Dina's and Peter's MAGIC(al) second - January 2022 5 night MDAS

[iloveeeyore]

Hi, all! We're back with our second DCL trip report! We hope we can offer some info that will help you plan your cruise.

Peter and I just returned from a spectacular sailing on the Disney Magic 5 night MDAS out of Miami with a Double-Dip at Castaway Cay, and Nassau (was supposed to include Key West instead of another day at CC)- January 17-22, 2022.

EDITED! WARNING! Peter says nobody will want to read this report because it starts out a little doomy and gloomy (I am a bit of an Eeyore, after all) as I give background about all the Covid stress we have been living with and which had to impact our planning and enjoyment of this vacation. I assure you this thread will increase in happiness and even joy if you stick with me and read on. If you don't want any anxiety or depression with your trip reports, please skip past this background post and read on!

I edit to insert these pictures as my formal promise that sunshine and glee will ensue!

Spoiler alert: We will sail away from Miami!


We will enjoy the stunning Disney Magic, inside and out!


We will make Castaway Cay our own, not once, but twice!


Now...back to my original story.

This was a booking we made with a placeholder we purchased onboard the Fantasy in January 2020. Well, technically, it was a rescheduling of a booking we made with that placeholder. We were originally to sail in January 2021 with a 5 day Magic MDAS out of Miami with Key West, Castaway Key and Nassau. We all know how that went. We were really into the idea of the MDAS and Key West, so we resisted the urge to sail earlier, and held out for the full year later, which brought us to January 2022.

DCL sailings seemed to be going great. In the months after relaunch post-Covid, we had been watching reports of wonderful, safe sailings on less crowded ships with amazing service. We were increasingly excited and optimistic about the cruise.

Then there was some political situation with Key West, and that port was dropped. BOO! (we thought). We considered canceling, or picking a different itinerary. A few days later we were informed about the Double-Dip. Hmmmm...we could get "on board" with that (pun intended). We had already experienced a failed docking at Castaway Cay in January 2020, so with the Double-Dip...we would have 2 opportunities to dock there this January. So we decided to keep the booking.

And THEN...Omicron! 74,000 cases per day, on average, in our state (NY). The CDC special warning against cruise ships!

So, some background so you can understand the frame of mind and view from our perspective...I'm a nurse. I work in a hospital. I have been living with this virus in the FRONT of my brain, without an opportunity to let it live somewhere in the background, for 22 months. We have lost neighbors, friends and coworkers. Patients died on my unit...many, many patients. (Not a typical occurence on my unit, thank God, knock wood, whichever you believe in). We (my family) have been strictly following rules, recommendations and protocols. When this thing first broke, I wore a mask in my own home for at least 6 weeks (until I started to feel mostly satisfied that the measures we were taking at work to prevent the spread were working). I didn't see my parents or in-laws for 6 months. When I finally did see them, we wore masks in their homes, When the vaccine became available, I swatted people away so my family and I could get to the front of the line. Boosters? Same!

Please understand, I'm not looking for sympathy or thanks. I'm not trying to instigate argument or debate. And I'm certainly not trying to evoke feelings of sadness or anxiety. I really want to write an accurate and meaningful report, for you and for myself. When I come back to this report for reference or to remember a detail, I need to have this perspective to convey the depth of the emotions...the relief and joy, that we felt during, because of, this cruise. I don't know how to convey this impact without the background.

So, the CDC says don't cruise? How did this effect us?

Until that point, I had been such a conforming little soldier. Then, I was on the edge of breaking. Especially when about half of my immediate coworkers were getting sick in December and January. I'd work with them one day, and the next, they'd be out sick. We shared space and equipment, like pens and telephones (granted, not without full PPE- most of my coworkers and I started wearing our N95s long before they were re-required when Omicron appeared). Omicron was ridiculous, like nothing we had experienced. The most careful people getting were sick. Not terribly sick. Everyone vaccinated, many boosted. Sore throats, headaches, sniffles. But postive PCRs.

Peter and I SERIOUSLY considered canceling the cruise. I think Peter really wanted to cancel, secretly hoping I would decide to reschedule at the last minute. We were both terrified of testing positive at the port and being denied boarding. We'd been hearing about so many people canceling or testing positive at the port, we couldn't even rule out the possibility that DCL wouldn't cancel this cruise at the last minute (but after we arrived in Miami). The stress was the opposite of what a vacation was supposed to feel like. That's why I think Peter seriously wanted to bail. He never said it to me though, and this is one of the reasons I love him! He was leaving it up to me. He thought (wrongly) that I needed this more than he did and also figured (also wrongly) that since I'm the healthcare professional, I should be the decider in this dilemma. So against the advice of the CDC and the vast majority of my coworkers, I decided for us that we should go for it. How could a Disney cruise, with all the safety protocols in place, possibly be any worse than the risk in our own grocery store or work environments? At least, that was the rationalization we used to make it OK that we were eschewing medical advice and going on a cruise.

