Itinerary

My sister Diane and I are flying to Miami on April 21st. On the 23rd we are taking a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas. Then back in Miami for 4 more nights for some shopping and sightseeing. On May 1st, Diane flies home and I board the Mariner of the Seas for a 27 day back to back cruise. The first 15 days will be solo and then Wayne will join me in Rome on my birthday and we will take a 12 day Eastern Mediterranean cruise. We will then spend 3 nights in Rome before we fly home.
Celebrating my 50th birthday in style!

Here is the itinerary of my trip.

Sat. Apr. 21        

Arrive in Miami

Sun. Apr. 22        

Miami, FL  

                                               

Mon. Apr. 23        

Board the NCL Sky, Miami, FL                                             

5:00pm

Tue. Apr. 24        

Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas                  

8:00am to 5:00pm

Wed. Apr. 25        

Nassau, Bahamas                                       

8:00am to 6:00pm

Thu. Apr. 26       

Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas                        

8:00am to 5:00pm

Fri. Apr. 27        

Miami, FL                                                 

7:00am

Sat. - Mon., Apr. 28 - 30        

Miami, FL                                          

Tue. May 1         

Board the Mariner of the Seas, Miami, FL                           

5:00pm

Wed. - Tue., May 2 - 8        

At Sea

       

Wed. May  9         

Tenerife, Canary Islands                             

7:00am to 3:00pm

Thu. & Fri., May 10 & 11      

At Sea                                   

                  

Sat. May 12        

Palma de Mallorca, Spain                            

8:00am to 8:00pm

Sun. May 13        

Barcelona, Spain                                        

7:00am to 5:00pm

Mon. May 14       

Nice (Villefranche), France                           

9:00am to 8:00pm

Tue. May 15        

Florence / Pisa (Livorno), Italy                     

7:00am to 6:00pm

Wed. May 16    My 50th Birthday and Wayne joins the ship!  

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy           

4:00am to 5:00pm

  

Thu. May 17        

Messina, Sicily, Italy                                  

10:00am to 6:00pm

Fri. May 18        

At Sea

                       

Sat. May 19        

Chania, Greece                                           

7:00am to 5:00pm

Sun. May 20        

Rhodes, Greece                                          

7:00am to 6:00pm

Mon. May 21        

At Sea  

                     

Tue. & Wed., May 22 & 23      

Istanbul, Turkey                                         

7:00am on the 22nd until 1:00pm on the 23rd        

Thu. May 24        

Ephesus / Kusadasi, Turkey                         

8:30am to 6:30pm

Fri. May 25        

Athens (Piraeus), Greece                             

6:00am to 5:00pm

Sat. May 26        

At Sea

                       

Sun. May 27       

Naples (Capri), Italy                                    

7:00am to 6:30pm

Mon. May 28        

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy                           

5:00am

Tue. & Wed., May 29 & 30       

Rome

Thu. May 31        

Leave Rome and fly home

April 20, 2012 Halifax, NS

After months of planning, the day had finally arrived. Wayne and I arrived at the airport hotel around 8:30pm. Diane had decided to stay there so she could park her car there, so I decided to join her and save Wayne the early morning trip to the airport. When we arrived, Diane had already checked in. Wayne said his goodbyes and Diane and I settled in for an early evening knowing we had a very early wake up call coming.

April 21, 2012 Halifax, NS and Miami, Florida

The alarm went off at 3am and we were down in the lobby by 3:40am to catch the shuttle and were at the airport by 4am. Since our flight was so early, US pre-clearance was not open so we would have to clear customs once we arrive in Fort Lauderdale.

Diane had checked the weather and they were calling for severe thunder and lightning for the Miami area - oh joy. I am not a fan of flying and was not looking forward to flying in that kind of weather.

When we left Halifax the weather was calm and clear. The flight down was pretty smooth and once we started to desend it got a little bumpy but nothing too bad. Weather when we landed was overcast but not raining. 

We arrived right on time - 9am. Since we were in row 2 we were one of the first people off the plane and through customs. I called the shuttle company we had reservations with and within minutes we were on our way to Downtown Miami. The shuttle dropped us off at our hotel - the Intercontinental Miami. It is a lovely hotel! Since it was too early to check in, they stored our luggage and we went off to explore.

We walked along the waterfront to Bayside Park. 

It is a lovely area right on the water. We walked around for a while and then stopped for lunch. We shared nachos and 2 for 1 Margaritas. :)  We did a little more shopping/sightseeing but realized we both needed to rest. We went back to the hotel and our room was ready. We had bought some wine, so we had a glass and then went off to explore the hotel.

For dinner tonight we shared a pizza from the hotel bar (roasted pineapple - yummy). It will be another early evening as we have a full day of shopping planned.

View from our room

April 22, 2012 Miami, Florida

After a great nights sleep, we woke around 7:30am. Diane went down for a smoke and brought me back a coffee and a slice of banana bread (which we shared).

We caught a bus to the mall and arrived there at 11:30am. Since the mall didn't open until noon, we decided to have lunch in the food court which was open. We spent a few hours shopping and then caught the bus back. This bus went back via Miami Beach which was much more scenic then the bus there.

We got off at Bayside Park and stopped and had some beer and sat in the sun - nice!

We went to Bubba Gump Shrimp and shared the Shrimpers Heaven which was shrimp done in 4 different ways. For dessert we shared a piece of Key Lime pie.

Back to the hotel - tomorrow we board the ship!

