Miami and Orlando, cruise with Royal Caribbean on the liner Freedom of the seas in the Caribbean
Travel: Miami, Orlando, Caribbean Cruise
on the liner Freedom of the Seas. (March 2009)
I booked a cabin on my own for a cruise, but it turned out that the reservation hangs for only three days, during which you need to make a deposit to the Royal Caribbean representative, and pay in full a month before the cruise. In Kyiv, on Vorovskogo 5, there is a representative and you can buy plane tickets there. Tickets cost $860 per person round trip Kyiv - New York - Miami. Prices for cabins on the site. It is better not to pay even a deposit. And pre-get a multivisa in the US for 5 years. To do this, you need to fill out a form on the website of the American embassy (http://kiev. usembassy. gov/visa_download_ukr.html), then buy a voucher with a pin code at ProCredit Bank for $ 12, call the embassy and dial this pin code to sign up for interview, and you also have to pay $138 for the interview. It is also advisable to print out the cruise booking step by step in advance. Collect several documents on the presence of deposits and real estate.
But as practice shows, if a couple is traveling, not even spouses, but wealthy, with a good salary at work, who have already traveled on a trip to Europe, they give a visa immediately.
The hotel was booked online at Ocean Terrace. It turned out to be quite far from Ocean Drive - the main place for hanging out and shopping. I recommend looking at the address when booking, it is advisable to take the house number up to 2500. This is like up to 25th Street, it goes perpendicular to Lincoln. Then you will not need to spend money on a taxi, you can get everywhere on foot.
Beach on Miami Beach Municipal. Boring things, no umbrellas, no sun loungers. Pleases only that the sand. Except to take a picture. On 8th Street there is a trendy Niki Beach, very pretty, all white. But there are few people. Maybe not the season, we were on March 8th. Heat +35. There are many small shops on Ocean Drive, mostly souvenir junk, but there are also a few good designer ones. Everyone praises Ball Harbor very much.
Such a large shopping center of boutiques of European designers. Prices are higher than ours by 20-30%. For a good shopping experience of real American brands, you need to go to Adventure Mall. Huge 6-storey parking and hundreds of boutiques in several tiers. Prices vary, check it out. But getting the girls out of there is almost impossible.
We went to dinner at the restaurant of the Delano Hotel, with the expectation of staying for a fashionable party. Very nice, sofas and beds with pillows in white around the pool, many millionaires, at the entrance you had to dodge between Lamborghini, naturally beautiful girls in search. In the spacious basement nightclub. Smoking is prohibited everywhere, so the club is very fresh. We hung out for a couple of hours and went to another place, at the exit there is a queue of 100 meters from those who want to enter, strict face control, you feel like a VIP person. During the day I really enjoyed having lunch at Cafe Milano on Ocean Drive. They have happy hour when everything is half price.
We went there just for the plateau with oysters and crabs, also a crazy mojito in a liter glass.
After listening to the admiring stories of compatriots about the Universal Studio amusement park in Orlando, we rented a car and drove there for one day. Long drive - 5 hours. Let me tell you right now, one day is not enough. We saw the tenth part and even from this we were incredibly delighted. You should definitely visit the rides Mummy, Shrek 4D, Jaws, etc. But with a car in Miami, you need to be very careful, be sure to pay for parking and not park at the yellow lines. Special people walk around and fine everyone in packs, take them away by a tow truck. And this is all angry and hits the pocket.
The day of boarding the ship arrived. The Royal Caribbean service is amazing in terms of quality and scope. It is very different from the service in Miami hotels.
Perfect cleanliness on the liner, high-class service, both in the rooms and in the restaurant at dinner, are unparalleled in any country in the world. Yes, it is better to take a cabin closer to the bow, because, who has a very light sleep, will hear the operation of the engines at night. There is such a huge amount of entertainment on the liner that during the week of our stay, we did not have time to visit everything. True, during the day for 5 days there were excursions to the islands. It is very convenient to book excursions directly from the room on TV, but it is better at the guest reception, where you can consult with the manager. And it’s better to be puzzled with excursions right away, because then we simply won’t have places. The number of places for each tour is limited.
The liner itself is a separate story - a man-made miracle, the crown of human genius. In the center there is a natural street with a second light on 4 floors, cafes, shops, etc. Glass elevators run smoothly and very quickly.
