MITSUGIRLY's ENCORE pictorial and extensive REVIEW

FLYING TO MIAMI

We just returned from our December 10-17th cruise on board the ENCORE and ready to get this extensive review started. I decided to post my review here instead of my travel blog/website since I had so many issues last time and still haven't worked everything out. But there will be a link to here from the blog so if you ever can't find it, you'll find it there. 🙂 

We are a family of 3 (if you don't know and follow us already) that cruise and vacation regularly (with an extended family of my older kids that sometimes cruise). For those that are wondering, nope, Kendra and family did not come. I know...boo hiss.

So I do these reviews as a informative, yet humorous (at least some think so, so don't burst my bubble ya'll) review of our fun times during our travels. I LOVE LOVE LOVE photography and taking pictures. I've always said "A picture is worth a thousand words" and will always hold true with me. Sometimes I go over board... figuratively, not literally, with the pictures but I'm the type of person that needs a visual on things and visual is what you'll get with me. 😄 

Our route this time will be: 

Yes, we have been to these ports, but I have a ton of Cruise Next certificates I need to use up (that I was peer pressured into purchasing just prior to COVID hitting by a smooth talking rep on the Joy) and I live in a Northern state which is COLD and needed an escape to the Caribbean. So, repeat ports it will be for us this time around. 

I also needed a trip to clear my head (and nerves) because right before the cruise THIS HAPPENED:

For those of you that have followed us since Sakari was 3 years old...time to grasp just how quickly time has passed since I first started reviewing our cruising! Yea, let that sink in...I'm getting old super quick! Only a few years before she will get her Platinum status for herself with NCL...you're welcome daughter! Momma and dad did all the work for you, now you will reap the benefits soon! 

So, on with the review...I hope you enjoy it and will stick around. I'll answer any questions I can along the way and have put my "actual review" in this beautiful bright blue color so that those only wanting to follow along with the review can spot it without having to read all the comments if they'd like. 

We had a late (to us) flight out of Ohio (12:45pm) so there would be no rushing around bright and early in the morning...thank goodness. We did leave the house by 9:30am in order to stop and get breakfast so we wouldn't break the bank buying food at the airport before we ever made it to the ship. Have you all noticed just how expensive it is to buy anything at the airport? Especially these days! I swear things have doubled if not tripled over the last 2 years. 

I also wasn't sure how crowded the airports would be since it's getting close to holiday travels and we were going on mid-day...which could potentially mean that things have gotten backed up. I'm a very punctual person in everything I do...even if it's hours before. 

The airport was actually not busy at all and we were able to walk right up to check our luggage and get our boarding passes with no wait.

I overlooked the side-eye I was getting from my family about being there so early and then Sakari said "So what do we do now?" I'll tell ya what we can do to pass the time...and led her to this:

Sakari just started learning to play the piano at school but will listen to songs and figure out how to play them on her own. She loves it but was SUPER nervous about playing anything in the middle of the airport with people walking around. She was literally shaking while sitting there. I remember those feelings quite well. I used to take piano lessons when I was young and my parents would have me play at church and also for weddings. I was a nervous wreck as well so I felt her cold chills with sweaty palms in the moment.

It was time to board the plane and I always have to get that "stepping on the plane" picture from Sakari...although she's not as thrilled about it these days as she used to be. She's always said "mommy you must touch the plane for good luck before getting on" so I'm not about to have her break the tradition just because she thinks it's silly now. 

This would be a 2 plane flight for us with a 3+ hour layover in Baltimore. Our flight was not full at all and it had me questioning if I should have purchased the Early Bird check in for our tickets now... for a whopping $75 extra dollars! 

It was such a short flight that we didn't even get snacks or drinks this time around. I'm wanting to recoup some of my $75 somehow.

We arrived in Baltimore and I have to say, this airport has done some remodeling and is super nice...and by nice I'm definitely going to emphasize on the restrooms there. They are all ENCLOSED!! Like when I say enclosed, I mean your own stall that has walls from top to bottom and a ceiling. It's like a private stall. Pretty cool I think.

No, I wasn't using the bathroom when I took this but was sitting on the toilet (fully clothed) so that I could get an overview of the room. It's funny when you get excited about an airport bathroom that you have to take a video right?

Baltimore was all decked out in Christmas decorations and it was very pretty. 

Three + hours had went by and we were off again...but this time on a FULL flight. Ok, I didn't feel as bad now about paying extra for our check-in.

We arrived in Miami and it was dark already. The lights over the city are always so pretty when flying. 

On to our fiasco of getting to our hotel for the night...

When booking our hotel, I honestly was just looking for a somewhat decent place to lay our heads to rest for the night. We weren't looking for anything fancy with any amenities since we were coming in so late and wouldn't be able to use them. My only stipulation would be that there needed to be a place within walking distance to get food for dinner. It's also a plus if they offer free breakfast.

I ended up using Hotwire to book a place and knew, by the pictures, which one it was going to be ahead of time. It had mixed reviews but again...I'm only going there to sleep for the night.

We would be staying at La Quinta Inn by Wyndham Miami Airport North. The cost was $163/night but with taxes and fees it ended up being $202.20.

The fiasco started the minute we made contact with the hotel. We grabbed our luggage and I called the front desk. The man who answered the phone told me "Walk across the 3 streets to get to the hotel pick up area and call me right back. We will be there in 15 minutes to pick you up."  Um ok, why not just leave now? Why do I need to call you back? I mean walking across the 3 incoming lanes at the airport only took me 30 seconds and I'm ringing him back. 

I'm then told "I'm sorry mam, our shuttle stopped running at 9pm to pick up passengers (it was now 10pm). We won't be coming to get you". Wait a minute!!! You JUST told me to call you right back and the shuttle would be here in 15 minutes!!! We argued back and forth and I got nowhere with him. The hubby said "Let me try" and called them back only to be told "The shuttle is on the way". 

When the shuttle arrived...more turmoil. We walked to the back of the shuttle to hand over our luggage and the driver says "I'm sorry we don't have any room for you and this is the last shuttle". The hubby told him how he just got off the phone with them and they said they were coming to pick us up. Words back and forth led to a family on the shuttle discovering that they were on the wrong shuttle and got off...which made room for us. However, another family of 4 did not have the same luck as us and didn't get a ride. She was furious as well and said "You will reimburse me when I make it to the hotel". 

So note...if you are coming in on a flight after 9pm and use this hotel, you might not get a ride. They seemed super confused about everything with conflicting stories.

Now this hotel is situated with 5 different buildings. Some are not too close to the main building. Of course, we ended up stuck at one of the buildings in the back and was a bit of a walk to get to. It also didn't have an elevator so we would have to walk to the furthest building to catch the elevator and to across the catwalk.

It's also a hotel with the doors to the rooms on the outside of the building.

The rooms were "ok" and by ok I mean it served the purpose of having a place to dream about our big day tomorrow of getting on the ship.

They do have a pool there as well...although it was too late for us to use it and had no plans on doing so anyhow.

There was a McDonald's and Denny's directly in front of the hotel and we decided to just head over to McD's for a hamburger and bring it back to the room. We watched a couple scaling the privacy fence wall to get over there, as we walked out of our 3rd floor room with no elevator for that building that you had to walk to the building next door to get out of, and thought "Hmm, wonder why they are doing that?"  We would soon find out there was no way to get over to the restaurants without walking all the way back to the front of the hotel to the street and back in to make it there. I'm getting my steps in before I ever make it to the ship I guess because the hubby gave me a look of...NO! You are not attempting that wall. 😄 

It was an uneventful rest of the night and we were tired from traveling and headed to bed. Tomorrow was a big day and we were excited.