We flew into Miami from Minneapolis on Thursday on Delta and the flight was as we like it, uneventful. On the flight, we utilized some of our FlexPerks onboard credits to purchase sandwiches, snack boxes and a glass of wine each for my wife and I.
FlexPerks is a rewards points program U.S. Bank administers through one of its credit cards and I've found it to be one of the more advantageous ones out there. It only takes 20,000 points to redeem for many non-stop flights. And with each rewards airline ticket, you get a $25 credit to use for food, drink, baggage fees, etc.
Arriving in Miami, we took the "Miami Mover," which I thought would be a tram, but really is just a series of moving walkways, to the SIXT rental counter. We were able to secure a good deal on a full-size SUV for the next couple of days. Check-in was painless as we had entered most of the information online. In no time, we were on our way to our next stop - Key Largo - in the heart of Miami's rush hour. I have to say, it was not as bad as I expected. We left SIXT at 5:30 pm and were at our hotel, the Hampton Inn in Key Largo by 7:30 pm.
The Hampton Inn was very nice. Clean, bright, tropical and with a small beach and great outdoor pool. The free hot breakfast was the typical Hampton Inn complimentary morning meal. Great value overall. We didn't spend much time there but there was plenty to do with a family if we had. They even had kayaks for rent on the beach.
Thursday night we ate at the Pilot House Marina. The food was delicious. I had the conch fritters to share with the rest of the family and the crispy grouper sandwich, which was good but I could have just eaten the fish on its own with out the bread or accompaniments!
Friday's mission was Key West. None of us had ever been and none of us may ever go again. Ha! To be honest, for our family, the best part was the drive down along the Overseas Highway. Very cool to go over the Seven Mile Bridge and see the communities along the way. Key West itself was hot, crowded as heck as there was a Carnival ship in town (thanks for misleading me Cruise TimeTable). Finding a parking spot was fun, not. No picture by the southern most point marker as we would have had to wait in line for about an hour.
Instead we ate at Blue Heaven before heading back. The meal was overpriced and not good. About $70 for two cheeseburgers (split four ways) that included no fries and two slices of Key Lime pie. The pie with meringue vs whip cream was outstanding, but I left thinking, I spent how much on that?
On the way back to Key Largo, we stopped at Robbies to feed the tarpon. That was a lot of fun and worth the dock admission fee and fish buckets. My son until the last day of the cruise kept saying that was his favorite memory.
That night, we ate at the Fish House in Key Largo thanks to a tip over on the Key West forum. That meal was outstanding. I had the Mahi Mahi done Matecumbe style, which the waiter recommended. Absolutely amazing. It is the "house specialty" that is "topped with fresh tomatoes, shallots, fresh basil, capers, olive oil and lemon juice, then baked." Everyone else agreed their meal was one of the best ever at a seafood restaurant as well. The Fish House is both a restaurant utilizing freshly caught fish and fish market. I asked for a clean placemat to take with me as it offers a cool illustrative map of the Keys. Plus, our entire meal, with an appetizer and several drinks came to about twice what we paid for our paltry lunch in Key West. So it was a great value. We went back to the hotel that night in a great mood and ready for cruise day!
In summary, I felt like we had to visit Key West once but next time around, for our family, we would just stay in the upper Keys. Lots to do there. But your experience may be different!
I will try to get to the first actual cruise day and some of the initial Carnival experiences and impressions tonight!
I got married in Key West in Feb. We had rented a car and stayed at the Sheraton. The way to do KW IMO is to stay there but not try to drive downtown. You take the free shuttle the hotel offers lol! And prob going in Feb helped, wasn’t a million degrees. Kw is super interesting if you navigate it differently. Restaurants..I’ll agree, overpriced. We went to margaritaville. It was kind of crappy and expensive. But there’s better places.
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I got married in Key West in Feb. We had rented a car and stayed at the Sheraton. The way to do KW IMO is to stay there but not try to drive downtown. You take the free shuttle the hotel offers lol! And prob going in Feb helped, wasn’t a million degrees. Kw is super interesting if you navigate it differently. Restaurants..I’ll agree, overpriced. We went to margaritaville. It was kind of crappy and expensive. But there’s better places.
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