FionaMG

The metromover is very handy. During our stay, the Brickell line was out of service so they had combined the Omni (?) and Brickell services into one, called Full Loop. This didn't affect us heading into Bayside but caused us a lot of confusion on the way back. I'm guessing it was a temporary thing for whatever reason.

Well, I've just had a look at the deck plans and @twangster's plan above and from those it appears that #6656 on Odyssey is pretty much the same as #6654 on Anthem, which I sailed in in April 2023. Pics below. I hope they help and turn out to be accurate for Odyssey. 😊
We loved the layout of this cabin. It's one of the so-called "square" cabins and we preferred it to the longer, narrower standard cabins as there was more room to move about. The only thing is, the shape means you get an armchair instead of a sofa but hopefully that won't be an issue for you. 🤞












 

Have a great time @RCIfan1912 and @Cruising Granny!

I am also sailing on Sunday and having the same problem. I left home this morning but  printed a copy, took a picture and my granddaughter put it in my Apple Wallet. Hopefully one of these will work Sunday. It is scary to not be able to see things this close to sailing.
Good luck everyone and enjoy your cruise.

We stayed at same hotel last November…the room was very nice (we had a King suite)…breakfast-just ok.  I drink my coffee with light cream (my one habit I will never break!) so could not drink theirs as they have those little creamers 😞.  We also LOVED Batch Gastro Pub!  The food was sooo good!  
I am currently in San Antonio staying at the Hampton Inn and coffee is awful!  Luckily my granddaughter and I found a cute little shop around the corner with Starbucks like coffee so every morning this week we walked there before breakfast to grab our coffees (well, I got a Caramel Macchiato and she got a Caramel Blended frozen drink).

We didn't have Bonaire on this one. Despite being an 8-night cruise we only had three ports, the third being Labadee. But I will definitely be sharing details and pics of what we did in the other two. 😊

It's been a while since I've done one of these and there doesn't seem to have been a recent one covering Symphony's current 8-night itineraries down to Aruba and Curaçao, so in the interests of a) being useful and b) reliving our recent cruise - just disembarked this past Sunday 😭, I thought, why not?
So, Day One - Travelling from Custard Tart Land (aka Portugal) to Miami, Florida.
 As per usual, our travel itinerary had us flying from Faro, our local airport in Southern Portugal, via Lisbon to Miami.
Take off. The watery area below is a renowned wetland zone called the Ria Formosa, which translates to "beautiful estuary", and which is famed for its wildlife, especially birds.

As usual, we were flying on the Portuguese flag carrier, TAP. Unusually, however, they had two flights going out on this day, so instead of flying up to Lisbon the night before and then out to Miami the next day, we saved on the hotel cost by "enduring" a five-hour layover in Lisbon. It actually wasn't too bad; Lisbon has some decent shops and restaurants to keep you occupied.
We had lunch at our favourite eatery, the Cockpit. If you ever have a layover in Lisbon over a mealtime I recommend it. They have a small seating area with table service or you can order at the counter and eat in the food court. Our preferred choice is the "Prego com presunto e ovo estrelado" in the "Snacks" section of the menu. (They do have a menu available in English). This is a beefsteak sandwich, topped with dry-cured ham and a fried egg, and served with what they call "country" fries. Very yummy and very filling. However, if you still have room for dessert, there's a great pastry shop right next door... 😈


After lunch, we found a good spot to rest up until it was time for our flight. You do have to hunt a bit for these seats. They're located near the electronic passport gates, but before your go through them. There is also a coffee shop and a toilet that are not nearly as crowded as the main departure lounge area.

Finally on board. We paid extra for emergency exit seats for some extra space and comfort (business class being well over our budget). Well worth it.


TAP includes food on transatlantic flights. The timing of this flight meant we had dinner and a late-night snack just before arrival into Miami. The dinner (chicken stroganoff) looks pretty disgusting but it was actually quite nice. TAP economy catering is generally edible unlike some other airlines.


The flight itself was uneventful and it landed just a little behind schedule, something of an achievement for TAP, who must have one of the worst punctuality records in the business.
Immigration was the quickest we've ever had at Miami, thanks to the timing of the flight; landing around 10 pm, there were no other international flights arriving to that terminal. the luggage seemed to take forever to come through but to be fair it was probably only about 15 minutes and we were soon in a Lyft on our way to our hotel.
I had previously linked my Hilton and Lyft accounts. This gets you Hilton points for each Lyft journey.
We were staying for two nights at the Hampton Inn in Brickell. I had booked a standard king room but we were upgraded to a king studio. I don't really know why, possibly because I had cashed in some points in part payment.
I'd checked in on the Hilton app ahead of time so I was able to choose our room and having stayed here before I knew which area would give us the best "view" if you can really call it that.



By this time, we'd been up and on the go for 22 hours so we literally dropped our bags and fell into bed for a good night's sleep before a full day out and about in Miami the following day.
 
