"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 5 Day Three in Ft. Lauderdale January 4, 2016 Monday Sunny, but cool for Florida 24 Pictures

Sent: Tuesday, January 5, 2016 3:57:47 AM
Subject: FW: Report # 5 Day Three in Ft. Lauderdale January 4, 2016 Monday Sunny, but cool for Florida 24 Pictures

Report # 5 Day Three in Ft. Lauderdale January 4, 2016 Monday Sunny, but cool for Florida

Listening to the news at 7am this morning, we learned that today would be the coolest day in this part of the woods since last March. What happened? We must have brought the cold weather from California with us. Well not quite as cold as 28 degrees, but a comfortable 60 degrees with a breeze. That's unheard of in southern Florida, where it is usually always humid and sticky. We just know that if we had forgotten our swimwear to use at the hotel's pool, it would have been sunny and hot. Not as bad as in January of 2010, when we came to Florida early to spend a couple of days on the beach at a nice hotel. When we walked out of the hotel, we found the temperature to be under 32 degrees. Holy cow! That's freezing…..literally. No swimming or sunning for us on that trip. In fact, there was not one soul at the pool or on the long stretch of white sandy beach. So we're still happy with today's forecast. Great for walking.

And that's what we did, a walk back to the café up the road a piece. Much less crowded this morning, our orders were delivered hot and quick. We still had plenty of time to explore the connecting mall, which had many more restaurants. No lack of sports bars here too.

Burlington's was located near the café, so we waited until they opened. Not that we needed anything, but simply looking always seems to yield something to help store things in our room on the ship. So we ended up getting two metal hanging over-the-door bars with several hooks. We plan to try hanging these on the existing hooks on the side walls near our bed. We will have 10 hooks instead of two. Hope they fit.

Walking back to the hotel, we detoured by using the canal trail instead of following the major street with 6 lanes of traffic. Should have done this before, because we took note of the signage that warned of alligators and poisonous snakes on the trail. OMG, that would send us scurrying up those palms trees just like the iguana did yesterday! What a sight that would be……

Our travel agency gals and fellows had their desk set up in the lobby. They were handing out the new 2016 Grand World Voyage handbags, that included a really nice navy blue jacket made of a sweatshirt type fleece. Not a nylon jacket like we thought it would be. They also have lots of zippered pockets, which we like. We spotted people already wearing them, since it was so cool outside today.

The first shuttle to the Broward Mall was leaving at 1pm. Expecting the trolley bus, we found they were using a nice medium-sized shuttle bus this time. That's when we ran into good friends, Bill and Leta, who were also heading out to the mall. They had gotten into the hotel late last night, and were raring to go today. Like us, they like to walk. Between the bus ride (15 minutes) and chatting at the mall, we must have spent an hour talking. Last time we met was when we were all in Honolulu last October. They were on a month holiday there, and we had stopped there while on the Amsterdam. Meeting up for dinner onshore, we visited until we closed the restaurant down. So it will be really nice to be sailing together again on a long voyage.

While at the mall, we made a stop at one of the major department stores to search for denim shorts. One of us has had no luck finding denim shorts this entire last year. Not even online from outdoor wear catalogues. Perhaps every other color, but no denim. For us, they are like a uniform, worn most of the year at home, and on cruises in warm weather. Today was a lucky day for one of us, because we found that the store had gotten in their summer clothes. And to make the deal sweeter, it was buy one, get one ½ off. OK that works.

Lunch was next on the list, and that would be at Red Robin's. It is a favorite place for us at home, so we just needed to find it. Last year, we never found it, because you needed to go outside the mall to access the front door. Guess that way, they can stay open long after the mall closes for the evening.

The last shuttle left the mall at 3:30pm, but since we needed to burn off a few French fries, we walked back. It was so pleasant outside, the walk seemed to go by super-fast. While on the main road, we came across a big sunning iguana, who decided we were a threat, and did a swan dive in the nearby pond. He surprised us by diving deep and never coming up, at least where we could see him.

Back at the hotel, we began to run into many people we knew….some guests and some hosts we sailed with back in 2001 on Seabourn and other trips after that. They now host for our travel agency, but seldom, if at all, host HAL cruises. So it was nice to see them and catch up on news. By the time we got back to the room, we had one hour to get ready for the cocktail party at 6:15pm prompt.

Just about the entire group was present at the gathering by 6:20pm, as we had to squeeze our way to the bar. We spotted at least a dozen repeat guests that we know mostly by sight, but not their names. There were about 200 folks here today, counting the staff and some visitors. Gerald, the Mariner Society President, greeted us and informed us that we were sitting at his table. In fact there were nine of us at his table, all President Club members. We asked Gerald how many members there were in total, and he said 62. Not all are active, but seven more will be inducted on the Grand Voyages this year.

Dinner was good and served as soon as we sat down. We did notice that wine was not offered, and there were no wine glasses at each place setting. Those who came to the table with their wine from the party, had their glasses filled, thanks to Gerald. We don't drink it, so it didn't matter to us. Usually there would be both white and red bottles on the tables, so we guess this was a cutback. The key lime pie made up for it , however.

The senior vice-president, Annie, delivered a short and sweet talk, then Gerald followed her with another short and sweet welcome. We got instructions about tomorrow's transfer process to the pier……luggage ready at the door of our rooms by 8:30am, and times for the bus transfer. Gerald informed us that we would be getting a 10am private transfer to the ship, reserved only for our small PC group. That's nice of them to provide this. The evening ended by 8:30pm, where we all decided not to wait for the coffee, and go get our things packed for tomorrow. Hate to wait for the last minute to do this job. We had accumulated a few extra things and needed to make sure it would all fit in the suitcases. It was a tight squeeze, but we had to remind ourselves that usually we bring three bags, and not two. Good thing we don't have to weigh them this time.

The plan is to get to sleep early, and make it to our favorite café tomorrow for breakfast. Won't be hard, because these beds are really comfortable. Tomorrow night, we can look forward to being rocked to sleep with the motion of the ship. Love it.

Bill & Mary Ann

The local water district