With plane ticket in hand a few weeks now, I am officially going to be attending the 25th Anniversary of Miami-Broward Carnival in October.
At the moment my friends and I are currently looking for accomodation, on South Beach no less, so I am open to suggestions and information on which is the best area to stay in as well as opinions on a condo versus hotel.
This will be my first North American Carnival so you can imagine that I am really looking forward to the experience and plan on playing mas as well, no sense making the trip to be a spectator!
There's A Brown Girl in the Ring is my go to blog for information on Miami-Broward Carnival, however I would love to hear from the Miami Carnival veterans on which fetes should I put on my list of "must go to parties" and which bands should I consider playing mas with?
Leave me a comment!
17 comments:
lucky you..enjoy the trip. I look forward to hearing about your experience playing Miami Mas!
well i've never attended it, BUT I heard that DV8 MIAMI is a great party! lol
Good fetes to check out are Tribe ignite on Thursday, Rise and Shine Breakfast fete on friday morning. And DV8 Miami on Saturday. Despite the Washington fiasco, the one in Miami is good!!
Thanks for the love on my section Sexy Swanky Sailors! That was my section from last year. Unfortunately, I am not doing a section this year, but I will be coming back stronger for 2k10. A friend of mines is having a section and I can email you with that information and I am veteran of Miami Carnival and I will gather all my fete information in the week. You will have a time for Miami Carnival it is a great experience of sun, beaches, fete and enjoyment!
Go Sauce!
First you absolutely must rent a car for Miami. And with a car rental it's best to stay at a hotel in Miami Beach. Parking in South Beach is a beast (there's no real parking available and when you find one it's far from your hotel and expensive)so you're better off staying further up the road where the hotels have their own parking available.
Many condos in Miami Beach/SoBe/Bal Harbour are housed in hotels so it's all the same. Just find whatever works for your needs.
As for fetes, I haven't gone to Miami in two years so I may be out of date. Machel's AC is usually good (Friday night). But it's best to keep checking the Brown Girl in the Ring blog. When you get to Miami and you bump into other Carnival visitors in your hotel you will get get an overload of fete info -- especially from the West-Indian New Yorkers (holla my peeps). NYers dominate that Carnival ;) Miami has way too many fetes to choose from and I love it.
Miami carnival is GREAT for fetes. The carnival is nice.
You'll have a time!!!!!
AWWW.. .Saucy thanks so much for the Feature!!!
I'm starting to put together my party lists too as promoters are starting to drop hints about their events and confirming dates.
The Band Launches start soon too.. so I'll have more information on bands..and pictures.
Oh and the South Beach Hotel list will be up this week.
thanks for reading me :)
Cliv
Miami is pure bachannal, I love it! Pretty mas in Miami/Broward is def something to be desired.. But the mud/camo jouvert-style mas is the BEST!! Broward Mud last year was amazing!
Me and crew always stay at the Best Western (not on the strip). It's far from fancy, but I love it for so many reasons: 1) It's apt style including working kitchen, living/dining room, and a separate room all at a very affordable rate. Not to mention, there's usually enough free parking in their lot 2) You can play ya music loud loud, wine on the balcony, and drink freely. 3) And my favorite reason: you wake up/come back from a fete to sweet soca or a man knockin iron @ 7am!
Now I can't honestly comment on fetes, bcuz the last one I actually remember was some Machel fete in 2K7. We attempted to make Miami's version of 10-10 last year but bcuz it ended @ 5am, we missed it :-( This year the plan is to attend the fetes we missed last year due to wutlessness: Shine and/or Red Eye, Small Island fete usually held in Ft. Lauderdale, and Wet Fete on Monday. Miami is just such a nice vibe even if you miss a fete, you're not upset..
Mud mas, here I come!!!
As an avid South Beach Miami Traveler I suggest NOT renting a car. I go there every year for the past 10 years from D.C. just for a get-a-way because I love it there and you can get great deals. You won't need a car when staying in South Beach and hotel parking costs $30 minimum and finding parking on the street is a joke. Do not stay in Miami or North Miami as you will need a car to come down to South Beach where everything is every day. Ocean drive has it all…Accommodations, Food, Fun and is directly adjacent to the beach. Two blocks from Ocean Drive is Washington Ave where all the major clubs such as SOBE and Mansion are all in walking distance. Shopping on Lincoln Road and Collins are blocks away. It just so happens that my girlfriend and I just got back yesterday and enjoyed the 4th of July festivities there. We watched fireworks on the rooftop poolside and enjoyed drinks.
We took a $21(usd) shuttle from the airport to our hotel called Go-Shuttle from the Ft. Lauderdale International Airport (shuttle service is also available from the Miami International Airport as well) and stayed at the Strand Hotel directly on Ocean Drive. Please visit the website http://www.thestrandoceandrive.com/the rooms are exactly as pictured with sleeping and living areas, kitchen with stainless steel appliances, flat screen tv’s and huge soaking tubs. We will definitely stay there again on our next yearly visit next year. Enjoy your visit!!