 

I was able to screenshot them all. I'm gonna give that a try on Sunday and we'll have the paper ones I printed out yesterday. Thanks for the suggestions guys. 

Well, I've just had a look at the deck plans and @twangster's plan above and from those it appears that #6656 on Odyssey is pretty much the same as #6654 on Anthem, which I sailed in in April 2023. Pics below. I hope they help and turn out to be accurate for Odyssey. 😊
We loved the layout of this cabin. It's one of the so-called "square" cabins and we preferred it to the longer, narrower standard cabins as there was more room to move about. The only thing is, the shape means you get an armchair instead of a sofa but hopefully that won't be an issue for you. 🤞












 

TAP are actually OK. They do have issues with punctuality but unless you have a short connection somewhere that's not necessarily a problem. And they do have a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot with poor customer service when it comes to admin issues, especially refunds. That said, the few times I've had to contact them for something I've DM-ed them on FB messenger and my issue has been resolved promptly and to my satisfaction, so I guess it's one of those YMMV things.
Their fleet is very new, so decent aircraft. Most, but not all, have internet access at various price points and with free text messages (whatsapp, etc. no images) and USB charging points. As it happens, on this trip, the return flight was on one of their slightly older planes, so no connectivity or charging points, but when your flight leaves at 1 am chances are you're going to be asleep anyway. 
The crew and ground staff are generally extremely helpful and friendly. On connecting flights, they will usually have staff at the end of the jetbridge or at the bus arrival point (yes, Lisbon Airport is hopelessly undersized for the amount of traffic it gets, so buses to the terminal building are often a thing) directing connecting passengers.
So, all in all, when comparing prices, I do believe you get value for money when flying with them. Also, they're Star Alliance so you may be able to get an award flight with them if you have partner miles. I don't know where you're based but they fly to Portugal from a number of US airports: Miami, Newark, JFK, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and I think maybe Washington. I may be missing a couple if they've introduced any newer routes.
Hampton Inn coffee, to be fair, I don't remember it being as good the last time we stayed there. Maybe they've changed their supplier in the meantime? I do like my coffee strong so I was happy. 😂
Yes, the metromover, I could figure out the routes ok, because there were easy-to-understand maps at the stations. The big problem was that it didn't say anywhere at Brickell station or the one for Bayside (forget the name) that the Brickell route wasn't operating. We half figured it out because there were absolutely no Brickell trains coming through, but taking the Omni Full Loop would have meant going ALL the way round to get where we wanted to go, which was a few stops back in the totally opposite direction. It wasn't until we jumped on an inner loop that took us back to Government Center that we finally saw a notice about the Brickell Loop. It was a bit frustrating but it wasn't the end of the world ane we made it eventually. 😂
 

Day Two - Miami
We started the day with the Hampton's usual included breakfast. The last time we stayed here (pre-Covid), they had a wonderful fruit salad at breakfast but, sadly, that was missing this time around. That did not stop us from enjoying fuelling up, though. The coffee was very good. They had a dark roast and a light roast as well as decaf, so we took full advantage of it, knowing that we would be unlikely to get any decent coffee on board the ship. There are all the usual continental items, with cold meats and cheeses, cereal, fresh fruit and various types of bread. Plus hot items that change daily; DH said his omelette was very good. I looked for them the next day and it was scrambled eggs instead, so I missed out. And there is a make-your-own waffle station too.
Just in case it matters to anyone, the plates and cutlery are the disposable type.

We had a full day today in Miami and we had decided to do the ho-ho bus to try and see some stuff we hadn't got round to or had only had a fleeting glance at on our previous visit, most notably Wynwood Walls and Little Havana.
The weather was looking rather unfriendly first thing in the morning and someone (hint: wasn't me!) thought he should dress for a cooler day... By the time we arrived at Bayside, the sun was out and it was pretty warm and that someone realised he hadn't made the best of wardrobe choices! 😂

In the interests of comfort, given that he had a thick long-sleeved t-shirt on underneath all that stuff, we ended up going back to the hotel so he could change. We reckoned this would cost us maybe 45 minutes tops. Wrong. This was where we fell foul of the changes in the metromover schedule. By the time we'd figured out what was going on, changed trains twice and waited for a then delayed inner loop train, it was 90 minutes before we got back to Bayside and onto the bus. This would subsequently impact the rest of the day.
First stop was Miami Beach where we had a nice wander with a few rest stops in shady spots, eventually followed by an instantly forgettable hot dog with fries that were UNforgettable, not to mention inedible, because of how salty they were. The place was called Redhead Burger. I wouldn't recommend it.
Rest stop with the beach gym equipment. I did not use it, other than as a backdrop.

