"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #55 San Diego, California November 17, 2016 Thursday Sunny & 75 degrees 16 Pictures

For the first time this 53 day cruise, we had some trouble sleeping tonight. The seas remained rough, even though there was no storm, the swells were significant. Could be something to do with the sea water temperatures changing from warm to cold as we headed north. Adding to the rocking and rolling, the lugging of the suitcases down the hallway lasted well after 1am. It might have been our imagination, but we could have sworn we heard the fellows singing as they worked. They sure do seem to like their jobs, even this one.

We were up at 5:30am, which is torture these days for one of us. If we wanted to make breakfast in the dining room from 6:30 to 8am, we needed to be ready to go for the day. It was going to be a long one, so eating a good stick-to-the-ribs breakfast was in order. Our Concord buddies, Denise and Howard were already dining at their favorite table. You can tell that they are really nice folks, because many of the guests and waiters stopped to say goodbye to them. Of course, we already knew that.

The Amsterdam sailed quietly into the beautiful San Diego harbor very early in the darkness of the early morning. That was good, since it may help expedite the disembarkation process.

We have a word or two about the final disembarkation. Does it ever go off as planned? Seldom. It most definitely is not the fault of the staff or crew, but due to the fact that a few people do not attend the mandatory custom's inspections for all non US citizens. Now maybe, they do not understand the directions we all received a few days ago, but we do know that a face-to-face inspection is required and it is held in the Hudson Room early in the morning. So, at least six passengers had not attended the meeting, and had to be summoned after 8am, the time we were supposed to be cleared. Absolutely no one is allowed to leave the ship until we are cleared by the local authorities. For 20 minutes or more, these people were called by room number, names, and probably called " not-so-nice names" by 8:30am. Gene, our cruise director, finally came on the PA and begged for these people to show their faces. Finally……we were cleared.

The first called off were those who were sailing onward, which were only a handful. Then, those folks who could lug off their suitcases and hand carrys off, got expedited cards with an X on it. Most of these people got off without a hitch, unplugging the already crowded hallway on deck two. That was not to last long.

Thinking that at least the stairway was emptied, we went to get in line. We should have been next with our pink #1 and the rest of the expedited guests. That's when someone decided that the automated gangway that connects to the terminal building was not lined up correctly and was unsafe. You could see the panic in some of the passenger's eyes, as they had booked flights around 10am, and were in fear of losing them. Not a good time to realize that booking flights that early are never a good idea. In theory, they should be OK, but not when we don't get cleared on time. It puts too much pressure on you, and eventually the staff, who end up taking the brunt of your frustrations. In fact, the more seasoned guests who face longer flights with several connections, choose to spend the night in the final port. That's what our tablemates, Bill & Sylvia did, thus avoiding the need to get off fast. Great idea. Sylvia thought so, because she will be happy to do her final shopping while here.

Funny story: one couple that were standing in line with green # 2 had pulled their tags off, and pretended to be expedited. People we did not even know told us to watch them. Wow, this sure brings out the worst in people. As it turned out, it took almost ½ hour for the dock workers to get the gangway correctly positioned. It was near 9:30am when we were finally able to go. The staff member who was announcing pink #1 tags off first, was not going to let anyone else exit. So ripping off tags did not work. There has to be a better way to disembark the passengers here, and we are sure, they will be working on it. Our last impression should not be pushing or shoving, and seeing guests get nasty with the staff. Hate that….

Getting off was easy, finding our 2 pieces of luggage was easier. Then going through the custom's line was fast. No problems there, ever. Since we do not take the ship's transfer to the airport, getting a taxi was a piece of cake. Bet it took us less than 10 minutes to get to the terminal, a three mile drive. We arrived before 10am, with plenty of time before our flight.

The best thing we could hope for at this point was to get "TSA" pre-check on our tickets. Oh yeah, and have our luggage under 50 pounds. Turned out both happened. Well, that made up for our stressful morning.

The flight was full, but on time. We boarded before 1pm, and the flight took off at 1:45pm. The only thing we don't like is the fact that the overhead compartments fill up with what we consider over-size bags. They run out of room almost every flight now. By the time we got settled, served a tiny bag of pretzels, and ½ of a soda, we were landing by 3pm.

We were greeted with clear, sunny skies, but a definite chill in the air. Summer is over for sure.

Our driver picked us up at 3:45pm. What we did not expect, was a three hour ride home in the worst commute traffic we have seen. We must have passed by 6 tow trucks, clearing accidents on the 40 or so mile ride to Clayton. At least we knew our driver, Kenny, who we have met many times over the last few years. He kept us entertained with up-to-date local news and some pretty funny jokes. The three hours did go by faster that way.

We pulled into our driveway by 7pm, ate a quickly made light meal, and headed straight to bed. It had been a very long day, but we would do it again in a heartbeat, since we had a fabulous time on the good old Amsterdam.

We have 6 weeks to enjoy the upcoming holidays, and get ready for the next big cruise when we leave January 1^st. And as we already said, we will be back……………

Bill & Mary Ann

Arriving to San Diego