Winter Break. January 2022. Day 5. Dessert then Dinner.
Our first full day on board! We woke up and didn’t move quickly.
We got dressed and went to our first breakfast buffet. The buffet on this ship is great. For starters, the quality is far superior to other ships. Also, because of COVID, they serve you everything, which really just makes you stop and think. Can you believe we ever let people serve themselves from a buffet? The buffet is also configured differently than other ships. On other ships we’ve been on its basically one long line and there’s the same thing on the port and starboard sides. Here, its just one large space with multiple stations. Also, there are so many staff members here to serve you, but that could also be because we’re only at 30% capacity.
Tell me you’re on a cruise without telling me you’re on a cruise.
Today we were docked at Nassau, Bahamas. (We were supposed to be at sea today and in Puerto Rico tomorrow, but they changed our itinerary at the last minute, we think because Puerto Rico is now requiring negative tests to enter the country and I don’t think they want to start testing people on cruise ships.) We could see Baha Mar from our balcony and the Atlantis from the buffet, but unfortunately since we were only there until 2pm there weren’t any shore excursions going there. Also, because Madeleine isn’t vaccinated, she isn’t allowed off at any port without being on a Celebrity shore excursion. So, Hallie, Robyn and I planned to go ashore and just walk around the port. It took a while to get off the ship because there was an issue with Hallie’s card, but we got that fixed and headed off.
We were docked next to Harmony of the Seas which is the Royal Caribbean ship that has the kosher option. I saw so many Jews on land and it made me grateful I wasn’t on that ship. We hit a bunch of stores, including the soap store we’ve been to several times. We went to one of the many general stores and bought some crap, including rum cake. I bought the Bahamian rum cake instead of the normal Tortuga rum cake. They said the Bahamian one was better, but who knows what’s actually true. We also went into a “straw market” where everyone sells the same thing and hassles you. We came out of there with two wicker bags for the girls and an elephant for Tzvi. Hallie had to pee and didn’t want to go there, so she and I walked back to the ship (I was done anyway) and Robyn stayed behind. I told her to be back on the ship by 1:30 and prayed she’d get back on without issues.
[Tzvi: While they were on shore, Madeleine and I went for a walk around the ship. We explored the garden and the pool deck, and then Madeleine started yelling “poo! Poo!” which thankfully meant that she wanted to swim, not that she needed a diaper change. We changed into bathing suits and then hit the pool, which thankfully was pretty empty because she just wanted to splash around and go up and down the pool steps. The pool is actually pretty cold – I don’t think it’s heated.]
Hallie and I got back on and she peed. We found Tzvi and Madeleine and went for lunch. Every lunch is a little different at the buffet. I don’t know what today’s theme was, but there was an extra-large cheeseburger on display. There was also fish and chips and mac and cheese, and Tzvi discovered the Caesar salad station which was kind of like getting a tableside Caesar salad but you go to the salad instead of the salad going to you. Tzvi got salad with extra extra anchovies and kalamata so basically it was a little bit of lettuce and lots of salt. For dessert it was donut day! The raspberry donuts were great – good filling to dough ratio.
We finished lunch around 1:30, just as the Captain was announcing that they were waiting for seven people to get back on board and would be leaving port momentarily. We had texted Robyn but didn’t hear anything back, which was worrisome, so we started trying to call her. Her phone kept going straight to voicemail, which was even more worrisome. We realized we had told her to be back on by 1:30, but we weren’t really clear that if you’re not back at 1:30 the ship leaves without you. We started getting very worried, not because Robyn would be left alone in Nassau, but because we’d be left to take care of our children all by ourselves. Thankfully we found Robyn back in the room. She just hadn’t reconnected to the wifi. Phew.
Madeleine napped and Tzvi and I had some pool time, then I went to the gym around 4 and Hallie joined Tzvi at the pool. [Tzvi: Hallie and I went to the bar and got cocktails, which for Hallie meant a blended strawberry drink which she enjoyed in the hot tub. Did I mention drinks are included on this cruise? I can’t recall. The afternoon is a bit of a blur. I’ve ordered several palomas, which is supposed to be a drink consisting of grapefruit soda and tequila, but every bartender has made it differently, which keeps things interesting!]
After the gym I ran back to shower in time for my 5pm hair appointment. Tonight was chic night, which is “fancy” nice, except they don’t get fancy fancy here. Except it’s a cruise, so you can get as fancy as you want, which I did.
The salon was very nice. I had a British woman do my hair. Hallie came at 5:30 for her hair appointment and her stylist was from Wales. They talked Peppa Pig.
We came back to the room and got ready for dinner. Before dinner we tried to get some photos, except now Madeleine won’t take any professional ones. It’s unfortunate. Maybe it’s because of the flash.
Tonight’s dinner was in the Cosmopolitan dining room. We had pre-ordered kosher steak for dinner, and Tzvi had ordered lamb chops. Of course, this meant that we first ordered dairy appetizers and dessert off of the regular menu, and THEN got our kosher meat. The desserts were a carrot cake, a filo dough thing with fruit and custard, and an apple crumble that was delicious. Like surprisingly delicious. The meat came and all was actually very good. It was nice, because we always see people on cruises gorging themselves on meat, and now we can be just as glutinous.
The show tonight was Kaleidoscope, which featured the singers and dancers and aerialists. Those people are STRONG. Hallie enjoyed, but she said she thought it was going to be a show like on a screen. After the show Hallie went to the kids club for a superhero activity and when she came back she had her face painted like Wonder Woman. Then we got the girls to bed and left them with Robyn.
There wasn’t much doing so we got cocktails at the Martini Bar and then walked around the ship. Eventually we finished the night at Café Al Baccio to get our nightly dessert, latte, and Kahlua and cream.
Good day.