After lunch we headed back to the bus. The traffic was horrendous and we realised we weren't going to be able to make it to both Wynwood Walls and Little Havana, so we opted to leave Wynwood for a future visit because at least we could see some of the street murals from the bus as we were driving through the area. I think next time I will book us a hotel in the Wynwood area to make sure we don't miss out again.
We enjoyed wandering up and down the main street in Little Havana, cheekily popped into the domino club to use their bathrooms and then indulged in an ice cream from the place with a giant ice cream cone on the wall outside. It was too early for dinner (for us, anyway) so we headed back to the hotel for a pre-dinner rest.
I posted recently here on the boards about restaurants near the Hampton Inn Brickell but I'll just add the information here too, in case it might be useful to anyone who didn't see that thread.
There are several restaurants in immediate walking distance even if you are not very mobile. Turn right out of the main door and there is a Vietnamese place right next door, although it looked like a kind of fast-food place, then there is Sergio's Cuban, the Batch Gastro Pub that @AshleyDillo likes and, on the corner, a place called Alma Rosa which, from the menu, might have been Mexican or Peruvian. It looked quite nice. Just past there was where we ended up, an Italian place called Piola. 
The pizzas were good and reasonably priced but they were too big for us. We could have shared one with a side salad and that would have been the perfect amount. We sat outside on the covered terrace and it was very pleasant. There was a saxophonist playing for part of the time we were there. We were at the far end of the terrace from him so the music wasn't too loud, but it wasn't gentle either; I think if we'd been closer to him, it might have been uncomfortable. At least he played well!

Capricciosa pizza:

And Como pizza:

For information's sake, there are also some eating places if you turn left out of the hotel: Coyotaco and an upscale-looking place with valet parking called Marion. Just beyond that there was another (I think Mexican) whose name escapes me and a 7/11 store for last-minute essentials.
By now, jet-lag and the day's exploring had taken their toll so like the well-behaved pre-vintages that we are, we toddled off back to the hotel for another night's rest before moving to Fort Lauderdale the next day for our final pre-cruise night.

TAP are actually OK. They do have issues with punctuality but unless you have a short connection somewhere that's not necessarily a problem. And they do have a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot with poor customer service when it comes to admin issues, especially refunds. That said, the few times I've had to contact them for something I've DM-ed them on FB messenger and my issue has been resolved promptly and to my satisfaction, so I guess it's one of those YMMV things.
Their fleet is very new, so decent aircraft. Most, but not all, have internet access at various price points and with free text messages (whatsapp, etc. no images) and USB charging points. As it happens, on this trip, the return flight was on one of their slightly older planes, so no connectivity or charging points, but when your flight leaves at 1 am chances are you're going to be asleep anyway. 
The crew and ground staff are generally extremely helpful and friendly. On connecting flights, they will usually have staff at the end of the jetbridge or at the bus arrival point (yes, Lisbon Airport is hopelessly undersized for the amount of traffic it gets, so buses to the terminal building are often a thing) directing connecting passengers.
So, all in all, when comparing prices, I do believe you get value for money when flying with them. Also, they're Star Alliance so you may be able to get an award flight with them if you have partner miles. I don't know where you're based but they fly to Portugal from a number of US airports: Miami, Newark, JFK, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and I think maybe Washington. I may be missing a couple if they've introduced any newer routes.
Hampton Inn coffee, to be fair, I don't remember it being as good the last time we stayed there. Maybe they've changed their supplier in the meantime? I do like my coffee strong so I was happy. 😂
Yes, the metromover, I could figure out the routes ok, because there were easy-to-understand maps at the stations. The big problem was that it didn't say anywhere at Brickell station or the one for Bayside (forget the name) that the Brickell route wasn't operating. We half figured it out because there were absolutely no Brickell trains coming through, but taking the Omni Full Loop would have meant going ALL the way round to get where we wanted to go, which was a few stops back in the totally opposite direction. It wasn't until we jumped on an inner loop that took us back to Government Center that we finally saw a notice about the Brickell Loop. It was a bit frustrating but it wasn't the end of the world ane we made it eventually. 😂
 

Well, I've just had a look at the deck plans and @twangster's plan above and from those it appears that #6656 on Odyssey is pretty much the same as #6654 on Anthem, which I sailed in in April 2023. Pics below. I hope they help and turn out to be accurate for Odyssey. 😊
We loved the layout of this cabin. It's one of the so-called "square" cabins and we preferred it to the longer, narrower standard cabins as there was more room to move about. The only thing is, the shape means you get an armchair instead of a sofa but hopefully that won't be an issue for you. 🤞












 

Day Two - Miami
We started the day with the Hampton's usual included breakfast. The last time we stayed here (pre-Covid), they had a wonderful fruit salad at breakfast but, sadly, that was missing this time around. That did not stop us from enjoying fuelling up, though. The coffee was very good. They had a dark roast and a light roast as well as decaf, so we took full advantage of it, knowing that we would be unlikely to get any decent coffee on board the ship. There are all the usual continental items, with cold meats and cheeses, cereal, fresh fruit and various types of bread. Plus hot items that change daily; DH said his omelette was very good. I looked for them the next day and it was scrambled eggs instead, so I missed out. And there is a make-your-own waffle station too.
Just in case it matters to anyone, the plates and cutlery are the disposable type.

