TooManyWakeUpsTilWeSail

We stopped off in GC in May on Horizon. Didn’t have status NOR a Carnival excursion. But we did ask the excursion desk the day before where the tender tickets were located since we had an early non-Carnival excursion. Really nice agent just said show up in the theatre at a certain time and they would let you board with the Carnival excursions. Was a very easy process & they were very nice with no tickets needed to show.

Adding that the metro mover stop os a few city blocks from Bayside Marketplace. We found it better to walk there than use transportation.

We just got back from 2 nights precruise and 1 1 post cruise in Brickell. Did use the metro mover a couple of times. the trolley once (to Little Havana). Both of these are free but locating the trolley was a bit confusing. Booked the city bus but did not use; did not realize the “clock” starts once purchased online. The Miami transit system is great but you need to know beforehand where stops are located and whether it’s worth using over Uber. For example, had to walk 10 blocks to the Little Havana trolley and it had maybe 15 stops to get to Little Havana. An Uber would have taken 1/4 the time and costs maybe $10 from Brickell. Versailles restaurant is great for cheap Cuban food and ideal to order several small dishes to see what you prefer. Almost always a wait outside for seating but worth it.

We started looking for our 3 nights a few months in advance of our cruise. You have much more time so you have the benefit of booking & canceling refundable rooms as prices change. Include Airbnb/VRBO in your search if you are comfortable with that. One of our nights needed was Memorial Day weekend where prices were much higher than the prior/pre-cruise weekend. Found a 1-night Airbnb next door to Holiday Inn-POM for about $300 total with a nice Bayside Market view.

I’m just trying to figure out which port has a prettier sail away: OR….