Leaving Port of Miami 

As we left the Port of Miami, we had a beautiful view of Miami.  We sailed on the MSC Divina which first launched in 2012. The ship has 18 floors with 1751 staterooms; it holds 4300 guests with 1388 crew members.   MSC is an Italian cruise line-- the MSC Divina was inspired by screen legend Sophia Loren and even has a suite designed by the actress.  The concert cruise -- "Cruise to the Edge" with   -- had many progressive rock legends including Yes, Marillion, Steve Hackett (our favorite), UK, Renaissance, Tangerine Dream among others.  We saw more than a dozen concerts over the 5 days on board.

 Stateroom picture courtesy of MSC Cruises website...

  

SOUTH BEACH MIAMI

Want to feel old - visit South Beach in Miami. Rick and I recently visited South Beach the first week of April and  soon realized it was "Spring Break" for thousands of college students.  The streets were quiet and empty in the morning hours but after 5pm, it's a whole different world!! The bars were full, the streets were full, the restaurants were full...all until 5am when all goes back to being quiet and calm -- empty streets, beautiful sunrises, animals in the park....  At night, the music was so loud that even earplugs didn't help.  When still trying to fall asleep at 3am with music blasting and streets full of young college kids, I realized that I am just too old for South Beach...

We stayed at the Breakwater which was across the street from an Art Deco store and the beach.  There was also a small park.  I went out early Sunday morning and was able to catch the sunrise as well as some friends -- the green parrots that were plentiful around our hotel and the squirrel that was in the park.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

South Beach at night

South Beach during the day