Wish we could say that today went smooth as glass. It did not, although the beginning of the day was good. Last night we had our bag packed, to be ready for a 7:30am pick up. And that meant getting up early to go to breakfast at Joe's Café. Bacon and eggs with lots of hot coffee gave us a jump start to our day.
Back at the hotel, our plan for the day was to check out, and meet with our fellow travelers to take the buses to Port Everglades, a very short distance from the hotel. The luggage had been brought to the boarding area in the hotel, and all we had to do was ID it. All of the bags were then loaded into a large truck, then driven to Pier 26, where the Amsterdam awaited. Only there was a delay, since the truck arrived a half hour late. Although they did not show it, you could feel the stress level rise with our travel experts. They probably knew the later it got, the longer the check-in line would be at the cruise terminal.
It was around 10:45am when we finally left in the two small coaches, getting us into Port Everglades and Pier 26 by 11am. Today there was a total of seven cruise ships docked. Now that is an incredible number of people to off-load and re-load. A few of the larger ones were the Adventure of the Seas, Nieuw Amsterdam, Celebrity Equinox, Sky Princess, Eurodam, and Carnival Magic. The Amsterdam was small in comparison, and we were the very last to leave.
And was it crowded at the check-in desk after going through the security checkpoint? Oh, you bet it was. The separation for the Mariner groups were 1, 2, and 3 star members on the right, then Neptune and Pinnacle suites, 4 and 5 star members on the left. On a trip of this length, the majority of folks will fall into the left side of the room category. Nowhere to be seen was a sign for President's Club members, of which number around 50 or so for this particular cruise. So we were directed to the left line with the most people who were waiting up to two hours to check-in.
The only positive aspect with this wait time, was the fact we ran into many folks we knew well, and handshakes and hugs continued every few minutes. But the other President's Club friends of ours began saying this was not right, so one of us sought out some help from the shoreside crew manning this melee. And that was all it took to have each member singled out, and brought around to the front of the line. Later on, we learned this same thing happened even at 10am, when more of our PC friends were stuck in the long line.
In processing our info, we were asked to produce the New Zealand visa, as well as the yellow fever vaccination certificate, or official stamped letter of the non-vaccination. Not sure the consequences of not having either of those documents, although it was printed that without them, you may be denied boarding. We were cleared, pictures taken, and ready for our room keys.
However, the problems did not end here, as you might expect. When it came time to hand over our keys, the device that printed them was not working. So we were asked to wait, and wait longer, with more folks in the same boat as us. Now get this…..they had to go onboard to get these cards printed, but when they returned the keys were wrong. Then one of the officials said the pile of President's Club room keys were in a box on the counter somewhere. They had been there the whole time. What part of incompetency do they get? Like no communication.
We have to add here that speaking to one of our friends later, several wheel-chair bound passengers had been lined up after check-in, then had to wait up to three hours to be wheeled to the gangway. Suggesting they bring this to someone's attention, that is totally unacceptable.
Just happy to be boarding, we found there was no regal reception by the Mariner greeters. The same happened last year, although we did learn later that one special group did get photos earlier. To tell the truth, we were almost relieved at this point we did not have to do this.
So we were welcomed back as we entered the ship, but only to find out one of our cards did not work. Good grief….. this tedious day seems to never end. This required another long wait at the front desk to get a new room key printed. And guess what…..a bunch of people had bad keys. There went another lost hour. Then we found out our credit card had to be re-swiped, because our names got switched on the account. Wouldn't you know it, we had locked the wallet up in the room safe. So we had to go back later to fix that.
Sure was nice to be home in our old room on Dolphin Deck. Two suitcases awaited our attention, and little by little, the other five pieces arrived by 6pm. We did some, at least enough stuff to get through the night and tomorrow. The rest could wait. There was a Mariner Lunch in the dining room at noon, but we had long missed that. So we grabbed salads to tide us over to dinner time. The dining times for dinner were 5 – 9pm for open seating, 5:15pm for early seating, and 8pm for main seating. The Lido was opened from 5:30pm to 8pm for dinner.
We had a few minutes to spend with our visiting agents in the Lido Pool Bar. Promising to keep in touch, they said goodbye to many of us, as they had to leave the ship before the muster drill. We thanked them for all they had done to make our stay in Ft. Lauderdale so much fun.
The announcements for the upcoming muster drill began right about then. That took place at 3:45pm, and went well. Short and sweet. Tina, the Pinnacle Grill manager, is our boat captain.
The Bon Voyage Party in the Lido Pool area began at 4:30pm. Earlier at 1:30pm, champagne was served in this area complimentary as well. We knew not to indulge, since we had so much to do, and truthfully, it can leave us with headaches. By the time we remembered the big party, it was half over. They did serve free drinks and artisan-style snacks while being entertained by the Station Band, one of Barb's favorite groups. We viewed the activity from deck nine, but the better scenery had to be watching the many ships leave the port one after the other. The Adventure of the Seas passed within feet of us, and we all waved to a much younger group, many of them young kids. The setting sun gave the photos the best light this evening. And by now, the promised weather change began to happen with the appearance of dark rain clouds. By 7pm, when the ship finally left, it was pouring cats and dogs. We think most of the luggage and supplies had been loaded before the dock flooded.
Dinnertime snuck up on us, and we made it to our table shortly after 8pm. It was like home week with our six buddies…..Barb, Woody, Susie, Heo, and Greg. And we also had a guest, Ron, who we have known from past world cruises. He recently lost his wife and mother, and we did not want him spending the evening alone. Our entrees were the alternate salmon, and it looked the best of all. We adjourned our first dinner together after 10pm, then headed for the front desk. Expecting there to be few people there, we found another long line. Two front desk crew members had to take care of the never-ending guest's problems. There went another hour.
Anyway, it all worked out, and we both slept like rocks. Thank goodness for a few days at sea now.
Bill & Mary Ann