Thanks for the tips so far, keep them coming :)
Saucy, you will have a great time at Miami Carnival. Everyone's pretty much covered everything I was going to say. One thing I will caution is that some of the fete prices go up closer to Miami Carnival. So, once you decide which ones you'll want to attend, try to get someone to secure tickets for you; unless you're getting comps of course :-) Party People Mas is having their band launch this weekend and I plan on attending. Generation X and Vibrationzz mas bands should be having their launches soon as well. I'll send you whatever info. I get. As far as fetes, DV8, Red Eye, and Girl Power are ones I've been to and had a blast. I went to the 10-10 fete last year at Bayside Hut and it was done at 5am. No reason was given, and I'm not chancing it again this year. And you must hit the beach!!
Saucy, like everyone alreadt said once you're in Miami its almost impossible to not have a good time. Even if you don't attend a single fete, the vibe of Miami is just sweet. LOL.
But I totally disagree with the no car rental thing. Yes South Beach does have everything you need but most Caribbean fetes are either Downtown or FLL, you will need a car to get to those events. Even the parade is downtown Miami (a 15 mins drive from South Beach) The last two years I have actually stayed Downtown and loved it, cause its closer to the major fetes (bayside hut, Shine, Red Eye, Bottle Fest, Machel's AC, etc.). I just drive over to South/Miami Beach during the day. As far as condos, check out www.vacationrentals.com. The majority of the "better condos" are in North Miami. And you will actually find some of them to be cheaper than hotels (on average $600 for a week stay) For those who talking about the Friday night party at Bayside (Socavivor) it have now moved to Downtown so it will be a lil better with the timing because they won't be the same restrictions as Bayside Hut.
Some other events for sure is Shine (Socavivor)and Redeye. The day fetes is a blast!
Also, Pretty mas in Miami is not really my thing. But let me know how that works out. Lol.
I agree with Emprezz Diva. I rental is a MUST. I live in Miami and like she said all the fetes are spread out between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. The worst thing to do is to depend on others for a ride and I'm sure you would want to do some shopping too and everything isn't all that great on South Beach.
Carnival 2k8 I bought an all access pass for Socavivor 8...it was about $200US and gave you access to all the Socavivor fetes (8 in all). It was well worth the money. This year is Socavivor 9 and of course they've added a fete. The prices haven't come out for this year, but I assume it will be about the same. As far as accomodations, I live in MIA so I don't really have any recommendations. Sorry....Anyway I hope to see you out and about
Thanks Cliviaalana for your blog. I needed something like that years ago - especially when the jump-up kept changing locations year to year. One of the best sites at that time was islandmix.com. The official Miami carnival websites could never be up-to-date until the 99th hour. Good work!
Sauce, Miami has the best approximation of a Trinidad vibes of all the North American Trini style carnivals (some problems with competing "offical" organizations aside.) The different ethinic looks cover the entire spectrum as in Trinidad. Miami (and South Beach) has it's own vibes as some have mentioned already, and only adds to a great experience. I haven't been since 2004, but any fete with Machel will be fire, and do catch an outdoor fete (medium to large crowd.) I love Brooklyn, and do appreciate Toronto, and DC new on my good vibes radar, but Miami IS the best! Oh, do rent a car if that was always on your plan (you will need your independent mobility.)
Saucy, you need a car in Miami its a must. If you like the beach like i do then you should stay on Collins Ave. Its in the heart of south beach and all the resturants and club, shopping etc is within walking distance. Some of the parties to attend are
1) Black and all inclusive Friday night
2) Shine b-fast party
3) UWI all inclusive Saturday
4) AC saturday night
and as for playing mas I don't play pretty mas in Miami i normally jump up with Camo or One island body paint band.But which ever band you play with you will have fun.
ENJOY!!!!!!!
Miami Carnival is great. A lot of parties and they don't end until early in the morning. As far as mas, I suggest Generation X but they have other good bands as well. But as far as I know Generation X usually comes out as one of the top bands and they are also all-inclusive. Socavivor has great parties, some others are Girl Power on Thursday night, Block-O or International Flag (Socavivor) party on Friday. Univeristy Fete on Saturday during the day ( I hear it is similar to beach house in Trinidad) that too is all-inclusive then they have some more parties at night, they seem to change every year sometimes. Sunday is the parade and at night Socavivor has maybe the only or biggest party that night after the parade. As far as places to stay I suggest staying on Ocean drive so that you can walk across to the beach and the bars are on Ocean as well, but that depends on you budget, Collins Ave is also good to stay on as it is only a block away with more hotel options. Though most parties happen in either Downtown Miami, Fort Lauderdale and in Key Biscayne I suggest you get a car or just cab it everywhere. Well, hope you have fun.
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