April 23, 2012 Miami, Florida

 Another sunny morning in Miami. Diane again brought me coffee and we shared a piece of coffee cake. We headed out to do a little last minute shopping before getting ready to head to the port. At 11am we checked out and grabbed a cab. Once at the pier, as we were walking across the parking lot I heard someone calling “Linda”. I didn't think it would be me, so we kept walking. I heard my name again and this time I turned around and 2 women are waving at us. It was Renee and Linda from Cruise Critic message board who recognized me from my photos on Facebook. What a coincidence that we all arrived at the same time. 

We checked in, had our photos taken, and then went up to wait for our boarding number to be called. VIP's first, then L1, then us - L2. We were on the ship by 11:35 - very quick process. We walked around exploring the ship. 

Then up to the buffet for lunch and then we sat in the sun and ordered the beer special - buy 5 get one free. 

The rooms were ready by 1:30, so we went to check out our cabin - small but comfy. Back to get a bit more sun before going to watch a presentation on the ship in the lounge.

We went back to our cabin  and Diane’s suitcase and my small carry-on (which I checked) were there but not my suitcase - I was not happy.

We then had to go to the muster drill. After muster, we went to Renee and Linda's suite for sail away. Today is Renee's 50th birthday and she treated herself to a wonderful suite for her and Linda. Linda also had not received her luggage but had received a letter telling her she had to go down and claim her luggage (known as the naughty room). Diane and I went back to our cabin and my luggage was still not there and there was no letter. I called down and they said I had to go to the naughty room to claim it. WTF - I had nothing in it that I shouldn't have (and neither did Linda but Diane had a bottle of wine in her's and they didn't find it). Went down and had to wait almost 20 minutes which meant we missed seeing Miami Beach as we sailed away :( Looks like it was either my can of spray suntan lotion or the insulated mug that caught their attention. Not impressed...

For dinner Diane and I went to Crossing dining room. I had the pork and veggie spring roll and Diane had the shrimp with fingerling potatoes (like potato salad). For mains I had Moroccan Sweet potato rice cakes and Diane had striploin with mashed potatoes. For dessert we both had the Key Lime pie.

After dinner I worked on the blog and Diane spent a few minutes in the casino. Comedy show later and then bed. It feels like it has been a long day.

April 24, 2012 Freeport, Bahamas

What a night!! We had heard banging noise in our cabin throughout the day yesterday but never really thought anything about it thinking it would stop in the evening. Guess what - it didn't. The seas were fairly rough after leaving Miami and this may have been the problem. After trying to sleep (well Diane did but I knew I wouldn't) I called down and they sent someone up. He wasn't sure what it was but it was loud. (this was very similar to the noise problem Carleigh and I had on our European cruise) The front desk called back in a bit and said there was nothing they could do right now but would we like ear plugs lol. Diane said yes so they sent up 2 pairs. They didn't help much... Around 4am the noise seemed to quiet down a bit. We both dozed off and on but didn't really get much sleep.

We "woke up" around 6:15am and went up for coffee and I got to take some sunrise photos. We went to the buffet for breakfast and then got ready to go on our ship tour - Highlights, Shopping and Beach. We were down on the pier by 8:30am and the tour left at 9am. Because we had been early we got front row seats on the bus. The Highlight part of the tour showed us around many different areas of Freeport and the driver/guide Rolly told us about the terrible hurricanes they had in 2004 that did so much damage to the area. They still have not recovered from it.

Then on to the Shopping part. We were dropped off near the straw market and the casino. We wandered around the market and Diane bought a purse. Then we headed over to the casino (mainly to use the bathroom). There was a hotel next to it and we tried to go see the beach but the guard wouldn't let us :( We went into the casino and figured we would put a few dollars in a machine. $5 for me and $10 for Diane. We both doubled our money and then left. :)

We headed back to wait for the bus and sat on a bench with 2 women from our bus. We started talking and found out they are from Nova Scotia too - small world! Then I asked the one from Halifax where she worked and she said Stats Can. I said my son works there. She asked his name and guess what - she works with him - very small world!!!!

Now it was time to head to the Beach. The water was beautiful!! We of course headed to the bar for a cold beer and then sat in the sun enjoying the view. We walked the beach for a while and soon it was time to head back to the ship. 

We were back around 2pm. 

When we got back to our cabin there was a message to call the desk. They aplogized for the noise problem and were going to move us to a new cabin. We went and grabbed a bite to eat and then went back to pack up our stuff and they moved us. This cabin is quiet! We both feel we will sleep well tonight.

For dinner tonight, I started with prosciutto and melon and Diane had mushroom tortillas. For the main we both had Thai chicken and shrimp coconut curry. Dessert was carrot cake for me and ginger custard for Diane.

After dinner we hurried to watch the show - a Gloria Estefan tribute. We had heard someone rehearsing and loved her voice and was told she was doing this show. Unfortunately she was only a background singer.

Back to the cabin, where neither of our keys card would open the door. Down to the desk for new ones... Early to bed again for us.

April 25, 2012 Nassau, Bahamas

We woke today around 7am after a very quiet night.

Went in to Nassau and walked around for a while. Back on the ship which was very quiet since everyone was off the ship. We laid in the sun by the pool and had a few beer.

Back to the cabin and the ship called and offered us each some OBC (on board credit) and a meal in the Italian restaurant plus a bottle of wine which we will use tomorrow. Nice that they are offering us something for all the problems we have had.

Quiet night tonight. I am a little red from all the sun today...