Peter had to understand that if we tested positive, we couldn't just get on a plane and fly home. One can't fly if one has Covid. This was a conversation we had a few times. We knew the risks. If we tested positive, we'd be "stuck" in Miami. We would isolate ourselves somehow and make the best of it and pick a different cruise for a few months in the future. We knocked around the idea of driving instead of flying but decided against it, when a week before our scheduled flight, thousands of drivers were stuck on I-95 inVirgina due to a winter storm. Peter MAGICally agreed to get on that plane on Saturday, January 15, 2022, 2 days before the scheduled cruise.

We made a list of the possible roadblocks to pulling this off:
-Airline cancelations - so many since the holidays, because of Covid and weather - I had scheduled a 2-day cushion, flying in Saturday for the Monday cruise (flights booked way before Omicron, but, you know...winter), so it was reasonable to hope that this wouldn't be an issue, but the way things had been going in the country with canceled flights, it wasn't a given that we'd be able to fly.
-Disney cancels the cruise - certainly not outside the realm of possibility considering other major cruiselines began canceling certain cruises a few weeks before ours, and so many cast and crew getting sick
-We get sick - would have been terrible, but at least we get a cruise credit
-We test positive at the port - we were hoping for the best but mentally prepared for the worst. With the positivity rate in our area, we figured our chances were 75%/25% in favor of sailing LOL

Spoiler alert, none of those things happened and we had an amazing, breathtaking time!

I need to upload our photos, and look forward to starting with Saturday, January 15, travel day NY to Miami. Please stay tuned!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Saturday, January 15, 2022 - Travel Day

Just a little back-up. Peter and I decided to take PCR tests at 12 days prior to sailing, Wednesday January 5. To be fair, I (not exactly we) decided that we would both take PCRs at the 12 day mark. It was my understanding (I'm the primary planner with the dates in my head) that this was the last day that we could potentially test postive and still sail. If we tested postive and later experienced mild or no symptoms, we could possibly acquire notes from a doctor stating that we were recovered or had no active infection, and would thus be exempt from testing at the port. Our test appointments were Wednesday at 11 am, and we received our test results via e-mail at around 5 pm on Thursday...both negative! Relief #1. Now we had to STAY negative for the next 12 days! In New York! Not too many were successful at that in New York during this particular week so while we were temporarily relieved, we were still nervous wrecks! We were half hoping to both test positive and try to get notes. Not that that would have been easy. Doctors didn't recommend travel, and may not have been inclined to help us go on a cruise!

Meantime, hundreds of flights were being canceled because crew were too sick to operate the airlines. Our son was in Chicago visiting his partner, and we were counting on them (he and his partner) to fly home on Friday, January 14, as they would be our house and cat sitters during our vacation. Would their flight be canceled because of Omicron (Joey's Chicago-bound flight in late December had been canceled and he was lucky there was one available later that night)? or due to the weather? We were listing in our minds the people we could call to care for our cat in case they couldn't make it home. Nearby people, as we were expecting a big winter weather event later in the weekend. By Thursday, we were believing that weather would not affect our flights. The Omicron impact on air travel seemed to be settling down, so we were feeling more hopeful.

They made it! Joey and his partner arrived on time at LaGuardia and Peter made the drive to collect them at the airport. Which meant that they and we had to wear PPE in the house the night before our departure. We ate on separate sides of the living/dining room. Peter and I packed in our face shields. No way we were going to get this far and get Covid in our noses just before our flight. We tested with rapid home tests the night before going to the airport. Not sure it was really useful at all but it gave us SOME peace of mind.



Two negative tests, but good luck sleeping that night! Too excited/anxious to sleep. Usually the night before the vacation, the stress is good stress. Yes, you feel anxious. But it's nervous, excited energy, not worry about all the things that can go wrong. This was a pretty fretful night.

Our flight Saturday morning was scheduled at 11:10 am. We live about 40 minutes from LaGuardia with no traffic, but there's almost always traffic, so we try to allow for about an hour's drive. The plan was to leave the house a little before 8 so we'd have plenty of time to stop for gas. Joey was up and dressed and ready to drive us to the airport by about 7:45. Poor guy sat there in his chair with his coat on for about half an hour as we packed and repacked last minute things. The main problem was we hadn't planned on bringing a checked bag. I was thinking we could make it work with carry-ons and personal items (for free). Last minute we were second-guessing this possibly bad decision. We had no room for pirate gear or souvenirs. We got out the big suitcase and started reorganizing. Then second-guessed. Without the suitcase, we would have to severely limit our purchases to stuff that is very small because we would have no room to bring anything extra back. We ultimately decided that with all the uncertainty about even getting on the ship, we'd make do with our (my) original plan. We left the empty suitcase behind. It became a running joke, though. "Let's go home and get that suitcase," was a thing we kept saying, especially in Miami but even on the ship whenever we saw something we wanted to buy. I suppose it's a good thing we couldn't buy too much? LOL

Also, we had to eat, because we didn't want to do so at the airport or on the plane (to avoid allowing Covid particles in our noses). Please note this seismic philosophical shift: Our primary goal here has morphed from avoiding getting sick from Covid to avoiding getting Covid in our noses. You know the difference. I'm not sure exactly when this happened for us, but I think it was immediately upon testing negative on that PCR test 10 days earlier. Anyway, we ate a quick easy breakfast of bananas, greek yogurt and honey. (Forgot to take a picture, but you can imagine what that looked like).

We ended up leaving the house around 8:10 and fortunately there was no traffic. We stopped for gas and still arrived at LGA a little after 9. The security line took quite a long while to clear compared to our recent travel experiences. The Delta terminal at LGA is still an older part of the airport which is in the process of becoming a gorgeous, modern, state-of-art airport, but not this terminal which still leans more toward needing a wrecking ball. Seriously. In my heightened state of vigilance, there were so many chin diapers, such an abundance of naked noses. I was feeling terrified. Paranoid. There are rules within the airport and people weren't following them and they were not being enforced. Luckily, we had come in our armor, N95s and faceshield for the travel day.



Our flight was totally full and passengers were offered the option to check luggage for free and get priority boarding. We decided to do this since we were in row 29 and we were likely to be forced to check our carry-ons anyway, and since there would be nothing rushing us once in Miami. It was nice to board early and easily.



As it turned out, the one empty seat on our flight was the one next to me, so we could spread out and I had the opportunity to enjoy the views as we approached Miami on this gorgeous day.



The Bahamas are down there.



Miami Beach!



Port of Miami. Look closely at 10 o'clock you can see the cruise ships lined up.

We landed right on time (2:30), taxied, waited about 10 minutes for our bag, hired a Lyft, which cost about $36 with the tip and took about 20 minutes to our hotel in the Midbeach neighborhood of Miami Beach. We enjoyed helpful and lively conversation with our driver, and arrived at Circa39 at around 3:15 pm. Our room wasn't ready, and we were reminded by the desk attendant that check-in time begins officially at 4pm.

It was 7 degrees when we left Westchester County, NY that morning, 70 degrees in Miami Beach!

Next up: getting acquainted with our hotel and our Cuban dinner in South Beach.

 

[lizzyb]

Joining in!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Joining in!

Welcome! I'm so glad you're here!

 

[jagmom]

Thank you for sharing. Hope to see more soon!

 

[KatieKepic]

Following along! We go in a few weeks

 

[iloveeeyore]

Thank you for sharing. Hope to see more soon!

Following along! We go in a few weeks

Thank you both for joining our journey.

More up soon!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Saturday, January 15, 2022 - Travel day hotel check in (continued)

I had left off where we had arrived at the Circa39 Hotel and were waiting in the lobby for our room to be ready. The desk host offered the option to leave our bags with the valet so we could go explore, but we decided to wait. Peter found that at the hotel bar (basically the middle of the lobby) the TV was tuned into the Fordham vs. St. Louis men's basketball game. Peter is a Fordham alum and has always been a very avid Rams fan, so it was kind of funny in an ironic way that we had traveled to Miami to watch a Fordham game!

Here's a pic of the lovely hotel bar with the Fordham game on, and Peter's resultant amusement.


Circa39 is a really-nice-for-the-price boutique hotel one block off the beach in the Mid-Beach neighborhood. If you're familiar with the area, it is on Collins and 39th, across the street from the Cadillac Hotel. I gather it has been recently renovated, and has that art deco style while feeling very clean and new. It offers beach towels, lounges and umbrellas pretty much directly across the street on a beautiful stretch of beach. The Mid-Beach boardwalk is right there. The hotel's restaurant/bar, Jules Kitchen, is pretty much the lobby and front porch. It offers enough for everyone to find something they enjoy, and prices are reasonable (in the opinion of these New Yorkers).





Aaaah...relaxing in the lobby with glasses of fruit-infused water, wathcing the Fordham game!


At 4pm exactly, the desk host called me over to tell me our room was ready, so we headed straight up to the second floor to a lovely king bed corner room with a pool view (I had booked standard, so I believe this was a free upgrade)

Door to Room 227


I loved the simple decor of this room!




