“E” Minus 1 From Embarkation: We Switch Over to Oceania

Thursday, 5 January 2017
Intercontinental Hotel — Miami, Florida
Temps: 80F (27C) / 63F (17C)

Today, we switched over to Oceania.

What I mean by that is that we did a virtual check out from our room, and checked right back in … to the same room, but this time at Oceania’s expense.  We also checked in with the O rep to get our instructions for tomorrow and our bus assignment for the transfer to the ship … bus #1 at noon … woo hoo.

Peeking up at the Intercontinental through the glass roof of the lobby atrium … our room is on the 33rd floor … way up there somewhere.

The important news is not what we did today, but what Insignia is doing even as I write this.  That said, I’ll give a quick overview of our day before I get to that news.

If I had to describe our day in Miami in one word, I’d have to say “fun.”  It’s not that we did anything exciting.  Far from it.  But it was a gorgeous winter day with summer-like temps, blue skies and sunshine, and best of all … little humidity … which encouraged us to go walkabout around town.  A meandering stroll with no specific destination in mind … just wherever our feet took us.

The skyline towards Brickell Point.

A Tribute to International Trade Pioneers: The globe reflects the various modes
of transportation that enabled Miami to develop as the cargo gateway of
the Americas and the cruise capital of the world … or so the sign says.

One of the many coral benches around Miami … if you look closely
you can make out some brain coral on the front edge.

Statues at Museum Park … the one on the left doesn’t seem to have an
identifying sign, but the one on the right is titled “Looking into My Dreams.”

I mentioned riding the Metromover to get to the hotel yesterday.  Mui and I were both fascinated by the driverless train system … easily entertained, aren’t we?  So we rode it for fun today … just the inner loop … free ride with sightseeing along the way.

Scenes from our inner loop ride on the Metromover.

A bonus from our Metromover ride … I get to add another Wyland mural
to the ones I’ve already seen in various cities across the US.

We wrapped up our day with dinner with the Z’s, our travel companions on the RTW.  We were looking for a casual restaurant and a good meal.  Farfalle, an Italian restaurant recommended by the hotel’s concierge, delivered on both counts.

Now for the important news about Insignia.

The ship arrived in Miami on the 4th to disembark passengers who were on the “Sunny Holidays” cruise … that’s the one I wish we had booked as a precursor to our voyage.  At the time, I thought it was odd that the ship would have a two-day layover before embarking us for the RTW … cruise lines don’t like losing money.  Turns out, it wasn’t a layover.  Rather, she sailed across the channel to Freeport, the Bahamas.  Why?  Maybe some repair work.  Maybe a facelift before welcoming us.  Either way, thanks to the Marine Traffic website, we now know that she is heading back our way and is expected back in port at 5:00a tomorrow.  Woo Hoo!

Screenshots from Marine Traffic showing Insignia in Freeport.  The top left is a satellite image of the ship in what looks like a wet dock … that was yesterday.  In the top right, the little blue square shows Insignia sailing from Freeport earlier tonight.  Her planned track is pretty much a straight shot back to Miami, arriving tomorrow morning to embark us for the RTW.

Keeping up to date with the blog on these pre-voyage days was fairly easy.  I had great internet at the hotel.  And while we were busy, I still had enough downtime when the end of the day rolled around to process a few photos and do some writing.  Will I be able to continue to do so once we embark Insignia.  Your guess is as good as mine … we’ll find out soon enough ;-)

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