Pre-Cruise Miami

Using maximally leveraged AMEX perks

Our Panama Canal cruise technically leaves Saturday… but showing up well rested after a few beach days felt like a good start. So we flew into Miami Tuesday night to “ease in”.

Perk #1: Blacklane pickup 🚘
Nothing is better than a pre-arranged chauffer when you’re getting off a plane at 10pm. Our very fun ride (check out the space-themed ceiling of the car) whisked us to our first stop: The Tony.

The Tony: one-night wonder
Cute, spacious, and staffed by people who seemed genuinely thrilled we were there. Seriously, 10/10 for late-night enthusiasm. We only stayed one night because the real plan was to enter our Elite AMEX Perk Era starting the next day.

Next stop: Ritz-Carlton Miami Beach 💅
We Ubered over Wednesday at noon and activated:

• Early check-in

• Significant cash back discount

• Room upgrade

• Free breakfast

• Hotel credit for food, drinks, or spa services

Of course, Miami decided to serve rain and emotional damage, so we made an emergency Ross run where I got an unreal discount on a Rag & Bone cardigan (the South Beach Ross has an impressively different level of luxe than ours back home). Then we retreated to the hotel for champagne happy hour because - free bubbles!

In my airplane outfit, day two, as it’s the warmest outfit I had

Champagne happy hour at The Ritz

The beautiful Ritz lobby

Thursday: redemption arc ☀️
Weather improved, spirits lifted, and we hit the boardwalk after a buffet breakfast that was absolutely 5 star. Dragon Fruit for the win, IYKYK. At the end of our walk, another perk - free mojitos.

Late checkout (final perk!) meant we could take our sweet time getting ready before moving to our last Miami stop:

InterContinental Miami 🌊
Same perks, but much better room. 28th floor, ocean view, front-row seats to cruise ship traffic and lifestyles of the rich and famous.

View of the cruise port from our room. That’s the Resilient Lady at the Virgin terminal.

We used more of our hotel food & beverage credit for cocktails, then walked to dinner at Niu Kitchen, a tiny Catalonian spot that absolutely delivered. Bonus: covered by a quarterly $100 AMEX credit. We are, at this point, essentially being paid to eat

Rocking the Rag & Bone cardigan

This prawn in garlic sauce dish was delicious!

Friday morning views:
Sunrise over the port + SIX cruise ships docked.

Breakfast here wasn’t quite Ritz-level, (no Dragon Fruit), but still solid. Weather went back to “I thought we were in Miami?” so we leaned into doing absolutely nothing until lunch at Asian fusion restaurant Novikov, which, no notes, was the food highlight so far. Covered with Shawn’s AMEX credit this time.

Starters included cucumber tataki, spicy tuna & salmon roll, and crispy pork & brussels sprouts

Tonight: seeing Project Hail Mary
Tomorrow: boarding the Brilliant Lady for 17 days 🚢

Stay tuned!