Pretty, clean, new bathroom with nice but complicated shower (neither of us could figure out how to operate the hand-held attachment)


View through the slats of the blinds:


That is the hotel's pool directly under our window, and that white building directly across the street is the Cadillac, and oceanfront hotel.

We really enjoyed the Circa39 and found it a great value. We were steps away from a free trolley stop (about 20 minutes' ride to South Beach). I had spent hours reading reviews of hotels all over Miami. Actually I had done this TWICE LOL, once for a 2021 trip that never happened, and again for this vacation. I ultimately decided on Circa39 for the combination of price, amenties and positive reviews. The one I had chosen for 2021 was a few blocks south of this one, and was not available at the time I picked this one. It's called Hotel Croyden; it looked equally nice the few times we past it on our adventures, and was similarly priced. We would recommend Circa39 in a heartbeat, but would probably select one in South Beach, as we found that was where we spent the bulk of our time.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Saturday, January 15, 2022 - Evening in Miami Beach

We settled into the room and...watched the rest of the Fordham game?! I will now confess that I was a little miffed about the B-Ball game thing. We were on vacation, (in MIAMI!) on a beautiful late afternoon, with the sun starting to set and a gorgeous beach across the street...and we were in a hotel room, NOT getting romantic, but watching the Fordham Rams lose (again, LOL). To be fair, there were only a few minutes left (chill out, Dina, you've got a week's vacation ahead) and to his credit, Peter did make it up to me over and over the rest of the trip! For goodness sake, Peter let me plan the whole thing and all he was asking was 4 minutes and 52 second to watch a bad basketball game. I could read book for a few more minutes! I could be patient. Sorry, again, Hubby, that I got impatient!

After the Fordham loss, we shook it off, freshened up and headed out for the evening. First, we checked out the beach.

The cruise ships were starting their parade out of port




By the time we got to the beach, most of the sun was blocked by the buildings...the beautiful buildings


This beautiful, abandoned? building! I hope there are plans for it!






We took some time to just sit in the lounge chairs, breathing in the warm, salty air. We did talk a bit about our worries about the big PCR tests on Monday, and the maskless abandon occurring all around us. In New York, people wear masks pretty much everywhere, certainly in hotel lobbies. (It was unusual, almost jarring, to see people in LaGuardia without masks.) Not so in Miami. The mask wearer is the odd one out. The sore thumb. The paranoid freak. Well, we would continue to do what we could to keep the virus out of our noses. Worse comes to worst? We could do this...we could sit on this beach for a week! We'd make do. We could feel the...wait, what WAS that sensation? Relaxation? Were our shoulders actually loosening? Were our jaws unclenching? I think...yes? At least a little!!

We were so hungry!! We hadn't eaten anything since the banana and yogurt for that 8am breakfast, so it was time to head out for some Cuban food. We had told our born-in-Cuba Lyft driver we were looking for the best Cuban food in the beach area, and he quickly recommended a place called Puerto Sagua at 700 Collins Ave in South Beach. Actually, he didn't mention the name, just the address (he's a Lyft driver, knew where it was but not necessarily the name lol), and when I Googled the address I discovered the name. So, it was time to figure out the free trolley system to get us to what was reportedly the best Cuban food in the beach area.

Take the Mid-Beach loop to the end and jump on the South Beach loop to whatever gets you closest to 7th Street.

OMG the Mid-Beach trolley was PACKED! Like sardines, not exaggerating! I was FREAKING out! And I had left the N95 back in the room. So I'm running calculations in my head. Our PCR test is like...41 hours away. So, that's not enough time for a PCR to turn up positive if the virus gets in my nose now, is it? There's a guy in the seat below me (I'm (leather) strap-hanging) wearing a chin diaper! The one thing sparing me from full blown panic attack is I'm OVER him so he can't breath directly into my face. Once we transferred to the South beach loop at Lincoln Road, the ride was much more pleasant.



We made it to Puerto Sagua a little past 6pm. They had many tables outside and we were able to snag the last available one at the time we arrived, and we were so glad because it was a gorgeous evening and we really wanted to eat outside for multiple reasons.



In the photo above, the table under the umbrella to the far right is ours. You can see Peter sitting there in the gray t-shirt. That empty seat next to the mailbox is mine. This was a great way to enjoy dinner. There's plenty of activity happening on Collins, both on the street and on the sidewalk. It was the perfect spot for people-watching. I want to add that the atmosphere inside of this restaurant is not so appealing; it's more like an old diner. And for the sake of full disclosure I have to add that I was concerned about the bathroom...it wasn't great, especially in these hyper-sensitive times. Let's say the outdoor arrangement was just perfect for us.

