MSC Seascape Cruise - August, 2024
Day 10 – Arrival in Miami and Brightline to Orlando
Saturday, August 10
We arrived back into Miami right on time and here's a look at the waiting taxis standing by at 6:30a:
We reported to the Top Sail Lounge a little before 9:00a and a butler escorted a group of us to an elevator they were holding for Yacht Club passengers only, past the gigantic line of guests snaking all through Deck 6 and directly to the station to scan our cards out for the last time. We entered the terminal, grabbed our luggage from the Yacht Club holding area, quickly got through customs and ordered a Lyft. By 9:20a we were inside the Brightline station.
This time we only had about a 20 minute wait. By 9:45a, we were on our way back to Orlando:
The 3.5 hour trip seemed shorter this time because some college students a few rows behind us provided entertainment for most of the ride. One of them, who I dubbed "Her Royal Highness, Queen of the Mean Girls" held court with the others and also yelled instructions into her cell phone to someone back in Orlando who was tasked with retrieving some items from her former apartment.
I was so amused by this that I started taking notes on my iPhone to make sure my quotes were accurate for the blog! Here's some of the dialog I captured:
"I got kicked out of the party. And it was MY party!! I was the host. Then those bitches popped my confetti. I wanted to pop that confetti. It was important to me!" She also proclaims that someone at the party "got so drunk, he got hypothermia!"
She's decided the next time she throws a party, she's going to charge guys a $5 entrance fee. They should pay something because she's "not rich LIKE THAT!"
Not only did she get thrown out of her own party, she's apparently been thrown out of her apartment by her roommates and now she's making one of her friends get her stuff while she loudly FaceTime's and complains about missing items.
"I need all of the really important stuff out of the apartment: My Victoria's Secret bag and my shoes and the mini-karaoke machine with microphone. I also need my glasses and keys and laptop. But get the important stuff first!"
There's a 15 minute long meltdown about the missing karaoke machine.
In the first hour of the trip, she's had a mimosa and a vodka cranberry and is loudly announcing that she is "now lit!" She clearly thinks very highly of herself; she "is weirded out that EVERYONE wants her." Wifey just glanced back and whispered, "She's about a 3 and I'm being very generous here!"
The Brightline attendant must have noticed us rolling our eyes at the Queen. He stopped by and asked if we would like to move seats. I politely declined. I'm hanging on every word.
She's moved on to the conflict in Gaza. "Why are we giving money to bomb Jesus's place of birth?!" This somehow morphs into a discussion about the Garden of Eden. One member of the Queen's court says Adam and Eve "fell" from the Garden of Eden. The Queen quickly corrects her, "No, it's on Earth. It's just cloaked. It's in the jungle and shit!" I fear for our youth.
We arrived in Orlando at 1:15p, collected our car from the parking garage and headed out. We chose to spend an extra day in Orlando and drive back to Tampa Bay very early the next morning so we could avoid the traffic jams. This time we picked the Hilton Orlando for its on-site restaurants, resort pool and lazy river.
We arrived about 2:30p and our room was ready, so we went directly up to it. I had reserved a standard King bed award room and we upgraded to a suite:
We had dinner at Trabucco, the onsite Italian restaurant, then called it an early night so we could hit the road the next morning by 5:00a. Our trip back to Pinellas county only took an hour and a half at that time of the day, as opposed to the 3 hours it took to get here.
Summary: Would we sail with MSC again? Absolutely, but only in Yacht Club. The rest of the ship is just not relaxing enough for our tastes. It's very crowded and rivals Carnival for a loud, rowdy, party atmosphere.
Final step count for Day 10:
