New York to Miami aboard Oceania Insignia - Getting to NYC despite TS Phillipe

If one storm is good, why not have another?  Our annual summer RV trip across the USA was cut short by Hurricane Irma - now that we’re leaving on our fall trip, why not thrown another storm induced monkey wrench in things - Tropical Storm Philippe.  

Anticipating getting our last minute preps done, I’d awakened a bit earlier than planned this am. Thank goodness, because at the top of my in-box was a flight cancellation from Jet Blue (sent at 2:47am - who checks email at that time?). Our non-stop from Naples to New York City (JFK) was being replaced by a late night sleepover in Logan Airport - arrive at midnight and leave for NYC at 5:35am - who thinks of these things?  At least we would still have made our cruise on Monday but we would have missed dinner at Osteria al Doge and “Beautiful” on Broadway. Argh - what to do and what kind of last minute flight booking extortion were we going to have to deal with?

Delta non-stop into LaGuardia. $800 for two first class tickets. Why first class? We were traveling all carry-on our original Jet Blue jet; now we’re on a CRJ which basically has no carry-on space for roller bags.  The other factor was that we have no “status” on non-Star alliance flights so if we’d gone coach, we wouldn’t  have had room to stow our cell phone by the time we could board. 

Arrival at LGA scheduled for 4:28 after ATC delays - more stress until Valerie says, “Why don’t we eat dinner after the play?” On to Open Table, dinner res at Osteria al Doge moved from 5:30 to 9:45... Girls are so smart....

Getting Uber from Laguardia Terminal C  - after departing baggage pickup, walk across the street to the median, Passenger Pickup Point #1 is to your left.  It was about a 30 minute ride into mid-town Manhattan with fair amount of traffic in the rain. Arrived at the Best Western Premier Herald Square - our second stay at a BW Premier. 

Really love our location - a block off of Broadway - great reception and a modern, European decor in room.  Room not expansive but efficient and clean.  I am liking these BW Premiers - great locations in the middle of the action.   By the way, Keen - a steak house and rated very highly on Trip Advisor is on the same block, same side of the street as the BW Herald Square. 

BWP - Herald Square

BWP - Herald Square Room

View from our room

Walking to the Stephen Sondheim and stopping along the way for a drink.  Destination - The Knickerbocker Hotel St Cloud roof top bar. Sticker shock - $17 and $22 for a glass of wine.  But nice setting and if the weather had been better the view from the rooftop would have been awesome.  All together I think we may have walked 8 blocks from our hotel to the theater - easy walk even though it was raining and windy.

The Knickerbocker - right across the street from Sondheim

Orchestra Pit Front Row Seats

The theater was lovely - the seats were impeccable thanks to our American Express card - Row A 107 and 108 in the Orchestra - basically front row center - the orchestra conductor’s head was right in front of us.  Beautiful was amazing - the lead who played Carole King (Chilina Kennedy) brought an empathy and energy to the part that just blossomed on stage in front of us.  

Our Playbill

After the play it was time to head to Osteria al Doge - and best of all, since it was raining cats and dogs, we found a short cut right across the street from the theater through a parking garage breezeway that kept us dry most of the way.  On the far side of the garage, we made a quick right and there was Osteria al Doge.

Meyers Parking shortcut to Osteria Al Doge

Caprese - Osteria al Doge

Osteria al Doge gave us a perfect table up front where we could see folks walking by under their umbrellas and getting a feel for the rhythm of NY streets on a rainy Sunday night.  By the time we finished dinner, the rain had left up quite a bit so it was a pretty dry 8 block walk back to our hotel.

Osteria al Doge

Trans-Atlantic Cruise Aboard Celebrity Reflections - April 26-May 12 - Travel and Embarkation

We were looking for a nice cruise and ran across a Trans-Atlantic offering from Celebrity.  When we did the math, it worked out to $88/per person/per day for the 16 day trip.  For two people who love their sea days, love cruising, and are newly retired, what more could you ask for? Oh - you get off the ship 16 days later in Italy...