More to come about dinner in the next post.

 

[MainStreetFireman]

Saturday, January 15, 2022 - Travel day hotel check in (continued)

View attachment 645009

Pretty, clean, new bathroom with nice but complicated shower (neither of us could figure out how to operate the hand-held attachment)
View attachment 645010

As Dina mentioned, the additional shower arm was a complete mystery to us. If you look at the photo, the bottom controller visible right behind the handle was the temperature/volume control. The top controller didn't appear to do anything except unscrew if you continued to turn it counterclockwise, lol.

But there is another funny detail to this room. See the coffee maker next to me in the firstpicture? The cord on it was less than a foot long. And, there's no outlet behind it, nor near enough any other surface capable of using it in the bedroom. The only place to plug it in? Right behind the toilet in the picture above, on the shelf that barely contained it AND was slightly tilted down. Not exactly the morning coffee experience I was looking for, lol.

The fact that we had just left 7 degree weather and had entered 70 degree weather did compensate for a lot, though. A real lot.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Saturday, January 15, 2022 - Dinner at Puerto Sagua (700 Collins Ave. South Beach)

Dina and Peter walk into a Cuban restaurant, and they say to the server "we'll have two of your finest mojitos!" The punch line: "Sorry, ma'am, we don't have mojitos." Lol, hahahaha?! Wait...what?! You're serious!? They told us you're a Cuban restaurant. You ARE a CUBAN restaurant, right? In South Beach, MIAMI? We took two trolleys and exposed ourselves to naked face man for you, and you have NO MOJITOS? Ok, sir, well, ok, we have open minds. And we are relaxed. Totally relaxed. Well, at least 50-60% relaxed. We were counting on those mojitos to get us to 75-80% relaxed, but we'll be ok. We're on vacation! "Sir, do you have wine and beer?" "Yes, ma'am!" I'm going out on a limb here..."how about sangria?" "Oh, yes, our sangria is quite good!" Peter: "Make it two!" Waiter: "How about a half carafe, sir?" Me: "sold!"



I'm not sure if it's because we were gleeful to be in Miami after 2 years of anticipation, or if the sangria was really as great as we thought, but it was honestly all we could do to refrain from ordering a second carafe. It was delicious, and in retrospect, we're kind of glad they didn't have mojitos! Do you remember Libby's Fruit Cup? The one with the tiny candied half cherries and the peeled green grapes? That was in these in abundance! (I concede it may have been a different brand of canned fruit cup, but I think it was Libby's). We had to eat it with our spoons. So good!

My view from the table, with Peter worrying a little less each moment about the huge winter storm forming and threating to move up the east coast.


The menu was a little overwhelming. Every attempt to get a photo of it fell short, and I have also had a hard time finding the entire thing on-line. They had a big one (or two) in the window, but as it was behind glass, every pic has too much glare. It's tri-fold and fully packed. I'm not posting all the menu pics, since they're not really legible, but I include a few to give you an idea.





We asked the server for suggestions, we were thinking we'd get roast pork and maybe a Cuban, and he said they are famous for their seafood, which was also emphasized on the menu. Well, that threw a wrench in the plan. But so had the mojito thing, and that was working out ok, so we could adjust again!

We decided to go with a sampler Cuban appetizer to start. This had fried plantain chips, croquettes (very pork-forward), a tamale and some kind of fried pancake that was either plantain or yucca, or maybe a combination. The taste reminded me of mofongo.

That little bowl of sauce on the side was absolutely delicious. Very garlicky and acidic, it again reminded me of a garlic mofongo sauce I had in San Juan. Only this sauce was better. I would put that on anything! I wanted to finish it with my spoon when the platter was done. Overall, the appetizer platter was meh, but the sauce brought it to yum!



Next up was the mariscada for 2. This was a seafood and rice dish served in a pot, like paella, but wetter...more like stew, not as wet as soup. It was OUTSTANDING! The seafood in there were shrimp, lobster, calamari, clams, mussels and some kind of meaty white fish (cod?). My mouth is watering now as I think about this delicious thing!

We were so full and were thinking about just having coffee without dessert, but then the server said "we have 3 milks, 4 milks..." Wait, did you say FOUR milks?! We had to ask. And then we had to order one to share. The 4th milk is caramel. So we had a quatro leches and two Cuban coffees.



Beautiful! Perfect ending to a delicious meal.



As full as we were, we were able to finish this all off. Anyway, we were in training for a cruise!

Two happy campers!



We figured out how to make our way back to the hotel by trolley, which took about half an hour, maybe 40 minutes. I think we fell asleep before our heads hit the pillows. It had been a long, wonderful day and we were anticipating Sunday would also have much to offer!

