Another early start to the day found us on the way for our last hearty breakfast in Ft. Lauderdale. We had been given specific instructions on today's string of events, and we needed to stay within the time limits. So we left the hotel at 8am, returned by 9am, and packed the rest of our stuff.
As always, the hotel elevators were getting busier, and we knew going down to the lobby might take too much time the longer we waited. So Bill brought our one duffel to the holding area where it would join the mountain of luggage to be hauled to the cruise terminal. The next time we would see it would be in our room – hopefully.
All of us met in the lobby at 10:15am, then proceeded to board the two coaches for the quick ride to Port Everglades. Well almost "quick" as both drivers had to wait for a few guests that were resolving some problems. Frankly, we could have walked faster, but not hauling our heavy carry-ons. Being patient is not one of our fortes.
Our driver had us to the terminal, Pier 26, around 11am, where he was told by a local security guard we would have to wait to park because the Zuiderdam was loading for a huge world cruise. Well, HELLO, that was us. With that, we got off to wait in one undesignated line to enter the terminal. Normally, there would be another entrance for President's Club and suite guests, but not today. However, that line did open later, unknown to us.
At the door, an HAL rep was asking to see our bar-coded embarkation papers. If we did not have them (Barb did not – it was on her computer), he printed one right on the spot. Informing him that the three of us were President's Club members, he directed us to the right end of the building and said enter where the new line for us had formed.
Barb was the first to break around the corner, followed by us. We could hear some grumbling in the back round, at which time we told them we had been sent that way. Now this next part was kind of funny. The three of us had accidently missed the quick screening of our docs, Covid tests and booster cards, proof of yellow fever vaccinations, and the Australian and New Zealand visas. We assumed that would be done at the final desk as we always did in the past.
So we all proceeded through the xray screening with no problems, even though the buzzer went off with the new knee. No one bothered to scan it. The first stop was at the facial recognition kiosk, which refused to work properly. The rep handed us our passports back and said let the next set of agents know we failed the screening.
Finally up at the last desk, the only thing they required was our passports. No one asked for the rest of our documents, especially the ones that we had stressed over for weeks. On top of that, their computers were slow as molasses. Another head supervisor had to come facilitate the boarding for all of us. Thanking us for waiting (did we have a choice?) we were given the green light to proceed up the escalator and wait to board the ship.
We would estimate there were 300 impatient guests cooling their heels there already. Luckily by 11:30am, Captain Friso and hotel manager, Henk M. were in place to greet us as we headed for the gangway. Funny, we heard Henk summon the Captain just prior to this, and he said he needed a few minutes to finish the other half of his sandwich.
We breezed by them, no time for chatting as we were the first group called to board. That is one nice perk of being PClub (President's Club) members, which is not always honored. On the other hand, if this was a shorter cruise and there were fewer PClub guests, we would have been personally escorted onboard. The three of us were just as happy to be on the ship no matter how we got on.
Familiar crew members greeted us as we passed by the room card check point . From here, we found our staterooms, and dumped our heavy bags. We had noticed there was a Mariner's Lunch in the dining room at 12pm, so we decided to try it for a change. But we had a problem….the room safe did not work. It was dead. Calling the front desk, they sent up one of the managers, who re-set it. Now we were free to go.
There was a set menu with salads and a choice of three entrees. Complimentary mimosas were offered. One of us had the pot roast and the other a quiche. Both were tasty and hot. Dessert was a thin slice of Key lime pie, which we have had three servings now since we have been in Florida. Many of the waiters came to say HI, since they remembered us from the Tales of the South Pacific, ending just a mere 6 weeks ago.
One important job we had to do was visit our muster station and log in with the staff there. No lifejackets required and no standing up for a group muster drill. That suits us just fine. Then we had to watch the safety video on our stateroom TV. It had to be viewed to completion before the TV would advance to the main menu. Public summons continued for the next 2 hours, asking people to do this right away. Until the entire population did this drill, we would not be able to sail away.
The luggage began arriving one at a time, so we spent the remainder of the day unpacking. Once again we brought the heavy duty magnets and dowels to hang shirts. They work so well that Henk designed a similar device to lend to folks who wanted to do the same thing. We read in a greeting letter that they were limited in numbers, as were the stacks of drawers, so it was first come, first served. Our room is larger than we are used to, so we did not need anything more for storage.
All aboard was 4:30pm, however, we seldom leave on time. Today was no exception, as we eventually left the port by 6:30pm. Just as well, we continued to make sense of the pile of clothing and supplies until it was dark. No way would we be able to complete the job in one day, and there was no rush to do so. By the way, we asked for the felt hangers to replace the heavy wooden ones. Our nice room steward brought 40, then 40 more, and 20 more the following day. They take up so much less space and nothing slips off of them.
Fixed seating for the late dinner (or main seating) had been moved to 7:30pm. We would not have known this unless we looked at our room key, which we did to check our table number. We thought we had secured this particular table months ago, but the request had not been verified by ship services until last week. Our group of tablemates, mostly the same since the 2007 World Cruise, were pleased with the location. It was so sweet to be back together after having to leave the Amsterdam three years ago. Our waiters were Nik and Gofar and they seem to be a good fit for our lively group. Our appetizers were tasty, and the entrees were nice and hot, just the way we all like them.
We talked until well after 10pm, but when we saw the drapes being pulled at the windows, we decided to call it a night. Our best bet was to move everything we had left to store onto the large couch and worry about it tomorrow. Rome wasn't built in a day you know….
Bill & Mary Ann
