2012 Recap: Miami and Key West

Gator in the water at Gator Park

This is the last recap post I need to do for 2012.  It seems like a really long time ago now, but over President's Day weekend in February, I flew down to southern Florida to explore Miami and the Florida Keys, specifically Key West. Part of the time was spent visiting friends, but the other part was dedicated to tourist activities and a break from the cold weather in Boston.  Looking back on my journal entry from this date, I can see this is about the time I stopped writing on a regular basis.  For that reason, this post will be short.

It is always cheaper for me to fly into Fort Lauderdale from Boston.  Weirdly enough, it has also always been cheaper to rent a car from the Miami airport, so it ends up being a wash in the end.  I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything, but I think this must be carefully planned out by someone.  My time on the mainland was divided between South Beach and The Everglades.  Thinking back on South Beach, I remember being surprised at the caliber of people walking around.  Ever since Will Smith started rapping about "ladies half-dressed, fully equipped", I had a vision in my head of what it would like like, but no, most of the people were pretty normal.  Maybe it was because I was there during the day, but it was a nice spot to walk along the beach and have a few drinks under the sun. 

On an airboat

One of the highlights of this trip was the excursions to Gator Park.  Thanks to the HBO show, True Blood, I was dieing to ride on an airboat through the Everglades.  After careful research online, I decided on Gator Park.  The entire experience was lots of fun!  It's really easy to find and even though it's on the same road as every other "gator" type of attraction in the area, it stood out.  I purchased my tickets online in advance and saved $3 on admission.  I know that if you are visiting on a weekend, you can print out a coupon from their website for a BOGO adult admission.  Even paying full price, it's worth it.  I entered through the little store and was escorted to the airboats for our tour of the everglades.  I saw lots of different birds, turtles, and gators!  I even saw some baby gators in the wild.  The water was high enough, so the boat was able to fly around through the glades pretty fast.  Our tour guide was knowledgeable and entertaining.  After the boat ride, all the passengers were escorted into a pavilion for a "show".  It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was fun to see some of the other animals local to the Everglades.Oh, best part ever, was paying the $3 to hold the baby gator.  He was actually pretty heavy and it made me laugh to watch some of the younger kids hold him up.

Me holding a baby gator at Gator Park

Due to time constaints, I wasn't able to spend anymore time in the MIA/FLL area during this trip.  The next day I drove down through the Florida Keys.  It was a beautiful drive (especially across the 7 mile bridge!) and I'm glad I chose to go that route instead of flying directly into Key West.   The website for the Westin Key West Resort & Marina has a guide to places to stop in the keys along the way.  Most of the stops didn't look to appealing, but I could see how you'd want a list of attractions if you're in a car with screaming kids who can't make it seated for the entire trip.  I didn't see any key deer, and believe me, I was looking!

The Westin is in a great location, right in the heart of all the action.  The concierge was friendly and helped me make some reservations.  I am very glad I didn't splurge for an ocean view room because there were cruise ships blocking the view during our entire stay.  There is a very tiny view and you are not really close to any beaches.  You do have the option to purchase a beach pass for $20/per person per day at the private island beach (a 5 minute ferry ride across the marina).  Those were all sold out by 10 AM the day I tried to buy one.  I managed to snag a breakfast reservation at latitudes, the restaurant on the private beach, but I was incredibly disappointed.  Check out my Yelp review if you want to know why.  Fortunately, my dinner experience next door at Shore American Seafood Grill in the Hyatt more than made up for the bad breakfast.

View from the Westin's Private Island

Overall, Key West has a bit of a hippy/artsy vibe.  I really liked walking down the street and taking in a bit of everything.  There is a lot of history in this city!  Next time I come I'd love to do a walking tour.  I spent a day soaking up the sun on Smather's beach, but didn't get to check out any of the other beaches nearby.  Oh, and the Key Lime pie is to die for!

2012 Recap: 3 Day Carnival Cruise from Miami to Nassau

In attempt at getting my travel blog off to a good start, I am planning to recap the trips I've already taken in 2012.  Maybe, if I get adventurous (and really bored), I'll cycle back to 2011.  Lucky for me, even though I haven't been blogging, I have been journaling for the last 3 years and can easily retrieve enough details to spark my memory.  I also take a lot of pictures, so that helps.

I started 2012 off with a bang and a "free" trip from attending a timeshare presentation last fall.  I flew out of Boston on January 5th directly into Fort Lauderdale via Spirit Airlines and cruised with Carnival for 3 nights.  If you've ever flown Spirit Airlines, you know why I put free in quotations.  This has to be to last airline in the world that charges you for carry-on & checked bags.  Even if you are a light packer, like me, you still have to pay to bring a bag on board.  You do get a free (for real this time) personal item, but ladies, that would be your purse, not a roller bag. Not only do they verify your item is within the exact weight/height ratio, but upon boarding, they verify you have paid for it as well.  My bags cost me about $75 round trip.  The next part of this "free" trip was fortunately avoided, because I was required to fly into FLL and stay the night before at my own expense.  That was covered because I had friends and a home to crash in before boarding the next morning.

I would be lying if I said that I anticipated a smooth boarding process.  Even though we had our reservation and confirmed it through the Carnival website, you never know what's going to happen when booking through a third party.  I highly recommend avoiding this whenever possible, it just adds to your stress level.  During our booking process, we chose to forgo all extras and upgrades because I refused to be scammed!  Looking back on it, maybe I should have at least gotten a price quote.  Our interior cabin was really nice and spacious.  Even on the very far end of the boat, we didn't feel any rocking.  The only downfall was that I never knew what time it was!  Usually the first thing I look for when waking up in the morning is sunlight.  To be completely honest though, most of my time was spent on the lido deck out by the pool.

If you've never been on a Carnival cruise, they really do whatever they can to remove you from reality and just let you relax.  Anytime you want to buy something (drinks, souvenirs, bingo cards), you just bring out your handy-dandy plastic card and sign your life away.  On average, drink specials will run about $6-$8 and a cheap bottle of wine with dinner is closer to $25.  Coming from Boston, that's not too bad.  They also slide an itinerary under your door with activities listed for each day.  Some (deck trivia, shows) are free and others (bingo) are not.  Usually, if you are attending an activity, you get some kind of compensation.  I have even heard that you can sometimes sign up for timeshare presentations while still on the boat.  Sadly, my free drink did not make up for the $25 and 10 minutes lost playing bingo.  However, the bottle of champagne certainly made up for participating in a game show!

Our itinerary was a little rushed with only one day in Nassau, but it was a quick weekend getaway.  The last cruise I was only was 8 days through the Caribbean.  I think we had 5 different stops; it was incredible! Also, this was the very beginning of January, so the weather was still a little chilly in the low 70's.  That eliminated any potential water activity from my schedule.  I did dip my toes in the pool, but I didn't (and felt bad for) go to Atlantis for any water sports. I've also been to Nassau before, so I may have had a "been there, done that" attitude.  My day at port was spent walking about downtown Nassau and comparing prices from local vendors with those on the ship.  I am happy to say, the cruise ship was in fact cheaper, and as a result, I did not have to carry 6 rum cakes around with me through town. 

The last day at sea, I got suckered into attending an art show and was a hands raise away from spending $250 on a miniscule piece of art work.  Luckily for me, my better judgement prevailed and I walked out with two free glasses of Champagne and a 8x10 print of a lion head.  I have no idea where that is now...