So what did we learn on the run up to our cruise?  Well, since the fares were so good, we upgraded to an Aqua Class (A2) Balcony.  We live in Naples about 2 hours from the Port of Miami.  So how do we get there?  Shuttle (cheaper), Limousine (get to pick your seat mates) or...  Rent a car one way for 24 hours - just right.  Cost us $48 plus the 4 gallon fill up before turning the car in.  Picked it up at Naples Airport (APF) the day before our departure and had it all packed up and ready to go that evening.

When we looked at the map we noticed that Tamiami Trail (Highway 41) essentially goes straight to the Port of Miami from East Naples.  So next morning about 0900, we took off on the very scenic and tranquil drive to Miami.  Weather was perfect and driving through the Everglades at 55-60mph with little or no traffic gave us a chance to reflect on how beautiful South Florida is.  Two hours later I was dropping Valerie off at our pier.  While she was getting our bags and herself checked in, I drove back to Miami International (MIA) to drop off the car.  It was a little difficult to find the signs for Rental Car return but once located, everything went smoothly.  There is a free shuttle from MIA to the Port of Miami that stops at each of the terminals -- all told from the time I dropped Val off until I got back to the ship was about an hour (15 minute drive, 5 minutes to fuel, 5 minutes in-processing car, 5 minutes to walk to shuttle and 30 minutes on the shuttle to ship).  This was our first experience with one way rentals between East and West coasts of FL and is the subject of our first Travel Intelligence Tip for this cruise.

Travel Intelligence Tip:  If you are taking a cruise from Miami or Ft Lauderdale and live on Florida's west coast, consider doing a one way rental.  Your car stays in the garage at home, no parking fees while you are away, and the cost for two one-way rentals is equal to or less than a shuttle van and half the price of a round trip limousine ride.  We had a one way rental from Miami International back to Naples, and we have used one-ways for boat trips originating in Stuart and Cruise Planners class in Ft Lauderdale.  We have paid as little as $42 and as much as $52 for each one way rental.  One caution though - all of our trips were in "off season"  your costs may be higher "in season".

Embarkation was generally good.  As Aqua Class passengers, we were behind Suite embarkation but before the majority of the 2800 or so other folks boarding.

Travel Intelligence Tip:  Do you have to ask other folks to take your picture only to have them cut off your head or not get the beautiful scenery in the background?  Our TA cruise was our first run with a GoPro.  Now I know that GoPro is not news to someone below the age of 50 - but for those of us who are, and not planning any extreme sports - you wonder why you would want one.  If you like to take couple selfies with a broad view of the background, a GoPro on an extendable pole, is the perfect solution.  Why?  Because it takes a very broad background picture but the point of focus is perfect for getting you both.  It also comes with a remote control, so you extend the pole out, hold the remote in one hand, adjust your angles (our pole came with a little mirror on it which makes it easier to get you centered up, and snap the picture, video, or photo sequence.  The pole also allows you to change your perspective - hold in up and you can take pictures above the action.  They are very small cameras, you can get a nice water proof case so you can take them anywhere in any weather.  Why not?  GoPro doesn't allow detailed pictures so it isn't good for portraits and it doesn't have a built in flash,  So take it along as a supplement to a normal digital camera to catch those special background shots or night time shots.

GoPro Selfie - notice how nicely the background is captured

Catches background action in good focus

Met a nice lady from Vancouver, BC at the Sail Away party

Held the camera up on the pole to give a bird's eye view

The wide angle helps capture the entire scene

We left the dock with two other cruise ships in perfect weather.  

This is what Miami's South Beach looks like during Spring Break - looks like a lot of fun for the young people; I like our view and the adventure across the Atlantic more. 

We closed out our first night heading due west with the sunset behind us.  This made it easy to choose the Tuscan Grill as the place to eat since it is all the way aft (back end of ship) and had a wonderful view of the sunset.  The Italian food was pretty good too...


Entrance to the Tuscan Grill

Lucky guy with the beautiful lady who happens to be my wife.

Sharing the sunset from the Tuscan Grill