 

[iloveeeyore]

But there is another funny detail to this room. See the coffee maker next to me in the firstpicture? The cord on it was less than a foot long. And, there's no outlet behind it, nor near enough any other surface capable of using it in the bedroom. The only place to plug it in? Right behind the toilet in the picture above, on the shelf that barely contained it AND was slightly tilted down. Not exactly the morning coffee experience I was looking for, lol.

Thanks, I was going to mention this, too. That was crazy! I kept thinking there may have been more cord inside a secret compartment somewhere, tried to take the thing apart, but...nope. The cord was like, 5 inches long, for real! A LOT less than a foot! Remember when the coffee cup fell into the toilet because we had to make the coffee directly over it? haha nuts!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Sunday, January 16, 2022 - Miami Beach

We usually have a pretty solid plan when we go on vacation. In normal times, or should I say, before the new normal, I would spend hours and hours researching restaurants, events, museums, excursions and entertainment in the area we are visiting. I'd make reservations, purchase tickets, and develop an itinerary, pretty much down to the hour. Not this time. Things were too uncertain. Up until the night before we left, there was still a fair chance we wouldn't even get on the plane. Thus the planning was much more laid-back, and we had deliberately restrained our excitement.

So, when we woke up Sunday morning to the rhythm of our body clocks instead of alarm clocks, and Peter asked where we'd be having breakfast, my only answer was...*shrug* "I don't know!? Let's head out and find some place!" We knew the brewing storm would affect our weather, but hopefully, not too much until later in the day. Even when we woke, it was obvious it wasn't going to be a beach day. That said, perhaps we could enjoy a nice walk along the beach before the wind and rain kicked up.

Before heading out, we had the above-described wrestling match with the coffee maker in the room. More specifically, with the cord to the coffee maker. We got some great laughs and some pretty good coffee out of that, but since when is one cup of coffee enough for either of us? So off we went by around 9 am. We had a perfectly good restaurant in the lobby, but prices were breakfast seemed pretty inflated, and we wanted to explore the area anyway, so we decided to start walking south (toward South Beach) and stop when we found something, especially coffee.

This was when we discovered the Hotel Croyden (which I had booked for the canceled trip) had a nice looking restaurant called The Tavern. Prices there looked slightly better, but we decided to keep walking. (We would never make it back to the Tavern, but...maybe someday!

A sculpture we came across



We walked a few blocks more and stumbled upon Crema Gourmet Espresso Bar, which smelled delicious and had many breakfast options. This place reminded us of a Starbucks with more food choices. You order at the counter, they give you a number for your table and when your order is ready, they deliver it. You may know of Crema; apparently it is a chain, as we saw a few more during our exploration of South Beach. Neither of us had ever been to one. They had plenty of tables outside both out front and in the back, which was a courtyard of the building. Very nice and peaceful. We were so delighted once again to be dining outside mid-January!

(I'm pretty sure this phot is from the back door courtyard looking in, not the front entrance)


We ordered some cappuccinos, I had avocado toast with a side of bacon, and Peter chose the open face breakfast sandwich.



Fancy, but we can't wait for our Disney character cappuccinos!





Too much bread on that open face sandwhich! It was brioche, but it was kind of tough. We also could have done without the side of bacon. But breakfast was fine, inexpensive, and filled us up enough for our hike to South Beach!



There's a different angle of that gorgeous building in such a sad state of disrepair; we hope it can be rescued. We couldn't get enough of the building.



We crossed the street to the beach, deciding we'd rather walk along the "boardwalk" than the street. The boardwalk is actually pavers and concrete. The breeze was kicking up, but we are beach people, and felt called to put our toes in the sand and the ocean. The water was a nice temperature, but unfortunately, the air was too cool and the ocean was too rough for swimming that day.



We were heading all the way down there, as far as we can see. We hoped the weather would hold out long enough for us to make it there.



Very brave wind surfers in that ocean!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Sunday, January 16, 2022 - Miami Beach continued

We walked and walked, determined to make it to the pier at the end of South Beach, the one that you can see as the cruise ships sail out. Such beautiful and interesting sights along the way

Bike lock contraption


Cat colony signs


And we stumbled upon a street fair! Apparently, we hit it right on Art Deco Weekend!



We breezed through the fair and came back to it after the pier to enjoy it in a little more depth and take pics (more to come).

We passed the Versace Mansion, now a hotel and restaurant


Citibike Miami



Oh, the sun was really trying to come out!! It was after 11 am when we arrived here.

And the pier!

Looking west toward the port, you can see a few cruise ships




We wouldn't mind retiring in these condos, we think.






That beach! So pretty!

