So Excited - Just Booked Our Cruise!

[krispi]

I''m so excited, that I just had to share. My BF and I have been talking for a long time about taking a cruise in Sept. as an early celebration of my 30th birthday. We even requested that week off at work ages ago. Because of some uncertainty with my job and other things, I''ve held off booking. They were having a great sale, and I was able to take advantage of it today, so it''s official - we''re going! I got it $100 cheaper than I originally would have, plus an extra $50 onboard credit, so it really was a great deal. We''ll be crusing for 4 nights in the Bahamas on board Royal Caribbean. Our stops are Nassau, Coco Cay (RC''s private island), and Key West. We''ll be boarding in Miami. If anyone has any suggestions for excursions or things to do during a short afternoon in Miami, I''d love to hear them. Now I just need to see if I can find the same kind of deal on our flights!

 

[Skippy123]

YAY, I would be super excited too!

 

[Kaleigh]

Yay for you!! What a nice way to celebrate your 30th!!

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 7/31/2008 11:57:10 AM
Author:krispi
I''m so excited, that I just had to share. My BF and I have been talking for a long time about taking a cruise in Sept. as an early celebration of my 30th birthday. We even requested that week off at work ages ago. Because of some uncertainty with my job and other things, I''ve held off booking. They were having a great sale, and I was able to take advantage of it today, so it''s official - we''re going! I got it $100 cheaper than I originally would have, plus an extra $50 onboard credit, so it really was a great deal. We''ll be crusing for 4 nights in the Bahamas on board Royal Caribbean. Our stops are Nassau, Coco Cay (RC''s private island), and Key West. We''ll be boarding in Miami. If anyone has any suggestions for excursions or things to do during a short afternoon in Miami, I''d love to hear them. Now I just need to see if I can find the same kind of deal on our flights!

Woo Hoo

When you say short afternoon, how long specifically? Royal Caribbean''s port is right next to Bayside and Bongo''s Cuban Cafe. I would highly suggest heading over to Bayside. There are a lot of shops, restaurants, and live bands. If you want a quick meal, then head over to Bongo''s.

If you have more than a few hours, then the trip to Miami Beach is about 15 minutes. I would suggest going to Lincoln Road because its awesome there...a lot of shops, flower places, GELATO!!!

 

[krispi]

Thanks, Fiery! We haven''t booked our flights yet, so I''m not sure exactly how long we''ll have in Miami. I''ll definitely keep those in mind. BF is looking into how to redeem some of his airline points, and I''m crossing my fingers (but seriously doubt it) that flights will go onsale in the meantime.

I just realized that we have a very busy next couple of weeks coming up - next week we''re taking some time off to go to the mountains for a wedding, then labor day, then the cruise, then my birthday a few weeks after that.

 

[jcarlylew]

ohmy! i hope you have a blast!

 

[krispi]

Thanks, Skippy, Kaleigh, and Jcarly! I''m so excited. I''ve never been on a cruise before and have been wanting to go for a while. The last big vacation I took was to Jamaica for my 25th birthday, so this is long overdue.

 

[Lauren8211]

Woo Hoo!

I bet you''re soooo excited! What a way to celebrate your 30th!!! Sounds like fun!

 

[snlee]

How exciting! What a great way to celebrate your 30th birthday! You''re going to have a blast! My DH and I took our first cruise together last December. It was an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean and we had a fabulous time! I have very found memories and think about it a lot! Probably because that''s the last vacation we''ll take before baby but we really did have a great time. One of our best trips!

 

[Blair138]

Krispi-I just got back from a Royal Caribbean cruise!!! What boat are you on? I was on Liberty of the Seas-AMAZING BOAT-Well here is my suggestion for Miami, don''t get overly excited about the area the port is in-I had basically the worst start to a vacation there, we got there on the 4th of July, didn''t see fireworks, got poured on because it basically monsooned and had to eat at McDonald''s because there were so many people at Bayside.