We had a full day today in Miami and we had decided to do the ho-ho bus to try and see some stuff we hadn't got round to or had only had a fleeting glance at on our previous visit, most notably Wynwood Walls and Little Havana.
The weather was looking rather unfriendly first thing in the morning and someone (hint: wasn't me!) thought he should dress for a cooler day... By the time we arrived at Bayside, the sun was out and it was pretty warm and that someone realised he hadn't made the best of wardrobe choices! 😂

In the interests of comfort, given that he had a thick long-sleeved t-shirt on underneath all that stuff, we ended up going back to the hotel so he could change. We reckoned this would cost us maybe 45 minutes tops. Wrong. This was where we fell foul of the changes in the metromover schedule. By the time we'd figured out what was going on, changed trains twice and waited for a then delayed inner loop train, it was 90 minutes before we got back to Bayside and onto the bus. This would subsequently impact the rest of the day.
First stop was Miami Beach where we had a nice wander with a few rest stops in shady spots, eventually followed by an instantly forgettable hot dog with fries that were UNforgettable, not to mention inedible, because of how salty they were. The place was called Redhead Burger. I wouldn't recommend it.
Rest stop with the beach gym equipment. I did not use it, other than as a backdrop.

After lunch we headed back to the bus. The traffic was horrendous and we realised we weren't going to be able to make it to both Wynwood Walls and Little Havana, so we opted to leave Wynwood for a future visit because at least we could see some of the street murals from the bus as we were driving through the area. I think next time I will book us a hotel in the Wynwood area to make sure we don't miss out again.
We enjoyed wandering up and down the main street in Little Havana, cheekily popped into the domino club to use their bathrooms and then indulged in an ice cream from the place with a giant ice cream cone on the wall outside. It was too early for dinner (for us, anyway) so we headed back to the hotel for a pre-dinner rest.
I posted recently here on the boards about restaurants near the Hampton Inn Brickell but I'll just add the information here too, in case it might be useful to anyone who didn't see that thread.
There are several restaurants in immediate walking distance even if you are not very mobile. Turn right out of the main door and there is a Vietnamese place right next door, although it looked like a kind of fast-food place, then there is Sergio's Cuban, the Batch Gastro Pub that @AshleyDillo likes and, on the corner, a place called Alma Rosa which, from the menu, might have been Mexican or Peruvian. It looked quite nice. Just past there was where we ended up, an Italian place called Piola. 
The pizzas were good and reasonably priced but they were too big for us. We could have shared one with a side salad and that would have been the perfect amount. We sat outside on the covered terrace and it was very pleasant. There was a saxophonist playing for part of the time we were there. We were at the far end of the terrace from him so the music wasn't too loud, but it wasn't gentle either; I think if we'd been closer to him, it might have been uncomfortable. At least he played well!

Capricciosa pizza:

And Como pizza:

For information's sake, there are also some eating places if you turn left out of the hotel: Coyotaco and an upscale-looking place with valet parking called Marion. Just beyond that there was another (I think Mexican) whose name escapes me and a 7/11 store for last-minute essentials.
By now, jet-lag and the day's exploring had taken their toll so like the well-behaved pre-vintages that we are, we toddled off back to the hotel for another night's rest before moving to Fort Lauderdale the next day for our final pre-cruise night.

TAP are actually OK. They do have issues with punctuality but unless you have a short connection somewhere that's not necessarily a problem. And they do have a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot with poor customer service when it comes to admin issues, especially refunds. That said, the few times I've had to contact them for something I've DM-ed them on FB messenger and my issue has been resolved promptly and to my satisfaction, so I guess it's one of those YMMV things.
Their fleet is very new, so decent aircraft. Most, but not all, have internet access at various price points and with free text messages (whatsapp, etc. no images) and USB charging points. As it happens, on this trip, the return flight was on one of their slightly older planes, so no connectivity or charging points, but when your flight leaves at 1 am chances are you're going to be asleep anyway. 
The crew and ground staff are generally extremely helpful and friendly. On connecting flights, they will usually have staff at the end of the jetbridge or at the bus arrival point (yes, Lisbon Airport is hopelessly undersized for the amount of traffic it gets, so buses to the terminal building are often a thing) directing connecting passengers.
So, all in all, when comparing prices, I do believe you get value for money when flying with them. Also, they're Star Alliance so you may be able to get an award flight with them if you have partner miles. I don't know where you're based but they fly to Portugal from a number of US airports: Miami, Newark, JFK, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and I think maybe Washington. I may be missing a couple if they've introduced any newer routes.
Hampton Inn coffee, to be fair, I don't remember it being as good the last time we stayed there. Maybe they've changed their supplier in the meantime? I do like my coffee strong so I was happy. 😂
Yes, the metromover, I could figure out the routes ok, because there were easy-to-understand maps at the stations. The big problem was that it didn't say anywhere at Brickell station or the one for Bayside (forget the name) that the Brickell route wasn't operating. We half figured it out because there were absolutely no Brickell trains coming through, but taking the Omni Full Loop would have meant going ALL the way round to get where we wanted to go, which was a few stops back in the totally opposite direction. It wasn't until we jumped on an inner loop that took us back to Government Center that we finally saw a notice about the Brickell Loop. It was a bit frustrating but it wasn't the end of the world ane we made it eventually. 😂
 