 

[MainStreetFireman]

Sunday, January 16, 2022 - Miami Beach

We walked a few blocks more and stumbled upon Crema Gourmet Espresso Bar, which smelled delicious and had many breakfast options. This place reminded us of a Starbucks with more food choices. You order at the counter, they give you a number for your table and when your order is ready, they deliver it. You may know of Crema; apparently it is a chain, as we saw a few more during our exploration of South Beach. Neither of us had ever been to one. They had plenty of tables outside both out front and in the back, which was a courtyard of the building. Very nice and peaceful. We were so delighted once again to be dining outside mid-January!

(I'm pretty sure this phot is from the back door courtyard looking in, not the front entrance)
View attachment 645310

Here's the part when I ask why is it so hard to just be considerate? I am not paranoid about COVID. I just don't want it to cancel my cruise. ALL the service staff this day was wearing masks as chin diapers. Every one of them. Why?!? If it's a regulation that you wear them, then PLEASE wear them properly.. At least semi-properly over your mouth? I should note that we also ate there the next morning when a different person was in charge behind the order counter and the staff was generally more compliant. If you're in food service and your kitchen staff is clearly wearing masks (as they were), is it such an ask that you also do your full best to limit the chance of spread? I just. Don't. Get. It. *sigh*

 

[iloveeeyore]

Sunday, January 16, 2022 - the one where Dina goes onandonandon about Miami Beach

These photos are time stamped 11:18 am.


Here you can see I had taken off my sweater and the sun is really working its way out. But it's still super breezy!


Peter said we'd prefer to retire in one of these buildings, as they are on the north side of the channel (which is actually the South Beach side). I'm cool with that.




We decided to meander back over to the street fair and dawdle a little more on Ocean Drive, which was closed to traffic.





There were several antique cars along the drive. There was to be a car show that would start in a few days, so they were starting to gather.








I guess this is a famous clock where people take their pictures? It's near the Art Deco Welcome Center


There was a big, thick, rowdy crowd at one of the hotel/restaurants, which made us super nervous (nobody wearing masks except us). From a distance we could see that there was some gay cabaret going on and the crowd was going nuts. Man, we wanted to stop and enjoy. We know nothing elevates a street fair to the next level like gay cabaret, but our desire to avoid dense crowds overrode the desire to dance and holler, so we moved on. It's nice to know this entertainment option is available when we travel to Miami at a non-omicron time!

Here's where I have to say, no shout...OMG, MIAMI BEACH IS A NATIONAL TREASURE!! It has everything we love! Culture, diversity, interesting architechture, heart and soul, scenery and a gorgeous BEACH. It's all the best things we love in a city combined with our favorite climate, tropical! Just magic! I took about a billion pictures but just can't share them all. We MUST return, and if you have never been there, you MUST go!

It was starting to get to the point where we were thinking maybe we were ready for our main meal of the day. We'd have a nice big (Cuban) lunch, and then maybe a light dinner near the hotel, since we knew bad weather would be moving in soon and we'd want to shelter in place in our room later...they were predicting rain to start around 2 pm, at this point it was about 12:30.

I was a woman on a mission: find a Cuban restaurant with a damn good mojito and outdoor seating. There was a local chain that we had seen in a few locations, Havana 1957, and a family-run place, Havana Vieja, which I had found on-line. Both were nearby and had great reviews. We decided to ask a few locals which one they would recommend. We went into the Art Deco Welcome Center to shop for souvenirs, and while in there we asked the host would he recommend Havana 1977 or Havana Viejo. He said "if you're looking for Cuban food, you HAVE to go to..."

(wait for it)

"...Puerto Sagua."

Well it's kind of a tacit rule that we don't go back to the same place when we're on vacation. You know, we try to sample more that a city has to offer. So we asked another local...same result. The only problem is, I know they don't have mojitos. Well, I could go somewhere else first and grab a mojito and then go to Puerto Sagua! LOL. No problem. We were at a street fair. And do you know what is available about every 50 feet at a street fair in South Beach? Yup, you can guess...mojitos!

Up next, mojitos, and yup, Puerto Sagua (again)!

 

[themagicapple]

Ooo! I can’t wait to hear about the cruise!!! Eek!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Ooo! I can’t wait to hear about the cruise!!! Eek!

LOL, I hope to get to that soon!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Sunday, January 16 - Miami Beach continued

I'm a flexible person! I could manage with a mojito from a mojito trailer instead of a restaurant/bar. And since there was one of these about every block at the street fair, it was easy to grab one to go!


I went for the large, coconut variety.



I wish I had a photo of the menu behind the bartender, because I can't remember the sizes or prices of the drinks offered. This looks like maybe a 16 or 20 ounce glass? And I thought the price was around $18.00 for the large? This mojito was very delicious and hit the spot.

