DAY 1 - WELCOME TO MIAMI

Doris...Many thanks for your kind words and for following along.  

Today marks the start of another adventure as we made our way to Miami.

As was the case in late September, we are staying in Miami two day pre-cruise.  We never fly in the day of the cruise and these days with packed flights avoid flying in the day before the start of the cruise.  We were concerned on Monday learning that our flight was cancelled last Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  As a result we booked a flight on another airline for this afternoon should today's morning flight have been cancelled.  We found an excellent deal on the backup flight.  As it turned out if you cancel within 24 hours of the flight you can request a refund rather than having to take the refund as a voucher which you have to use within one year of purchase of the tickets.  Although our direct flight and the one before us was not cancelled the direct flight after our flight was cancelled.  

We were picked up on time for our drive to the airport.  A very nice driver who we had for the first time.  Family of four children and his wife.  

It was a breeze checking in for the flight as no one was ahead of us at the ticket counter and the same was true at TSA Pre Check.

We had two hours at the airline lounge.

Our flight left on time and was uneventful.  In addition to face masks we wore coverage for our eyes as well and avoided food and beverages.  We left on time and arrived to Miami International Airport on time.  Bravo.  LOL.  However, after landing there was congestion at the airport and we waited one hour and fifteen minutes to get to the gate.   

Now if that was not enough, we had one more issue.  When we got to the luggage area and the luggage eventually came out at one point Keith said he better check his Airline App to see if the luggage made it off the flight.  Well, it not only wasn't on the flight but it had arrived early because they put the one piece of luggage (we normally take two or more but went with one for this one week) on the flight leaving our airport two hours earlier.  The message said go to the luggage office.  While Keith waited on a very long line Anne Marie went back to the luggage area and found someone who looked it up and said go to Luggage area number 24.  Ugh!!  Anyway, Anne Marie called Keith who was happy to get off that long line and we picked up the luggage that was sitting there for a few hours.  Ugh!! This has happened to us one other time

The good news is we had the same driver as we did in September who is a very kind and safe driver and we made our way to the hotel.

Once again we are staying at the Four Seasons Hotel.  Since the 2007 World Cruise where we stayed at the hotel as part of the Crystal Cruises World Cruise pre-cruise program, we have stayed at this property on every visit to Miami except for one.  We like the location of the property in a quieter section of Miami.  It is convenient to restaurants which we go to in normal times and is in close proximity to grocery stores and other stores.  We also prefer the configuration of the suite compared to other hotels in the downtown area.  

The Four Seasons Hotel as many years as we have been coming here also plays host to the visiting NBA team who is in town to play the Miami Heat.  In years past we went to one or two Miami Heat Basketball Games during the season.  We have seen players from NBA teams such as the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks (the latter two are Keith's favorites) and today Keith saw several players from the 7 and 1 Utah Jazz.  As an avid Basketball Fan and someone who played on the Basketball team this is an added benefit of staying here.

While Anne Marie stayed back at the room to sanitize just about anything and everything you can imagine Keith made a trip to the supermarket to pick up a variety of items including lunch.  As we did last time we are not having maid service or eating out.  We will have room service and also bring back lunches.

Travel days always brings lots of twists and turns and today was no exception.  Thankfully our flight was not canceled and we will survive the few things that didn't go as well as they might have gone.

We are positive knowing things could have been far worse such as cancelled flights and we are just happy to be here.

We will post more tomorrow.

Cheers,

Anne Marie and Keith