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

[kikki21]

So here we are, we've reached the point where we are at the final few hours that are left of our holiday to Miami.... we packed up our suitcases & were able to leave them in storage at the hotel while we made the most of our last few hours!

 

Our plan was to get to the Lincoln Road mall area via the good old South Beach local bus service, a bargain 25 cents for any journey, have a walk round the shops there, have lunch & then walk back to the hotel before getting a taxi to the airport & that's exactly what we did! :)

 

I happen to really like the design of the Lincoln Road area, but apparently there are plans to redesign it, nooooo leave it alone! I love all the different water features along the route.

 

 

We didn't check out all of the shops as it is quite a bit area but I did some stuff, a Miami Pandora charm & a Britto miniature cat figure as I feel in love with them & Britto stuff.

 

We were getting a bit thirsty & the Mr wasn't feeling great so he had a coke & I had this mahoosive strawberry milkshake, my God it was good!

 

 

Leave the water features alone!

 

 

Before long we ventured out of there & headed off towards Espanola Way.

 

 

I've always loved this building :)

[kikki21]

I had never eaten here all the times I'd been to Miami so my first experience of eating at Espanola Way was on our food tour - we wanted to come back at eat at the Brazilian restaurant - Boteco, largely because of those amazing chicken croquettes!

 

 

We also had to have some of the cashew nut juice again!

 

 

And those lovely croquettes of course!

 

 

Our entrees were a bit boring, we should have had something a bit more Brazilian but the husband just wanted grilled chicken & I just had a shrimp caesar salad. I really wanted a Brazilian flan for dessert but they didn't have any :( so we ended up sharing the Coconut truffles!

 

 

Nice presentation!

 

So we had a nice, relaxing lunch followed by a nice stroll back along Ocean Drive to our hotel, enjoying the sights of South Beach one last time before getting the taxi to the airport!

 

[kikki21]

So the last time I had been at Miami airport, it was being rebuilt in parts & was a bit of a mess.....there wasn't a lot at the departure gate either... I forgot about this fact this time round & that a lot of the shops in American airports are actually before security so although we were quite early for the flight & there were no queues anywhere & we sailed through, there wasn't that much at the departure gate again... in fact it was the same departure gate as the one I flew from 6 years ago & it WAS the same! Oh well! I WILL remember for next time!

 

We didn't have extra leg room seats this time, big mistake.... it was an uncomfortable flight for me as I don't really sleep well on a night transatlantic flight! Martin on the other hand can sleep anywhere!

 

 

Bye bye South Beach!

 

We had a female captain fly us home which was a first, the flight was relatively smooth & before long, we were flying over the South Coast of England!

 

 

This is part of Poole harbour - we had fantastic weather to see all this detail!

 

 

This is the Sandbanks part of Poole, this area is like England's South Beach - lots of gorgeous houses on this spit of land that are Art Deco in style!

 

 

The seaside town of Bournemouth, you can just see the pier jutting out!

[kikki21]

We still headed along the coast.... I was so happy to be on the left side of the plane as I had some cracking views!

 

 

This is the Isle of Wight. Never realised there were cliffs there!

 

 

More Isle of Wight, the New Forest & Southampton in the distance.... I wasn't sure but I was thinking that RCI's newest ship, the Ovation of the Seas might be in the port?!

 

We then started turning in land & yes!

 

 

There she was!

 

 

What a bonus!

 

We had to keep circling a few times as there was traffic at Heathrow, I didn't mind as I was taking photos!

 

 

We flew over Gatwick airport......

 

And then near Heathrow airport itself, still in our circling stack!

 

[kikki21]

 

The people on the right hand side of the plane would have had some cracking views of the city of London... i did manage to snap this shot as we turned to the left & started our final approach... you can see the O2 arena on the left & the Thames Barrier on the river to the right.

 

 

Part of the huge Richmond Park.

 

 

Richmond itself....

 

 

Twickenham, never realised how close it was to Heathrow!

 

And that that was it..... as we landed, lots of planes were taxiing for take off!

 

[kikki21]

Well that's it folks, the end of the holiday & the end of this rather epic review, I hope you've enjoyed all the photos etc!

 

We totally loved our holiday, we loved Miami, we loved the Reflection, we loved all the ports of call, we loved all the food we ate! :D

 

We will certainly sail Celebrity again & would have no hesitation on sailing on the Reflection or any Solstice Class ship or even an M class. We enjoyed Aqua Class & Blu - don't think I would change a thing about the holiday at all.

[Texed]

21,

 

Thanks for posting. :)

[nikel]

Loved your review...thanks for sharing :)

[pretty princess]

Great review...lovely pictures. Thank you

[kikki21]

Thank you for the comments!

 

I love reading reviews especially ones with lots of photos in them so it's a way of giving back to the CC Community! :)

[Pluto_fan]

I really enjoyed your posts and wonderful photos!

More excited than ever for our upcoming trip on the Reflection. :)

[kikki21]

I really enjoyed your posts and wonderful photos!

More excited than ever for our upcoming trip on the Reflection. :)

 

Thank you! The Reflection is a gorgeous ship & you will have a fantastic time in the Greek islands! :)