Winter Break. January 2022. Day 4. On the Edge.
Today we woke up and didn’t move quickly, even though it was the only day we actually had somewhere to be.
We didn’t get out of the room until maybe 9:20 when we went down to the Aroma for breakfast. I got shakshuka, which was very good. Tzvi had a “power breakfast,” which could’ve been called Israeli breakfast because it reminded him of that – a plate with salad, tuna, feta cheese and cream cheese, two hardboiled eggs and a stack of bread.
We wanted to get out of the hotel around 10, but I don’t think we left until 10:30. The Uber ride to Fort Lauderdale was about 40/45 minutes and we made it to Port Everglades in time for our 11 – 1130 check in window. Check in was extremely smooth. First, they checked the kids. Hallie got a green sticker that said VAX and Madeleine was upset she couldn’t have a sticker also. We all had to show our COVID results and vaccine cards and then went through security, check in, and another check in, walked over a long bridge, and finally, we were on the ship!
Our cruise is a seven night eastern Caribbean sailing on the Celebrity Edge. It’s our first Celebrity Cruise, and it’s definitely very different from the other ships we’ve been on. Celebrity is a higher level than Royal Carribean and Norwegian, and it definitely shows in the design of the ship.
As soon as you get on they send you straight to your room where your keys are waiting outside the door. The rooms is really great and really spacious. We have two connecting rooms that are “Infinity Veranda” rooms. It’s kind of a cross between a balcony room and an oceanview room. The infinity veranda is basically a floor to ceiling window that can be opened (it goes from the top down about half way). But unlike a regular non-balcony room, you actually get the balcony space (and technically could close off the balcony from the rest of the room). Especially for traveling with little kids, these rooms are great – you get the extra space of balcony but you can actually use it, and you’re still able to open up to the outside. We actually ended up putting Madeleine’s crib on the balcony area. It really made the room feel so much more spacious (and I think these rooms are already more spacious width wise).
After getting our keys, our first stop was our muster drill. Thankfully they’ve made these drills so much easier. You used to have to gather in a dining room at a specific time to be counted and sit through a half hour thing. Now you just go to your muster station, check in, and you’re done. After that, our first real stop was the Oceanview Café (the buffet) for lunch! It was a great looking buffet with pasta, Indian, sandwiches, fruit, cheeses, desserts, chocolate fondue and lots more. Also, I really like that the buffet is sort of centralized on this ship – there’s a bunch of different stations in one spot, as opposed to other ships where you need to walk one really long line that wraps around the back of the ship. The only problem was that I was still full from breakfast. The kids had pizza obviously. We finished lunch and it was time to explore.
We walked all over the ship – there’s one resort deck with outdoor pool and two hot tubs (though strangely the hot tubs are two decks up from the pool, so kind of annoying to get to if you’re sitting at the pool). There’s also an adults only solarium. We saw the fitness center with Peloton bikes. We found the Grand Plaza, which spans decks 3, 4 and 5 and is home to several restaurants, the café (Café al Baccio) and the Martini Bar. We also saw the Rooftop Garden on the top deck at the back of the ship. I’ll just say, it’s a really beautiful ship. All of the art is very modern and all of the spaces are just really nice. They clearly put a lot of thought into design on this ship. There’s one hallway that’s basically a dark corridor with mirrors on all sides and strange gold statues. Hallie got scared walking through it.
After that Robyn took Madeleine for a walk around the ship to try to get her to sleep, but it didn’t work out. She was too excited hanging out of the stroller looking at everything, and all of the staff were so excited to see her and kept saying hi to her. I spent some time unpacking, while Tzvi and Hallie went in the hot tub. It was kind of cold out, but nice enough for the hot tub.
Next we checked out the kids club, where they told us it was drop off only and that Madeleine was too young. They also said they used to have toddler time where you could stay with the too-young kids and play, but they got rid of that during COVID. They did say that you could borrow toys, so we got some balls and pool toys. They also said there are 11 kids on the ship. Well, we knew it wasn’t a kid friendly ship, so I guess 11 is pretty good?
At some point, Hallie and Madeleine were excitedly jumping around the room. Then the phone rang and it was our neighbor asking us to keep it down and that he and his wife were “trying to relax.” I said, “yeah, well my kids have been locked up for the last year and a half because of Covid and now they’re just trying to enjoy themselves and have fun in their room so buzz off.” Actually I just said sorry and then hung up. These people actually had their “Deep Sleep” sign on their door by 6pm.
Tzvi and I went to the bar at the very back of the ship, grabbed a cocktail, and watched the ship pull out of port. The cruise is officially underway! One thing to mention is that with Celebrity, basic drinks are included (you can get any cocktail up to $9, which is most drinks with non-premium alcohol).
We went back to the room and got ready for dinner quickly. Hallie showered with goggles on because we don’t have a bathtub and she doesn’t like showers, and the neighbors banged on the wall, I guess because she sang too loudly in the shower.
Tonight’s dinner was in the Tuscan dining room. There are four different main dining rooms, each with a different theme – each one serves the same daily menu as well as a menu that’s unique to that dining room. The dining room was pretty empty so we got a large table away from the few other people who were there. I had butternut squash soup, grilled tuna, and a cous cous thing. For dessert I had a strawberry angel food cake thing. Tzvi had a cheese soufflé thing with mushrooms, a wedge salad with blue cheese and grilled tuna. For dessert Tzvi had some kind of flambé cherry thing with ice cream and a tiramisu.
As we were packing ourselves up, the waiter kept making hats for Madeleine out of napkins. They stayed on her head for about five seconds and then she demanded he make more. It was cute.
As we finished dinner, another passenger randomly came over and handed us two smaller rubber duckies. Okay then.
