Encore: Embarkation

Good morning! Today is embarkation day for my Norwegian Encore cruise. I stayed at an Airbnb in South Beach last night.

I went out looking for breakfast and had a bakery I found on Collins Avenue in mind. I found out there’s a closer location to my Airbnb.

I couldn’t decide so I just asked the lady behind the counter for the best they had.

Now I’m going for Cuban Coffee.

Cortadito and colada

Colada

Cortadito. They give you the little cups for sharing. I’m drinking it all myself though.

Oh yeah.

Not bad for all of that caffeine. That’s with 18% tip which oddly was their highest auto tip amount on the machine. I think they were $2.60 each.

I’m checking out.

The elevator isn’t working so I had to carry my suitcase down the stairs.

I had Lyft for $30 and by the end of the booking it changed my total to $58. I’m going with Uber for $48. We’re in the area of what I pay from the Fort Lauderdale airport to Miami I think.

The 9-minute Uber wait instantly turned into 18 but we’re almost there.

That’s my ride.

I’m running 30 minutes behind my arrival time.

Now it has my dropoff at 11:43.

We made a u-turn and went through a tunnel.

The tunnel saved time. I was dropped off at 11:39.

I dropped my bag with a porter and headed inside. I was inside at 11:41.

I’m in the security line at 11:44.

I’m through security at 11:50.

I’m through check-in at 11:53. They gave me my room key.

Who knew Prima was so much smaller than Pearl?

I’m boarding at 11:58. I got a much warmer welcome here than I did on Jewel in Alaska.

19 minutes between being dropped off outside and being on the ship with my card in hand. Next time we’ll cover day 1 on Norwegian Encore.