Live: Apr 20, 2024 Summit 14 Night Panama Canal Westbound Cruise!

[AZCruisergirl]

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

Good luck with your flight, Linda.  See you onboard tomorrow!

Will be crossing our fingers and toes for you🙏

[PaulS]

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

The only thing kinda bad about this Panama Canal sailing is we disembark on Derby day.  Are you going to Thunder tomorrow or will you skip the event and the crowds?  

We are definitely skipping Thunder. Although it is a great show, we are just too old for all of the crowds. This is the 150th Derby so all of the events are supersized this year. 
If you want to watch the Derby and are staying in California, I think it should be on TV sometime after 3:00 PM West coast time..

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, PaulS said:

We are definitely skipping Thunder. Although it is a great show, we are just too old for all of the crowds. This is the 150th Derby so all of the events are supersized this year. 
If you want to watch the Derby and are staying in California, I think it should be on TV sometime after 3:00 PM West coast time..

We will likely be on the road during the two most exciting minutes in sports. 

[mahdnc]

 

Our car rental. No, it’s the white minivan in the back. 

[mahdnc]

The drive between Miami and Key Largo isn’t as awesome as it is when you go further west onto the Overseas Highway. 
 

[hcat]

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

The drive from Miami to Key West via Highway 1/Overseas Highway is very scenic and takes at least 4 hours on a good day and considerably longer on a not good day.  So in my opinion, four days is about right.  One day to get there, one day to get back, and two whole days to spend there.  Don't forget a visit to the very nearby Everglades National Park.

Sal  liked the idea,..thanks for this info!

We would stop over but go to kw... one time trip!

Edited April 19 by hcat

[celebrity cruiser]

KEYS

Hey David, Talking about the Keys and diving, ever been to Dry Tortuga Nat. Park?

[AZCruisergirl]

3 hours ago, PaulS said:

We are definitely skipping Thunder. Although it is a great show, we are just too old for all of the crowds. This is the 150th Derby so all of the events are supersized this year. 
If you want to watch the Derby and are staying in California, I think it should be on TV sometime after 3:00 PM West coast time..

Bummer, our flight is at 3:30

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, celebrity cruiser said:

KEYS

Hey David, Talking about the Keys and diving, ever been to Dry Tortuga Nat. Park?

Yes, we’ve visited this remote national park that can only be visited by boat or seaplane. We took the ferry option. 
 

We did snorkeling, not diving. 

Edited April 19 by mahdnc

[cruisinsusin]

11 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Yes, we’ve visited this remote national park that can only be visited by boat or seaplane. We took the ferry option. 
 

We did snorkeling, not diving. 

We snorkeled there as well- pretty good snorkeling- but took the seaplane. It was a cool experience and no motion sickness!

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, cruisinsusin said:

We snorkeled there as well- pretty good snorkeling- but took the seaplane. It was a cool experience and no motion sickness!

the ferry is a lot longer, too

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, cruisinsusin said:

We snorkeled there as well- pretty good snorkeling- but took the seaplane. It was a cool experience and no motion sickness!

and, they say that half the fun is getting there. I’d say that was especially true for you guys. 

[mahdnc]

We made it to the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. After we dropped off our bags, Marcia checked in while I drove the car to the JW Marriott to return it to Enterprise Car Rental. 
 

The return of the car is an embarrassing comedy of navigational errors on my part. I am only disclosing this to you as a form of self healing. It all occurred during the peak of Friday afternoon rush hour traffic in downtown Miami full of one way city streets where there is a large time penalty for each driving error.
 

First attempt: I overshot and missed my turn because I wasn’t familiar the scale of the navigation map in the minivan screen.  I had to go back around the block in gridlocked traffic (counterclockwise). 

Second attempt: Determined not to miss my turn the second time around, I made my left turn, but one traffic light too early. So back around the gridlocked block I went to set up attempt number three. 

 

Third attempt: the gridlock was aggravated this time by a bridge opening to let some expensive boat pass through. So going around the block took a real long time.  You get to do a lot of pedestrian people watching. This time I made the correct turn (yay), but I missed the entrance to the hotel….
 

