3rd Time Lucky! - Miami, Celebrity Reflection 2nd April & Miami Trip Report

[kikki21]

One of the main reasons for coming to Mountain Top apart from lots of shopping is this.....

 

 

And this....

 

 

It looked stunning!

 

 

This is what we were looking at...

 

 

We spent about half an hour here & then moved lower down to another view point of Magen's Bay which frequently gets voted into the top 10 beaches in the world - we could definitely see why!

 

[kikki21]

We dropped off some people who were having beach time at Magen's Bay & then some people who were heading for Sapphire Beach so we could see more of the island.

 

We're not beach people, well I can be but the husband isn't so we just wanted to get back to the ship although Sunny & his gang were happy to drop us off, there was some debate over what time to fetch people from the beach as it would have been close to getting on board but they were very clam in saying that the ship wouldn't go without them....i hope that was the case!

 

 

Safely back on board, we hit the buffet & chilled out! Kept seeing this seaplane taking off & landing.... maybe next time!

 

 

How unfair... we were last in & first out!

 

 

We had thought about going to Paradise Point as well today but we didn't really need to with the views we had seen, so maybe that's something for next time!

 

 

We dined in Blu....love the decor in here!

 

[kikki21]

Something that I forgot to mention yesterday was that we only saw 1 show on the Reflection...

 

 

We somehow never get round to seeing more shows but we are so glad that we made the effort after being in San Juan as the show began at 10.30pm & it was worth it as Lou was amazingly talented! He was doing the Celebrity ship rounds in the Caribbean as a break from his show in Vegas.

 

We have watched quite a few American Idol shows in the UK & I vaguely remembered him.

 

So that's the end of my photos for today, I have more editing to do for St Maarten, coming next......

[Pluto_fan]

Loving your report! Your photos are wonderful. I had forgotten how beautiful St. Thomas is. :)

[kikki21]

Loving your report! Your photos are wonderful. I had forgotten how beautiful St. Thomas is. :)

 

 

Thank you! I did a bit of a live report with photos from my iPhone at first but I was always going to come back with my edited digital camera photos.

It's lovely to edit these photos & relive the holiday again. I was so happy to finally get to see St Thomas & St Maarten for the first time! [emoji177]

[kikki21]

We planned to do our own thing in St Maarten, our plans were pretty fluid but the ONE thing that we were definitely going to do was go to Maho/Sunset or Airport Beach whatever you want to call it!

 

Our first sights this morning were:

 

 

How HUGE!!!

 

Followed by....

 

 

How TINY!!!

 

it made for a very interesting sail into Philipsburg & we also had a bit of weather around!

 

 

In fact, we had a shower just before we were due to venture out but thankfully it was a short one!

 

Couldn't take my eyes off the Oasis of the Seas!

 

 

 

There were some balcony cabins on the Thomson Celebration too! We met some nice people from the ship when we shared a taxi with them to Maho Beach... they were saying that their cruise director was staying that they would look like a toy ship next to the huge Oasis in the port that day - they were having a great time on their cruise so hey we know that looks aren't everything! :)

[kikki21]

 

There was also a Windstar yacht in port.

 

 

We had breakfast on our balcony again - we just love it, makes for a relaxing way to get ready!

 

 

We decided to get the water taxi option to Philipsburg just across the bay....it's cheaper to get a return ticket & they use pretty big boats to ferry people across so it's a relatively quick process.

 

There is a shopping area by the port as well

 

 

Here is part of the pier for the water taxi's.... Philipsburg looked a lot more attractive than Charlotte Amalie with the boardwalk & a beach right in the town!

 

 

The only thing is you will be besieged when you get off the water taxi - we had a few quotes from people as we were thinking of doing a tour round the island but in the end we sat down at Antoine's after some shopping & decided to just go to Maho Beach, this is where we found some other passengers (it was $8 dollars each) and off we went!

 

[kikki21]

 

There's lots of pretty scenery all over the island. Some large resorts & definitely a place geared towards tourism.

