Travel and pre-cruise in miami

Welcome to another series of our travel adventures. We are off on another cruise but this time we are leaving our teen home with her grandparents. Before you start to feel too bad for her, last summer, I spent 16 glorious days on Serenity with just my daughter and now I get to have a week of relaxation with my husband.

We had an early morning flight to Miami that left a little bit late which didn’t surprise us. The airport was pretty busy with holiday travels. Security was a breeze for us though with TSA precheck. We grabbed a quick breakfast and it was time to board. There were lots of families traveling for the holidays and we heard lots of talk about cruising. The flight was quick and relatively painless although the man across the aisle apparently has never heard of headphones. (Note: we should probably do a traveling rant post sometime)

We took a cab to the JW Marriott Marquis ($32.00) where we staying one night pre-cruise. Chris got a text that our room was ready when he turned his phone back on. It was nice being able to go to the room straight away. The room was on the 33rd floor with a view of the bay. We both felt hungry so we decided to go to Whole Foods across the street to get a quick and healthy lunch. We took our food back to the room and waited to hear from his parents who were coming to Miami to spend some time with us. They were driving from Tampa to spend the weekend here with us and will be joining us on the ship for lunch.

After his parents called, we went to their hotel which was across the street. We had a nice drink by the pool and decided to walk through the park to the Bayside Marketplace to get some dinner. It is a nice stroll and we saw the Christmas tree being worked on. We decided to eat at Tradewinds right on the water. We all enjoyed our food and drinks. Most of us ordered the grilled shrimp which were very tasty.

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel to show them our room. We went down to the bar in the hotel and had a nightcap. It was great catching up with family. Coming to the port the night before makes it much more relaxing and enjoyable.