KatelynNovember 23, 2019 – November 30, 2019
Where We Stayed:
Hyatt House Fort Lauderdale – Airport and Cruise Port
Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas
Trip Highlights:
- The best tacos ever in Miami
- Katelyn’s First Cruise
- Snorkeling in Grand Cayman
- Mayan Ruins and Chocolate Tour in Cozumel, Mexico
Favorite Restaurants:
- Lime Fresh Mexican Grill
- Coyo Taco
- Windjammer (Independence of the Seas Buffet) & Dining Room
This was our first Thanksgiving week trip, which included a few days in Fort Lauderdale and Miami before embarking on a five night Royal Caribbean cruise aboard the Independence of the Seas. Our cruise left from Fort Lauderdale and visited two ports: Georgetown, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico.
Prior to the cruise, we spent two nights in Fort Lauderdale to provide a little buffer time and re-position ourselves in Florida. After flying in on a Saturday evening, we settled in to our hotel and had our first meal of the trip at Lime, a local chain walking distance from our hotel. It was delicious, and we would end up stopping there for dinner both nights of our stay in Fort Lauderdale.
On Sunday, we boarded the Brightline train to Miami from Fort Lauderdale. The train took only a half hour and skipped all of the crazy traffic that you would normally deal with when driving between the cities. As first time riders, we were also able to snag free round-trip tickets, which made it even easier to visit Miami for the day. Even without the deal, we found the train to be incredibly convenient, and would highly recommend it for anyone looking for an easy way to travel between Fort Lauderdale and Miami with minimal effort.
Once in Miami, we took an Uber to Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. The mansion and gardens at Vizcaya were built by a rich businessman and designed to mimic the look of an Italian villa. The mansion is now a museum dedicated to the historic building and the gardens and fountains have been maintained and were gorgeous to walk through. We spent about an hour and a half wandering through the exhibits and gardens, before grabbing another Uber back into the city.
Our second stop in Miami was the Wynwood neighborhood. Wynwood is a cultural hub in Miami known for its art and murals. We stopped by the Wynwood Walls, a site where local artists were invited to create murals and other art on the walls within the space. The walls are repainted regularly, so I’d go back again on a future trip to see the new art at the time.
For lunch, we stopped at Coyo Taco, a well-known local taco restaurant with a few locations in the Miami area. They were some of the best tacos either of us have ever had. The corn tortillas were especially good, as they were grilled fresh on the flattop prior to them being served. I’m still looking for reasons to go back to Miami just to get those tacos again.
We wandered around the Wynwood area a bit longer before catching the Brightline back to Fort Lauderdale. That afternoon, we stopped at a grocery to stock up on a few things prior to our cruise, visited Lime one more time, and repacked our bags before our cruise began the next day.
Cruise day! At 10 a.m. we boarded the shuttle from our hotel to the cruise port to board the ship. We had priority boarding, so check in and boarding was a breeze and we were able to get on the ship relatively early to start exploring and enjoy lunch. Our ship left at 4 p.m. and soon we were out on the water.
Our first full day on the ship was a day at sea as we made our way to Grand Cayman. We spent a relaxing day aboard the ship playing bingo and enjoying their drink of the day on the deck before getting dressed up for formal night.
Our first port day was Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We had no excursions planned for that day, so after using tenders to get to shore we wandered through the town checking out the various shops, the local craft market and the Cayman Islands National Museum. For lunch, we stopped at a restaurant called The Greenhouse (that is sadly now out of business) that was clearly a favorite of the crew when they were in town.
After lunch, we visited a local snorkeling shop to rent flippers, masks, snorkels and blow up vests before snorkeling in the ocean behind the shop. We saw a variety of coral and fish and even a shark in the distance before packing up and heading back to the ship.
Our second port day was in Cozumel, Mexico. For this port, we had booked an excursion through Royal Caribbean that would show us both the Mayan Ruins and a look at the history of Mayan chocolate. After meeting up with our guide, we boarded our bus and made our way toward the ruins.
Our guide told us the history of the ruins on the island as we toured the site. His mother’s side of the family could trace their ancestry back to the Mayans, so he provided an interesting perspective. The Mayan ruins on Cozumel were visited by couples prior to getting married as a rite of passage. Our guide walked us through each of the buildings and told of their meaning, before letting us explore the small market nearby.
Our next stop was a beach on the less inhabited side of the island. Most of this area was a protected nature area, and no electricity ran to that side of the island. We stopped at a look out point called El Mirador to look at the local vendors and take photos on the beach.
Our final stop of the day was the Mayan chocolate experience. Here, we learned the history of chocolate within the Mayan culture, including how it was originally used and were able to watch as a chef prepared chocolate in an authentic Mayan style. After a few taste tests, we of course purchased a few bars of chocolate to take home, and wrapped up our day.
Despite being a very crowded day (there were 7 cruise ships on Cozumel that day!) we had a great time on the tour. It was Thanksgiving, so we finished up our evening with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on the ship.
Our final day of the cruise was a relaxing one, and we spent time in the hot tubs and relaxing on the deck, before ending our night watching their adaptation of Grease. It was a great, relaxing way to end our wonderful first cruise together!
