NCL Escape 1

So on April 22nd I boarded the Norwegian Cruise Line Ship the Escape for my first ever cruise and my first ever Travel Agent Next Door Conference. Needless to say I was little worried about this vacation. Travelling alone not knowing any of my fellow agents and sharing a room with a stranger as well as being on a ship. Lots of first. Let me start out by saying that this working vacation was amazing and I have already signed up for next year's Conference at an All Inclusive Resort in the Dominican Republic. I have also booked my second cruise which was to be a family cruise in December of 2018 but turns out it will actually be my third cruise as I am headed on the Freedom of the Seas with Royal for their Seminar at Sea this September cruising the Mediterranean.
So because I was cruising I decided to come in a day early so that if there were any problems with my flight I would be okay. I knew winter storms should be long gone but always afraid something could happen. Well my gut was right. A fellow agent and I missed our connection in Montreal as our flight from Ottawa was late departing and then we had to get from gate 11 to gate 89 and pass through US customs at the same time. My fellow agent had a Nexus card and made it faster than I did but they still would not let us board as our luggage had already been removed from the plane. We went straight to Customer service and were put on a flight leaving right away for Orlando. Not too bad we were not getting to Miami but at least we were headed to Florida. Thankfully Mandy texted her husband just before we boarded and had him reserve a car for us so we could drive from Orlando to Miami. We arrived at 9:00 ish collected our luggage and headed to the car rental spot.

Line up rental car counter Orlando Airport

The line was three turns long. Many people with kids. So there we stood for over two hours. Finally we got our rental vehicle a lovely SUV with GPS and we were off. I was starving. I had a lovely Unicorn Frapuccino at the Ottawa Airport with a muffin and nothing else since. You see I had planned to get something at the Montreal airport which did not happen. No problem you say get something over priced on the plane. I figured I would do that but guess what in the air they can not accept visa debit nor prepaid visa cards nor will they take cash.

Starbucks Unicorn Frapuccino (it was extremely sweet)

So we made a stop on the expressway and at almost Midnight I was grabbing a Wendy's burger and a fry. It took us about three and a bit hours to get to Miami. It was a great night for driving not a lot of traffic at all and great conversation getting to know a fellow agent from Brockville. Mandy dropped me off at my Sheraton Miami hotel we booked at different hotels and away she went on to hers. I had a roommate at the hotel and she was already asleep. Now I was supposed to get up early and grab a hotel shuttle to the airport and then grab my shuttle to the pier. But I was really tired and decided sleep was a better idea. My roommate and I grabbed a noon shuttle from the hotel at $10 USD per person over to the pier. 

 Sheraton Miami stocks my favourite coffee although I did not have one

The gorgeous beds in the room at the Sheraton Miami

Unfortunately there is a Pier B and C and there we said goodbye as we were in different stateroom categories and were boarding from separate areas. The lines at the pier were also very long (even though you do pre boarding online you still have people who do not or have issues). I was very fortunate as I was directed to the priority line for latitude rewards members and so my wait was cut in at least half if not more.

Selfie while filling out the customs form before boarding

So I check in and use my prepaid visa to put down a deposit so I can use my card to charge to my room makes things easier while on the ship ( a day later my account is frozen and guess what they also can not at sea accept prepaid visa's or visa debit so I end up putting down a cash deposit). Cabins are not yet ready so you can take the time to explore the ship. I was still really tired so I sat in the atrium grabbed a cupcake from the bakery (totally forgot to take a picture it was so amazing). I waited until we could check in with our group and then I watched us sail away from the Miami pier from the Internet Cafe. What an awesome sight to see.

 The Large Screen in the Atrium

 Carnival Ship in Port

 A view of Miami

 Another view of Miami

 Yachts 

 People heading to South Beach

 Sailing away

Celebrity at the Port

So this is just the start of my seven day vacation. Stay tuned for the next posts with more details on the ship itself and on each of the ports of call and what I did for excursions and what are also available.
Remember cruising is awesome for families, couples, multi-generational trips, reunions, groups and more!!!

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