ceilidh1

Breakfast was very busy this morning. As a result they ran out of some of the food. Scrambled eggs and hash browns were out when I got down at 8:15am and I heard the staff tell a guy there was no more. I’m content with my waffle, but people are mad! lol. I have to say, this is hands down the worst homewood suite’s breakfast I’ve ever had and I tend to stay in Homewood a fair bit. This would definitely impact my choice to stay again if the price was comparable to other hotels in the area. The Hampton Inn breakfast was a million times better! The hotel itself was fine. Nice location, easy to get to everywhere I needed to get, clean, quiet, great room. When I booked, there was some kind of deal on so it worked out about $209 less than booking Hampton inn for the 3 nights. I was also able to use points for one of the nights so in total I paid $572 which seemed like a decent price (until I converted it to CAD!

It’s cruise day! I found out my hotel DOES offer a shuttle to the port, but it leaves at 11am and that’s too early for virgin. It’s also $15 per person. I’m pretty sure I could get an Uber for that. I opted instead to request a late checkout. The latest they would give me was 12pm, but better than nothing. Heading to find some breakfast and then need to pack up. I think I will wander Brickell village to kill some time this morning…

I’m now going to roll myself back to the hotel, take a shower, and head out for drinks at The Gabriel with the group from the other site!

You may recall that I forgot to eat lunch yesterday? Well, today I purposely skipped lunch as I wanted to try the all you can eat sushi place in Brickell village. So, after the boat cruise, I headed up to Kan Sushi. It’s $25 per person for lunch and $35 for dinner. The menu is extensive and it’s all made to order. I wouldn’t say it’s the best sushi I ever had but definitely worth $35. I am stuffed to the gills! In addition to the rolls, they had sashimi, salads, ramen, appies. It was a little overwhelming to be honest! My choices to come….

Miami from the water

After the museum I headed to Bayside and got tickets for the millionaire boat cruise. I’ve done this before and enjoyed it and it was included in the go city pass. I had planned on doing the Thriller boat but there was a two hour wait so I opted not to.

I gotta say, I’m getting to be a pro at navigating the transportation system here in Miami! I’ve used the metromover, the bus, and the free trolley. All incredibly easy and convenient! Bonus is that buses and metrorail are free until the end of the year! Score. I haven’t figured out how to get to the port tomorrow - the hotel doesn’t have a shuttle

Paradox Museum - one of the coolest places I’ve visited in a while!

This morning I headed to Wynnwood with a quick stop at Target! I walked the streets and looked at the art but opted not to pay the $12 for wynnwood walls (thanks @sid_9169) Then I headed to The Paradox Museum, which is an optical illusion museum. It was very cool and I highly recommend it!

Uhhhh no I was not aware! Lol. Going to try that right now!

Another great night sleep and woke around 7:30am feeling refreshed. No pictures from breakfast as it was more of the same from yesterday and not photo worthy. Planning my route for today - the one downside to travelling without data is not having access to google maps. A few times yesterday I got myself turned around and ended up walking the wrong direction… Starting today in the Wynwood area and hitting up Paradox Museum. I would have liked to see the street art but it seems they now charge $12 to walk through. Hmmm.

They do a great Moscow Mule in there and the burgers are to die for!

Whaaaat? Sign me up! I’m in Miami for another day pre cruise so let me know if you need me to pick up anything for him! I’m kinda lost as I take on so much stuff for my princess buddies!

What’s his role?

Homewood Suites

I got the Boars Head Philly Cheese Steak. Full sub because I forgot to eat lunch!

Tomorrow I plan on heading to wynnwood and checking out the street art, going to the Paradox Museum, grabbing a few things at Target, lunch in Little Havana, and the boat cruise thing in the afternoon. I’m meeting with a group of fellow cruisers from the other site in the evening at The Gabriel!

My hotel is a block away from Novotel! That’s the Publix I went to. I wasn’t expecting much for $10 but it was amazing!

Oh I was there today! I didn’t eat there but walked past and it was hopping!

Cold? Im from Canada. Miami is positively tropical island!

South Beach Duck Tours - official was a little bummed at them as I originally booked on the 11am tour, which I got bumped from to 1pm. Then I got bumped to 3pm. That meant I had to change my 5pm booking for the Paradox museum. Then I hung around in south beach all day as traffic was too bad to go back and forth. Luckily, I loved south beach so it worked out well. The duck tour was really good - the guide was awesome and I learned a lot about the area (far more than from big bus). I highly recommend if you’re looking for something to do in south beach!

The Big Bus tour was decent - about 90 minutes for the full loop, but traffic was brutal so if you’re thinking of using it as a post cruise thing just keep in mind that the times may not be exact (or even close). I took the first bus from Bayside and it never filled up. There was only one ship in today so that might have been a factor. The tour has a recording and they supply earphones for it. It was interesting but didn’t always line up exactly - today, for instance, only one ship in and the narration told you to look at how busy the port is with ships! 🤣

I had planned on going for sushi for dinner but I was so tired that I grabbed a sub from Publix (which was actually amazing) and just brought it back to my room! Sorry, no food porn today. I forgot to eat lunch, too! On my return to the hotel, I found my keycard didn’t work. Now I had this whole thing when I checked in last night as I originally only booked 2 nights pre cruise but then added last night as a separate reservation (by the time I decided to do the third night, to cancel and rebook at the going rate would have cost me $200 as the rate had increased so much). Anyways, when I checked in we confirmed the two reservations were linked, I would stay in the same room, and I would be charged for all three nights at the end. Well, that didn’t happen as I was locked out of my room and had to go through all this again with a different front desk guy. Sigh

Ugh. These upside down pics drive me insane! If anyone wants to fix them, be my guest!