 

 

Before long, we were near the airport!

 

 

That jet blast is for real! We did watch a big jet taking off & yes we saw some things blow into the sea.... we didn't see anyone hanging onto fences. The police do come round every so often so I am sure they monitor it.

 

 

The yellow buoy is very important as you need to keep your eyes above it so you can see the planes appear. I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that it had been put there especially for plane spotters!

[kikki21]

 

Maho Beach is very pretty but also very crowded. The larger planes tend to arrive after 12 noon to 2pm so it gets pretty rammed then & the Sunset Bar was heaving!

 

 

We got some practice with the smaller planes before the bigger ones landed!

 

 

You can see why the airport is so technical to land at & to take off at as well since there is a large hill in the way!

 

 

We did manage to get quite a few shots & video - mainly on my iPhone!

 

[kikki21]

We managed to get a drink at the Sunset Bar & see a few more planes comes in.

 

 

It was pretty hot down there so after over an hour, we decided that we were hungry & that we had better head on back to Philipsburg. There are loads of taxi drivers around the Sunset Bar so you won't have any trouble getting a ride.

 

 

The famous Sunset bar flight time board.

 

Once again we shared a taxi & it didn't take long to get back to the port. I guess we could have stayed there longer but we had heard stories that the roads can get jammed up getting back so we didn't want that stress!

 

 

We decided to head back to Antoine's for lunch - we had looked at the men beforehand & it sounded really good so the taxi driver dropped us off right outside - perfect!

 

 

My husband had the Lobster Caesar Salad which tasted yummy!

 

I had the Lobster Cocktail - also yummy with some lovely fresh bread!

 

[kikki21]

And then to top it all off.....

 

 

The most amazing Creme Brulee - EVER!

 

Wow, what a day! Maho Beach & great, French influenced food for lunch! :D

 

We had a bit of a romantic stroll on the beach after lunch....

 

 

Shopping done beforehand, we got to the water taxi pier & headed on back to the Reflection.

 

 

I wanted to get a photo of our hump cabin!

 

 

It wasn't too long until we set off again & yet again we had a rain shower!

 

[kikki21]

St Maarten was the gift that just kept on giving!

 

 

We were treated to a gorgeous rainbow when we left - I really felt that the 3rd time really WAS the charm after seeing that!

 

We sailed past Maho Beach on the way out...now it was empty!

 

 

And as luck would have it, we saw a plane coming in too!

 

 

One last shot of the island....

 

 

What a lovely day we had, one of our best port days ever!

 

So here we go again, need to do a bit more editing for our 2 days at sea sailing back to Miami!

[kikki21]

What we really liked about this cruise was the pace of it with 3 port calls & 3 sea days, it was a really good balance.

 

With 2 sea days back to Miami, it's time for sleeping in, relaxing, chilling out, sun bathing, going to the spa & seeing parts of the ship that you've missed!

 

 

Took me ages to snap this bird, it was flying around the ship loads & it was very fast too!

 

 

The central part of the ship isn't a big WOW atrium but we actually liked how it was designed, made more of an intimate feel to the ship.

 

 

I loved these mineral geodes, bit too big for our house!

 

 

It was the 2nd Evening Chic night tonight & we really enjoyed the atmosphere around the ship, it was packed round the Martini Bar & the bar tenders were putting on a show!

 

 

Everyone was dressed up smart from what we saw but quite relaxed.

 

[kikki21]

 

We enjoyed our meal in Blu that night with lobster....mmmm! In fact, apart from one time for me anyway, we never had a bad meal in Blu & my meal wasn't bad but I did have some rather chewy lamb chops!

 

On the 2nd sea days, we decided to have a more formal lunch in Opus as we hadn't even been in there as yet!

 

 

The food was really good & then before long, we decided to have a coffee to take onto our balcony hence a stop at Cafe Al Bacio.

 

 

I really enjoyed the coffees & teas here, I was only naughty once & had some cookies!