We spent a few minutes walking around and saw the bartenders at the Martini Bar putting on their nightly show where they flipped bottles behind their back and caught them and then made a giant martini that they poured into a bunch of glasses at once. It was cool.
We went back to the room while Robyn took Hallie to the buffet to get more pizza. The pack n play they brought us was broken so our steward came to fix it. While he was fixing it, our lovely neighbors banged on the wall once again. I told the steward what was happening and he told his supervisor. I cant tip toe around the entire week. Anyway, he fixed it just as Hallie was getting back. We got the girls to bed and then went back out. Robyn said she was too tired to go out, so we got to party.
We walked around a bit and explored, and then saw the comedian at 9:30. He was okay. There weren’t too many people at the show, but Rich, the cruise director, came out at the end and said it was the biggest crowd he’d seen in some time. He said there were 982 passengers on board (out of a capacity of 2918) and 1083 crew members, and also said that on the last cruise there were only around 650 passengers.
After that we ended our night at Café Al Baccio where we had a latte, a kaluah and cream, and a slice of the tart of the day (apricot).
Great first day.
Winter Break. January 2022. Day 3. Derby Day.
The girls woke up today at 8:05! Tzvi and I were up from 6 – 7 for some reason, and then fell back asleep, but still a win I guess.
Today we opted for the breakfast buffet. There was a great variety including pastries, breads, fruit, cheeses, oatmeal, cereal, an omelet station, pancakes, French toast, scrambled eggs and scrambled eggs whites, and a kids station with cupcakes, croissants, and fruit skewers.
Today we were on our own and Robyn went off to see family she’s only facetimed but never met. So, we tried our best. We made it to the pool area around 10am and it was packed. There was space not directly near the pool, but on this fake grassy area. It turned out to be better because we had a space for the stroller and for the girls to walk around without being nervous that they’d fall in the pool.
Hallie and Tzvi swam while Madeleine splashed around. Hallie is really doing great in the water. Swimming lessons well worth it. Then Tzvi took the girls to the beach while I read a few newspaper articles. Apparently they pulled thirteen cars out of a lake in Texas, but none of them was the car they were looking for. Why are so many people in Texas putting their cars in the lake?
I eventually met them on the beach and sat around. Madeleine wanted to sit on the towel, pour sand on the towel, and then get up so I could get the sand off the towel. Over and Over.
Photos taken pre-Shabbos.
Around 1:30 we decided to go the lobby restaurant for lunch because it was the only place that had pizza for Hallie. I walked Madeleine to sleep, but she only slept a half hour. I ordered a quinoa salad that came without the quinoa or avocado. I didn’t even realize it until halfway through the salad, but they ended up bringing me a bowl of quinoa and avocado when I said something. I was so exhausted during this meal I didn’t know what was happening.
After lunch we went back to the room to hang out and start packing up. Tzvi took a quick dip in the hot tub and then came back. We took the girls to the downstairs coffee shop to get them their free scoops of ice cream. When we checked in they gave Hallie and Madeleine tokens for a free ice cream. Well, of course Madeleine dropped her token between the wall and the ice cream case, and then they wanted us to pay for the ice cream, but they had also already given us the ice cream, so I guess realizing that we had all the leverage they just said forget about it. Good ice cream though. I think Hallie had birthday cake, Madeleine had milk and cookies, and Tzvi and I shared a scoop of coffee and Oreo.
Tzvi took the girls on a walk to pass some more time and I finished packing everyone up and started getting ready for dinner. [Tzvi: We passed a bunch of hotels, a hotel that was closed and had homeless people sleeping in front of it, and a street with lots of lit up trees and only Mexican restaurants. Miami really reminds me of LA.].
Before
After
Shabbat ended around 6:40 and we gave the girls leftovers for dinner, finished getting ready, and then Tzvi and I ran away for a night out alone.
We took an Uber to the Four Seasons in Surfside, in the northern part of Miami. We had a 9pm dinner reservation at the Surf Club (the restaurant at the Four Seasons), so we spent an hour having drinks at the Champaign Bar (the bar at the Four Seasons). First of all, the hotel is gorgeous. I think it was $2000/night for the nights we were in Miami. It looks like it was fairly recently renovated, or maybe restored is a better word. It has a real old-Miami feel to it. Everything looks old – classic furniture, ceiling fans in the bar – but also looks brand new. I had a drink called Fiesta in Rio, which had cachaca, pineapple juice, orgeat and acai infused Campari. Tzvi had a drink called Derby Day, which had bourbon, bees wax, vermouth, fig cognac and was topped with a cherry that had been soaking in a jar of a Manhattan cocktail for a month. Tzvi’s also had a stalk of wheat in it that he poked himself in the eye with several times. Drinks were great. They also brought us potato chips and olives; I ate all of the chips and Tzvi ate all of the olives.
[Tzvi: Sitting directly in front of us at the bar was a woman that Steph said looked like someone she knew from JNF who works in the Miami office. Now, a normal person would’ve gone over and said, ‘excuse me, are you…’ But Steph didn’t do that. Instead, she texted a photo of this woman to at least two different people, who both thought that it was her. And yet, she still never went over. So I guess we’ll never know.]
A 9pm we walked across the lobby for our dinner. The Surf Club is a Thomas Keller restaurant – same chef as Per Se in NYC, but less expensive (Per Se is $350 per person, and this was definitely not). First, we started by ordering more drinks, because, why not. Tzvi had a brown derby (I guess it was a Derby only night) and I had a basil smash. To start they brought us delicious bread rolls and little rainbow shaped butter pads. They also brought crudité over ice with ranch dressing. To start we shared a Caesar salad, which was prepared tableside. We really enjoy the tableside Caesar; it’s sad to see some people order it and not even watch the preparation. We also shared an “Avocado Louie” which was basically half of a “perfect” avocado from Santa Barbara filled with pickled vegetables. I didn’t love it, but I was impressed that they managed to get a perfect avocado. For his main, Tzvi had fettuccini alfredo with black truffles, and I had salmon that came with a sauce vierge, which is basically a fancy french salsa that I didn’t eat. All was good. Tzvi really loved his fettuccini. For dessert we had chocolate cake which was very good. I didn’t love the food quite as much as Tzvi, but I was at least able to appreciate that it was thoughtfully prepared and all very fresh and creative.
