Getting There Is Half The Fun!
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2024
- Getting from our home in California to a cruise ship in Florida is all part of the fun of being on vacation. We had to detour around the mudslides in Santa Barbara, but it didn't slow us down much. And when we finally boarded our flight at Los Angeles International Airport, the best part of the trip was flying first class in JetBlue Mint.
In this video, I'll also fill you in on the best hotel to stay at if you're going on a cruise from the port of Miami. Hint: It's right across the street from the Bayside Marketplace. I'll show you a good place to get casual food near the cruise port, too.
This video ends with us boarding the newest cruise ship based in Miami... the MSC Seaside. There will be several other videos, coming soon, about the cruise itself.
Basically, this is a travel vlog about getting to the world's greatest cruising port... and serves as a reminder that getting there is half the fun. (At least if you fly first class)
Most of this video was shot with a GoPro Hero 6 mounted on a FeiyuTech G5 gimbal.
Such a well done video
You are so right. Getting there is half the fun. We always fly in the day before the cruise. I used to work for an airline and flying "non-rev" space available we would leave a day prior to make sure we got to our embarkation city. I no longer work in the airline industry, however we still fly in one day prior. I have also stayed at the Holiday Inn across from Bayside Marketplace. Just as you say, very convenient to the Port of Miami and great access to food and shopping. I have stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel and there is a very nice waterside walkway to Bayside from the hotel.
These videos help keep my sanity in these times Jim!
Loving this videos series! Thanks for sharing your travels with us, Jim!
You can narrate just about anything. You make it look so fun. I plan on taking a cruise myself and I appreciate your in depth reviews of the cruise ships.
On jetBlue they do have a similar entertainment screen in Coach. I love jetBlue!
Thank you for this video and hotel information maybe more ppl will visit Bayside 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Thanks, Jim. Now you have me thinking about flying in a day early, just to enjoy the Bayside Marketplace. Another great and informative video.
This video was so helpful, thank you!! 🚢🍾
Thanks for posting Jim ... Love the decor in your office ... Yes getting there can be fun or frustrating if you have a weather delay like our last one. Keep on posting and thanks again
Jim , your wife and you are couple goals for my husband and I ! I love the fact you travel in the best way possible ❤
Love this video including your trip before the cruise. I agree with your sentiments!
love Morgan......glad he/her got a vacation with friends also....your videos are great
What a Great Contribution to Happiness while encapsulating escapism.
Thanks for sharing, shared. Kind Wishes, from Leeds. UK.
I will be booking my hotel at the Holiday Inn Bayside for our cruise in January 2023 based on Jim's video and comments.
Getting to the cruise is absolutely half the fun. I’ve only been on two cruises; first one was in December 2014 (on board Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas) and the second one in July 2018 (on board the Carnival Glory). I love cruising and I enjoy cruising out of Florida. I want t go on another one within the next few years, but it may not happen until after the pandemic is over... that could be a while.
You should definitely try the Holland America Line and Celebrity Cruises. If you were to do a cruise on one, if not both cruise lines, I’d love to see your reviews about them!
we like the bayside as well. and the hard rock restaurant
Looks like fun! I don’t have to do any of this since I live in Miami. But I really do enjoy Bayside, it’s a great time!
P.S. I’m booked on Norwegian Getaway and Harmony of the Seas this summer. You’ve helped me find my passion for cruising. Thank you!
Then I consider my efforts a success!
Another well-made entertaining and informative video Jim. Keep 'em coming.
Great video, fun and informative. Shout out to Gayle for dog sitting. Morgan had a friend to hang out with, too.
Great video. Thanks.
Love watching yall travel. You guys always go all out!
Good advice.
So funny we also fly JetBlue out of Long Beach (no Mint : ( ) and have stayed at the same Holiday Inn and walked the Bayside mall I learned about years ago in my Coast Guard days. You live a charmed life Jim - love your videos and hope to catch you on a cruise sometime!
I always travel with 2 cases 1 for my clothes 1 for my gifts am buying...no more leaving nothing be hind..i go in vacation to shop..
Great video! Thank you! I’ve never been on a plane before. I like your first class on Jet Blue.
Thank you for making this video I really found it informative.
This video was quite entertaining and well put together!
Hello Jim. I was on my first cruise ever in July and I loved it
Wow Jim I am always very impressed by your vacation videos and to be honest I rarely comment on any RUclips videos in general but wanted to tell you this one was absolutely phenomenal! I throughly enjoyed the way you put this together and told your story. Hope you guys are having a great time and I am eagerly looking forward to the rest of this series!
Thanks, Dala!
I'm proud of this video and think it turned out well. It's a different style than most of my other videos, but I think it's a style I might use more often for videos about our travels.
Thanks for commenting!
