Princess Diaries - welcome to Miami

The plan for our last day was to take an excursion from the ship to Miami - that way our luggage would be taken care of and the excursion finished at the airport. No hanging around, as you have to leave the ship about 8am so they can get ready for the new passengers. Two days before the end of the cruise we had a notification that the tour was cancelled due to lack of numbers. The 'tour' staff were not forthcoming as to what we should do other than book another tour or go to the airport all day - and seemed to know nothing of how they could remedy this for us.

It was the 30th December so booking a day room was out of the question as everything would be booked up now with inflated prices. We didn't have our driving licences with us so hiring a car was also not feasible. Booking an independent tour was tricky as we would have all our luggage with us. So we opted for left luggage at Miami international. Luckily we had paid for internet connection on the ship so were able to source the information as the crew had no idea if there was a left luggage office or if it would be open! The left luggage office was on concourse E about as far away from our terminal as it could be and was $10 a case. We got our steps in for the day! The yellow taxi was £25 to south beach each way (do not take a white one as they are cowboys who charge $45)!

It was an overcast day in Miami and very humid. Shame really as I am sure those lovely Art Deco buildings would have looked so much better with a blue sky background. Miami south beach was buzzing and had a wonderful vibe to it. All the bars and restaurants were full and there were Mustangs and Corvettes parked up along the beach road. We didn't have long just a couple of hours so we walked along the beach road and onto Collins Avenue and had some lunch. A starter of nachos for 1 was enough as a main for 2! I would definitely return to Miami as it was very different to what I was expecting. South Beach felt very safe and had a good selection of small hotels with the beach nearby. I think in future I might suggest this to my customers rather than Fort Lauderdale as an addition to the cruise.