In the different travel forums I visit, I find a lot of people asking questions about what to do or where to go the day before leaving for a cruise that departures from either Fort Lauderdale or Miami. I believe that being stuck in a hotel for hours watching bad cable movies is no way to start a wonderful vacation, so I have created a list of places you can go for fun the day or night before your cruise.

Since I live in South Florida, I am very familiar with all these places and I have been to every single one of them, so my recommendations are first hand.

Miami:

Night time:

Bayside Marketplace
401 Biscayne Blvd., R106
Miami, Florida  33132-1924
Website: http://www.baysidemarketplace.com/html/index.asp

Bayside Miami

Bayside is a beautiful marketplace in Downtown Miami. You can find everything in there from free live music, to restaurants, shops and nightclubs. There are also a couple of party boats that take you out to the intercostals waters for two hours. From these boats you can see Star Island where many famous artists such as Gloria Stephan, Julio Iglesias and other have their homes.
If you want to experience latin cousine, Bayside is the place to go. They have several Cuban, Brazilian and Argentinean restaurants right by the water. Their prices are very reasonable. American food is also available. The place is kids friendly and full of fun.
The place is very safe, however you shouldn’t wonder around the downtown area at night.
Bayside is right next to the Port of Miami. Most shops close around midnight, but the nightclubs and restaurants are open until 1:00 AM.

Bayside Market Place is also open during the day.

Day Time:

Miami has several places you can visit during the day, and they are all relative close to the Port of Miami.

Here are some suggestions:

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In a very creative way, Carnival Cruise Line got itself a lot of free press and advertisment when it built the world’s biggest beach ball and released it on the streets of Dallas (maybe it is true what they say about everything being bigger in Texas)

Anyway, CCL broke the previous records with its 10 meters in diameter ball, and it was officially registered in the Guiness Book

I leave you with a video of the world’s biggest beach ball