 

Deck 16 was a lovely, chill out zone for sunbathing & reading!

 

 

We then moved to the Sunset Bar for a pre dinner drink!

 

 

The Carnival Glory was full steam ahead!

 

[kikki21]

 

Mmm time for a Bushwhacker cocktail!

 

Much is written about the canapes, we had to fill out a daily form to get them which is a pain as sometimes you forget, but we actually did enjoy them!

 

 

Carnival Glory had moved from behind to port & now appeared on our starboard side!

 

 

We were treated to a rather lovely Bahamas sunset as we sailed towards Miami & the end of our cruise - sob!

 

[7leagueboots]

Cool pics...thanks.

[kikki21]

Cool pics...thanks.

 

 

Thank you, still more to come! :)

[kikki21]

All too soon, our wonderful cruise had to come to an end & I'd only just started going through all the cocktails I wanted to try! :D

 

 

Loved the Atrium area on the ship!

 

 

The ship had somehow managed to creep into Miami very quietly & I only woke up when we were almost alongside!

 

It was good to actually make it down to Blu for our last breakfast on board!

 

 

We had smoothies, parfaits & French Toast for breakfast, might as well get our money's worth before we get off!

 

Our bags had gone off first but we wanted to wait till at least 9am as we knew we wouldn't be able to get checked into our next destination till later on!

 

We hung out near the Martini Bar & chilled out, people watched until we decided we may as well go for the inevitable & get off the ship - Sob!

 

Walking off the ship was easy & then you have to go get your luggage & queue up for immigration. The lines seemed long but actually it probably didn't take long to de bark, maybe about 40 minutes & we were out of the terminal & in a taxi to holiday part 3!

[kikki21]

I picked a hotel directly on Ocean Drive for the 3rd leg of our holiday as I wanted to be more in the action & picked an ocean view room so we didn't have that post cruise come down!

 

 

I totally love Miami, yeah it can be loud (and it was!) but look at it!

 

 

We couldn't get checked in but we could leave our bags, get some coffee & use the wi fi so we got ourselves sorted & had a wander round the area!

The Art Deco shop on the beach is so cool with many artefacts, quirky things to buy & of course Art Deco - we could have bought the entire shop!

 

We swung by the hotel a few hours later & our room was ready! Yay!

 

 

We picked the Beacon Hotel after long deliberation - I've been to Miami a few times & it's definitely not as cheap as it used to be! The Beacon wasn't cheap but it wasn't hideously expensive either & we do like to stay in the more authentic Art Deco hotels than the mega resorts so this suited us.

 

How can you not love a room with a view like this!

 

[kikki21]

We were still rather full from our Blu breakfast so we caught the South Beach Local to get down to South Pointe Park again so we can wave off some more cruise ships!

 

First up was the lovely NCL Escape!

 

 

We will have to sail on her or the Epic again one day! We are hoping that the Escape comes to Europe again! Or at least that we get a Breakaway Plus ship in our waters again!

 

 

Next up was the turn of the Carnival Breeze!

 

 

Followed by the ship who seemed to be stalking the Reflection, the Carnival Glory!

 

 

Now the Reflection seemed to be late setting off.... when we got off, I noticed that the last guests on board needed to be back on at 3.30pm so I assumed that like our week, muster would take place straightaway & we would cast off around 4pm but we were still at South Pointe Park well past 5.00pm so I don't know why there was a delay.

 

 

But before too much longer, she appeared & sailed past!

 

 

We were rather envious of the people at the Sunset Bar now!

[kikki21]

We wanted to eat at Joe's Stone Crab before we went on the cruise but the wait was ages!

 

This time round as it was before 6.30pm, we were able to walk straight in, wow didn't realise how big this place was!

 

 

We were hungry at this point & shared a shrimp cocktail & then Martin had the jumbo crab cakes & i had the lobster mac & cheese which I couldn't finish - thank god for the nation that invented the doggy bag! :D

Mmmm that cold lobster mac & cheese was awesome later on!