Following! This is our exact cruise in March, and you're right - I haven't seen a review of it either! Thank you for doing one. I'm especially curious about your shore excursions/activities at the port stops.
How do you like TAP? I've seen it have some inexpensive fares and always wondering how it is as a carrier for transatlantic flights.
Hoo boy, I am surprised to hear this opinion about the coffee! 🤣 Hampton Inn is my family's usual go-to hotel when traveling (we like the 2 queen suites that give us 3 sleeping spaces) and we find that coffee terrible. I don't usually put sugar in my coffee but when I'm there, I find myself adding 3 packets to cover the taste. 
Oof, this sounds rough. I guess they hadn't marked it with the changes in the route?
 
 
 
 

We have wrestled with trying this place but we have one in our traveling party who has issues with garlic and onions, but only sometimes, so Italian is always dangerous. It's even more dangerous when it is more than two steps away from the hotel front door 😆

Day Two - Miami
We started the day with the Hampton's usual included breakfast. The last time we stayed here (pre-Covid), they had a wonderful fruit salad at breakfast but, sadly, that was missing this time around. That did not stop us from enjoying fuelling up, though. The coffee was very good. They had a dark roast and a light roast as well as decaf, so we took full advantage of it, knowing that we would be unlikely to get any decent coffee on board the ship. There are all the usual continental items, with cold meats and cheeses, cereal, fresh fruit and various types of bread. Plus hot items that change daily; DH said his omelette was very good. I looked for them the next day and it was scrambled eggs instead, so I missed out. And there is a make-your-own waffle station too.
Just in case it matters to anyone, the plates and cutlery are the disposable type.

We had a full day today in Miami and we had decided to do the ho-ho bus to try and see some stuff we hadn't got round to or had only had a fleeting glance at on our previous visit, most notably Wynwood Walls and Little Havana.
The weather was looking rather unfriendly first thing in the morning and someone (hint: wasn't me!) thought he should dress for a cooler day... By the time we arrived at Bayside, the sun was out and it was pretty warm and that someone realised he hadn't made the best of wardrobe choices! 😂

In the interests of comfort, given that he had a thick long-sleeved t-shirt on underneath all that stuff, we ended up going back to the hotel so he could change. We reckoned this would cost us maybe 45 minutes tops. Wrong. This was where we fell foul of the changes in the metromover schedule. By the time we'd figured out what was going on, changed trains twice and waited for a then delayed inner loop train, it was 90 minutes before we got back to Bayside and onto the bus. This would subsequently impact the rest of the day.
First stop was Miami Beach where we had a nice wander with a few rest stops in shady spots, eventually followed by an instantly forgettable hot dog with fries that were UNforgettable, not to mention inedible, because of how salty they were. The place was called Redhead Burger. I wouldn't recommend it.
Rest stop with the beach gym equipment. I did not use it, other than as a backdrop.

After lunch we headed back to the bus. The traffic was horrendous and we realised we weren't going to be able to make it to both Wynwood Walls and Little Havana, so we opted to leave Wynwood for a future visit because at least we could see some of the street murals from the bus as we were driving through the area. I think next time I will book us a hotel in the Wynwood area to make sure we don't miss out again.
We enjoyed wandering up and down the main street in Little Havana, cheekily popped into the domino club to use their bathrooms and then indulged in an ice cream from the place with a giant ice cream cone on the wall outside. It was too early for dinner (for us, anyway) so we headed back to the hotel for a pre-dinner rest.
I posted recently here on the boards about restaurants near the Hampton Inn Brickell but I'll just add the information here too, in case it might be useful to anyone who didn't see that thread.
There are several restaurants in immediate walking distance even if you are not very mobile. Turn right out of the main door and there is a Vietnamese place right next door, although it looked like a kind of fast-food place, then there is Sergio's Cuban, the Batch Gastro Pub that @AshleyDillo likes and, on the corner, a place called Alma Rosa which, from the menu, might have been Mexican or Peruvian. It looked quite nice. Just past there was where we ended up, an Italian place called Piola. 
The pizzas were good and reasonably priced but they were too big for us. We could have shared one with a side salad and that would have been the perfect amount. We sat outside on the covered terrace and it was very pleasant. There was a saxophonist playing for part of the time we were there. We were at the far end of the terrace from him so the music wasn't too loud, but it wasn't gentle either; I think if we'd been closer to him, it might have been uncomfortable. At least he played well!

