Waking up around 5:30am, we were ready for yet another day in transit. It wasn't until after 6am that we spotted the coastline of Ft. Lauderdale. Back "home" again, so to speak. After breakfast, we saw the line forming for the expedited guests, or those who would pull off all of their belongings for a speedy escape. That was not looking too good for them right now.
Our absolute latest time to get off of the ship was 9:15am. So we usually head off before that, like 9am. When we went to the gangway, the line for the expedited people had not moved. It had increased now to twice the size. We could see that the majority of the in transit guests were waiting as a group to be taken down for processing through Customs and Borders Control. They would have to wait as well.
We had no choice but to mix in with the expedited people, and wait for the line to move. The staff on the ship blamed the wait on the shoreside crew, who were holding back the passengers. It probably took all of 20 minutes before we started to go off. Once down on the lower level, the line for the facial recognition went swiftly. This time the scanner worked better.
We took our usual path to town, only this time, we walked up the E. Clay Shaw Jr. Bridge. Getting halfway, we stopped for the view ( and for the benches as well). We needed to take our time, because we could not re-board the ship until after zero clearance was achieved. Hoping the bridge would operate while we were there, it did not this time. Bet the Sunday drivers were happy for that. We did have a great view of the other ships in port. They were the Celebrity Edge at pier 25, Allure of the Seas at pier 18, the Balearia Ferry was there briefly, with Radiance of the Seas docked at pier 2, with no passengers. Finally, our sister ship, the Rotterdam was at pier 26. The N. Statendam was at pier 21.
From the bridge, we hiked to Publix for groceries to last for the next 11 days. We will be able to shop for the N. Amsterdam when we stay overnight on April 6th. Gosh that is approaching soon. Hard to believe, as the time has gone by so fast.
We noticed that only the checkers and store workers were wearing masks in the supermarket. No one else had them on, but us. And we didn't care. We will have one more test at the end of this cruise, before we board the next ship. Sure do not want to take any chances at this point of time. Lunch would have been really nice in town, but we didn't dare.
Shopping done, we hiked back to the pier, and got back before 2pm. Talk about lines? We noticed there was an unbelievable line of people embarking the Rotterdam. Something must have gone wrong there, because this line snaked all the way to the Celebrity Edge. Unreal…. Guess we will get the story tomorrow when we meet our friends at Half Moon Cay, who also boarded the Rotterdam today.
The terminal workers at this pier were not as organized as those at pier 26. As in transit passengers, we do not need to stay in a line where documents are being checked. We already have our keycards. Showing the in transit card, we simply went around the rope to the xray, put our stuff through, and went right up the escalator, passing the check-in desks.
We already had decided to make reservations in the Tamarind Restaurant this evening. It was made easy since two desks were set up to do this on deck two. Calling the front desk on embarkation day is not the best idea. Earlier in the morning, we discovered the internet had been shut down. Calling the front desk from our room was useless. They never picked up the call. It is their policy to "clean house" on the shipboard accounts, and remove all old information on the rooms and previous guests. But this should not take all day.
Arriving back to our room, we found the gift fairy had visited. We had the bruschetta, mini tarts, and a bottle of sparkling wine on ice. However, there was no soda. Will have to ask about that. We had enough time to have a small lunch, then we were off to the Billboard Onboard for the final exclusive reception for the 4, 5 star members and President's Club people. The sparkling wine flowed, easing the aches and pains of our long walk. We happened to have a chance to talk to the Assistant Bar Manager, who happens to be married to Jonah. She was not present at this gathering, but her trainee, Otto, was there. He and a few other officers were the greeters. We did have a few questions for the assistant manager regarding bottles of unused whiskey and sparkling wine, and the missing 17 diet sodas. He said he would work on it. During this gathering, many calls were announced ship wide for some folks who had not seen their lifeboat drill officer. If you are not logged in, they cannot sail. These calls came every few minutes, and we wondered if we would ever leave on time. Our guess is that someone's scanner did not work properly.
We did leave Port Everglades by 4pm, right after Celebrity's Edge left. The Rotterdam came next, then the Allure…..last. Since we are both headed to Half Moon Cay tomorrow, we will probably sail close together through the night. Almost felt like the Captains were racing.
Going out past the houses and apartments was fun. Since it was Sunday, most people were home to wave to us. Horns blew at the apartment end, and the beach was full of sunbathers today. At least, the Captain blew his horn with three log blasts. Guess it works after all. We stayed on the veranda watching the sail away, but when it got cold and windy, we came back inside. Even bundled up with beach towels and blankets, did not keep out the cool wind.
So dinner was in the Tamarind Restaurant with potstickers, Thai salad, ramen soup, and egg rolls. Our mains were Mongolian lamb chops with bok choi, and sides of mushrooms and brown rice. Totally filling, we passed on dessert. Since it was not crowded here, we got the best service and visits from many waitresses. Some had worked on the last world cruise, and looked forward to be called back. We were done by 9pm, while watching the pool workers cover up the Seaview Pool with netting.
Looking forward to our beach walk on Half Moon Cay tomorrow, since it will our final one until who knows when.
Bill & Mary Ann
Monday, March 28, 2022
Report #100 Fort Lauderdale, Florida Sunday-March 27, 2022 Sunny And Windy 78 Degrees