As I mentioned, it was around 12:30 pm at this point and the weather reports were predicting highest chance of downpours for around 2pm. Since we wanted to eat lunch outside, we really wanted to head to Puerto Sagua ASAP to avoid having a drenched meal. We were a little concerned that they wouldn't let us have a table while we were drinking alcohol from another place, but when we showed up and requested a table for two outside there was no mention of the cup. I guess in anticipation fo the heavy winds, they did not have tables with umbrellas set up, but we did score one under the awning.

We shared an order of fried yuca, which Peter had seen at another table the previous night and had been craving ever since. These were great if you love yuca, and of course they came with that delectable garlic sauce, which I could (and did) eat with a spoon!


Ropa Vieja con Arroz y Maduros. SO. GOOD!! The rice and fried sweet plantains were served on the separate plate but were a side dish that came with the beef.





We also had to have a Cuban Sandwich. Puerto Sagua offers this in medium and large size. We chose medium because it was only one part of our meal. I can't image what the large looked like, because honestly the medium seemed huge. It was delicious.


Well, the rain didn't wait for 2pm, it decided to start at 1 on the dot. We were about mid-lunch when the downpour started. Fortunately the wind was blowing in a favorable direction for us and we managed to stay dry under the awning.


We were so full and satisfied from our meal, but hey, when you're on vacation, you kind of HAVE to order dessert. So we had a few Cuban coffees and split a flan. The coffee was yummy but not sweetened as it had been the night before (which was just fine for us because we usually drink our coffee black). Flan is one of our favorite desserts, but unfortunately this particular flan was just not to our liking. It was very airy and dry. Was it accidentally overcooked, or just fashioned in a style we don't appreciate? Either way, we wouldn't order this here again. We should have stuck with the 4 leches!



Not so great flan


As we were enjoying our dessert, and the rain slowed from a downpour to a shower, we noticed a bit of a bustle around us. Quite a few of the other diners were first perking up to look in one (southeasterly) direction, and then jumping out of their seats with excitement. Over Peter's right shoulder, a celebrity was approaching. Russell Simmons! Many were rushing over to take selfies with him, but we didn't take any pics. Peter did approach him and tell him how much he admired him, and Mr. Simmons was quite gracious and kind to Peter and to everyone else, from all we could tell.

More to come...

 

[iloveeeyore]

Sunday, January 16, 2022 continued

We were thinking about catching Lyft back to the hotel, but overheard a conversation at the next table that Lyft was having long waits due to the storm, so we decided to stick with the trolley. This would involve walking a block to the station, and then another few blocks' walk during the transfer between the South Beach and Mid-Beach loops. We decided to go for it anyway, as the rain had become lighter and more intermittent.

On the South Beach loop we witnessed an altercation between the driver and one of the passengers that felt like it was escalating to physical violence. I was trying to shrink into my jacket and Peter pipes up with "Hey, you guys should consider that maybe you're both right." At this point, they do start to simmer down and fortunately we were at Lincoln Road which was where we needed to transfer so, few.

A few blocks' walk and this is where we get on the Collins Express.





And back near our hotel by around 2:15 pm. (I realized I hadn't taken photos of the trolley so started on a spree)


Our pretty hotel porch/restaurant/lobby






We went up to the room...it hadn't yet been cleaned. I texted the front desk and asked if cleaning service was a thing we should expect or if they were running a different sort of schedule because of Covid. The response was that the room would be cleaned sometime before 5pm. We spent a few hours hanging out around the lobby. I booked a trip to WDW in December for ourselves, our kids and their partners (excited!!)

At around 4:00 our room still hadn't been cleaned, so went to the front desk to ask if it would be immediate or longer. She told me there were two more rooms before ours, so I decided to go up and shower. I came down around 4:30, room still not cleaned, se we decided we'd like to get a drink and maybe a snack at the Jules Kitchen. We grabbed a nice table outside on the porch. We told the server we had done a lot of walking that day, about 18K steps, and he immediately brought out a carafe of iced water.

I ordered a specialty drink, a Spicy Senorita - tequila, watermelon, jalapeno, vanilla and honey. Peter went with a Peroni.





So relaxed at this point. This really feels like vacation! We could easily spend a week like this.

We also decided to order the Shrimp Ceviche, since we know ceviche is kind of Miami specialty and we hadn't had any.



It was good. Not the best nor worst shrimp ceviche either of us had ever had. It was a HUGE portion, I'm glad it was the only food we ordered.

We headed back up to the room to get our stuff ready to check out the next morning. Got the papers and passports handy. Decided what would go in the backpacks and what would get checked. Settled in for the night in the really comfortable bed, availing of the bathrobes Circa39 provided (such a nice touch in any hotel)!