Capricciosa pizza:

And Como pizza:

For information's sake, there are also some eating places if you turn left out of the hotel: Coyotaco and an upscale-looking place with valet parking called Marion. Just beyond that there was another (I think Mexican) whose name escapes me and a 7/11 store for last-minute essentials.
By now, jet-lag and the day's exploring had taken their toll so like the well-behaved pre-vintages that we are, we toddled off back to the hotel for another night's rest before moving to Fort Lauderdale the next day for our final pre-cruise night.

Day Two - Miami
We started the day with the Hampton's usual included breakfast. The last time we stayed here (pre-Covid), they had a wonderful fruit salad at breakfast but, sadly, that was missing this time around. That did not stop us from enjoying fuelling up, though. The coffee was very good. They had a dark roast and a light roast as well as decaf, so we took full advantage of it, knowing that we would be unlikely to get any decent coffee on board the ship. There are all the usual continental items, with cold meats and cheeses, cereal, fresh fruit and various types of bread. Plus hot items that change daily; DH said his omelette was very good. I looked for them the next day and it was scrambled eggs instead, so I missed out. And there is a make-your-own waffle station too.
Just in case it matters to anyone, the plates and cutlery are the disposable type.

We had a full day today in Miami and we had decided to do the ho-ho bus to try and see some stuff we hadn't got round to or had only had a fleeting glance at on our previous visit, most notably Wynwood Walls and Little Havana.
The weather was looking rather unfriendly first thing in the morning and someone (hint: wasn't me!) thought he should dress for a cooler day... By the time we arrived at Bayside, the sun was out and it was pretty warm and that someone realised he hadn't made the best of wardrobe choices! 😂

In the interests of comfort, given that he had a thick long-sleeved t-shirt on underneath all that stuff, we ended up going back to the hotel so he could change. We reckoned this would cost us maybe 45 minutes tops. Wrong. This was where we fell foul of the changes in the metromover schedule. By the time we'd figured out what was going on, changed trains twice and waited for a then delayed inner loop train, it was 90 minutes before we got back to Bayside and onto the bus. This would subsequently impact the rest of the day.
First stop was Miami Beach where we had a nice wander with a few rest stops in shady spots, eventually followed by an instantly forgettable hot dog with fries that were UNforgettable, not to mention inedible, because of how salty they were. The place was called Redhead Burger. I wouldn't recommend it.
Rest stop with the beach gym equipment. I did not use it, other than as a backdrop.

After lunch we headed back to the bus. The traffic was horrendous and we realised we weren't going to be able to make it to both Wynwood Walls and Little Havana, so we opted to leave Wynwood for a future visit because at least we could see some of the street murals from the bus as we were driving through the area. I think next time I will book us a hotel in the Wynwood area to make sure we don't miss out again.
We enjoyed wandering up and down the main street in Little Havana, cheekily popped into the domino club to use their bathrooms and then indulged in an ice cream from the place with a giant ice cream cone on the wall outside. It was too early for dinner (for us, anyway) so we headed back to the hotel for a pre-dinner rest.
I posted recently here on the boards about restaurants near the Hampton Inn Brickell but I'll just add the information here too, in case it might be useful to anyone who didn't see that thread.
There are several restaurants in immediate walking distance even if you are not very mobile. Turn right out of the main door and there is a Vietnamese place right next door, although it looked like a kind of fast-food place, then there is Sergio's Cuban, the Batch Gastro Pub that @AshleyDillo likes and, on the corner, a place called Alma Rosa which, from the menu, might have been Mexican or Peruvian. It looked quite nice. Just past there was where we ended up, an Italian place called Piola. 
The pizzas were good and reasonably priced but they were too big for us. We could have shared one with a side salad and that would have been the perfect amount. We sat outside on the covered terrace and it was very pleasant. There was a saxophonist playing for part of the time we were there. We were at the far end of the terrace from him so the music wasn't too loud, but it wasn't gentle either; I think if we'd been closer to him, it might have been uncomfortable. At least he played well!

Capricciosa pizza:

And Como pizza:

For information's sake, there are also some eating places if you turn left out of the hotel: Coyotaco and an upscale-looking place with valet parking called Marion. Just beyond that there was another (I think Mexican) whose name escapes me and a 7/11 store for last-minute essentials.
By now, jet-lag and the day's exploring had taken their toll so like the well-behaved pre-vintages that we are, we toddled off back to the hotel for another night's rest before moving to Fort Lauderdale the next day for our final pre-cruise night.

Day Two - Miami
We started the day with the Hampton's usual included breakfast. The last time we stayed here (pre-Covid), they had a wonderful fruit salad at breakfast but, sadly, that was missing this time around. That did not stop us from enjoying fuelling up, though. The coffee was very good. They had a dark roast and a light roast as well as decaf, so we took full advantage of it, knowing that we would be unlikely to get any decent coffee on board the ship. There are all the usual continental items, with cold meats and cheeses, cereal, fresh fruit and various types of bread. Plus hot items that change daily; DH said his omelette was very good. I looked for them the next day and it was scrambled eggs instead, so I missed out. And there is a make-your-own waffle station too.
Just in case it matters to anyone, the plates and cutlery are the disposable type.

