Our third day in Ft. Lauderdale was sure a busy one. The first thing on the agenda was getting ourselves to the clinic where we could get the Covid antigen tests. Expecting a line right after 8am, we were pleasantly surprised to see only a handful of folks there, five of them who we know well. A nurse came outside the door, took names, then escorted us inside one or two at a time. The actual testing was quick, then we paid the fee, and waited outside for 15 minutes for the results. The best news of the day was we were both NEGATIVE! We were handed printed copies of the tests, which we can show upon embarkation. You have no idea how many sleepless nights were spent worrying if this was going to work. Thanks to our travel agency, they located this clinic where we could walk to from the hotel. There was another option, but it involved using a mobile device, and we do not own one. Even those that had cell phones, did not trust the process and chose to pay the money for a hard copy of the monitored test. Job done.
From there, we went to breakfast at the same café as yesterday. It was even more crowded, and we figured there were probably cruise ships in port today. Later on, we discovered there were four of them. We needed a few items at the supermarket, then made a stop at Ace Hardware. Last night, our little alarm clock decided to go haywire, so we located a replacement along with a thermometer for our room.
Back to the hotel, we began seeing more and more people we recognized, as well as the staff that had arrived from our travel agency. It has been three years since we have seen them, and there were numerous handshakes and bear hugs. It was feeling more and more like a homecoming. We were gifted with tote bags and really nice sweatshirts, similar to what we got in 2020. They also gave us a cruise diary with all of the ports included in it along with a letter of instructions for tomorrow.
Having scattered the contents of our one piece of luggage, we took the time to repack the bag, filling it to the brim. No need to worry about the weight now as it will go directly to the ship tomorrow morning to be scanned before delivered to our room. Many other guests in our group had brought most all of their luggage with them, and were able to store it in an empty hall at the hotel under lock and key. For a change, we traveled as light as we could, having shipped the bulk of the luggage back on December 14th.
Feeling the need to take a walk, we left the hotel and had a huge surprise when we ran right into Captain Mercer on his way into the lobby. His wife Karen had already entered, but we knew she would be nearby. After chatting for a few minutes and sharing memories of our last painful goodbyes in 2020, they said our travel group had invited them to join us all for dinner tonight and they gladly accepted. Retirement has agreed with both of them, and Jonathon admitted that his stress level had gone down dramatically after leaving the company. Isn't that true for all of us? We looked forward to visiting with them later on. Boy, did our travel agent keep that secret successfully or what?
So we wanted to see if there were any cruise ships in Port Everglades, and once we summited the bridge, we counted four of them. Easy to remember, the names all began with an "E". There was the Emerald Princess, Celebrity's Edge and Equinox. The fourth vessel was an older and smaller Royal Caribbean ship, with the name hidden from our view. Sure is nice to see the industry coming back despite the pandemic.
Against better judgement, we continued to hike towards the beach then realized we had missed lunch. We did make an attempt to get seats at Bubba Gump's, but it was way too crowded and the wait would have been too long. So we turned around and made our way back to the bridge just in time to see the bars drop, and the bridge go up. It was near 4pm, and we had to be ready to meet with the group for a ride to a restaurant right after 5pm. Turned out that three of the four ships began leaving, exiting the path we always take out of the port area. Of course, we had to get photos of them as the captains began blowing the horns. Our turn will come tomorrow.
Our room was being serviced, so we had to wait outside of it for a few minutes. That's about all the time we had left before leaving again. Expecting to see our buddy Barb, she was nowhere in sight as we began boarding the two buses. We had not run into Susie and Woody yet, but we were told they had arrived to the hotel in the afternoon, but were too tired to attend the dinner. It is also possible that boarding the bus may have been challenging for Woody as well. It turned out that Barb was still on her way, and her plane had not landed yet. Thanks to our leader, he arranged for a taxi to bring her to the restaurant minutes after she arrived. He even saved her a seat at the table with Captain Jonathon and Karen, who she knows well. We both greeted her with hugs, then promised to visit later.
The ride to Hugh's Culinary Restaurant took about ½ hour. Literally, it was in the middle of nowhere, but was known to Deann, our leader's wife, who had gone there with her golfing group. It was a really nice setting with a full bar, a table of appetizers, and many banquet tables set in the center of the room. Ordering two cocktails, we found seats at our leader's table with some folks we had recognized from previous grand cruises. Tasty appetizers were passed around the tables by waiters. These were being cooked right in the back of the room, and arrived hot. Crabcakes, bacon-wrapped chicken, and a type of pizza bread sure tasted good since we had missed lunch.
Tom delivered a short and sweet welcome, then dinner was served, beginning with salads and rolls. Those that wanted wine went directly to the bar, and ordered it. Over a month ago, we had pre-ordered out entrees. So our name tags had a colored dot indicating either beef, chicken, or pasta. They all sounded good, so we had ordered one beef and one chicken. Both were delicious with the best smashed potatoes ever. Dessert of Key lime pie followed finishing the meal nicely. Coffee was set up at a separate table, where the folks helped themselves.
Tom, our leader, gave his final talk, describing the process for tomorrow's transfer to the pier. If all goes according to plan, we should all be at the terminal by 11am give or take a few minutes. Then he surprised us all when he announced to be careful leaving the restaurant because it had rained. Never saw that coming, but it is common in Florida we understand. It had come over leaving some deep puddles, but had stopped by 9pm.
Sitting directly across from the Captain and Karen on the coach, we had a nice visit with them on the ride back. Sure was interesting hearing about their 2 month adventure while being stuck on the Amsterdam before leaving in Manila for their final trip home. What a way for Jonathon to retire….never saw that situation coming. They will be staying a few days before heading back home.
Tomorrow will be another marathon day, so we called it a night. The adventure continues……
Bill & Mary Ann