Very full, we called an Uber to take us home. We ordered an Uber X but somehow ended up with a Chevy Suburban.
Good night.
Winter Break. January 2022. Day 2. Relax. U R OK.
We were awoken suddenly at the sweet sound of the voice of our eldest yelling “Robyn, Robyn!” I ran in, but it was too late. She had awoken the pack. Well, it was 6:50am.
We couldn’t let Robyn deal with them just yet, so into our room they came. Tzvi fell back asleep and every 20 minutes he would wake up and yell at the girls to be quiet. Room service arrived around 8:30. We didn’t have much of a plan, but I ordered cereal, fruit and coffee. The special K was stale, so I called to “inform” them, and they took it off the bill.
As mentioned, we’re staying at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in South Beach.
Hallie building her ice palace.
We looked at a lot of hotels and chose this one because (1) it wasn’t insanely expensive (Miami is crazy expensive, especially during Yeshiva week) and (2) it looked more family friendly than a lot of the other hotels we looked at. The hotel is pretty nice, everything seems modern and the rooms aren’t too worn out. They’re not that big, but also not the smallest rooms we’ve had. I guess they weren’t anything too special though because apparently we didn’t take a single photo of the rooms. So instead, here’s a stock photo from their website.
The hotel is large and very crowded. I feel like in the past couple of years we’ve mostly visited places that are more spread out and less crowded, but alas, this is Florida. Mask mandates, physical distancing and science aren’t legal here. The hotel is actually packed because there is an Arbonne conference happening this weekend, so the hotel is full of young women, and middle aged women who think they’re young women, who all want to sell you skin care products. I’m spending all weekend on edge that some woman is going to sneak up on me and say "Hey girl!” Then she’ll explain how the vaccine is a conspiracy to sneak nanobots into your facial muscles, but with Arbonne’s algae extract and peony root at least your skin can be redensified and contoured.
We slowly got dressed and ready and headed out around 10, but not before Tzvi had to make “one” work call. We went downstairs and got an Uber and headed to Zak the Baker! The ride was 20 minutes or so, so we had to bring the car seat. Madeleine was pretty cranky on the drive, but that’s because she was exhausted. When we got there the wait was only 5 minutes and we got a table in the back with a perfect spot for the stroller where our children could bother as few people as possible. We ordered a bunch of pastries – a cinnamon roll, a croissant, a chocolate croissant and a blueberry muffin. I got tuna on toast which was pretty good, Hallie got a bagel with cream cheese that she didn’t like (“I don’t like the cream cheese”), Madeleine was super cranky and picked at everything and ate nothing, and Tzvi got a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich that had fried lox bacon.
Eventually I picked Madeleine up and she just fell asleep on my shoulder. I don’t even know the last time she did that.
After “brunch” we walked across the street to Wynwood Walls, an outdoor street art gallery spread across several building exteriors. It was perfect for our kids who just wanted to run around and go crazy. Madeleine woke up on the walk to the gallery, and was in a better mood after that.
We probably spent an hour there, even though anyone else could’ve done it in 20 minutes, and then Ubered back to the hotel and tried to figure out what was next. I went to get the COVID tests I had shipped to the hotel and the nice Fed Ex man waived the $10 storage fee. I did my test and it was negative. You have to do the test on camera while a guide watches you and walks you through the process. It was pretty easy. I don’t know how accurate it was, but it was easy.
We sent Robyn to have some free time and I put Madeleine for a nap. About 6 minutes after I put her in, Tzvi realized his airpods were in her room so he went to get them, angering the beast. She eventually fell asleep.
Tzvi took Hallie to the pool while Madeleine napped. [Tzvi: The pool was pretty crowded but we got seats right next to the pool. We swam for a while. The water wasn’t that warm, but it was swimmable. Then we walked down to the beach and played in the sand for a bit. Hallie wanted to be buried and be a mermaid.]
The scene at the pool:
The scene at the beach:
Madeleine had a decent nap, and when Tzvi and Hallie returned we went for a walk on Lincoln Road. We basically just walked up and down, bought a little Britto figurine, got excited when we saw a Laduree, got sad when we saw the Laduree was still under construction, and went to CVS for some essentials (pretzels, pringles, cheerios and a deck of cards). Then we got back to the hotel, did Hallie’s and Tzvi’s Covid tests, and heated up dinner.
We had ordered take out from Brickell Kosher Deli, which we’re not really sure whether it’s an actual deli or just the Chabad. Anyway, we ordered way too much food – chicken, brisket, challah, grape juice, rice, potatoes, and vegetables. It was all actually pretty tasty though.
The girls went to sleep, Tzvi and I did a lap around the hotel for no real reason, played some rummy, and went to sleep. I don’t know why but I’m having the worst sleep here. I keep waking up throughout the night. I think it’s because I’m so sensitive to noise and thinking the girls are waking up.
Nice Day.
Winter Break. January 2022. Day 1. Bienvenidos a Miami.
Here we go again.
