Miami Hop Hop Off and City Photos

Between cruises, my travel friend Harvey and I decided to see some of Miami. One of the easiest ways to do that is do a hop on hop off tour. You get on the bus which stops at various landmarks and when one really grabs your attention, you hop off and check it out. When you're done seeing that particular place, you hop back on the bus and continue on the tour. It's a really easy way to see the city.

The company our travel agent Joel Mills recommended was Big Bus. They offer 2 different routes. One takes in Little Havana and other historic landmarks while the 2nd route does Miami Beach and South Beach. We chose do the first one.

Big Bus was convenient for us because all we had to do was walk across the bridge that connects Miami to its port, cross the street to Bayside Marketplace and walk around to the Big Bus stop. The first picture is of one of their buses. The 2nd is of some of the fine folks that work there. I don't remember their names but, I remember them being very nice. They represented their company well.

The 3rd picture of a courthouse interestingly. The 4th is of a 50's type store. The last photo is of the historic Biltmore Hotel. In its heyday, it was the place to stay when visiting Miami.

The Big Bus tour was very nice though neither Harvey or I felt like getting off the bus during the tour. We returned to Bayside Marketplace where we walked over to the Miami Hard Rock Cafe so, I could get my t-shirt. I collect them from all the Hard Rock Cafes I visit. After that, we stopped in the Starbucks where I treated Harvey to a coffee so, he wouldn't mind me getting on the Internet for a little while. I don't like coffee but, I love Starbucks's free WiFi.

Then, we hoofed it back to the Majesty of the Seas where we used our 2nd cruise SeaPasses to get on-board. The SeaPasses were delivered to our cabins the night before we pulled back into Miami. Thankfully, Royal Caribbean has those who do back-to-back cruises in-process once. So, we got to skip it on the 2nd cruise though we did have to do the emergency drill again before the ship left the pier.

The next pictures I'll post will be of the very impressive Atlantis Resort on Paradise Islands, Bahamas. Stay tuned.

Miami Skyline and Port Pictures

While Royal Caribbean was founded in Norway by 3 Norwegian shipping companies, Miami was the first port the new cruise company decided to sail from. Royal Caribbean has been here since 1970 I believe. The first picture show the cosmopolitan city's skyline from the cruise ship piers. The 2nd picture shows the cruise ship piers (you can see another cruise ship further up) as well as the way the cruise ships sail out of the port and into the Caribbean Sea. The 3rd picture shows the cruise ship piers as well as the other side of Miami's port. You can see containers and the cranes that lift them and put them on container carrying ships. The final picture show Royal Caribbean International's Headquarters. This is the headquarters for the cruise line though they are just 1 of 5 cruise lines owned by their parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

These pictures were taken at the beginning of the first of 2 cruises I did on Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas in September 2013. Next up will be a couple pictures I took during a hop on hop off tour I did of Miami between cruises.