Gearing up in Miami!

We arrived in Miami from Detroit on December 7, 2023….

Travelling with 6 checked bags, 2 carry-ons and 2 personal items is not typically our style and was very uncomfortable for us. Luckily we made the decision to travel First Class on American out of Detroit to make things easier. We crossed the US/Canada border with ease and had an Airport Transfer large enough to acommodate all of our luggage. The border officer told us we needed to check back into Canada within 6 months or risk losing our citizenship. I believe that is misinformation but, again, these days, it may be a risk worth taking anyway.

The flight was great! All of our luggage arrived and our pre-booked Uber showed up to take our luggage to the Intercontinental Hotel. The next day, I was able to get rid of 5 of our suitcases to be delivered to our stateroom on the Serenade of the Seas which was arriving on Saturday.

Friday, we did some exploring in the port area of Miami. We walked a lot — part of the flexibility we are now afforded. It felt good to just plan our day as we went.

Friday night, we decided to do a special dinner at Toro Toro — a steakhouse in the hotel. Made a reservation and headed down to enjoy a really great meal. Chris had the tomahawk steak and I had the lomo saltado. It was so delicious!

Saturday, we headed to the Bayside Market Place in the Miami Port and had a great lunch at the Black Market Grill. Getting my fill of burrata while in town, but I love it!!

We got dressed up (for the first time in ages) and headed down to the Gala for the Ultimate World Cruise. Royal Caribbean put on an amazing evening where we enjoyed meeting fellow passengers and a delicious pre-cruise meal.

We got packed up in the morning and headed down to our 9:30am shuttle enroute to the ship. Despite some computer issues, everything was very well-organized and we made our way easily to the ship and straight to our stateroom where all of our luggage was waiting for us.

At 4pm, we began our departure from the Port of Miami to beautiful sunset skies. We met lots of incredible people and stayed up way too late but we were absolutely on adrenaline at this point. The excitement of reaching this moment was almost too much to imagine. In the depths of our summer of renovation, we dreamed of this moment — it was all becoming real. Freedom, relaxation, excitement, pampering — time to enjoy life was just beginning. We so deserve this!