Tzvi’s alarm went off at 7:00am, he turned it off, and then at 7:15 when I finally got up, he asked if his alarm went off. He started rushing around, doing the usual pre trip stressful routine. I got up pretty slowly, gathered the final belongings, made the final sandwiches, and was ready to go. We hadn’t prearranged a car because by the time we realized we needed one, the one driver we called was booked. So, we called an Uber. We got an Uber XL Premiere (which usually guarantees a Chevy Suburban or huge SUV) but he couldn’t fit all of our stuff (maybe he actually could have but didn’t try hard enough). We decided Robyn would go in a second Uber. When I placed the order it said 16 minutes and Tzvi had a panic attack. I ended up cancelling that one, ordering a new one, and it was at the house before our original car was even packed up.
We made it to the airport and got on the curbside line. This was Tzvi’s poor decision of the day (according to him). I don’t know why, but the line didn’t move. At least we got to see all the Jews arriving for their various flights out of New York. It’s the Exodus. There were people with taped up Gourmet Glatt boxes, little girls carrying their father’s tfillin and lots of people who couldn’t figure out how to properly stand on a line.
Finally we checked in and got on the precheck line where Tzvi realized he didn’t have his phone. He ran out and found it by curbside check in. That was lucky. Security was smooth and we immediately got on line for bagels and then coffee. Tzvi once again started panicking because he wasn’t going to make it to the gate in time for the start of boarding. He doesn’t even have early boarding (we actually should have Mosaic status, but that’s a story for another time). He ended up leaving me and Madeleine waiting for coffee and he, Robyn, and Hallie went to the gate. [Tzvi: By the time we got there they were boarding all rows. We had completely missed families with small children, although the entire plane was families with small children. I’ve never gotten there that late. I wonder if they just decided the Jews were all going to try to get on no matter which rows were being called, so just said screw it and said anyone could go.] Well, I finally got my coffee and as I was walking to the gate I heard “final boarding call.” Tzvi never actually told me he got on the plane, but as there was no one left, I assumed he did. I think I was the 2nd to last one to get on the plane. Not bad, not bad at all.
We got settled and the plane actually pushed back around 8 minutes early, but then we heard that we had to be de-iced and gelled. So, we sat on the ground for 40 minutes before liftoff. [Tzvi: I’ve never heard anyone call takeoff “liftoff.” Did we fly to Florida on a rocket ship?] Wonderful. All of Madeleine’s good behavior wasted on the ground. I kid, sort off. The flight was fine, tiring. At one point they had to make an announcement “this is the last announcement about masks. If we have to tell any individuals to put on their masks they will receive a write-up and will incur a fine.” What a kiddush Hashem.
We landed, walked a mile to baggage claim, and got an Uber that actually fit us all. This was around 2:30 and Madeleine still hadn’t napped. The ride was about a half hour and at some point Madeleine pinched Hallie and she cried. Then Tzvi tried to explain to Madeleine that she wouldn’t like it if she was pinched, so Madeleine started pinching herself and going “ow, ow.” It was pretty funny. Our driver spoke no English. He told us he was from Cuba and arrived 11 years ago. Glad he’s trying to learn the language?
We arrived, checked in, and went to the room. Our hotel is the Loews Miami Beach hotel in South Beach, but we’ll get into more on that tomorrow. Only one room was ready so we dropped some stuff and walked to Aroma, which is basically right next to the hotel. Came to Miami for an Iced Aroma. We left Robyn and Hallie at Aroma and we walked Madeleine to try to get her to sleep. It worked.
Tonight we had a reservation at Fuego, Miami’s best Kosher restaurant (or so they say). The drive was over an hour, because of traffic. Our driver said it’s never like this. I think it’s because the Jews are in town. The driver told us he lives right next to Fuego and that it’s a very popular restaurant, but this week there have been crazy lines out the door. We told him it’s because the Jewish schools have vacation and then he proceeded to point out Jews as he drove. “Over there, and there’s one, and down there you see some.” Then we passed a shul that was having an outdoor event. “Oh there’s a lot of them over there!” Along the drive our driver also pointed out the site of the Surfside building collapse. It’s just a massive hole in the ground. So crazy.
We made it to Fuego on time and of course, it was packed with Jews. I think I saw at least 4 familiar faces.
Dinner was fantastic. We started by sharing a cocktail which was actually decent. We also shared an order of bourbon BBQ wings and for the girls we ordered chicken nuggets and fries. For our main, Tzvi and I shared the BBQ Chef Platter for 2, though it could’ve easily fed three or maybe even four. The platter had short ribs, grilled steak, pulled briset, burnt ends, sausage, baked beans chili, chips, onions, guac, mashed potatoes and skewers of grilled veggies. It was delicious. A ton of food, but all delicious.
While we sat there we saw a lot of people having birthdays, which apparently are a big deal at Fuego, because every time another birthday got dessert they dimmed the lights in the whole restaurant, blasted a different version of happy birthday or another random song and the waiters sang and danced around the restaurant carrying a dessert with sparklers. Of course Hallie saw this and didn’t want to be left out. Well, her birthday is only a few weeks away (if eight is a few). Oh, they also have random sing-a-longs at Feugo. First there was a sing-a-long of Tov L’hodot, during which the entire restaurant sang along, including the [clearly non-Jewish] waiters. Hallie got pretty into that.
Then they did a sing-a-long of Sweet Caroline, which Hallie also thought was great even though she didn’t know the song. Then, during Sweet Caroline, they dimmed the lights and all of the waiters started marching toward our table with a sparkling dessert. Hallie was so excited that they were singing and dancing for her, until the end, when they all said “happy birthday” and she got really confused and said “it’s not my birthday.”
After dinner I directed us to the Winn Dixie in the same shopping complex so we could buy a couple of six packs of water. The waters in the hotel are 6 dollars, so that’s not happening (until its an emergency). The Uber home was smooth, and less than 40 minutes. We got everyone in bed, but obviously the kids took too long to go to sleep. And here we are. Day 1 in Miami, muy bueno.
We didn’t buy this, but this is the biggest bag of popcorn I’ve ever seen.