 

 

I have to say that staying on Ocean Drive at the weekend was VERY LOUD indeed! It did get a bit more quiet later on & we were zonked out by all our walking & good food so fell asleep quite quickly!

 

What we didn't know what was happening till we got to Miami was that the Pride festival was on all weekend which meant that there was a parade on Ocean Drive right past our hotel & fireworks later which suited our plans perfectly!

[kikki21]

We had breakfast included in our hotel package, it was an American buffet which was fine to fill up with, if nothing special! Breakfast was on from 9 to 11am - my husband was thrilled with the amount of TV channels on in the room, as it meant that he could watch the Leicester City game live!

 

Before that, here's some shots from last night!

 

 

I think this is my favourite neon sign on Ocean Drive!

 

 

Our hotel sign!

 

 

We had good views of the Pride Parade, it was very colourful!

 

 

I managed to snap a shot of the Thriller powerboat ride out at sea!

 

[kikki21]

 

There were quite a few large floats & everyone seemed very happy!

 

We waited until the parade had gone by for the most part & then headed out to catch a bus to Down town Miami as we were going to go to Bayside Marketplace.

 

 

As it was a Sunday, there were a lot of people hanging out, shopping, eating, drinking & going on boat rides!

 

For us there was only only to be 1 boat ride to consider doing!

 

 

And that was the Thriller! Ok I have done this ride about 4 times now & each time the ride has been different!

We had debated waiting till later to go out & catch a cruise ship going by but it's actually really difficult to do this & capture any photos as your phone or camera will get wet! So we thought ok, we will get on board & have lunch afterwards - a wise thing to do!

 

 

I think they do different routes all the time.

 

 

If you want a ride that takes in more of the swanky homes on the islands then the Thriller isn't for you, this is a 45 minute ride now that takes in more twirls & spins, we didn't even go near South Beach this time!

 

Safely back on dry land, it was time for some mojitos & lunch!

 

[kikki21]

We had a good browse of the shops but didn't buy much & then headed back to South Beach so we could have a rest before going back again for the fireworks happening that night for the Pride Parade & for our final dinner of the holiday - sob! :(

 

We had a lovely walk alongside the beach proper & waited for the fireworks to start at 9pm but they were late starting off, we did however hear Jordin Sparks singing as she was one of the headline acts.

 

 

We were just about to start walking back to where we had decided to eat dinner that night when the fireworks started! Yay!

 

 

The fireworks didn't go on for a long time, maybe 10 minutes but they were pretty big & impressive!

 

 

We enjoyed watching them immensely!

 

[kikki21]

We decided to eat very close to our hotel tonight & went for another restaurant that specialised in fish dinners - A Fish Called Avalon - don't think I've ever eaten as much seafood as I did this holiday!

 

There are a lot of very touristy restaurants along Ocean Drive enticing you in with massive huge drinks & not great food, this isn't one of them. It was pretty classy. The last few days we were in Miami, the weather was actually quite breezy & noticeably cooler ( or we had got used to it!) but tonight it was very windy & almost cold!

 

 

Anyhow, we bravely sat outside because it's rare for us Brits to do so, we had a nice spot on the terrace off the street level & the guitarist played throughout the meal, very nice indeed!

 

We both had starters & they were huge! Martin had the seared scallops & they were amazing, I was jealous!

 

 

I had the bang bang shrimp & they were very good but mmmm those scallops!

 

 

Martin had the glazed wild salmon which he enjoyed but he had to have a doggy bag as did I because he was almost full from his starter! I had more shrimp! Shrimp provencal.... yeah shrimp followed by shrimp!!! :rolleyes:

 

 

We had to have a bit of a break & then decided to have dessert to share between us, we had the creme brulee in a brandysnap type basket......

 

 

It was good but the brulee was more of a mousse than a traditional brulee but the berry sauce went with it really well - that was it, we were full to the brim!