Miami Day 4 & cruise take off

Saturday, January 12, 2013 

We slept in til the very last minute before checkout.  We couldn't board the ship until 1:00 so we went to lunch to kill some time.  We had seen this old diner down the street so we ate there.  Turns out it had been on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  It was decent.  After we grabbed a taxi on the street to take us back to the room for our bags...and then our driver got pulled over!  That was a new experience.  He ended up getting off with a warning and we were on our way!

The boarding process for the cruise was pretty uneventful.  They did give me the wrong card color so I got teased by our group for being a 1st time cruiser.  (I got it fixed quickly)  We were able to get our beer on as well which was a nice surprise!  We met up with Mick, Julie, Eli + Jen as soon as we got to our room. We did the normal mandatory embarkation drills and sat on our balcony as the ship took off and the sun set over Miami.

I wanted to relax a bit before dinner.  We had reservations at the fancy steakhouse.  Dinner was at 6:30 and we all went together (our rooms are right in a row).  The steakhouse was Ah-mazing!  We all got the surf and turf meal with lobster and filet mignon.  We also got a complimentary bottle of wine (two of them!) Then the table next to us sent over their leftover wine too...score!

We rolled ourselves out of there and straight to the casino.  I immediately found a slot machine called Glitter Kitty.  Perfect.  First "coin" and I won $40!  Wish I knew how to stop that early ;-)  

At 9:30 we headed to see the first comedian.  He was a cowboy who just recorded his first special on Comedy Central. Very funny.  Following him was a NY comedian who was also funny and very inappropriate.  We laughed, we cried, we donated more money to the bar.   

The dance club was right next door to the comedy palace, so we went there next.  It was busy, Julie, Eli and I got out and did the Cupid Shuffle.  It was past midnight by now so people started getting tired (ahem Jen) ;-)

Eli, Jason and I were the last ones standing and went to the Piano Bar.  If you have ever experienced a dueling piano bar, it was just like that..only with one person.  Super fun though, one of my favorite places on the cruise. The singer, Ben, was very talented and funny.  We closed that bar down and went to bed.