Awesome Video Jim, I love to cruise with my family as well. In fact we are going on a 7 day cruise on the Norwegian Getaway on January 21. On your website I found out you are from Grover Beach, I graduated from Cal Poly in 2010, and miss that area incredibly. My favorite restaurant was Jocko's. Thank you for the great videos.
You guys are so rich! To me atleast. You have first class, you've been on like 45 cruises, you.... you... uhh... are so LUCKY.
There's been some luck involved, but it's mostly just a result of hard work all my life. I started working in 1977, and have never stopped. 26 years ago, I got a great union job with the local electric utility, and that totally changed my life... allowing me to properly support my family and to save some money. Four years after that, I had enough money saved up to do a 3-day cruise with my family. It was twelve more years of work after that, though, before we could afford our second cruise. We ended up doing two cruises that year, and three cruises the next. By this time, our kids were grown and mostly on their own. I had been working at my union job for 19 years at this point! And then in 2012 I had a video go viral on RUclips and that really changed my life, too. I started to get more serious about making RUclips videos, and eventually learned how to make some decent money at it. So now, here we are in 2018 and I have a good-paying union job, no kids to support anymore, and a pretty decent income from RUclips, too. So, times are good. But it took a lot of hard work, and a little bit of luck, to get here. The lucky part was being born in the USA, and also being born to a good set of parents who got me off to a good start. And meeting my wife, who really prodded me to apply for that union job 26 years ago, even though it was not a line of work I really pictured myself getting in to. But it turned out well! My main point, though, is that hard work is the way to make good things happen in your life.
Jim Zimmerlin what an incredible and lucky life! Hope I can turn out like you someday!
Excellent video, Jim. I totally agree about the Holiday Inn and the surrounding area. When we cruise out of Miami, we like to walk from the hotel to the ship. The causeway over to Dodge Island has a nice wide sidewalk and we can get to the NCL terminal (the last one) in about 30 minutes. Not recommended on hot summer days, however. I'm looking forward to being there in May to check out the NCL Bliss.
I will be there to see the Bliss in May, too... so if you see my wandering around, definitely stop me and say hello!
Boy I wish i could fly, let only fly with the ease you do. i have a serious phobia.
I know you like trains, I wonder if you've ever taken an Amtrak long distance train. If you had, I also wonder if you would consider it similar to a cruise ship. I have no clue about cruises since I've never been on one, but I have heard a comparison in some degrees.
I agree the POM Holiday Inn is the best
Great video 10 cruises myself and love trains lol
Great tips just gave me some ideas
Good video Jim!
I can not wait for you to post your review on this cruise! I’m booked on the seaside at the end of March and I haven’t heard the best reviews. But I trust your reviews so I’ll wait to hear what you thought :) Enjoy!!
I definitely have a lot to tell you about!
There are some really great things about taking a cruise on this ship, and there are some really bad things. I pay my own cruise fare, so my reviews can be honest... I don't have to try to make the cruise line look good, since they didn't pay for me to be here. So, I will definitely give you the full rundown on all the things... positive and negative... that I'm experiencing this week.
A detailed review, with lots of video to illustrate my points, takes a lot of work and time... so please be patient. Give me a couple of weeks to put it all together.
But let me give a brief tease by saying that we have been having a good time... but there have been problems. We have enjoyed ALL of our 43 cruises, but to be painfully honest, we're enjoying this one less than all the rest.
Also, the entire MSC Seaside experience is really tailored to MSC's core passenger demographic: Europeans. I can't really recommend this ship for a first-time cruiser from the USA. For Americans, there are so many better cruises that are tailored to your tastes. For Americans, I'd suggest you sail on Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, and Princess long before you try MSC.
Jim Zimmerlin thank you for your insight. My family and I are seasoned cruisers on other lines. We were just anxious to try MSC since they wanted to break into the American market. Hopefully your cruise ends on a high note! 😊
Can't wait for your full-blown review. I can't recall if you mention, but I assume you're in the Yacht Club--and the YCers seem to mostly like it, but I'm reading quite a bit that is making me think that we'll stay away unless there is clear indication that MSC is improving the service (not sure I'd like to wait for replenishment of utensils, cups, plates, food, coffee). It does not sound like they are service-oriented (at least not toward the bella/fantastica riff-raff!).
Actually, we're not in the Yacht Club... although we did get a nice tour, and I will have videos and photos to share. We're in a "Aurea Suite With Whirlpool Bath". It's one of 28 similar cabins that had a private Jacuzzi on the balcony. Having our own Jacuzzi has been the best part of our cruise.
I agree that every review I've seen from Yacht Club guests has been positive. I also met three different Yacht Club people onboard, and they all had good things to say.
As the week went on, we learned how to do things to minimize the negatives and accentuate the positives. For example, after two bad breakfasts in the buffet, we gave up and started eating our breakfasts in the main dining room. That made a big difference. After two bad lunches in the buffet, we gave up and started getting off the ship in port and having lunch in restaurants near the pier. That hugely helped.
