Well, here we are once again back in Ft. Lauderdale. The ship docked at Pier 26 today. That meant an extra 45 minute walk (one way) from the ship to town. But with a nice breeze blowing, we did OK.
Ships in port were the Caribbean Princess, RCI Odyssey of the Seas, HAL's Rotterdam, Celebrity's Edge and Reflection, and the Nieuw Statendam. Sometime during the day, The Noordam appeared briefly, stayed a short time at Pier 2, then departed. Not sure what was going on there? Presty had mentioned last night that eight crew members were being sent there, even though we do not know where she heads next.
It took a little longer getting off of the ship this morning. This time, we had to use our passports to go through Customs and Immigrations. Once clear of the boarding area, we found our way to Eisenhower Blvd, and the way out of Port Everglades. One of us wanted to do some clothes shopping, as well as stop for lunch. We made a pass through the Renaissance Hotel, where we stayed two years ago before the world cruise. Their Christmas decorations were still up. On the ship, the Christmas train scene had been removed, and we suspect the rest will go sometime today.
Standing in a very long line in a shopping center, we saw people getting Covid –tested. With the holidays soon to be over, people must be afraid of the virus spread to go and get tested before the work week resumes. We were worried that Barb might not make it here on time, with all of the doom and gloom reports on TV. Cancelled flights would be a problem. Turned out she made it here without any delays, except for her Covid test. She took it at the airport in Virginia before she boarded, but did not have the time to wait for the results. Then her back-up plan was to have the test done here. She passed the test, and boarded the ship after 3pm. We met up with her at the 4 & 5 Star & PC Mariner's gathering in the Billboard Bar. Sure was good to see her, since the last time we were together was in March of 2020. At that time, we did not know if we would see each other again.
The champagne flowed as we chatted with other 2020 Grand World Voyage guests that Barb knew. Sitting near the entrance were Gene and Shirley, friends who also boarded today. Sure is nice to see friendly and familiar faces, even though they are partially disguised with those mandatory masks. By the way, now we know why HAL is not giving out their logo cloth masks. Now they are not rated as safe for the new Omicron version. The party lasted longer than usual, but we left to watch the lively sailing out of Port Everglades. It seems that each time we head out to sea, the horns get louder from the locals. But no one can top Captain Noel, who wins for the loudest and longest horn blowing. Very uplifting!
For a change, we had time to relax and watch a movie in our room. We are loving the interactive TV where we can start a movie, pause it, and resume when we wish. This technology has been around for many years on other cruise ships, but never on the Amsterdam class of ship. Now we can check just about everything on the ship, but most importantly, we can monitor our shipboard account without spending a lot of time at the Front Desk.
Dinnertime in the dining room found changes. As we said previously, the upper dining room was closed for the next 10 days. So we were relocated to table # 62 seated with Barb. It was a table set for six, in case we would like to invite company. The aft section of this dining room is much different than on the Amsterdam, where the tables across the back window are open to each other. Here, the dining area is split into sections with walls on either side. So across from us was another table for six. We had hoped it would be kept empty, but a group wandered back there, and asked to be seated next to us. Well, they had been visiting the bars onboard, we assume, and were quite noisy. Without the walls on each side, the noise might have been diffused. But here, it just confined it to the point we could not hear each other at all. We made the best of it, but we will have to do something about it tomorrow. Once the rowdy group left, the sound level was fine.
Barb had thought to ask for the crudité plate with carrot and celery slices with ranch dressing. Fredy, the head waiter, brought them immediately. The veggies were fresh and crispy, so we asked for the same platter tomorrow, except for some added olives and heart of palm. Better to munch on these instead of filling up on bread and butter. The soups were almost hot enough, and the entrees of spaghetti, chicken, and lasagna were tasty. And with new waiters, except for Oka, the service was good. All of us were exhausted, so we passed on the Walk of Music shows, which were blasting really high volume.
Since day one on this trip, we had been hearing what we thought was a cart going over a threshold outside our room. Turned out that a locked door had a laundry chute, and it was being utilized during the late evening. One mystery was solved as to "what was that noise?"
We are now heading towards Curacao, just north of Venezuela, a two day trip from Florida. And even though the Captain had reported a problem with one of the Azipods, we seem to be sailing at a good clip. We should arrive to Curacao around 2pm.
Bill & Mary Ann
Monday, January 3, 2022
Report # 16 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Sunday - January 2, 2022 Sunny & 80 degrees
