Well, here we go again, beginning a different type of long journey on the Nieuw Statendam for about 108 days. The ship will stay in the western, eastern, and southern Caribbean instead of circling the world. The final 19 day cruise will take us through the Panama Canal, back to San Diego, with a short flight to San Francisco. Looking forward to it since we have never sailed on this class of ship before. One thing for sure, we will get plenty of exercise just walking from one end to the other.
Having passed the Covid tests on Friday, we looked for the health questionnaires to arrive via email from HAL. Oddly enough, they never sent them. Calling there, we learned that there was a bug in the system, and not everyone got them. So we will fill out the form when we get to the pier like we always did in the past.
Now to the "travel day" saga. The day began early at 2:30am for a 4am pick up by our friendly driver. Despite the fact that it is the holiday season, the traffic was very light. Also, it was a Saturday, and that helped. Once at the SFO airport, it was a different story. Everybody and their brother seemed to be flying somewhere. Flying with Alaska Airlines, we noticed that the check-in area was very confusing. Lines crossed over with folks waiting for the kiosks, as well as passengers (some with dogs) lining up to drop off tagged bags. At times, we think the dogs were better behaved than the guests. Our luggage tags did not print, so an agent took us out of the help line, and did it for us. Nice guy.
Then off we went to the security line, where we did not get the magic TSA free pass. At least we did not have to take off our shoes or separate the small liquid baggie. However, the knee replacement ( I assume) set off the bells, and I was subjected to the xray and pat down. Saying nothing about the knee (they don't listen anyway), the guard decided my watch set off the alarm. OK with me. Even if I had a card certifying that I had a replacement, they would still search, so my doctor does not issue cards anymore.
We were early enough to enjoy a hot breakfast with lots of coffee before boarding at 7:20am. The morning had gone relatively well, and we knew the flight would be good too. Remember the longer flights when you were fed a meal? Well, no more. Beverages were served along with Cheezits and Biscoff cookies. Most folks buy all of their food right before boarding, despite the cost. Anyway, all went well, but, little did we know what awaited us later in the day.
The plane landed around 4:30pm Florida time to overcast skies and muggy breezes. No rain, which was good. Now was when the fun started. There was no rep in sight as promised in our documents. We had pre-purchased a one night hotel package with transfers on both ends. About an hour later, several more people congregated…some were going on a Princess cruise, and another couple of ladies were with us for the HAL cruise. Finally a rep appeared, but she was not the most helpful person as she spent most of her time on her cell phone. We sensed that something was wrong with our ride, but she promised it would be just a little longer (actually one hour). Two more agents showed up, and led us outside, put the four of us in a van, and off we went. Except, we were going in the wrong direction towards the Las Olas area, and a different hotel (The Element). By now it was dark, and we stopped the driver and said this is not the way to the Renaissance Plantation. Traffic was horrendous, and the local drivers were so rude. So our driver got a call from his boss, who insists that HAL had cancelled our hotel reservations, and we were to be brought back to the airport. Really??? You can bet that did not sit well with the four of us. He claimed he would get fired if he took us to the other hotel. So back we went where we sorted out what happened. A much younger agent had made a mistake, and put us in the wrong van. Then we discovered that if we had insisted that he drive us to the right hotel, we would have had to pay the first driver directly. No way! Long story short, the other agent apologized profusely, and ordered us another van. Within 30 minutes, we were at the right place, and found our reservations were still intact. Good thing, since none of us needed this extra stress. The agent did promise a bottle of champagne, which all of us said, we would rather have something stronger than that! Time will tell……….
There was an HAL rep at the hotel, and also apologized for the mix-up. She had the info for our transfer tomorrow, so we were all feeling better. The nice ladies that shared this experience (both from Texas) claimed they will have lots to write their family about tomorrow. Dropping off our stuff, we headed to Bokampers located near the hotel. Both us of enjoyed chicken Caesar salads with a soda and a beer. Really looking forward to a good night's sleep, breakfast tomorrow, and boarding the ship around 12pm. Now we ask, what else can go wrong?? Better not ask!
Bill & Mary Ann
Sunday, December 19, 2021
Report # 1 Travel Day December 18, 2021 Saturday Cold in Clayton 33 degrees - 81 degrees in Ft. Lauderdale
