Sunday April 19th, 2026 Miami, Florida, USA
- Neil Wylie
- Jan 31
- 4 min read
What an absolute farce it was this morning as we tried to get off the ship. It’s normal when arriving in a US port from abroad for all the passengers to be required to disembark for a face to face immigration check, and the port facilities usually handle this situation very well. However, in Miami as we descended into the immigration check area, at our appointed time, we were me with an absolutely massive queue; I would estimate that there were at least 500 people in a snaking, Disneyland-like, line – with only 4 immigration officers on duty. Fair enough, there were at least 9 other massive cruise ships in port, but Miami is supposed to be the largest cruise port in the world, with top notch facilities able to handle this kind of volume. Joining the line and trudging along at a snail’s pace, the passengers were like a large group of prisoners awaiting some kind of terrible fate – as opposed to being excited about the day head in sunny Miami. I did a quick estimate, based on our rate of movement, and determined that it would take us about 2 hours to reach the immigration desk. There was no provision for those with mobility issues, disgraceful. After about 20 minutes we spotted an immigration official going down the line asking if anyone had a Global Entry card, Sandra and I had invested in this card that allows you to speed through security at airports a number of years ago, having first been interviewed, fingerprinted and had our backgrounds checked. This was the first time we’d seen it being used at a cruise port and we were quickly pulled from the line and taken to a special immigration booth with no line.
Having cleared immigration we quickly boarded our bus; today we have an “on your own” type of shore excursion - the bus will take us to Miami’s South Beach area and allow us about 3 hours to explore on our own before bringing us back. Clearing immigration quicky was great but we found ourselves to be the only ones on the bus, as all of the other passengers in or group were still stuck in the line; still it was better to be sat on the airconditioned bus than standing in the warm immigration warehouse. After about 1 ½ hours the first of our tour mates started to arrive at the bus and after about another ½ we were finally on our way – only to run into an enormous traffic jam right in the port. Not a great start to the day.
Miami South Beach is actually a separate city from Miami; it’s on a thin strip of land connected to the mainland by several bridges and causeways. We really did not need a tour guide for the 15 minute journey, but the guy insisted on getting on the PA and really was not very good; a bit of a dispute arose on the bus when he announced that, because of the 2 hour delay at the port, our time in South Beach was being extended by 1 hour – I think he expected applause, instead of the loud protests.
We last visited Miami Beach several decades ago for a brief stop on our way to the Bahamas, and on that trip had walked along the famous Ocean Drive. So today we returned to Ocean Drive and found ourselves strolling along in the nice warm sunshine with Lummus Park and the beautiful beach to the east and the magnificent row of Art Deco hotels, houses and cafes to the west. The city established the Arto Deco Historic District in 1979 to protect the buildings, most of which were built in the 1930’s – the area is the largest collection of Art Deco structures in the world. With pastel colors, columns, wrought iron work and fine carving detail the Art Deco buildings were like a row of ornate jewelry boxes along the shoreline and especially pleasing on the eye.
Passing the famous Palace Bar I was nearly blown sideways by the boon of the music and was astonished to see the happy customers dancing on the tables and was still only mid-morning. A little further along we passed the Villa Casa Casuarina the former home of fashion designer Gianni Versace and unfortunately where he was murdered on his doorstep in 1997 – the place is now a restaurant. We resisted all attempts to be dragged into one of the many streetside cafes, but eventually at the far northern end of the road we decided to have brunch at the Il Bolognese café in the Winter Haven Hotel. Sitting in the shaded outdoor café was a great spot to people watch, the temperature was warming up but there was a light breeze – the food was good, the coffee better. The Winter Haven is an Art Deco classic; I knew this because as I was looking for the toilet I bumped into a small tour group with the young guide extolling the beauty of the interior architectural details.
After brunch it was more walking, and the temperature was rising rapidly – so was the people density; we went through the park and spotted a photo shoot, but it was no one we recognized, and then we went down to the beach which was surprisingly sparse. Before rejoining the bus, we stopped at another café for a cooling drink – it was strangely Mexican themed, but this just meant we could have a few nice chips with our drinks.
Later in the evening I stood on the balcony and watched as our ship departed Miami; earlier in the day there had been 9 cruise ships lined up like battleship row at Pearl Harbor, now we were the last ship to leave and I got to see all of the purpose-built cruise terminals for each of the cruise lines that call this location home port.
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