Even we noticed that every night they change part of the floor in the elevator, on which the current day of the week is written. For dinner with the captain, everyone dresses in evening dresses and tuxedos, the Scots in kilts (checkered skirts) and green berets with balabons. The dinner menu is different every night. I especially recommend trying lobster, duck, pasta with truffle sauce, coconut cake, tiramisu. You can take one dish in several copies, but it is better to eat one at a time, and so you are very full. A cool climbing competition, I liked the warm jacuzzis taken out overboard and hanging over the ocean, pools with different water temperatures, difficult but memorable surfing on the countercurrent of the wave. In the cabin, everything is compact and practical, well thought out. Very comfortable bed.
95% of Americans travel by ship. And not at all fat, as we used to imagine them. Pretty sporty people.
You can come and see a free simulator in the gym only at night, and the hall is huge.
The first day the liner was heading all the way to the Caribbean Sea, and the next morning we woke up already in the bay near the island of Haiti. We were not lucky with the weather. Rain is coming. Naturally, those who bought vouchers with mountain crossings, etc. went, but since the rain is warm, I think they still liked it. We walked around the entire small peninsula, and settled down at the mini stadium, a volleyball team gradually gathered and we were happy to fight with teams of different nationalities in a light rain. Fortunately, we all broke, so we didn’t have to be bored. By the way, on the opposite bank, where there are warnings about the ban on swimming, it’s really better not to go. Our one in the mask dived - flew back like a bullet. All bottom in poisonous hedgehogs. There is a local souvenir market, the quality of souvenirs is the same as our pioneers in the “skillful hands” circle do.
They ask for cosmic prices, but if you don’t bargain, they drop after 3-5 times.
In the evening, there was a rather colorful show on the ship on the main street. Then all the Americans rushed to the casino for adrenaline, there is their cue ball.
Jamaica met with bright colors. I liked the hiking up the waterfall in the national park. A lot of pretty black women. Protective people. They know Shevchenko and Klitschko, so they are ready to burst into tears on their shoulders like brothers. Cool rum, music, t-shirts. There are beautiful sandy beaches, but there is little time and you don’t have time to visit everything. But you understand that it is simply necessary to come here again.
The next day is the Cayman Islands. We wanted to swim with stingrays, but the tour was canceled due to stormy winds. By the way, the money was returned to the card without a reminder after returning on board. It is not interesting to walk around the island - there are only banks, and the left ones, obviously laundered.
Everything is poor quality and expensive, also for Cayman dollars. Exceptionally fine and soft yellow sand, turquoise water are the main attractions. The weather was great. They bought and sunbathed enough.
Taxi drivers are arrogant and intrusive, to the beach from the port 2 km - $ 20. The entire beach is municipal, the width of the sandy strip along the sea is 30-50 m. No umbrellas, no sunbeds, no soul. You can use the sunbed of the hotel on the first line for $ 25, if there are free ones.
Again the night went on and the next morning they moored at the Mexican island of Cozumel. Four more of the same liners were moored in the same port, so the people on the pier were like sprats in a jar. Our friends took an excursion to the mainland with a visit to Cancun. Their impressions were ambiguous, on the one hand, while an hour on the boat went, even the most persistent vomited, but the scope of hotels in Cancun, the entertainment industry - caused sincere delight.
We again took an excursion to the coast with stingrays, and again a strong wind did not allow us to enjoy the excursion. We did not grieve, but rented a moped in the form of a carriage with a roof and went to explore the sights of the island. Fortunately, there is only one road in a circle around the island, of excellent quality. The coast from the side of the port is uninteresting, very rocky. Immediately you need to go to the opposite coast from the port. There are HUGE Caribbean sandy beaches with man-sized turquoise waves. There are practically no people. The coloring is amazing. You drive along a road over which hot air flows upwards, waves roll and rumble on the right, the sand is such that it blinds your eyes, and on the left is the virgin jungle. You can't walk three meters without a machete. And all this through the prism of the warm, viscous sweetish aroma of the jungle. It cannot be conveyed - it can only be felt.
Separately, it is worth remembering the mass "sales".
In quotation marks because this subtle psychological caused me a wave of tenderness. The usual Chinese consumer goods (watches, jewelry, handbags) that had been hanging in the far corner of the dutyfree for the entire cruise for the previous six days were literally dumped in huge piles on the counters set up in the center of the boulevard with signs “sale all for $ 10”. I myself saw how people in mass psychosis collect 5-10 hours for gifts, jewelry, etc. There is even a queue to go to the counter. By the way, the vast majority of Americans are very friendly and smiling people, while quite sincere. Their standard of living and service is sky-high.
The disembarkation from the cruise in Miami pleasantly surprised me with its organization and recklessness. No one was stopped with a strict search. There was an impression that in the USA they are very loyal to the tourists from the cruise.
During the cruise, I read advertising magazines about the company's cruises on the same liners across the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, Indonesia. In a word, there is something to strive for. : )