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| Rainy Miami, FL |
Parting is such sweet sorrow and today is our last day on our ship, the Celebrity Eclipse. We woke up to rain in the port of Miami at 7 am, I think a signal to return to reality. We had set our bags out the night before prior to 11 pm as requested and so we only had our carry on bags to concern ourselves with while scrambling around the cabin. We showered and dressed and my son and husband walked up to the Oceanview Café for coffee and my son’s final omelets aboard the Eclipse. The ship’s crew had let everyone on board know that everyone had to be out of their cabins by 9 am because another group of passengers would soon board and begin their cruise. This next cruise is a transatlantic cruise and believe me, I considered stowing away for a new adventure.
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| View from the Tuscan Grille |
Usually the ship’s buffet is chaotic the last morning of a cruise, but they reported that there were few people grabbing breakfast. Our luggage tags said we were to wait in the Eclipse Theater until it was time to leave, but we decided to take advantage of the private departure lounge in the Tuscan Grille for the Captain’s Club members. For some strange reason we were given two sets of luggage tags, one for leaving at 7:40 am and the other for leaving at 9:10 am. Since we knew it wouldn’t take very long to get to the airport from the port and we had an 11:40 am flight, I always prefer waiting on the ship than waiting in an airport.
Once off the ship you do have to go through Customs and Immigration so do have your passport and immigration form handy. So many people pack these away and hold the lines up. Complete your customs form in your cabin and have it ready along with your passport. It helps to have your passport open to your picture page as well. The faster you present it, the faster you can leave the cruise terminal. After you pass through here, you then move onto collecting your luggage. Reference the number of your luggage tag to determine which carousel your bags will be located. Sometimes bags are lined up, but in this cruise terminal they were on conveyor belts like at the airport and it was extremely easy for people to locate their luggage. We found ours relatively fast and then headed out to the street to get to the airport.
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| Miami taxicab rates |
Many, many, many people opt for the cruise line’s transportation service to the airport. If you do this, inevitably you will end up in longer lines than an amusement park. Additionally, you’ll have to wait for the coach to be filled prior to departure. We simply exited the cruise port terminal and turned left to get into the taxi line. At this point, you inform them how many people in your party and they will tell you which taxi to jump into. As we walked over to get into our cab, a couple had jumped the queue and stole our cab. I had to walk back to speak with the dispatcher who put us in the next cab. The taxi fares from the airport to the cruise port and from the cruise port to the airport are one set fee of $24 including all special charges. While everyone else was still standing in those ridiculously long lines, we were already headed to the airport and arrive there in no time at all.
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| Waiting for our flight home |
At the airport, we checked in at the counter and as I had upgraded us online while still on the ship, we were able to bypass the long lines once again and move straight to the First Class counter. We didn’t need to have our bags weighed and after printing our tickets, we were off to Security. After showing our tickets, we were placed in a shorter line although the wait to get through was painfully long. The only way to rectify a long line in bare feet is by stopping at Starbuck’s before taking a seat near the gate.