We had a full day today in Miami and we had decided to do the ho-ho bus to try and see some stuff we hadn't got round to or had only had a fleeting glance at on our previous visit, most notably Wynwood Walls and Little Havana.
The weather was looking rather unfriendly first thing in the morning and someone (hint: wasn't me!) thought he should dress for a cooler day... By the time we arrived at Bayside, the sun was out and it was pretty warm and that someone realised he hadn't made the best of wardrobe choices! 😂

In the interests of comfort, given that he had a thick long-sleeved t-shirt on underneath all that stuff, we ended up going back to the hotel so he could change. We reckoned this would cost us maybe 45 minutes tops. Wrong. This was where we fell foul of the changes in the metromover schedule. By the time we'd figured out what was going on, changed trains twice and waited for a then delayed inner loop train, it was 90 minutes before we got back to Bayside and onto the bus. This would subsequently impact the rest of the day.
First stop was Miami Beach where we had a nice wander with a few rest stops in shady spots, eventually followed by an instantly forgettable hot dog with fries that were UNforgettable, not to mention inedible, because of how salty they were. The place was called Redhead Burger. I wouldn't recommend it.
Rest stop with the beach gym equipment. I did not use it, other than as a backdrop.

After lunch we headed back to the bus. The traffic was horrendous and we realised we weren't going to be able to make it to both Wynwood Walls and Little Havana, so we opted to leave Wynwood for a future visit because at least we could see some of the street murals from the bus as we were driving through the area. I think next time I will book us a hotel in the Wynwood area to make sure we don't miss out again.
We enjoyed wandering up and down the main street in Little Havana, cheekily popped into the domino club to use their bathrooms and then indulged in an ice cream from the place with a giant ice cream cone on the wall outside. It was too early for dinner (for us, anyway) so we headed back to the hotel for a pre-dinner rest.
I posted recently here on the boards about restaurants near the Hampton Inn Brickell but I'll just add the information here too, in case it might be useful to anyone who didn't see that thread.
There are several restaurants in immediate walking distance even if you are not very mobile. Turn right out of the main door and there is a Vietnamese place right next door, although it looked like a kind of fast-food place, then there is Sergio's Cuban, the Batch Gastro Pub that @AshleyDillo likes and, on the corner, a place called Alma Rosa which, from the menu, might have been Mexican or Peruvian. It looked quite nice. Just past there was where we ended up, an Italian place called Piola. 
The pizzas were good and reasonably priced but they were too big for us. We could have shared one with a side salad and that would have been the perfect amount. We sat outside on the covered terrace and it was very pleasant. There was a saxophonist playing for part of the time we were there. We were at the far end of the terrace from him so the music wasn't too loud, but it wasn't gentle either; I think if we'd been closer to him, it might have been uncomfortable. At least he played well!

Capricciosa pizza:

And Como pizza:

For information's sake, there are also some eating places if you turn left out of the hotel: Coyotaco and an upscale-looking place with valet parking called Marion. Just beyond that there was another (I think Mexican) whose name escapes me and a 7/11 store for last-minute essentials.
By now, jet-lag and the day's exploring had taken their toll so like the well-behaved pre-vintages that we are, we toddled off back to the hotel for another night's rest before moving to Fort Lauderdale the next day for our final pre-cruise night.

It's been a while since I've done one of these and there doesn't seem to have been a recent one covering Symphony's current 8-night itineraries down to Aruba and Curaçao, so in the interests of a) being useful and b) reliving our recent cruise - just disembarked this past Sunday 😭, I thought, why not?
So, Day One - Travelling from Custard Tart Land (aka Portugal) to Miami, Florida.
 As per usual, our travel itinerary had us flying from Faro, our local airport in Southern Portugal, via Lisbon to Miami.
Take off. The watery area below is a renowned wetland zone called the Ria Formosa, which translates to "beautiful estuary", and which is famed for its wildlife, especially birds.

As usual, we were flying on the Portuguese flag carrier, TAP. Unusually, however, they had two flights going out on this day, so instead of flying up to Lisbon the night before and then out to Miami the next day, we saved on the hotel cost by "enduring" a five-hour layover in Lisbon. It actually wasn't too bad; Lisbon has some decent shops and restaurants to keep you occupied.
We had lunch at our favourite eatery, the Cockpit. If you ever have a layover in Lisbon over a mealtime I recommend it. They have a small seating area with table service or you can order at the counter and eat in the food court. Our preferred choice is the "Prego com presunto e ovo estrelado" in the "Snacks" section of the menu. (They do have a menu available in English). This is a beefsteak sandwich, topped with dry-cured ham and a fried egg, and served with what they call "country" fries. Very yummy and very filling. However, if you still have room for dessert, there's a great pastry shop right next door... 😈


After lunch, we found a good spot to rest up until it was time for our flight. You do have to hunt a bit for these seats. They're located near the electronic passport gates, but before your go through them. There is also a coffee shop and a toilet that are not nearly as crowded as the main departure lounge area.

