Back to home base once again……Ft. Lauderdale. The ship docked at pier 21 sometime before 8am, but we were not cleared until after 8am. The last time we docked at this particular pier, it was raining cats and dogs, but today looked promising with partly sunny skies and some clouds. No rain in sight.
Other ships in port were the Rotterdam at pier 26, Celebrity Edge at pier 25, Odyssey of the Seas –RCI at pier 18, the Caribbean Princess at pier 2, and finally, the Balearia Caribbean, a ferry. She was in between the two big ships at 18 and 21.
Of course, we had to get off by 9:15am at the latest. Bringing our passports, photo ID, Covid vaccination cards and the in transit cards, we left the ship by 9am. Once again, we had the facial recognition screens, saving having to show an agent our passports. It went fairly quickly as long as the screens read your face right. Bill still had a little hesitation with the photo, but it did come up as successful finally.
We took our usual path that brought us to the middle of the bridge going over the waterway. The views are super up here, as was the breeze. In fact, it was on the windy side today, which we appreciated. And the bridge did open up, stopping all the traffic for a while. Watching the boat traffic down below, a couple of tall-masted catamarans came under, clearing the bridge by a lot.
Walking back down, we went into the Renaissance Hotel to try and download the Kindle. It failed terribly in St. Kitts, leaving the time off by ½ hour, oddly enough. This time the puzzles came up, and now I know, I have to download them to play later. If not, they will not come up again. With two hundred sixty four tiny pieces, it takes a few days to complete one.
Continuing up the road a piece, we went into the Harbor Shops complex and straight to Publix, where we needed a few things. The checkers were all wearing masks, and so did we. Most customers went without. Pretzels was one item we wanted, and they were almost cleaned out. Go figure. Finding almost everything we needed, we headed back with a last stop at Walgreens for a razor. That done, we hiked back to the ship. No lunch out for us yet.
Showing the in transit cards allowed us to bypass the line at the cruise terminal. Plenty of anxious folks were at the desk getting their final things, then we were off to board once again. In the room, we found sparkling wine on ice, 17 Coke Zeros, a dish with 2 bruchettas and a tray of tarts with chocolate, meringue, and caramel fillings. Always nice to come home to. We added a few sodas and chips to the mix, and ended up not going to lunch. We had also been invited to a gathering at 3pm for the 4- 5 stars Mariners and PC guests for a drink in the Billboard Onboard. Since our buddies are mostly gone, we decided not to attend.
We worked in the room until the Captain announced that we would be leaving after 4pm. And we could expect some rough sailing during the night. As we passed the many houses on the way out of the harbor, we found it odd that the Captain did not blow his horn like he usually does. Perhaps there is a ban on it? Normally, he lays on the horn with many toots. But not today. We felt sad since so many of the locals were waving to us as we sailed by. It got chilly as we stood outside on the veranda, and eventually went inside. By the way, we did read that both the Caribbean Princess and the Rotterdam blew their horns a lot. So there was no ban.
We expect to see the Rotterdam sailing near us tonight, since it appears we are headed back to Half Moon Cay once again, and so are they. Even more reason to wear our masks, as there will be at least 2000 passengers that are new to both ships today. That is a lot of exposure.
Dinner was in the Tamarind this evening. Usually, the restaurant does not fill up on the first night, so we took advantage of that. We were seated at a twosy-foursy table by the window, and enjoyed every bite of our food. We had ordered spring rolls, a Thai salad, pot stickers, and a bowl of ramen soup. All was very tasty. Mains were the wasabi-crusted steak with asparagus, brown rice, and mushrooms to share. Not wanting a big dessert, we opted for the butter pecan ice cream. It was just enough. However, back in our room, we found that the chocolate fairy had left two dark squares of chocolate. How about that?
Tomorrow we should be sinking our toes into that white sand on Half Moon Cay. And it looks like the Rotterdam will be there as well.
Bill & Mary Ann
Monday, March 7, 2022
Report #79 Fort Lauderdale, Florida Sunday -March 6, 2022 Partly Sunny With Clouds 80 Degrees