Disney World. October 2021. Day 7. One Last Time.
Shabbat Shalom. Today we woke up for our character breakfast!
The Four seasons only has character breakfasts twice a week, so today was our only option. Normally I would have been upset because we couldn’t get photos, but because of Covid the characters don’t actually come up to your table. Every few minutes they do a little parade and stand a few feet from the table and wave. It’s cute, but it’s not like it used to be. Hopefully they go back to regular soon. Also, it used to be buffet, but now it’s sort of an all you can eat a la carte. We ordered so much food. With a buffet you can try everything but take a tiny bit, but now you had to order a whole order of whatever you wanted to taste. Oh well. I wasn’t holding back.
After breakfast it was time for our massages! Robyn took the girls to the kids club and we headed to the spa. My masseuse was from Long Island and was great. She actually went hard on my thumbs and said she does it because she knows how frequently we are on our phones and we need to massage our hands. We didn’t have time to hang out at the spa after our massages, so we headed back to the girls. We met by the pool and got some chairs set up. We sent Robyn to have some free time on her own and we hung out by the pool. The sun went in and out throughout the day; when the sun was strong it was hot, but then clouds would show up and it would get cool. Tzvi kept taking his shirt off and putting it back on. Madeleine took a stroller nap and Hallie actually spent more time alone in the kids club, which was a big win. They had a slime making activity. Very Shabbat friendly.
The late afternoon was kind of tough because we didn’t really know what to do and Shabbat didn’t end until 720ish. We spent a while packing while Hallie and Madeleine ate snacks and went back and forth to my parents room. Eventually Shabbat ended and all of us, minus Robyn and Madeleine, went to Disney Springs for our fifth visit of the trip. It wasn’t worth trying to keep Madeleine out late.
We had no real plan but when we got to Disney Springs we decided to put our name down at Rainforest Café. Just for the record, I specifically did not make a Rainforest reservation because I feel like people always complain that I want to go there every trip. They said the wait was an hour, so we went on the carousel (yes, again) and then did some shopping (yes, apparently there was more to buy). The plan was to go straight to the Lacoste store because my mom wanted to buy more shirts, so we said we’d meet her there. Well, next thing I know Tzvi, Hallie and I are waiting at Lacoste for 20 minutes while she’s shopping at World of Disney. Wonderful.
As usual, we brought the balloon we bought earlier in the trip and tied it to the stroller. I don’t know what happened, or how this is even possible, but somehow air leaked out of the one of the Mickey ears. Just one ear. I don’t get it.
After about an hour and ten minutes our table at Rainforest was ready. As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed. I had a Caesar salad with salmon and bread. Tzvi had fish and chips. Hallie had pizza. She enjoyed every time it got dark and thundered. After that we went to World of Disney and my parents got on the line for Ghirardelli (yes, again). The line was long but moved quickly and they kept calling us. If only they had waiting to do their World of Disney shopping and we could have all shopped together. Novel idea.
Anyway, we got Sundaes but by the time we had our ice cream Hallie was asleep in the stroller. We really did try to wake her, but it wasn’t happening.
We headed back to the hotel around 11pm. Great way to end the trip.
EPILOGUE:
Sunday morning involved room service once again. We were great on time but Tzvi was still stressed to get out. We once again got a Mercedes Sprinter van and headed to the airport! Check in was easy, but security was ridiculous. The pre-check line was so long that Robyn actually got through quicker on the regular line (to be fair, we did stop to buy a shirt for Madeleine at the airport Disney store because (1) we can’t pass a Disney store without buying something and (2) my mother thought Madeleine’s shirt was too small on her. Anyway, there was a huge line for pre-check and only one TSA agent checking IDs. Tzvi was getting really huffy about the fact that there were three or four TSA agents just standing around directing the line. He even started googling how to file a complaint with the TSA, but of course once he was through security he forgot about it. We made a quick stop in the lounge, but there was nothing to get, so we rushed on to the gate. Good thing we rushed, because boarding was delayed 15 minutes. Thankfully I ran to get Hallie a bagel because she ended up eating the entire thing.
The flight was fine. Madeleine slept a bit, but not much.
Great trip.
Disney World. October 2021. Day 6. The Worst Salmon Ever.
Happy Friday.
Today was supposed to be a “pool” day that didn’t involve any pool time (well, aside for pop pop). We got up as usual and attempted to get out, except for some reason we just couldn’t move. Probably because we were exhausted. Instead of room service, today we opted to eat breakfast at the Lobby café called “Lickety Split.” Tzvi and I were supposed to share avocado toast, except they put tomato on it, which ruined it (which is weird, because tomato rarely ruins things – it’s never good, but I can usually just pull it off). Madeleine got cheerios and Hallie had a bagel with cream cheese.
We finally got ready to go and tried to get an Uber… for a half hour. We called an Uber XL, but the car that showed up was too small to fit all of us and the stroller, so we cancelled and called another. Except the same driver kept accepting our ride. After six or seven attempts, we finally gave up and used Lyft.
Finally we arrived at Disney Springs… on the West Side. This is the total opposite end (near the Cirque De Soleil), which was fine and where I actually wanted to be, except the Uber drop off there is really far from the entrance. On this side there was an actual security check, but that didn’t open until 11am and it was 10:51. One guy told us we would have to walk all the way around a parking lot, but that would’ve taken ten minutes anyway, so we just walked over to the security check to wait and they ended up just letting us in early. It’s so dumb because the stores had been open for an hour already.