And at home, we hardly eat dinner at all... just a big breakfast and lunch... so we lowered our expectations for cruise dinners and just started having something small and simple... like a hot dog, or a slice of pizza.
Where a lot of cruises we focus on food, this time we just told ourselves that buffet food is a sore spot for MSC... and we focused more on enjoying the Jacuzzi, the unlimited free drinks, and the unlimited free gelato. Having those three things was huge... we enjoyed it a lot... and we accept that MSC buffet food is just not our thing. Folks that eat in the main dining room will be happier. And the Europeans will be happy, too. It just wasn't for us.
Same with the entertainment. It just wasn't for us. The Europeans gave a standing ovation to the Opera shows. It just wasn't our style. We enjoyed the Jacuzzi, the drinks, and the gelato... and in spite of the crappy buffet food and entertainment, we enjoyed the cruise... just not as much as we enjoyed the previous 42 cruises.
Some might look at that as "it was the worst cruise". We look at it as "we had fun, but the other cruise lines were more to our liking".
We have no plans to sail with MSC again. But we enjoyed the Jacuzzi, the drinks, and the gelato.
all interesting. Didn't you go in at their 'black card' level (or whatever they call it, where they match your Carnival points)? Did this get you the free drinks and gelato?
From analyzing videos, I figured the lunch buffet had a big selection, but the consensus is that the dinner buffet just has pizza/burger/dogs, and a pretty small selection of other things. It sounds like maybe their buffet offerings are not quite the same quality as the other lines. Definitely elaborate on it all in your writeup.
We just did Hal koningsdam over new years. There were lots of families and young people (whereas hal is really old unless schools are on break). Great service, really good buffet, nice clean ship, no sewage odors encountered. Entertainment was usual song and dance shows, along with a surround film with live music accompaniment, piano singer Brett Cave doing Elton/Billy songs. Good cruise, never felt like 'this place is aimed at 80 year olds'. It's their newest ship, though.
Great video Jim Zim. Cruising on the Panorama January 4 2020. Can you recommend a hotel near the terminal, thanks
Because I live in Southern California, I've always just driven to the Long Beach cruise terminal... I've never stayed in a hotel the night before. So, I'm afraid I can't offer any recommendations. Sorry!
bayside ought to pay you for this ad
Nice video 😃
Jim, three observations. First as a frequent flyer, it is tradition to touch the outside of a plane upon entering for good luck and show her respect for taking you safely into the stratosphere. Second, how come you don't like to cruise with your kids. Or maybe the other way around. Lots of activities are geared toward kids and families. Just curious. And lastly, thanks for keeping your clothes on in the hot tub. The balcony tub looked uncomfortable for two people to enjoy.
The Jacuzzi was not at all uncomfortable with two people in it. In fact, if our son had been cruising with us (he's 32) he could have fit in there with us. The Jacuzzi was the best part of the entire cruise!
Did the Holiday Inn let you park your car there for the duration of your cruise? Just wondering what you did with it while you were away?
Love these videos! So helpful, fun, and informative.
It seems like you really didn't watch the video.
A large chunk of the video was about how we flew first class from Los Angeles to Miami. We didn't have a car with us.
Sorry, I wasn't clear in my question. You drove from your home to LA, and stayed in LA before flying to Miami. You mention staying in a hotel right by LAX and taking a shuttle to the airport, so wondered if the hotel allowed you to leave your car there for the duration of the trip.
Oh! I'm so sorry! I see now what you meant! It was my fault, not yours.
In Los Angeles, we parked at "405 Airport Parking", which is right across the street from the Holiday Inn.
Ah! That would explain it. Thank you. =)
All of that for the semi-ill-fated cruise on Seaside
At least we had fun getting there!
As usual a great video. We are leaving out of NY this year but I am thinking about a cruise out of Miami for 2019. This gives me an idea of where we might want to stay. I am assuming this is where NCL would cruise out of as well.
Yes, all the cruise lines that sail from Miami all have their ships at the same place. The Holiday Inn is convenient for them all.
Cruises out of Ft Lauderdale, though, would be a entirely different situation... and you wouldn't want to stay in Miami for a cruise from Ft Lauderdale. So, just make sure you don't confuse a Ft Lauderdale cruise with a Miami cruise. They're a good 30-40 minutes apart.
Thank you i will not. I am looking at NCL for the next one and I don't think they go out of FT. Lauderdale. There is some that RCCL have out of FT. Lauderdale I would consider.
also jim found you on the fb have a gn
SECOND!!! DARN IT!!!!!!!!!
Hey jim!!!
Where do you get so much cash bro 1st class and 44 cruise ships!
Advertising revenue from over 220,000,000 views of my RUclips videos. It's like having a money tree growing in the back yard.