Finally on board. We paid extra for emergency exit seats for some extra space and comfort (business class being well over our budget). Well worth it.


TAP includes food on transatlantic flights. The timing of this flight meant we had dinner and a late-night snack just before arrival into Miami. The dinner (chicken stroganoff) looks pretty disgusting but it was actually quite nice. TAP economy catering is generally edible unlike some other airlines.


The flight itself was uneventful and it landed just a little behind schedule, something of an achievement for TAP, who must have one of the worst punctuality records in the business.
Immigration was the quickest we've ever had at Miami, thanks to the timing of the flight; landing around 10 pm, there were no other international flights arriving to that terminal. the luggage seemed to take forever to come through but to be fair it was probably only about 15 minutes and we were soon in a Lyft on our way to our hotel.
I had previously linked my Hilton and Lyft accounts. This gets you Hilton points for each Lyft journey.
We were staying for two nights at the Hampton Inn in Brickell. I had booked a standard king room but we were upgraded to a king studio. I don't really know why, possibly because I had cashed in some points in part payment.
I'd checked in on the Hilton app ahead of time so I was able to choose our room and having stayed here before I knew which area would give us the best "view" if you can really call it that.



By this time, we'd been up and on the go for 22 hours so we literally dropped our bags and fell into bed for a good night's sleep before a full day out and about in Miami the following day.
 
 

We enjoyed her. 😊
Like you, we have also done Oasis and Harmony, twice each in fact, but this was our first time on Symphony.

The metromover is very handy. During our stay, the Brickell line was out of service so they had combined the Omni (?) and Brickell services into one, called Full Loop. This didn't affect us heading into Bayside but caused us a lot of confusion on the way back. I'm guessing it was a temporary thing for whatever reason.

It's been a while since I've done one of these and there doesn't seem to have been a recent one covering Symphony's current 8-night itineraries down to Aruba and Curaçao, so in the interests of a) being useful and b) reliving our recent cruise - just disembarked this past Sunday 😭, I thought, why not?
So, Day One - Travelling from Custard Tart Land (aka Portugal) to Miami, Florida.
 As per usual, our travel itinerary had us flying from Faro, our local airport in Southern Portugal, via Lisbon to Miami.
Take off. The watery area below is a renowned wetland zone called the Ria Formosa, which translates to "beautiful estuary", and which is famed for its wildlife, especially birds.

As usual, we were flying on the Portuguese flag carrier, TAP. Unusually, however, they had two flights going out on this day, so instead of flying up to Lisbon the night before and then out to Miami the next day, we saved on the hotel cost by "enduring" a five-hour layover in Lisbon. It actually wasn't too bad; Lisbon has some decent shops and restaurants to keep you occupied.
We had lunch at our favourite eatery, the Cockpit. If you ever have a layover in Lisbon over a mealtime I recommend it. They have a small seating area with table service or you can order at the counter and eat in the food court. Our preferred choice is the "Prego com presunto e ovo estrelado" in the "Snacks" section of the menu. (They do have a menu available in English). This is a beefsteak sandwich, topped with dry-cured ham and a fried egg, and served with what they call "country" fries. Very yummy and very filling. However, if you still have room for dessert, there's a great pastry shop right next door... 😈


After lunch, we found a good spot to rest up until it was time for our flight. You do have to hunt a bit for these seats. They're located near the electronic passport gates, but before your go through them. There is also a coffee shop and a toilet that are not nearly as crowded as the main departure lounge area.

Finally on board. We paid extra for emergency exit seats for some extra space and comfort (business class being well over our budget). Well worth it.


TAP includes food on transatlantic flights. The timing of this flight meant we had dinner and a late-night snack just before arrival into Miami. The dinner (chicken stroganoff) looks pretty disgusting but it was actually quite nice. TAP economy catering is generally edible unlike some other airlines.


The flight itself was uneventful and it landed just a little behind schedule, something of an achievement for TAP, who must have one of the worst punctuality records in the business.
Immigration was the quickest we've ever had at Miami, thanks to the timing of the flight; landing around 10 pm, there were no other international flights arriving to that terminal. the luggage seemed to take forever to come through but to be fair it was probably only about 15 minutes and we were soon in a Lyft on our way to our hotel.
I had previously linked my Hilton and Lyft accounts. This gets you Hilton points for each Lyft journey.
We were staying for two nights at the Hampton Inn in Brickell. I had booked a standard king room but we were upgraded to a king studio. I don't really know why, possibly because I had cashed in some points in part payment.
I'd checked in on the Hilton app ahead of time so I was able to choose our room and having stayed here before I knew which area would give us the best "view" if you can really call it that.



By this time, we'd been up and on the go for 22 hours so we literally dropped our bags and fell into bed for a good night's sleep before a full day out and about in Miami the following day.