Anyway, our first stop was the M&M store! We all (not Tzvi) made a little variety bag of M&Ms. It was cute. In the meantime, Tzvi walked off to find a bathroom. We didn’t see him for a while. [Tzvi: To be clear, I did not spend “a while” in the bathroom – I just didn’t feel like walking back to go to the M&M Store or the donut shop, where there was nothing for me, so instead I spent a half hour trying to reprogram the FaceID on my phone to work when I was wearing a mask. It didn’t work.] After the M&M Store we hit Everglazed, a donut shot. They have outrageous donuts. We got the 50th anniversary one to share and it was delicious. The girls were more focused on their M&Ms.
We met back up with Tzvi and did some shopping at Ugg and Sperry, then had lunch at Raglan Road, the Irish place with the great bread pudding. We love the place and go every time, but it was kind of a weird visit. First, we usually go at night when there’s live music and dancers doing an Irish jig. They don’t have entertainment during the day though, so it almost didn’t even feel like they were open. I ordered a Bailey’s shake (ice cream, Bailey’s and coffee liqueur), except when the server brought it he told me they made it without chocolate syrup and asked whether I wanted him to look for syrup. Huh? I don’t know if he was expecting me to say no, but obviously I told him yes. Why did he even bring it? Anyway, eventually they brought me a new one with chocolate syrup and Tzvi drank the one without. I also had the worst bite of salmon I’ve ever had in my life. Tzvi ordered the Florida Key Lime Salmon – the menu said “whiskey cured and lightly smoked Atlantic salmon, Florida key lime & herb crushed potatoes, peas, shaved horseradish and crispy salmon skins. Well, I didn’t read that and didn’t realize it was like cured and smoked. Once it was in my mouth there was no going back. I will forever remember that bite of salmon. Anyway, Tzvi also had a beer flight, and I ordered a vegan shepherds pie which was interesting. The bread pudding was delicious, as was the Guinness dipping sauce they bring with the Irish soda bread.
After that we found some way to spend several more hours shopping. Tzvi and the girls rode the little train ride, and then Madeleine slept in the stroller while Tzvi and Hallie went to ride the carousel. Three times. First they road on the horses, and then Hallie noticed there was a single teacup on the carousel – that’s right, you could spin around fast while spinning on the carousel. Hallie made Tzvi do that twice; after the second time Tzvi had to sit for a while to keep from vomiting.
Somehow it was around 4pm when we left. We got back to the hotel and Tzvi and I went into the hot tub for about 15 minutes. Then we headed back up and got ready for dinner!
Dinner tonight was at Ravello, the Italian restaurant at the hotel. Unfortunately we have no photos because it was Shabbos when we sat down, but I think this was our best meal of the trip. To start we had two pizzas – a margherita and a white pizza with ricotta, mushrooms, arugula and truffle oil. We also had a couple of other appetizers with eggplant and artichokes. For the main I had spaghetti and Tzvi had a moon shaped pasta with cream sauce and artichokes, spinach and peas. For dessert we had the Italian chocolate cake, tiramisu and a Stracciatella cake. Everything was so delicious. All of the meals we’ve had on this trip have been pretty good, but this was more of a gourmet meal than anything else we’ve had this week.
After dinner we put the girls to bed, and then Tzvi and I and my parents went up to the rooftop to watch the EPCOT fire works. Then Tzvi and I sat at the bar and had cocktails – I had some kind of mojito with an interesting whipped passion fruit on top and Tzvi had some whiskey drink that came out of a barrel.
Then we went to bed. Good night.
Disney World. October 2021. Day 5. Well the trip is basically over now.
Well, here it is, the last park day.
It feels like this is it for the trip, though Tzvi keeps saying we have a whole weekend left. Anyway, today is Hollywood Studios day! We woke up to some gloomy weather, but that certainly wasn’t going to stop us!
I was up early again to get a lightning lane, so I booked us all for Toy Story around 11:30am. At 9am sharp I booked Rise of the Resistance and even then the earliest time I could get was 3:45pm. Crazy. After another room service breakfast we headed out. The uber drop off is pretty far away, so it was a walk to get into the main entrance. As we walked in we passed the skyliner, which is a fairly new transportation system that takes you between Hollywood studios and Epcot and a few of the resorts. We’ve never ridden them and they don’t have air conditioning.
Well, we made it through security just in time for it to start raining! We scanned our tickets and made a dash for the stores. It was a little chaotic and Hallie kept whining that she needed to buy her Elsa doll right this minute. We said no, and headed over to the Frozen singalong. We had to wait for the first show, but at least you’re in a covered area. The show was good, a few updates from last time including multiple reminders to keep your “face coverings” on when singing.
Our next ride was the new Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which is in the Chinese Theater where the Great Movie Ride used to be. The ride is totally redone and really great, I wasn’t expecting it at all. Madeleine was pretty scared, which took away some of the enjoyment, but we all survived. Like the new Ratatouille ride, this one is a “trackless ride” – it uses automated guided vehicles without any guide rails and are guided by wifi and GPS. It’s pretty different from the classic Disney rides that just roll along on a track. The ride also had portions where you enter a room and are in front of a massive screen that basically makes you feel like you’re in the scene you’re watching. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s sort of like Soaring (the Ratatouille ride had the same thing too).
From there we were off to Toy Story Land, which is always great. I knew Madeleine wouldn’t enjoy Midway Mania so I sent everyone else on while she and I walked around, except it started raining again. We were also kind of late for our lunch reservation, so I started walking there with her, except the woman who directed me gave me horrible directions so I had to walk totally out of the way. The rest of the family met me at the restaurant only a few minutes behind.
For lunch we ate at the 50s Prime Time Cafe. I think it’s supposed to be like you’re sitting in an old 1950s house and there are TVs everywhere showing 50s shows and the waiters are very in character, by which I mean they’re kind of rude to you. Anyway, I think we were all so hungry and cranky that we couldn’t really appreciate it. We all had Caesar Salad with salmon and we also shared an appetizer of onion rings (there wasn’t much on the menu for us). Madeliene didn’t eat her mac and cheese and Hallie just had French Fries. Balanced meals.