Dang what do you work to get first class and so many cruises? I'm about to jump professions
28 years in a union job at a nuclear power plant. Getting that job was about the best thing that ever happened to me.
@@JimZim thanks for response! I've work in CS research right now and I've worked with nuclear engineers so I might consider that path
Jim what do you do for a living??
I'm an administrator at a nuclear power plant.
Have you ever been out of Galveston?
Hi Julie! I haven't heard from you in a while. It's nice to know you're still watching my videos.
Yes, I've done several cruises out of Galveston. In fact, I really like to cruise from there. You know I love trains, and they have a really cool train museum in Galveston. They even have one of the last remaining Santa Fe locomotives painted in the famous warbonnet color scheme... just like the model train I have at my house.
The other thing I really love about cruising from Galveston is how friendly the Texans are. It's VERY noticeably different from cruising out of the other ports. When you're in an elevator full of Texans, they are SO friendly and delightful to talk to. My wife famously once said, after an elevator ride with a friendly group of Texans, that if she had grown up in Texas, she might have learned to like people a lot more than she does!
The only downside to cruising out of Galveston is that (unless you drive there) you'll be flying in to Houston, and it's more than an hour drive to Galveston. So, that rules out a taxi ride, and probably even a Lyft or an Uber. We just arrange for a "town car" from a limousine service to drive us from the airport in Houston to a hotel in Galveston. That costs more than $100, but it's kind of nice to have a driver and to just sit in the back seat and enjoy the ride. And it's fun to go to the baggage claim at the Houston airport and see a guy in a suit holding a sign up with your name on it! Makes you feel like you're a movie star!
Jim Zimmerlin Of course I still watch your videos:) The reason I’m asking is the Vista is moving there if it hasn’t already (i can’t recall) and we were looking at doing that next! But I’m most definitely not familiar with Galveston as we have never had to fly anywhere for a cruise as of yet😬
Galveston is a great beach town! It is THE destination for hundreds of thousands of Texans in the summer time, to escape the heat. There is LOTS to do there. If your kids like waterparks, there's a huge one in Galveston. Another popular spot is the "pleasure pier"... which is a big pier with an amusement park on it.
There are also all sorts of things you could do in Houston, if you want to fly in a couple of days before your cruise, or stay over a couple of days after the cruise. In between Houston and Galveston is a huge NASA facility that would be fun and educational for your kids.
One thing I forgot to mention regarding transportation between Houston and Galveston is that after the cruise, the simplest solution is to just use Carnival's bus transfer to take you right from the cruise ship to the airport. But the bus TO the cruise ship is only available the day of the cruise, which doesn't help you if you fly in a day or two early.
I definitely encourage you to take a cruise out of Galveston on the Carnival Vista!
Also, you might want to take a look at www.jimzim.net/LibertyOfTheSeas.html and scroll way down towards the bottom of the page until you find the section titled "Before The Cruise". I talk about our stay in Galveston, and you may find some of that information useful.
Jim Zimmerlin Thanks Jim! That info is very helpful☺️
I stayed at the intercontinetal
Try the Holiday Inn next time!
speaking of Disney, book a Disney cruise
A Disney cruise seems like a bad match for me and my wife. We travel just the two of us, and value a peaceful cruise experience... such as The Haven on Norwegian Cruise Line or the Havana area on Carnival's Vista class ships. Too many noisy kids on Disney for us. If we were traveling with young kids or grandkids, I'm sure it would be great... but that's not how we cruise.
Also, like everything Disney, it's pricey. I just looked at the cost of a balcony cabin for a Caribbean cruise on Disney in January. For $1000 less than the Disney cruise, you could cruise on the Norwegian Bliss, one of the best cruise ships in the world, and have an unlimited open bar plus a specialty dining package.
If the two we're the same price, I'd still choose Norwegian Bliss. At $1000 less, it's a no-brainer.
Do they have a shuttle to the cruise port?
I assume you're asking about the Holiday Inn. I think they do, and that it wasn't free but it was very reasonably priced. Personally, I prefer to take a Lyft or an Uber because then it's on my schedule, not some preset shuttle meeting time, and also they will take me in a private vehicle to only the cruise dock I am going to... rather than in a shared shuttle that stops at multiple docks for multiple ships. The cost of a Lyft or Uber is insignificant in the overall scheme of things, and it's so much more convenient than a shared shuttle bus.
Thanks Jim.
i find your voice very calming, weird right?
174,600th subscriber
So you'll need to update your resume today, I assume.
Where do you work??
What do you do for a living?
I work in an administrative job at a nuclear power plant.
In the 1970s and 80s I was a radio announcer and the Program Director of a radio station. I couldn't make any money at it and had to get "a real job", but in my heart I am still a radio guy.
First! !!😘
I'm first