MSC Divina W.Caribbean Cruise 05/03/16 with 3 days pre cruise stay Miami review

[stuart2468]

Hey guys from sunny Miami.

 

I'm going to attempt my first trip Report so please have patience with me. Also I have very little knowledge of how to upload pictures here so some guidance would be useful please?

 

I will aim to add each day of the holiday the following day to give you as up to date a version as possible. Plus it may give some people the option to ask me things to find out.

 

Hope you enjoy this report. Stick with me xx

 

Stu

[stuart2468]

Ok, so first of all, introductions

 

I'm Stu, 33, from Birmingham England. Im here with my partner Matt.

 

My sister Amy, and my best mate Neil are to join us on Friday before boarding alongside us on Saturday.

 

Just to point out, Amy and Neil are well aquatinted (purely platonic) and have holidayed with us before. Neil is a regular travel partner of mine.

 

Im sure at some point pictures will be uploaded here that will contain some of us and i will happily point each person out as we go

[Clarea]

Thanks for doing this, and looking forward to it. Very curious about MSC.

[stuart2468]

Day 1 - Miami bound, but first the hell of Heathrow

 

4.30am. The sound of the alarm. How i detest this sound usually. Not today however.

 

I had arranged for my parents to take us on the 2 hour journey to Heathrow. Its approx 100 miles from where i live in Birmingham. they were to collect us at 5.15am, and we expected to be at Heathrow for 7.30. thankfully traffic was fairly kind.

 

We had already checked in online, and so we just dropped off our bags and continued through to departures. we were departing on VS117 at 9.30am. after a lovely cup of tea (we are British after all) we noticed from the screens that we were called to the gate. after a 10 minute walk in what was a cold and draughty terminal we were informed of a possible 1 hour delay and if we wanted to we could return to the main departure lounge. we did this however the 1 hour delay turned into a 20 minute so after not too long we walked back to the gate at which point our seat numbers had just been called. Bargain, no waiting to be had.

 

We were on one of Virgin Atlantic's B787-9 aircraft. I have flown before with Thomson on their B787-8 and loved it. However that time i turned left. This was to be right. But i usually fly economy so wasn't too worried.

 

We sat in our seats and once doors were closed we realised we had the 3 seats between the 2 of us. Busy flight but not packed. However the economy seat was soon to display its lack of padding. A few ours into the flight and my bum was numb. (sorry for the details lol)

 

Seats aside though, the inflight service was very very good. We were well fed and well hydrated and the film selection was rather good too. So all in all not a bad flight.

 

We landed into Miami 2 minutes ahead of schedule with temperatures at 28 degrees. it was 2.45 in the afternoon, blue skies & sunshine. I was a happy man. (i'll also point out now that I'm a red head and so rules being rules i should be against the sun. I actually love it and as long as I'm sensible its very rare that burn)

 

I had a quick discussion with the other half as to whether we should get a taxi out to our apartment in Brickell or if we should get the Metrorail out. I'd done a little research to find there was a station close to where we were staying and so, being the adventurous type of people we are we opted for the Metrorail. So a quick hop on the MIA mover to Central Station and then connecting to the Metrorail was effortless. As an added bonus, as we were about to buy our tickets out to Brickell, some lovely local people asked us if we wanted their day ticket as they were no longer going to use them. So whereas a taxi would have cost us approx $30, we ended up paying nothing to our apartment.

 

We have booked a studio apartment which gives 2 double beds so that Amy & Neil can join us for 1 night, Friday night when they arrive. More cost effective than a hotel room for them. I'll upload the thumbnail photos of the apartment on the next post.

 

as it was now about 5pm, we decided to venture our for a short walk to see what the area was like and grab some food. We new after the long day we would be tired and want bed early. We wondered down to the sea front expecting to find lots of restaurants and shops but to our surprise there was very little. So we carried on walking to the bayside area of Miami where there were far more shops, however at this point most were closing and nothing food wise caught our attention. So we took ourselves onto the Metromover and headed back in the direction of Brickell. Once off there we found a lovely Mexican restaurant (La Cantina Mexicana) where we filled up on food and a beer. A good end to the evening.

[plucasana]

great start of your review, looking forward for more ! :-)

Thank you!!!

[Keith1010]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

Keith

[BermudaBound2014]

Looking forward to your review, thank you

[Bra_BE2014]

Hey guys from sunny Miami.

 

I'm going to attempt my first trip Report so please have patience with me. Also I have very little knowledge of how to upload pictures here so some guidance would be useful please?

 

I will aim to add each day of the holiday the following day to give you as up to date a version as possible. Plus it may give some people the option to ask me things to find out.

 

Hope you enjoy this report. Stick with me xx

 

Stu

 

I love reading reviews, thanks for sharing! To upload pictures, you need to have them first on a photo hosting website, like photobucket for example. Them each picture will have an individual link that you can add on your review by clicking on the little 'postcard' icon you have on the top of the typing window. Hope this helps!

