miami part deux

San Jose Hotel - fairly cheesy . ave of 171 per night. on Lincoln and Collins across the street from beach.

Silver Sands Beach Resort- Key Biscayne
courtyard mini-suite $189/nt.
review on TA

Bayside Market place. Downtown
Holiday Inn 169 per night directly across from bayside market

Cruise day one and two

The checking in process was a little crowded and loud for me, but I wasn't feeling well. I think I ate something funky and my stomach was retaliating. I am the fire farter... twisted fire farter!!
So, took a cab to the pier from the National Hotel for about $15 bucks. As fast aas I could get out of the cab, the porter had our bags and reminded us that they are not part of the tipping pool and we should tip him. nice. blunt. direct.
We headed in to the cattle line into Norwegian's building and was sprayed for the first time of about a zillion with antibac spray. They made me chuck my water since I had cracked the seal. - so much for the sneaking in of VODKA!! ha. slinked thru the metal detectors and found the line for balcony and above. The checkin process was neat and tidy. There wasn't a lot of true non broken english spoken by any staff after this, with the exception of the cruise director, Shanna. Next was a BIGASS LINE to get onboard the ship.. wait to wait. We FINALLY pushed through onto the 7th deck where the customer service desk and wexcursions desk are. Our rooms wouldn't be ready until 2, so we went to check that big mothertrucker out.
lunch at the blue moon fast foody place on deck 7. tony had wings and I had the wonton soup. We ended up on 12 chillin in beach chairs around the pee pool havin bloody marys.
At about 3:30 after the rooms were ready for us, they had the safety thingy. Life jackets in hand, we headed to the 7th floor port side. I was starting to sway with the thought that I was gonna barf... on everyone. panic stricken, i made it through the ENDLESS demonstration of how we would all calmly (ha) get onto the lifeboat and safely get away from the huge deathtrap of a ship we had all committed our lives to for 7 days. I didn't make it too long after that. BARF and I was much better! let the fun begin. We signed up for the couples spa pass for $150 so we'd be able to chill child-free.
Dinner the first night was in the Zoo (Garden cafe buffet) I didn't feel well enough yet to waste a sit down fancypants.
ahhhhh.. WAKEY WAKEY. We had room service (horrible) carafe of coffee and fruit/yogurt/cereal. nice touch.!
This is our first sea day. I'm sure we wandered around a bit more. We had lunch in the Venetian with a unbelievable view from the aft (back) of the ship. I have no idea what we did next. I do know that is the day Tony tied one on and hung out in the casino with his new crazy ass best friend! hahah.. kidding.
Dinner... hmmmm... I'm pretty sure I tried to get us reservations at the main dining room, but they told me i'd have to go first come first serve.. We ate at Aqua - mid ship 7th deck.. We both had the Chateaubriand - yum!! and I got a bottle of wine- then, every meal we had after that- we gave the the ticket and after 20 minutes, they had our wine!yay!

Cruise

National Hotel in South Beach.
Great room! Silly city view= top of the roof!
the pool was awesome- although we didn't get it. it was narrow and long, with a "N" reflected in lights. Right out the back gate was south beach. I wish we had more time to play and stay! We hung by the pool bar on the couch lounge area and drank some of the most expensive drinks We've had. $13 mojito! it was damn good though!


DaY: Pushed through the gate towards the beach! Wandered South a hotel looking for lunch overlooking the beach/ocean! The Ritz Carlton (wooo fancy pants!) Sangria Friday!! Tapas platter with Olives and bread! yum yum!!

NiGHt:We walked over to the "Mall" like the 16th street mall in Denver. perused around a bit, stuck our noses in some shops. I was looking for more summer clothes. We ended up skipping our stop in Masonville- where I was going to refresh my luggage with my summer gear. I rolled with one pair of shorts and a skirt. Worked it!
We strolled back to the hotel for a quicky change (get our mind outta the gutter baby!) and strolled back to the area for some Sushi Dinner!! yum yum.

Hotels near Miami Port

HOTEL MIAMI SOUTH BEACH-
National Hotel - winner winner chicken dinner (above pic from Nation Hotel website)
Dining: Tamara- Mediterranean MENU

Other Hotels in the research process:

Hotel Victor on Ocean Drive (owned by Hyatt) would be a killer place to stay
unfortunately, it's 400 bones a night.. but super schwank. If we were staying 2 nights, I'd have a discount. google street map view

Bentley- 1k per night
opera suites - sounds horrible from reviews
Delano Hotel - sweet, but $555 per night!
Clay Hotel $145 for VIP1 queen with balcony- but 4-5 blocks off the beach. South Beach is muy expensive - especially for the renovated so called boutique hotels.
We've been joking about the HOJO.. but I'm thinking seriously ..
HOJO miami beach - surfside $150 - 5 miles north
Best Western Oceanfront Suites - Miami Beach - $160 5 miles north
Loraine Hotel $150 for a regular shithole
Indian Creek $150 nicest reviews out of all of them. not in South beach but right at north of it.
Catalina Hotel $270 for a reg room in living color.
National Hotel $270
loews not available that night. looks spendy anyway
townhouse hotel schwank thinly adorned. $175. looks like a shit hole with a fresh coat of paint

Carlton Hotel - $219 king $229 superior king