Fourth attempt: now that I had practice in making every error possible, I nailed the landing and proudly drove up to the JW Marriott Marquis entrance. I told the valet who approached me that I was just returning the car. He told me that I was at the wrong JW Marriott!  I was supposed to go to the “other” JW Marriott only a mile away. I wanted to cry and beg the valet to take the car over there himself! Instead I asked him for the basic directions there. He told me that I had to drive 3/4 around the block and then continue on for a mile or so—during rush hour traffic….

This is why I cruise and don’t do any sailing on my own. I’d be “that guy” that ends up sailing to North Korea by accident. 

 

There. Therapy session over. Send me the bill. 

Edited April 20 by mahdnc

[hcat]

Driving  anywhere in Miami is insane..night or day    Sorry you got the  " tour".   I realize you had no choice about driving,  but we always hire a car  service when we are there...to avoid that very  scenario.

 

Hope by now you are settled in!

[Mummo]

29 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

 

There. Therapy session over. Send me the bill. 

Man o Man O Man O Man!

[AZCruisergirl]

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

We made it to the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. After we dropped off our bags, Marcia checked in while I drove the car to the JW Marriott to return it to Enterprise Car Rental. 
 

The return of the car is an embarrassing comedy of navigational errors on my part. I am only disclosing this to you as a form of self healing. It all occurred during the peak of Friday afternoon rush hour traffic in downtown Miami full of one way city streets where there is a large time penalty for each driving error.
 

First attempt: I overshot and missed my turn because I wasn’t familiar the scale of the navigation map in the minivan screen.  I had to go back around the block in gridlocked traffic (counterclockwise). 

Second attempt: Determined not to miss my turn the second time around, I made my left turn, but one traffic light too early. So back around the gridlocked block I went to set up attempt number three. 

 

Third attempt: the gridlock was aggravated this time by a bridge opening to let some expensive boat pass through. So going around the block took a real long time.  You get to do a lot of pedestrian people watching. This time I made the correct turn (yay), but I missed the entrance to the hotel….
 

Fourth attempt: now that I had practice in making every error possible, I nailed the landing and proudly drove up to the JW Marriott Marquis entrance. I told the valet who approached me that I was just returning the car. He told me that I was at the wrong JW Marriott!  I was supposed to go to the “other” JW Marriott only a mile away. I wanted to cry and beg the valet to take the car over there himself! Instead I asked him for the basic directions there. He told me that I had to drive 3/4 around the block and then continue on for a mile or so—during rush hour traffic….

This is why I cruise and don’t do any sailing on my own. I’d be “that guy” that ends up sailing to North Korea by accident. 

 

There. Therapy session over. Send me the bill. 

Meanwhile Marcia was probably wondering what kind of mischief you were off getting into. Hopefully you are sitting at a bar somewhere and can laugh about it now…or maybe not yet🤪

[mahdnc]

33 minutes ago, AZCruisergirl said:

Meanwhile Marcia was probably wondering what kind of mischief you were off getting into. Hopefully you are sitting at a bar somewhere and can laugh about it now…or maybe not yet🤪

 

Yes, now that I went through my Cruise Critic therapy, I am laughing!

[mahdnc]

Meanwhile, the Marriott hotel room we received was nice. We reserved a King Bed, Bay View, Guest Room for $321 + tax which used a AAA discount. We chose this hotel because we wanted a nice view of the cruise ships at the Port of Miami. And instead of hoping for a free upgrade, we simply paid for a room with the view we wanted.  We were assigned a room on the 28th floor.  The highest floors with rooms is 31. The bellhop told my wife that this room had one of the best views but I missed the actual language used because I was busy driving laps around the wrong JW Marriott at that time. 
 

By the time I got to room, it was just in time to watch some of cruise ships leave port. 
 

 

[mahdnc]

We had dinner at Osteria Positano. It was pretty good. Marcia had the mushroom risotto. I ordered the cacio e pepe which was prepared table side. 
 

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

After dinner, we walked around South Beach. 
 

 

Edited April 20 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

The night time view from our room.  Cruise port is on the top left.  No ships now, but they'll be there when we wake up!  Good night.

 

[mahdnc]

It's another Miami sunrise, Starin' slowly 'cross the sky....

 

 

[AZCruisergirl]

Our floating gas station just arrived

[mahdnc]

It's a six cruise ship day today!

 

[AZCruisergirl]

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

It's another Miami sunrise, Starin' slowly 'cross the sky....

 

 

Did you see me waving?