It is a good rule of thumb, when flying to your port, to arrive the day before you sail. I thought, as long as we're arriving a day early, let's make it two days and do something fun!
So we got to Miami with a whole extra day before our cruise to spend as we wanted. So I picked something I've long wanted to see: Everglades National Park.
First of all, it's a fascinating, unique eco system (or rather systems, for there are several) including the most bio diversity you'll find anywhere.
Second, the amount of wildlife you will see is shocking. We weren't 10 yards into our walk on the Anhinga trail before we'd seen an alligator, a great blue heron, a snowy egret, and a soft shell turtle about to lay her eggs.
The kids found dozens of tiny lizards, there were fish practically leaping out of the water, and a stunning variety of big egrets, herons, cranes, and I don't know what else.
We went most everywhere we could go by car, then headed to get some midday smoothies in Homestead.
We fit in one last stop on our very busy day: a visit to the Alligator Farm.
The kids were cranky and hot and tired and didn't want to go. But as soon as we settled in for a demonstration, they were riveted. This guy was just lugging around full sized alligators opening up their mouths, and after all that passed around a little 2 year old alligator for people to hold.
Paul practically ran to get a turn, Laszlo decided to pass on holding a gator.
We did a fan boat ride and, let me tell ya, those things are LOUD. We had great protective headphones which worked so well Arthur managed to nap through the ride.
I found the fan was loud enough to drown out the sound of not just talking, but singing as well. I tried out a little Mozart and found I could only really hear myself in the higher part of my range and no one else could hear me at all. It's a real shame, I did a nice sampler of arias.
 |
| The tree what collects all the lost hats. |
In the Everglades we saw 5 or 6 alligators, at the farm we saw maybe a hundred or more. Not all of them were part of the farm either, if you catch my drift. We also saw so many vultures (I think they were vultures?) It felt like they just saw as future roadkill.
After all that hiking and sunshine, were only too happy to relax at our little B & B.
We stayed in Homestead at a little guest house on a working fruit farm. It was coconut season, so our host shared with us a couple of coconuts and brought us straws so we could drink the water inside.
My single experience cruising has taught me that the most tedious and difficult part of the whole process is embarkation. The frustration level is raised when a faulty fire alarm forces everyone to evacuate the terminal. So the whole process is delayed for 30 minutes, everyone has to go through security again, and the delay means even more people have arrived with no place to go and a backlog of passengers.
Lucky for us, they immediately started pulling anyone with a wheelchair or an infant to the front of the line. Even with that marvelous and much appreciated shortening of the wait time, the kids were getting frustrated and antsy. In all it took about 3 hours from arriving at the terminal and getting on the ship. Finally, the day gets to be fun!
We did some exploring, ate some lunch, did the safety drill, and said goodbye to Miami from the pool.
Between getting checked in and trying to appease children, who wanted to do everything at once, it was a pretty exhausting day. Laszlo said "this isn't as fun as I thought it'd be." I promised him that today would not be representative of the rest of the cruise.
It didn't get really relaxing for us until the kids were all sleeping and we could sit in the balcony and watch a distant storm. How far away it was, I don't know. Far enough to not hear the thunder, close enough to see the lightning.
The next morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn and heard a little scraping sound. With my fuzzy vision I could see something moving right next to the balcony door. As I reached for my glasses, I could only imagine there was, I don't know, a cockroach or something? But no! It was a little stow away!
I assume the last guest to stay in that room had collected some shells from the beach the day before, no realizing one of them was occupied.
Watching the Sunrise over Nassau was a lovely way to wake up.
Our activities for the day were for Lee and I to go snorkeling and Grandma, Grandpa, and the kids would go play at the beach. The boys were assigned the mission of releasing our little crabby friend back into the wild, which they took very seriously. They wanted to find the best spot on the beach to set him free.
Obviously, they love playing in the sand, so they had a great time.
Lee and I did a snorkeling excursion, so we set sail on a little catamaran to a small reef where we saw quite a lot of fish.
Lee got to try out his under water camera and got some video of the little darlings.
We were the first off the boat and into the water, and then we were among the last to get back on the boat.
The ride back was something of a tour, the crew pointing out all the mega mansions we passed and announcing which famous people owned them.
Keeping in mind that these were none of them primary residences, and all were truly massive I just couldn't help thinking about F. Scott Fitzgerald for a moment: "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different than you and me."
We got back to the ship and swapped stories over lunch.
The nice thing about cruising is there is never a shortage of things to do. Lee took Paul and Laszlo to the water park, where they splashed and played and went down water slides, and I took Arthur to take a nap. He did not nap. Go figure.
Our first day at sea went by so fast. Arthur puked on me. Low point. I went on a few water slides and relaxed in the pool while the boys went to kids club. Paul and Laszlo LOVED the kids club!
It is shockingly easy to fill your time just pool hopping, walking around in the sunshine, and sampling more dessert than is good for you.
I wondered if I'd be bored by just being on the ship and not at a port, but it felt like there weren't enough hours in the day.
This very sweet old man gave us a solid chocolate model ship. He is apparently a very frequent cruiser and loyalty member, because he says he has several at home already!
 |
#1 Choose a ship you think you'll enjoy. The itinerary matters, but arguably the ship matters more. So make sure the accommodations, activities, and entertainment sound appealing.
#2 Choose a cruise line that suits your travel style. There are super formal cruises, super casual cruises, family friendly cruises, and no kids allowed cruises. Whichever you want, don't accidentally book the opposite.
#3 I wouldn't recommend cruising to anyone who is, like, NBA levels of tall. The ceilings just aren't that tall. Maybe 7.5 feet maximum. I could reach up and touch the ceiling without jumping. Just a thing to think about.
#4 Don't trust the reviews. Seriously, I've read scathing reviews that are so hyperbolic I just have to assume the person posting it is just insanely entitled and the cruise would have been fine for a normal person. We cruised with MSC, and they get so many negative reviews, but I just don't see it. The ship was cleaner than any hotel I've ever stayed at, the service was terrific, and the food was very good.
As I've already rambled on for far too many words, I will cover the rest in a follow up. Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment