Firstly the hotels:
All hotels had hairdryers and irons. Only one hotel didn't have a safe in the room although there was a safe in reception. One of the safes in the room wasn't bolted to the floor so pretty useless as a safe. Regal oaks resort was excellent, 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a hot tub to yourself. There was even a washing machine and dryer. I loved this house but some of the passengers had commented that as it was so large they would have preferred the option of sharing. The rooms in the motel in Vero beach were terrible. There was a door straight out onto the road, the air con was noisy and the curtains were too short so if you were getting changed you had to make sure you were at the back of your room so you weren't seen from the road!!. On the plus point there was a bar and it was right on the beach which was lovely and it was clean. Food was nice here. All the other hotels had nice, clean rooms and were of a similar quality to our travel lodges. The hotel in Islamorada was switched to Marathon which was disappointing as the brochure had said we would have our own private beach in a charming resort with the theatre of the sea next door. What we actually got was 3 nights in Marathon. It would be fine if the weather is good as there is nothing much within walking distance. There was a Tiki bar next door where the staff automatically add 20% to your bill regardless of if the service has been good or not. They got two orders wrong and forgot one side dish yet still expected a tip. The fish place across the road had better food, cheaper drinks, friendlier staff and didn't add the tip onto the bill leaving it to your discretion. Some of the group didn't like the fish restaurant as they thought it was over priced but i'd say prices were only what you'd pay at home and i enjoyed the food. On the plus point the hotel in Marathon was on the bus route to Key West so you could go into Key West again on your free day if you wanted to. I believe this option wasn't available at the original hotel in Islamorada. We got a taxi for $6 to the macdonalds for lunch and there was a big supermarket next to it where we bought our own wine and beer for the evening and we sat and drank it by the pool. Drinks at the Tiki bar were $10, plus tax, plus tips.
The weather:
The weather was very mixed. The first two days were very hot and sunny around 29 degrees.Then we had 3 days of on / off rain. We were lucky and found that it would rain heavily while we were on the bus and as soon as we stepped off the bus it was dry so it didn't spoil our trip. The rest of the days were dry, grey and cloudy and still very warm. Sun would peek through every now and then.
Flights - the Manchester group flew with Virgin and they were by far one of the best companies i've flown with. Very attentive and we even got free ice cream!!.
Tour Manager and Coach driver:
Both were excellent and a great double act!!. The coach driver had bottles of water on the bus which he sold for $1 each - bargain.
Itinery:
Epcot - Brilliant day. Don't waste time queuing for the fast pass as when you get to the front of the queue the popular rides will already be fully booked by people who have booked online. Instead, head straight to the back of the park and work back towards the entrance. You will then find that there are hardly any queues. We ate in Japan, saw acrobats in China and had a peek at Little England, Morocco, Italy. An enjoyable day and the park wasn't too crowded.
Kennedy Space Centre - I have no interest in space and so wasn't looking forward to this trip but i found it really interesting. We did the imax cinema in the morning, had lunch with the astronaut and saw the Atlantis space shuttle in the afternoon. After reading the reviews on here i wasn't expecting much from the food as previous reviews had described a cardboard wrap with nothing for vegetarians. I was pleasantly surprised to find a buffet with a choice of food ranging from salad, chicken in orange sauce, fish, beef, pizza and a variety of other veg and rice, a variety of desserts and drinks. It was a really nice meal. I bought some space food ice cream which is worth trying and really does taste like ice cream. A very enjoyable day out.
Fort Lauderdale - an enjoyable cruise to see the homes of the rich and famous in spite of the weather. It was pouring down but luckily the boat had a roof so we didn't get wet.
Miami - stopped off in some of the smaller districts before heading to the sea front. Little Havannah was lovely with lots of cuban music playing. There was a guy walking round selling peanuts in rolled up bits of paper for $1 each. We thought they were cigars at first. You need to try these peanuts as they're lovely and the guy was delighted when he sold 7 all in one go!!. Onto the Miami sea front where we had a couple of hours free time. We had a stroll along the beach and did a bit of shopping. Some of the window displays are very garish and we found ourselves taking photos as we couldn't believe that people would really wear gold sequin outfits!!.
Key West - one of my favourite places on the tour. In fact, would have liked to have stayed in Key West rather than Marathon and put up with a much longer drive to get there. Full of music, bars, restaurants and places to shop. Had our photos taken at the most southern landmark and went into Ernest Hemingways house. We found that 45 minutes here was plenty. The guide was good but we left before the tour of the grounds as we preferred to see more of Key West rather than visit a cat cemetary!!. Worth having a drink in Sloppy Joe's. It's busy but there is good live music on. Despite having it raining on / off for alot of the day it cleared up in time for us to see the sun set over the ocean which was really the icing on the cake.
Marathon - spent our free day stocking up on alcohol at the supermarket and lazing by the pool. The hotel overlooks a lovely marina and there is a lovely gift shop next door selling classy gifts rather than seaside rubbish. Beware of the iguanas roaming the hotel grounds. If you don't like reptiles don't sit too near to the grass, although they don't come up too close luckily. I too, hate reptiles but was still comfortable lounging round the pool. Some of the group took the bus back into Key West. It was very cheap for the return on the bus although some of our group had commented that it would be better to get the bus there and a taxi back. A taxi back costs approx $125 but can take up to 7 people. This will avoid you having to sit on the bus for an hour to go round in a circle before you leave Key West. Personally, i wasn't that keen on the location of the hotel as there was no where nice to go for a walk and i've no idea what you would do if it happened to be raining.
Everglades - the boat ride is good and we saw two alligators while on the boat. The crocodile show was good although if you don't like snakes make sure you don't sit on the front row. I sat at the back as i'm terrified of snakes and luckily they didn't bring the slithery friend any further than the first row. There is an opportunity to hold a baby alligator for $5. We then headed to Naples.
Naples - a very lovely resort with a hotel in a good location. Unfortunately arrived in the dark and only had time for dinner and drinks here before moving on. Would've liked a free day here to go to the beach and have a look round the shops and the lovely marina. Some of the group did manage to take a trip in a taxi to the beach for a short while and even spotted a snake!!.
Fort Myers - Went round the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford houses which were nice. Very odd seeing christmas trees in the sunshine (yes, the rain had stopped by now). We had a lovely meal in the Pinchers Crab Shack. Alot of the drinks were buy one, get one free. I only had a starter of grouper with chilli and red onion. It was so huge i couldn't eat it all.
Sarasota & Ringling Museum- a lovely resort that is very spaced out. Unfortunately our hotel didn't have much within walking distance. The driver took us out in the coach to eat both nights and the place we ate at on the second night was luckily just about within walking distance if you wanted to stay for a drink after the meal. Absolutely loved the circus museum and while i managed to see everything i did have to go round everything very quickly. Would have been nice to have an extra 2 hours here. I loved the circus museum. So much to see and do and the little model of all the big tops, circus people, animals etc is lovely. This was a trip highlight.
Places to eat - There are two places that really stood out for me to eat. The first was the Cheese Factory which the rep arranged for us. They managed to seat everyone together which rarely happened on the Florida tour. The food was the nicest (along with the next place i'm about to mention) of the whole trip and the cheesecakes were amazing. The second was Olive Garden, again arranged by our rep. They had the most friendly waitress i've ever met and you get a free soup or salad with your meal so no need to order a starter. They make the most heavenly peach belinis and it was fairly cheap for both food and drinks here, so much so we all left a large tip.
During this trip we also had some free time to go to supermarkets like Walmart and a visit to the Florida shopping mall before we flew home.
Summary - highlights for me were Epcot, Kennedy Space Centre, Miami, Key West and the Ringling museum. Lowlights were the awful motel room in Vero beach (luckily it was only a one night stay) and the fact that very few of the hotels we stayed in had a bar or restaurant which i think is necessary on this sort of trip. Improvements that should be considered include a free day in Naples and the possibility of an add on for 2 days at the end of the holiday at the Regal Oaks Resort. This was a brilliant holiday and i met some amazing people on this trip. I didn't find this tour too hectic as there were 3 late starts (10 - 10.30 am and very few late nights). If anyone has any questions i'm happy to answer them.
