MSC Seascape Cruise - August, 2024

 

Day 2 – Travel from Orlando to Miami

Friday, August 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          The Hilton Garden Inn is 4 miles and pretty much a straight shot down to the Brightline station. 

          Since this was our first time on the train, we had absolutely no idea how involved security was or how long check-in might take.  We ended up opting to arrive 2 hours early as if we were flying.  This turned out to be completely unnecessary.  If we had not been checking bags (which is included as part of the Premium ticket), I feel pretty confident we could have rolled up about 10 minutes before the train left the station and been perfectly fine.  If you are checking a bag, I'd recommend arriving at least half an hour early, but anything more is overkill, based on our experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          The Brightline station is connected to Terminal C.  If you choose to park on-site at the airport, you have several options.  There is a parking garage at Terminal C and Surface Lots 1, 2 and 3 are all within walking distance of the train station.

 

 

 

          We had intended to just park in one of the surface lots, but Hurricane Debby had it's sights on Central Florida, and I had visions of our vehicle being flooded, so we decided to be safe and park in the garage at Terminal C.

          As it turned out, that garage was under heavy construction and always showing "Full" unless you pre-booked a reservation.

 

 

 

          Here's where is gets weird.  In every other garage I've been to for an extended stay, you get a discount for pre-booking your spot.  But here in Orlando, the normal cost of daily parking in the garage goes from $24/day up to $32/day for the convenience of making a reservation!  What?

          With the construction in Garage C and the incoming hurricane, I grudgingly made the reservation, but boy did I feel ripped off.

          When we arrived at the garage on Friday morning, the entrance was blocked off and we had to show our reservation to an attendant in order to be let through.  We drove up to level 4, scanned our reservation code and had our pick of what looked like several hundred open spaces:

          At this point the signage was... not great.  We wandered around the garage for a bit until we found a bank of elevators, then rode up to the level marked as Brightline station, then wandered around more until we finally found the Pedway over to the terminal building.  Hopefully this is all construction related and appropriate signage will be added soon.  

          It's definitely a bit of a hike from the parking garage to the Brightline station entrance.  If there are no weather concerns, it looks like Surface Lot 2 is a much better option.  If you park here, the doors to the terminal are across the street, then it's an escalator ride up and the train station is nearby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          Once you enter the station, if you're checking bags, turn to the left and go the customer service counter.   We made the mistake of walking straight ahead, scanning our tickets and going through the security screening, only to walk around aimlessly inside trying to find bag check!  We finally realized it was outside of security, so we exited and dropped off our checked bags.  

          At this point we discovered a bit of a bug in the system.  We went back to the entrance and scanned our tickets again only to be told that we were already inside!  Since they don't scan you going out, the computer doesn't know you exited.  We needed to get back in line again at the counter and have them mark us as "outside" so we could get back in.

          Here's a tip for using these scanners:  If you have more than one ticket electronically on your phone, don't go first!!  I scanned through and then turned around and wifey was looking at me like I'm an idiot (probably because I am an idiot).  I had to toss her my phone so she could get in.  Yes, I know this sounds like the most obvious thing in the world that I wouldn't need to mention here, but I saw this same thing happen with other people several more times.  Does that make me less of an idiot?  Probably not, but at least I was in good company.

          So finally we were in the Premium Lounge which they hyped up as having food and alcohol.  Yeah, about that...  The food trays were empty and the beer tap was broken.  Did I also mention we got there 2 hours early?!  Sigh.  I did manage to get the smallest can of Pepsi I have ever seen.

          The good news is that our train boarded right on time.  Here's what the Premium cabin looks like:

 

 

 

 

 

 

          The cabin features cushy leather seats, lots of leg room and plenty of electrical outlets and USB jacks.  An attendant passes through multiple times during the journey with food and drinks (including alcohol, wine and beer, which are included in the Premium fare).

          I want talk a bit about Brightline.  They advertise the service as a "High Speed Passenger Train" but don't mistake this for a Japanese bullet train (which can hit speeds up to 200 mph).

          Here are the Brightline speeds (as quoted by the attendant.  These aren't official speeds published by Brightline):

-Miami through West Palm Beach:  Max 79 mph

-North of West Palm Beach:  Max 110 mph

-After the turn west to Orlando: Max 125 mph

          The train trip from the Orlando station to the Miami station takes  3.5 hours.  Can you drive from Orlando to Miami in 3.5 hours or less?  Yep.  So keep that in mind when exploring travel options.

          The trip was uneventful and we arrived right on time into the Miami station.  As part of the Premium ticket, an Uber ride of up to 5 miles is included.  We opted to stay Friday night at the DoubleTree Grand hotel, which is 1.4 miles from the Brightline station.

          When sailing out of Miami, the Brickell neighborhood is a popular choice for an overnight stay before a cruise.  We usually opt for this DoubleTree, though.  It's right on the bay, very close to Port Miami, and it has an attached mall for any last minute purchases, including bottles of wine.

          When you enter the lobby at The Grand, the DoubleTree is on the left and the mall is on the right:

Our room:

 This is the mall connected to The Grand:

          We walked around the marina and watched the sun set, then went to Casablanca on the Bay, a restaurant on the second level of the mall.  The food was fine, but they had non-stop techno music playing at an ear-splitting volume.  Would not recommend for this reason.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          These are in the elevator lobby.  I have no idea what they are, but I referred to them as the "World's Largest Bongs" and got a look from wifey, so I'm guessing that might not be right:

Final step count for Day 2: