Sakari was "snapping" her friends and they were wishing her well. One last picture of me and the hubs before take off....

Finding a hotel, around Christmas, pretty much last minute, provided to be a bit challenging. I've stayed at a lot of them, but the prices were high enough for me to take a loan out for that as well. Maybe there's a Downlift program out there for us?

I knew that getting in somewhat late we would need some place within walking distance to a restaurant or fast food. We have stayed across the street at Hilton Garden Inn before but I figured I'd rather just save some money and book Quality Inn. It's only for one night and I just need a place to sleep the night before a cruise. As long as it's clean and bug free, I'm good.

I still think the price was outrageous...especially after I got there.

We arrived at the airport, gathered our luggage and tried to figure out a way to push me in the wheelchair and handle 3 large luggage pieces. 

The hubby pushed me with 1 hand and pulled 1 luggage and I used my left leg to guide the wheelchair in the right direction and Sakari pushed 2 of the pieces of luggage. It's a VERY long haul down to the area for off site hotel pick up. Then the hubby and Sakari switched places. Then I tried pushing myself with my hands on the wheels...whew! I've been doing this for months in my house but down a sidewalk that had dips in it, maneuvering around people and luggage, then the dips at cross walks....it provided to be a little too much for me. In the end, it worked best if I held on to 1 luggage, Sakari pushed me with both hands, and the hubby pushed the other 2 luggage. This trip is providing to be challenging right from the start...which I figured. We'll get it together sooner or later I promise.

We finally arrived at the off site hotel pick up area at the airport and called the hotel. The shuttle arrived within 10-15 minutes and then we were on our way to the hotel.

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I'm going to direct you to my hotel section that will have everything about this hotel and the room. 

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You can find it here 

The hubby decided he wanted to just walk next door to Taco Bell and that was dinner that night despite all of the other food options we could have had. 🙄

We came back and Sakari told daddy to "chose which bed you want" and this was his choice/reply...

The following day we had our complimentary hot breakfast out on the pool patio, headed back to our rooms to grab our things and back to the lobby to check out. 

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Now this hotel does offer transportation to the Miami Cruise port. We signed up the night we checked in. Now normally I would just use Uber or Lyft because they are a heck of a lot cheaper than a taxi or even a transportation service. BUT, in my CURRENT condition, we were going to require a LARGER van because of my wheelchair. We couldn't use just any small car. With the 3 of us, we fit nicely in a car with our 3 large luggage. But add a wheelchair to the mix and you have yourself a problem. You have to use the Uber XL or similar. 

The hotel offered the shuttle at 2 different times (I believe 9:30 and 11:30). Since you can't rush a sloth, I decided 11:30 would work best for our family. The price was $20pp for adults and $15 for a child. They also offered transportation from the cruise port to FLL airport after the cruise. I decided that we would do both. So for $110 I was assured a ride with my wheelchair.

Now I guess it would have paid to check just how much Uber/Lyft would cost because for the XL it would have been $63 for us. $63 versus $55 with a savings of $8 by using the hotel transportation. Hmmm, if I would have checked, I would have just did the Uber instead. With Uber/Lyft, you are the only one's in the ride, no waiting for a certain time to leave, and no picking up other passengers from various other locations (not with the hotel, but if you use a transportation company, such as SAS, this will happen). But what was done was done and I'm ok with it this time. No worries. I was about to embark on a new ship and it was warm out and although this cruise would be a little different for me, I was going to make the best of it!

As we sat outside waiting for our van/transportation, Sakari was determined to find a lizard and she definitely did.

Sneaking up on it provided no benefits to her because it darted away very quickly. I wish I was a lizard at this point.

Our van pulled up, which had a trailer attached to it for all the luggage, and we all piled in and off to the cruise port we went. The other thing about riding with transportation is that the drivers usually don't seem to talk during the ride. So, it's a long boring ride to the port in silence. But I knew in a matter of an hour, there would be no silence on the ship, so I would just enjoy it for now.

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We arrived at the cruise terminal, checked our bags and off to get in line? What line? There was barely a line and in we went. Security took maybe 5 minutes and then on to check in with NCL.

They put me in a wheelchair line and I wasn't exactly sure of the significance of that line because there were no added benefits like a lowered counter so you could see and so on. But, I guess it kept you from winding around in the regular line...which really wasn't much of a line at all.

There were 2 people at the counter being helped. When 1 family was done, the "line director" motioned for me to go up to that counter...but no one was there. I waited and waited and no one ever returned. Meanwhile, the person beside me was done and the line director told the next person in line to go up. Then the next, then the next. HOLD UP!!! Do you not see me still sitting here and no one at the counter??? I pushed my wheelchair in between the pathway to the counter and the wheelchair line. I was not moving until I was the next to be helped. Ms line director apologized and showed me to the next available counter. Once again, I'm not sure what the significance is to the "wheelchair line" because she was directing wheelchair people to other lines, which was actually harder to maneuver around to because there was a large pole/column there. It also put you in the way of going between the counters to exit check-in and get on the ship (such a weird design). I'll be glad when the new terminal is done and interested to see what it looks like and the design.

We were issued our cards and off we went.