to Miami was a bit longer than you might expect. We drove about 1400 miles and 23+ hours with an overnight stop in Warner Robins, GA after leaving mom’s. It was a bit of a rainy drive so we decided to relax with some trivia. We changed our team name to “Just Passing Thru” and clinched first place for a $25 gift card to offset the cost of dinner. Wahoo!
We made it to the port around 2:30. To keep it simple we just parked in the port garage and scooted on board. Embarkation was a breeze. We got a status match from RCCL so passed quickly through the Deep Blue Priority Queue ahead of many people waiting in the general boarding line.
The cabin is similar size to other cruises we took but a bit more techs with a fancy tablet to turn on lights, tv and open the balcony curtains.
Sailaway was at 6. It was clear until we started pulling out but then started drizzling. We were excited to get some pictures of ICON, RCCL’s new ship, since she just came to port this morning. She doesn’t start sailing till Jan. 27 and we have a few friends that will be on her.
You won’t be surprised to learn that Alex was chatting with a bartender about his home in Indonesia. Movi, the bartender, was so impressed he gave us some free drinks after we were onboard less than a few hours. Cheers!
The Miami port is beautiful at sailaway. Especially at night.
ICON is huge. Only crew was on board but they were hooting and hollering because I think we were the first ship to pass them leaving port since they pulled in early this morning. I don’t think we will do ICON for a while. It’s got lots of water slides and the things for kids that we are not interested in so let the families enjoy until our tribe is old enough to enjoy those things. She was gorgeous.
We enjoyed The Wake, the steakhouse, for dinner. We were concerned because we arrived 45 minutes late for our reservation but they still seated us. There is no main dining room so you book all reservations on the app. The app is very glitchy and a bit of a pain but we’re working through dealing with it. The food was very good – better than RCCL main dining room but not quite as good as Chops, RCCL specialty steakhouse. It was included without an up charge so we were pleased.
Our initial reaction is the vibe is quite different than RCCL. It’s adults only which is nice but we didn’t see many scooters or walkers because it skews a little younger crowd. We are on the older side but don’t feel out of place. We’re finding our way around the ship which has lots of smaller venues and “hideaways” which spreads people out. We went into one bar mid ship on the main level and were the only ones there which felt weird on a ship that holds 2,700 passengers (we suspect about 80% full). Overall we’re enjoying it but I was weirded out with people walking around in PJs to go to the pajama party. We went back to the cabin because some things can’t be unseen once you’ve seen them. Girl if you’re that big no skin tight pjs!
Key west today so we are looking forward to a few drinks on Duval Street at Irish Kevin and Sloppy Joes. Alex needs som3 new t-shirts because his are worn out.
Until then….
Kim, thank you for the travel blog. I almost feel as if I’ve been on-board with you. You and Alex are delightful and I know you could fit in anywhere! Happy sailing!!!