Will you be in Miami before or after the cruise? If you are there after, Royal Caribbean treats that as a port and does schedule excursions such as water tours and other fun things. If you are talking about before the cruise, I would board as early as possible. We got to the ship at 11:30ish in the morning and got on right away-NO LINES and we had the entire pool to ourselves. We got to explore the ship, and even though our rooms weren''t ready we killed a lot of time by eating at the Windjammer and swimming (wear your swimsuit under your clothes or bring it in your carry-on).

I would say though Bayside is fun to walk around and does have some cool shops and places to eat (we got to see it in the morning before the cruise). Bongos looked really fun too but we didn''t have time to eat there. HAVE FUN!!!

 

[krispi]

Thanks, Elle, Snlee, and SDL! I''ve been having a hard time dealing with the fact that I''m turning 30 (and still single, with no sign of settling down on the horizon). I remember when my mom turned 30 and thinking how old that was. Now that it''s my turn, I don''t feel nearly old enough to be at this point! I thought I''d have a lot more accomplished along the road of life by now, you know? Anyway, I thought booking the cruise would fool me into being excited about something, and it has been working so far. Plus, I hadn''t been on a really great vacation like this in a long time, and my bonus and tax check were in my savings account just begging me to book it.

Blair, I''ll have to talk to my BF to see what he wants to do around Miami. We had talked about the possibility of staying an extra night and getting a hotel room, but unless I can get a discount on the flights, I''m not sure that will be in our budget. He was thinking of going down before the cruise. I was kind of thinking of staying afterward. He works weekends, so a lot of it would also depend on when and if he was able to get time off. Thanks for the info, though. We will be on the Majesty of the Seas. It''s an older boat, but they just refurbished it not too long ago.

 

[krispi]

We booked our flights today! Yay! After discussing the possibility of this trip for so long, it''s finally starting to feel real.

We are landing in Miami at 10:30 Sunday morning. Our cruise doesn''t depart until Monday, so that pretty much gives us 24 hours in Miami. We''ll also probably have a few hours after we get off the boat on Friday, since our flight doesn''t leave until 6:00 that evening. So, now that we know our time frame, does anyone have any suggestions? Is it possible to get around Miami without renting a car? I am trying to keep the budget on this trip as reasonable as possible.

Also, we still have to decide on a hotel for Sunday night, but my BF is leaning toward using Priceline. We had a great experience with that when we went to NYC back in April. But if anyone has any other suggestions, bring them on!

Thanks for all of your help so far!

 

[diamondfan]

Sounds like a great birthday! Happy 30th, and I am glad you were able to get it booked now, sounds like you also saved some money! (more for clothes shopping before you go!)

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 8/4/2008 6:59:34 PM
Author: krispi
We booked our flights today! Yay! After discussing the possibility of this trip for so long, it''s finally starting to feel real.

We are landing in Miami at 10:30 Sunday morning. Our cruise doesn''t depart until Monday, so that pretty much gives us 24 hours in Miami. We''ll also probably have a few hours after we get off the boat on Friday, since our flight doesn''t leave until 6:00 that evening. So, now that we know our time frame, does anyone have any suggestions? Is it possible to get around Miami without renting a car? I am trying to keep the budget on this trip as reasonable as possible.

Also, we still have to decide on a hotel for Sunday night, but my BF is leaning toward using Priceline. We had a great experience with that when we went to NYC back in April. But if anyone has any other suggestions, bring them on!

Thanks for all of your help so far!

If you are getting there at 10:30, I highly suggest getting a room at the Holiday Inn Bayside. It''s right across the street from the port. You can''t do anything in Miami without a car. There are buses that run from Bayside to the beach. I would suggest hanging out at Bayside Sunday morning/afternoon as there are a lot of live bands and things to do. For the evening, try to have dinner at any of the restaurants on Lincoln Road. It''s such a lovely atmosphere. If you want to experience some of Miami''s nightlife (which is open 24/7), head over to Ocean Drive for dinner. Tell them to drop you off on ocean and 5th and you can walk up/down for places to eat/hang out. As I said, you can''t get around without a car but you can do a taxi w/out problem.