[Cruisergal1208]

Great start and look forward to your review.

[stuart2468]

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There's the other half. Looking at the price of the apartments in our tower. I'll have to confiscate the computer

 

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These pictures were taken today. Much more overcast today. Temperature got to 25 degrees/80F. Still warm though and far better than the 4 degrees we.left yesterday.

[stuart2468]

I love reading reviews, thanks for sharing! To upload pictures, you need to have them first on a photo hosting website, like photobucket for example. Them each picture will have an individual link that you can add on your review by clicking on the little 'postcard' icon you have on the top of the typing window. Hope this helps!

 

This helped greatly thankyou. Still haven't mastered it yet and I'm sure with experience I'll get there so apologies for some of the jargon still in the post.

[stuart2468]

Day 2 - Sunrise, South Beach & Swimming

 

Well the time difference between here and the UK really played havoc with my body clock this morning, and so at just after 4am, i was awake. Once i realised i wasn't going to go back to sleep i decided to get up and head up to the pool on the 45th floor (we have 2 pools here) and watch the sunrise over the atlantic. I had realised they the pool was east facing, however i didn't plan for the taller tower block to be in its way.

 

However i continued with my early morning swim as i watched the sky get lighter. It was pretty if not slightly away from plan. I spent about an hour up there all alone enjoying some peace and quiet.

 

Once Matt was awake, and id had a few conversations with Amy & Neil back at home, we decided we would head out to South Beach & to visit the mall on Lincoln Street.

 

We walked to the Metromover to pick up a waiting train. (i cannot stress enough how easy and effective this monorail system is. There are 3 lines, with trains running every few minutes, and totally unmanned, Inner line links within Downtown Miami, Brickell Line to the south & Omni line heading north. Neither line is all that far, but each line inter connects with each other around the Inner line. All of which is totally free to use. Superb public transport) We would pick up the Omni line to take us to the bus station where we would pick up the Letter M bus over to South Beach. Fare on the bus we think was a standard $2.25 per person to anywhere on the route.

 

Once in South Beach we headed down to the Art Deco area. [/img]

 

We hadn't eaten breakfast this morning, so at about 11 we sat down to have brunch. Both of us decided we would have an omelette and a drink. It was very satisfying, but for this we received a bill for $45. Wow..... welcome to South Beach.

 

After this we decided to head to the beach. there are many access points along the promenade, but amazingly (and i don't know if this is a GPS setting programmed into us) but we stumbled directly onto the gay section of the beach. We had a good chuckle at this as it was totally coincidental. We walked along paddling through the waves with the sun shining down on our backs. The sea looked very inviting but sadly we didn't have out swim shorts with us.

 

 

There i am with my back to you. My photographer needs to remember which is my better side lol.

[Kruizin'Kath]

Love reading your review!! Thanks for sharing!

[stuart2468]

Thanks for all you're lovely comments. have to say I'm enjoying doing the review. Nice to recap on the things you've done.

 

Good news this morning..... Both Neil and Amy have made it to Heathrow. Amy lives in Kilmarnock, Scotland and so has had to fly down from Glasgow. Neil has had to make his first journey to an airport alone. He was quite nervous about this but seems all has gone to plan. There was a worry at one point that snow may cause a problem. (for those that don't know, anything more than 1cm of snow on the ground causes a total meltdown of British infrastructure)

[stuart2468]

Day 2 - Continued

 

After the gentle stroll across the miami sands, We ventured down towards Lincoln Street mall. I have to say i was expecting a large indoor mall but what we walked through was a lovely pedestrianised art deco corridor of shops. Was beautiful to walk through. The sun at this point was hiding behind some low level cloud but the atmosphere was still warm so made the walk quite enjoyable.

 

plenty of looking in the shops was had, but i noticed that prices here are hiked to reflect the area you are in. Shoe & trainer prices are much the same as at home which was a pitty given Matt wanted to invest in a new pair of sports trainers.

 

We stopped for a drink and to do some people watching at a lovely restaurant, with a not so very lovely name, 'Meat Market'. But the views were good and was lovely to be sat outside relaxing

 

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We decided at that point we would finish the mall and then find the bus back to connect with the Metromover. this time we caught the letter 'S' bus and within 10 minutes we were back onboard the metromover.

 

Once back at the apartment block we both fancied a swim and so ventured down to the mid level pool, and took a dip. Again, apart from us, only one other person was using the facilities. The Jacuzzi down here though was superb. boiling hot and just what was needed to warm the body as the air temperature was starting to dip. Heaven!

[nikkiw60]

We are looking at booking brunch at the restaurant belonging to Soho House Miami when we are there in April. Am enjoying reading your reports for ideas when we get there!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[stuart2468]

Day 2 - Continued

 

We decided this evening that we would give Bubba Gump Shrimp Co a sample for our meal. so we set about getting ready. During my shower time, matt took some evening shots of the view from our balcony. Thought you may like to see them

 

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Our Station which is a 2 minute walk from the apartment.