Because we were late we ended up missing our lightning lane for the Slinky Dog Dash. Tzvi was pretty depressed about this so after lunch he and I decided to run over and see if they would let us in. We started walking in one direction and my mom stared pushing the stroller in the other direction, but as soon as Hallie realized we were leaving her she jumped out of the stroller and fell down and hit her head on a railing (she was fine but a cast member who saw her went and got her some ice). Then she had a temper tantrum and I just walked away. Tzvi stayed to try and calm her down but that didn’t work, so eventually he left too. When we got to Slinky Dog I told them our lunch took a long time and they actually let us on the ride. Great ride.
From there we walked to Tower of Terror. Tzvi, Robyn and I rode first. Then we came back and my parents rode. We left them and of course it started to rain. Hallie was also still in a mood. We were just sitting under an umbrella when Hallie came to me and said she needed some “mommy time” without anyone else. She was right. Pretty self-aware. So she and I left everyone else and went to ride Toy Story and then the Alien Saucers in Toy Story Land.
Just before we separated it started to pour. Tzvi sat with sleeping Madeleine under a stroller until eventually my parents came to meet him. They were upset because I hadn’t booked them lightening lanes for Rock n Roller Coaster, except they weren’t eligible for it, and Tzvi was upset because he was sitting and waiting for them to come meet him and they were trying to get on a ride they couldn’t actually ride. Let’s just say tensions were high. Glad I missed that.
Tzvi and my parents and Madeleine went out to Galaxy’s Edge (Star Wars land). They were 45 minutes late for our reservation at Oga’s Cantina, the new bar that’s supposed to be like the bar in the Star Wars movies. They said they would need to wait a little because they were late, but the wait ended up being 45 minutes and by the time the table was ready Hallie and I were there to meet them. Well, the wait was not worth it. The bar is cool, but not 45 minutes wait cool. We had thought it would be really big and there would be multiple rooms to explore, but it was just one big room and we got a high-top without any stools, so we just had to stand there. The drinks were okay. Hallie had a good juice.
After that we went on Rise of the Resistance, the new Star Wars ride. I think that was probably the best ride of the whole trip. [Spoiler alert: If you don’t want the ride ruined for you and want to be surprised by it, skip the rest of this paragraph]. First, you go through an indoor part then are led back outside, where you’re loaded into a transport ship that’s supposed to be taking you to the rebel base (or something like that), except of course you get captured and stuck in a tractor beam. At first we were confused, because the ship is actually moving, but you’re not strapped in or anything – you’re just standing there. When the doors to the ship open, you find that you’re inside the hangar of an enemy First Order ship filled with stormtroopers (I guess the transport ship is an elevator?). From there you’re led into the next room, where you line up for the next part of the ride, but the cast members are totally in character and do a really great job. One came up to me and asked what was on my head (my Minnie Mouse ears). I said “ears.” She said “what kind of species has two sets of ears?” I said, “a Stephanie species.” She walked away and said “there is no such speices.” From there you’re led to a prison cell where the wall is then cut open and cast members who are rebel troops free you. Then the ride actually starts and you go through a whole trackless dark ride. I’d say it was the most immersive ride I’ve ever been on and was awesome.
After that Tzvi took the girls, and Robyn and I rode Rockin Roller coaster. It was great, but shakey. The guitar is covered up so I wonder if the rumors of a rebranding are true. Guess we’ll see. When we met Tzvi, Hallie had purchased her Elsa doll and Madeleine had a Chewbacca doll (and not a particularly cute one). Interesting choice. Apparently she latched onto it. Hallie also bough a snuggie. We don’t know why – she’s seen it in a few stores over the last few days and keeps asking for it, so Tzvi got it for her. It’s cute – a black blanket with Mickey heads – but we don’t know why she loves it so much.
We left the park and headed back to the hotel. Hallie asked why we were leaving so early (it was 5:30). Guess she’s gotten used to the late nights.
Anyway, today was date night. We got back to the hotel, showered, and got ready to head out to… Disney Springs once again!
Tonight’s dinner was at Morimoto. When we got to Disney Springs we had some time to spare so we walked around and shopped a little. Then we made it for our reservation. When we got in I requested a table upstairs and they said they were full. I asked if that was something I could have requested earlier and they didn’t really give me an answer. Then they brought us to a table that Tzvi didn’t like (it wasn’t a great table) and we asked if we could have a booth instead. Thankfully they said yes and that was actually very nice. It was weird – we had this reservation for months and they were almost acting like we were walk ins.
For dinner we shared edamame, a miso soup, a stir fried tofu medley and a kung pao cauliflower. Tzvi also had the Morimoto “buri-bop” (Korean-style yellowtail rice bowl served in a hot clay pot, finished with egg yolk) and a spicy tuna roll. So yeah, we had way too much food as usual.
I was so nauseous after dinner. Maybe it was all the salt? There was nothing we wanted on the dessert menu, so we decided to leave. We had originally planned to go the tiki bar at the Polynesia hotel, but when we called the Polynesian to try to find out about the wait, we were told that the only way into the Polynesian is with a dining reservation and the bar doesn’t take reservations, so basically the only way we could get there would be to take an Uber to the transportation and ticket center and then take a monorail over, and then there was no way to know if there was a two hour long wait for the bar or not. So we decided to forgo that and instead went to Paddlefish, another Disney Springs restaurant which is on a huge boat. We’ve never been there so it was cool to see. They seemed to be closing up, but still sat us for dessert. Our waiter seemed like a freshman in college and didn’t know much about the menu, but he was nice. We got a key lime pie and a cookie Sundae. Both were pretty good. Things were closing up after that so we went back to the hotel and went to bed.
Good day.