 

[Blair138]

Fieryred-I stayed at that Holiday Inn!! Krispi-I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT-Only thing I wouldn''t do is try to eat in the hotel. We ate across at Bayside at this fabulous little restaurant (which I cannot remember right now) and had a great breakfast for around $5 that cost a TON MORE at the Holiday Inn.

You can definitely get around without a car if you plan to stay in the Bayside/port area. You will need a taxi to get to Port but the hotel can assist with that.

If you are going to be there the day/night before-I would hang around Bayside,maybe take a boat ride (there are tons right there) that go to the ''celebrity houses of Miami'' and other fun things. Bayside is pretty happening late at night.

As for day you get back-I would definitely look into an excursion through RCCL. They do the air boat rides through the Everglades or something like that. Pretty cool stuff. HAVE FUN! I''m soooo jealous!! RCCL is the BEST cruise line and the Majesty looks like a great boat (I think I watched the refurbishment on the RCCL tv channel on our cruise-really cool stuff!)

 

[krispi]

Diamond Fan, That's so funny that you mentioned shopping! I definitely need a new swimsuit before the trip. The last ones I bought were 5 years ago when I went to Jamaica, and my favorite one is starting to look really worn. So as much as I absolutely hate it, I'll be trying some on pretty soon.

Thanks for the suggestions, fiery and Blair! I'll definitely keep those in mind. It sounds like Bayside is something we should defnitely check out.

Darn BF! He has a really bad habit of going on priceline just to "play around" before we've had a chance to discuss plans and "accidentally" getting bids accepted, and he did it again!! (I don't know how he can claim it was an accident - he knows there's a chance that it will go through!

) So, he booked us a hotel in South Beach. The good news is that it's very close to the bus, so we can use that to get around the city. We're okay with taking a taxi from the airport and to the port.

 

[krispi]

Date: 8/5/2008 12:26:54 PM
Author: SanDiegoLady

Date: 8/1/2008 10:30:55 AM
Author: krispi
Thanks, Elle, Snlee, and SDL! I''ve been having a hard time dealing with the fact that I''m turning 30 (and still single, with no sign of settling down on the horizon). I remember when my mom turned 30 and thinking how old that was. Now that it''s my turn, I don''t feel nearly old enough to be at this point! I thought I''d have a lot more accomplished along the road of life by now, you know? Anyway, I thought booking the cruise would fool me into being excited about something, and it has been working so far. Plus, I hadn''t been on a really great vacation like this in a long time, and my bonus and tax check were in my savings account just begging me to book it.

Blair, I''ll have to talk to my BF to see what he wants to do around Miami. We had talked about the possibility of staying an extra night and getting a hotel room, but unless I can get a discount on the flights, I''m not sure that will be in our budget. He was thinking of going down before the cruise. I was kind of thinking of staying afterward. He works weekends, so a lot of it would also depend on when and if he was able to get time off. Thanks for the info, though. We will be on the Majesty of the Seas. It''s an older boat, but they just refurbished it not too long ago.

Oh my stars, 30 is nuthin''!!! I loved turning 30.. and 40 was even better!!

Thanks! Several people have told me that, and it''s funny that I don''t think my friends who are in their 30''s are old. But it''s different when it''s ME that we''re talking about. I just don''t FEEL old enough to be 30! It''s also funny that the closer the day gets, the more okay with it I get. (Although I''m not completely there yet!)

 

[Blair138]

oooh I''ve heard South Beach is FAB! I''ve always wanted to go there!!!

 

[krispi]

Blair, the hotel is a little more than I was hoping to pay, but I''m pretty excited about it. It looks really mod and fun. I''m sure South Beach will be amazing. I just wish I had the body for it!!

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 8/6/2008 5:54:04 PM
Author: krispi
Blair, the hotel is a little more than I was hoping to pay, but I''m pretty excited about it. It looks really mod and fun. I''m sure South Beach will be amazing. I just wish I had the body for it!!

Oh honey I am far from a south beach body but i still go and party like a rockstar