Day 27 Miami

After another two days at sea we reached our destination of Miami.  Originally we were to just have one day in Miami but there was a problem with Nassau, Bahamas, and so we have an extra day here.

It is the first time that an MSC Cruise ship has come into the port of Miami and Miami is to be MSC Divina’s new home base. It is also the biggest cruise ship to enter the port.  The night before we were all given special ‘Diva’ sunglasses to wear and asked to be on the open top decks at 7.15am as we came into Miami.  It was actually quite exciting.  4,000 passengers all crowding the decks, all wearing their glasses, waving to the helicopter filming our arrival for the TV news.  At one stage 3 Fiats left the ship and went ‘driving’ on the water.  The traffic stopped on the freeways near the ship.  It was quite an entrance.

Miami is HUGE!!!!!!  The buildings, bridges linking the port, Miami Beach to the mainland – everything is HUGE.  But at the same time it looked really special and we were excited to be there.

It took quite a while for the USA Immigration to check everything that had to be checked, but finally we were queuing up to leave the ship and finally being met by smiling faces welcoming us to Miami.

We walked from the port (set on its own island) across a huge bridge.  Eventually we got to Bayside.  This is a really nice shopping area set around a marina.  We found a shady spot (although not really sunny it was very hot) to sit and have a drink and then we wandered on again, through the shops and then we set about finding what to have for lunch.  Our first encounter with USA size meals.  Huge takes on a whole new meaning.  The plate of food offered for lunch was bigger than I would have had for all three meals put together.  It was reasonably priced but four times the amount you would have for lunch.  So we had a cheap lunch as we just shared a large salad.

We then found a ‘hop on hop off’ bus.  There were two loops the beach or the city.  The air-conditioned bus was available and headed to the beach loop so that seemed a good idea.  We drove past the stadium for ‘Miami Heat’ (the team one of our grandsons follows).  Then on over another bridge and we were on our way to Miami Beach.  We went past Fisher Island – home to many celebrities e.g. Julia Roberts, Andre Agassi etc.  – the price starting around the 10 million mark.  It is a very private island.  The only way on is via a ferry which you can board if invited on by a resident of the island.

There are lots of very impressive looking buildings, still HUGE, but I’m starting to get a little used to the size, but maybe not.  We travel on to the Art Deco section of South Beach where we will be staying at the end of the cruise.  It looks really great.  Finally some nice looking beaches.  We see the sights of Miami Beach (should be called Miami Island because that is what it is) before heading back across the bridging freeway and return to Bayside.

We are fortunate that a bus is about to leave on the city loop and has room for us on the top deck and so off we go.  We head into the business district surrounded by the biggest buildings I have ever seen.  We have noticed a lot of large birds circling some of the high rise buildings.  Den asked the guide what sort of bird they were and she said they were two types of vultures.  We thought we had misheard her so Den spelt vulture – yes that is what she said.  Next we pass through Coconut Grove, a suburb of expensive homes, on through more nice homes, and areas of the poor with neglected shabby homes, and then through ‘Little Havana’ before heading back over a fly over bridge and back to where we started.  It was a very interesting trip and it gave us a good over view of Miami.

We were also fortunate that just as we returned there was a shuttle bus heading back to the ship so in just a matter of minutes we were back on board.  We were also very lucky as moments after we were on board it poured rain.

Tomorrow we are off to the Everglades.