Miami Early Arrival - day of sailing

[robbie21]

We are arriving at MIA at 6:40 AM on Monday, Jan 6th for a cruise on the Regatta. Therefore, we have considerable time to kill before we can board and, of course, we will have some bags to tote.

 

Any suggestions from all you experienced travelers? :)

 

Robbie

[warburg]

Have you called Oceania to ask if you could drop your luggage at the ship early in the day? If so, take a taxi to South Beach and have lunch. We live on Miami Beach and I have no knowledge of convenient luggage drop-offs. However, there are services that will pick your luggage up at your home and deliver it to the ship. CruiseCritic has info on this subject on its website.

[rheasue38]

Hi!

You can grab a cab to the Intercontinental which is near the port. They will store your luggage while you have breakfast. You can lounge at the pool after breakfast. Then you can grab a cab to the port which is a mile from the hotel. I gave someone this idea a few weeks ago and he said it worked out very well.

Rhea

[Silver Sweethearts]

When we flew from Hawaii to Fort Lauderdale to board the Seabourn Sojourn, we knew we would be tired and wanting a nap and shower before boarding the ship. We reserved a room at a decent but not fancy hotel there for the night before - noting that we would not be arriving until the next morning. Since it was paid for, the room was held for us. We also requested a late check out. We just took a cab from Fort Lauderdale Airport to the hotel, took a nap, showered and took their van to the ship. We had a chance to use the iron in-room to spruce up our clothes so that we would look fresher that way too. This "Day room" idea worked for us.

[JimandStan]

We are arriving at MIA at 6:40 AM on Monday, Jan 6th for a cruise on the Regatta. Therefore, we have considerable time to kill before we can board and, of course, we will have some bags to tote.

 

A second Vote for the Intercontinental.

The view of the Oceania Berth at the Port of Miami from their Pool Deck is particularly spectacular.

This is the Marina at Terminal J as viewed from the InterContinental

[Michael@ssrp]

Sorry to be slightly off topic, but responsive to Jim and Stans last comment. Is Terminal J the designated "Oceana berth"??? We are traveling in via private shuttle service from FLL for our April TA on Riviera, and were wondering as POM seems ginormous! Thanks in advance!

[JimandStan]

Sorry to be slightly off topic, but responsive to Jim and Stans last comment. Is Terminal J the designated "Oceana berth"??? We are traveling in via private shuttle service from FLL for our April TA on Riviera, and were wondering as POM seems ginormous! Thanks in advance!

 

Yes, always Terminal J.

[rheasue38]

Hi!

My husband, Michael and I want to thank you for recommending Il Gabbiano near the Intercontinental Hotel. Both the food and service were outstanding! Can't wait to return there again before our March cruise on the Riviera. Also, we love the Intercontinental!

Rhea

[JimandStan]

Hi!

My husband, Michael and I want to thank you for recommending Il Gabbiano near the Intercontinental Hotel. Both the food and service were outstanding! Can't wait to return there again before our March cruise on the Riviera. Also, we love the Intercontinental!

Rhea

We love it also!

Our new favorite restaurant in Miami, by day or by night-

[robbie21]

Looks like the Intercontinental is the way to go. Thanks for the advice.

 

Robbie

[Silver Sweethearts]

Nothing at all against the Intercontinental, but do note that since it appears you will be flying in from the west coast your internal body clock will think your 6:30 a.m. arrival time in Miami is really 1:30 a.m. with the time difference between coasts. After you get your luggage and go to the Intercontinental for breakfast and/or lounging by the pool your body will feel like it is around 3 a.m.. If you are young, fine. If you are a bit older though, you may find breakfast or pool lounging is not to your body's liking at what it thinks is that hour (spoken from experience).

[digby]

There is a THREE hour difference between PST and EST time.

[Silver Sweethearts]

You are right, of course. Our mind is stuck on Hawaii time, which is five hours difference. Even with only three hours difference, that puts arrival at the hotel at perhaps 5 a.m. internal body clock time. Everyone is different, and to each his own, but through experience we have found it preferable to wind down, take a nap and shower and start anew so that you are refreshed when you board your ship.

[robbie21]

We are not so young :D but our experience is that naps just prolong the agony. We have a nonstop from Seattle so we will get a little sleep on the plane. Other than that we expect to power through the day, get a fairly early dinner and then sleep for 10 or 11 hours and be pretty much on local time when we get up. The novelty of warm and, hopefully, dry air will likely keep us awake and alert.;)

 

Works for us:)

[Hambagahle]

Why don't you think about getting a "day room" at the Intercontinental (or another hotel for that matter) so you can stretch out if you want to, take a shower and feel human again? I always did that when I arrived in Sydney from a long haul flight and it really paid dividends... Day rooms are usually about 50% or less than the cost of a night in the hotel...

[LHT28]

I can see a problem is you lose 6+ hrs in time zone changes but 3 hrs should not be that bad should it?

 

Mind you we flew to the west coast so we gained 3 hrs ... found it hard to stay awake for a couple of extra hrs the 1st night

 

Flying to Europe we usually try to stay awake till midday then have a nap, go have dinner at our regular time & try to stay with the time change schedule

 

Everyone adjusts differently

Edited December 29, 2013 by LHT28

[robbie21]

It's pretty clear that everyone has a different approach to adjusting to time changes. We fly pretty regularly to NYC from Seattle but those are day flights arriving around 5 PM so it's easy for us to stay up an extra 2 or 3 hours that night and be on local time the next day. Redeye flights are a bigger challenge. A lot depends on how much sleep you get on the plane. At least this time we have a nonstop. Previous cruises we had to change planes in Atlanta and that really sucks! I don't like redeyes at all but for a SEA to MIA flight the red eye is the only option since day flights arrive around sailing time. We don't generally arrive the day (or more) before sailing for US departures although we always do for European cruises since there is always a lot to see. Miami - not so much:D.

 

We did consider a day room but since we board around noon or maybe before we figured a room for two or three hours (after breakfast) was not going to help much. If we really need a nap we can do it after we get onboard.

 

Thanks for all the comments,

 

Robbie