 

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A typical train the runs the network.

[stuart2468]

Day 2 - Continued

 

Our meal was nice. Im a huge fish fan but Matt not quite so much. I tried Maui Maui for the first time tonight and have to say i enjoyed it. We had a lovely spot outside to make use of the warm temperature this evening. Now whilst i enjoyed the meal, i don't think i would rush back. I found it was a case of once you've experienced Bubba Gump, you probably wouldn't need to go again.

 

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And that completes day 2. Tomorrow is the arrival of Amy & Neil as well as a visit to Little Havana.

[Homosassa]

I don't know if you had auto-correct "helping your post, but in case you didn't and you ever want to have the same fish again as you had for dinner, it is mahimahi. The fish name was changed for restaurants as the actual name of dolphin fish had people thinking they were eating Flipper.

[BermudaBound2014]

Great review so far. Can you please let me know what time you get to the port and what time you board? I'm not sure if I want to arrive around 1130 or wait and arrive around 3 PM. I just want to avoid crowds.

[stuart2468]

Great review so far. Can you please let me know what time you get to the port and what time you board? I'm not sure if I want to arrive around 1130 or wait and arrive around 3 PM. I just want to avoid crowds.

 

Well we can't check in until 2pm, so we intend on dropping our bags with the porters around 11.30am, and then heading out again to South Beach for Amy & Neil to see. We'll probably be back around 5pm for check in. I'll keep you posted with more detail once we have done it.

[stuart2468]

I don't know if you had auto-correct "helping your post, but in case you didn't and you ever want to have the same fish again as you had for dinner, it is mahimahi. The fish name was changed for restaurants as the actual name of dolphin fish had people thinking they were eating Flipper.

 

I'd like to say i was using auto correct however i have a feeling i typed it incorrect. I do indeed mean Mahimahi. lol

[stuart2468]

Day 3 - Little Havanan, Large boats and long waits for the high society members of our group

 

So we woke a little later this morning. We slept to 6.30am. A lazy morning compared to the day before. We had planned to visit Little Havana this afternoon before making our trip to the airport to meet Amy & Neil.

 

So we packed our sun cream & swim shorts and headed to the 45th Floor. The sun this morning was out in full and the pool looked highly inviting. I slapped on some factor 30 and lay absorbing the rays. This was a good morning!

 

Matt decided to head straight for a dip.

 

I had some rather annoying news at this point. Whilst it was good to hear that all had gone well with Amy & Neil regarding meeting up at Heathrow, once boarded, Neil had a seat issue in economy, and the end result was an upgrade to Business for both of them. This i was a little bitter about. lol. More to follow later!

 

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After a few hours rest, and a little nap by myself (the product of a few early mornings) i was fully recharged and ready for the day ahead.

 

We showered and changed, and at about 12.30pm we headed via the metro mover to connect with the Number 8 bus out to Little Havana. (again this was really easy to do as the next station along to us is Brickell. this is an interchange station for the Metromover, Metrorail & a Bus interchange. Very easy to use). We had purchased a day pass along all the network, as we new we would be using the metro rail later to get to the airport. This cost $5.65 representing what we thought to be good value. The bus ride would be about 15 minutes long and after a little research we knew to head to 8th Street.

 

Off the bus we got, found 8th street, and decided to walk in the wrong direction. Clever hey. lol. Once we realised this we did a 180, and walked in the opposite direction. We soon found ourselves where we wanted to be. First though we were to be greeted by a rather large cock. Of which along the stretch of little Havana there are loads.

 

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After a short stroll we found what looked like a rather nice bar so we went in sat down and ordered our first Mojito of the day. Now I'm not one for citrus flavours, but even i enjoyed this.

 

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[stuart2468]

Day 3 Continued.

 

One of the places the internet had advised us to see was Maximo Gomez Park. This is where all the locals meet to play chess & predominantly dominos. it wasn't a large place, and not so much a park. But it was very interesting seeing the locals getting very hot tempered with their games. Not speaking Spanish, i was only left to guess things weren't going to plan. But its fair to say it was pretty easy to see this. lol

 

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The atmosphere down here was very good. Plenty of cuban music being played and live music pumping onto the street.

 

But we'd seemed to have come to the end of Little Havana. It wasn't as large as id expected, and we thought we'd fill more than a couple of hours here and had planned to eat down here. But it was 3.30pm, and was way to early to eat.

 

So we assessed what else we could do and decided to head back to Brickell interchange, and take the Metrorail down to Coconut grove. After all it wasn't going to cost us anything, and would give us something else to see.

 

So after a 20 minute transport ride, and a 15 minute walk to the marine we arrived in Coconut grove. It was a lovely area, and seemed very affluent. The marina area seemed very quiet, but there was a lovely park there which all seemed very new.

 

 

I wasn't expecting to see Miami City Hall out here in Coconut grove.

[Cruisergal1208]

Don't forget about muster drill usually around 4:30-5. If you miss it you will make it up the next day