Well, here we are at home having arrived safely at the SFO airport on Monday May 18th. But first we shall share our adventure getting here and our final day on the ship.
We got up early because the Pinnacle Grill opened at 6:30am, the same as the dining room. We said many good-byes hoping to see some of the regulars next year. Many have switched to the New Zealand/Australia cruise for several reasons. It is shorter in days and does not go to Africa. We missed saying farewell to Mike and Cathy because their flight was later, and they did not want to get up early.
Checking the weather on the TV, we found it was going to be another hot and muggy day with temperatures in the low 80’s. The humidity was 83% with 13.8 mph winds. Rain was in the forecast, but not until early afternoon. Too late for umbrellas, since we had packed them in the shipped luggage, which went out after dinner last night. Actually, 8 of them were out before dinner, and one went out by 9pm.
This morning we had a message that there would be a driver for us with a sign outside the terminal. It turned out that the bus we expected was going to be a Suburban limo with one other passenger. We had Lime green # 1 tags and were the last scheduled to go off of the ship by 9:15am. Fine with us.
At the gangway, we said our goodbyes to many staff members, including Captain Frank and Alexandra his wife, who gave us both hugs. We will look forward to seeing them again next year. With just our hand-carrys, we passed by the guests searching for luggage, then headed right for the facial recognition checkpoint. We got the green light and that was the extent of the customs and immigrations check. Our passports were not even scanned. Easy. Our luggage that had been taken from the hallway last night would go directly to the Luggage Forward trucks. By the way, we did see that this luggage was being scanned by xray on the dock before being loaded into the vans. Random bags were being searched.
Just as promised, a driver was waiting outside with our names on his computer. He was looking for an elderly Texas guest, then we would be on our way. We got into the comfortable Suburban and waited until the man arrived. Hard to believe there were no other guests that booked this hotel, since it was HAL’s hotel they use all the time.
This hotel was not all that far from Port Everglades, but right before we got there, it began to rain. When we saw a few drops on the windshield, we thought we would beat it. However, the deluge came within seconds – a real tropical downpour the likes we never see in California. The driver got us as close to the entrance to the hotel, but we needed help with the hotel staff using over-size umbrellas to keep us dry. There was an overhang, but with the wind blowing, we still got wet. Not to worry, it is so warm here in Florida, we dried within minutes.
The lobby of the Element was on the third floor, which was different. And the elevators were marked for the floors depending on where you wanted to go. We were able to check in but did not get a king-size bed. What we did get and did not need was a kitchenette with a sink, stove top, microwave, a dishwasher, and refrigerator. The room itself was actually small with no couch or chairs. Only a stool for the tiny desk to work on the computer. There were two under-sized queen beds. Oh well, it was the best they had, even though we booked and paid for this months ago. We did have a nice view from the 11th floor, where we watched a fenced food truck-type venue that opened at noontime. There was a church nearby where the people came after the services to buy ice chests of fast food. We also had a view of the hotel’s pool which was on the 6th floor. The bad thing was that the TV had a blue tinge making it hard to see. We did call the main desk, and they sent up a technician to fix it. “No can do” was the answer since a bulb had burned out in the unit. The best they could do was move us to another room. Nope, we said we would deal with the TV being blue.
Taking a walk to a nearby CVS, we searched for a new alarm clock with no luck. There was no hardware store close by, so we gave up. We would just trust that we could wake up by 3am to be ready for a 4:45am pick up. Back at the hotel, we asked directions to several restaurants nearby. One of the fellows mentioned Cheesecake, and we said yes, that would do. Having researched Google, the directions were way more complicated than they needed to be, perhaps due to construction at the time. Turned out it was a straight walk to the Las Olas area with hundreds of venues. Being that today was Sunday, it was hopping with locals and tourists alike. Obviously the place to be.
We got seats in the bar area and ordered one beer and one Coke Zero for starters. We shared our favorite tortilla salad with plenty of bread which is particularly good. After our meal, we strolled past many shops and restaurants on the boulevard before heading back to the hotel. Up until now, the earlier rain had stopped and the sun came out. But now it was getting cloudy and we felt rain was coming. Just as we got about a quarter mile from the hotel, the sky opened up flooding the streets. We happened to be under an overhang with benches, so we sat it out, knowing it was passing over in about 15 minutes. In a slight drizzle, we made it back to the hotel and stayed dry all the way.
One of us worked on photos while the other relaxed watching the blue TV. When it began to get darker outside, we could see the screen better. By 5pm, we made our way to the poolside restaurant finding we had the place almost to ourselves. We ordered a Margherita flatbread pizza and one hamburger with fries to share. The food was good and we did not have to worry about the rain by staying inside for dinner.
Before retiring for the evening, we had everything in place and ready to go for the morning. Watching the old reruns of Seinfeld, we turned off the TV by 9pm. It had been one long day, and morning would arrive all too soon.
Fast forward to Monday morning, our lady driver was right on time to drive us to the Ft. Lauderdale airport, about a 15 minute ride with no traffic. The airport was busy with passengers lining up to check in, which always takes us by surprise how many people travel at this time in the morning. With no luggage to check in, we had our boarding passes within minutes. The zigzag line for security was long but moving. Once we passed through the xray, we had time to find a place for breakfast near the gate, which was down one floor and at the end of the terminal.
Whiskey River Café was opened early, where we ordered much-needed coffee and a split breakfast.
The good news was that the flight was on time, not completely full, and we had bulkhead seats with lots of leg room. The TV’s were in the console and we were able to enjoy a few movies and sitcoms all the way across the country. With very little turbulence, good weather, and a tail wind, we arrived earlier than expected to SFO. Our driver met us at baggage turntable #9 where we hiked to the parking garage. It was easy with no luggage to drag along.
It was one of those rare days in San Francisco where the weather was near perfect….blue skies and no fog. There was little to no traffic which is a miracle these days. We were home by 1:30pm or so. Home coming was not so sweet when we discovered the landline phone was not working and the computer was not jiving with the hotspot. Well, it’s not like we have nothing else to do, right? Both problems were resolved the following day thank goodness. Despite it all, it was nice to be home.
Our future plans include Alaska, Mexico, and Hawaii and South Pacific in the fall. Then back on the world cruise in 2027. It has been a pleasure sharing our adventures with you all. Bye for now!
Bill & Mary Ann
PS Here is a snippet of our final thoughts on this world cruise. In our opinion, this ship is getting older and needs some TLC. The pattern as we see it, is wait until it breaks, then fix it. This resulted in water shut off for most of the day and all night on one occasion. No bathrooms – no water more than once. Without asking, we did receive some compensation with SB credit. Our other issues were there were so many segments, it felt like we were starting over every few weeks leaving the cruise to feel dis-jointed. The other thing we really noticed was how many more “pop-up” lunches and dinners that occurred in the Pinnacle Grill. It made it difficult to figure out regular days we could go there to use our complimentary dinners on a regular evening.
On a positive note, we did not mind that we sailed mostly in the Pacific Ocean instead of circling the globe. The downside was losing an hour almost daily as we headed eastbound. We appreciated the quality of the food, especially for dinner in the dining room. With a new head chef, we had many new appetizers and entrees that we liked. Our waiters and room stewards were the best. Florin did a fine job with the President’s Club events and the entire front desk staff headed by Jonah were much appreciated. Kumar, our Mariner rep, really did take care of our mishaps the best he could. And thanks to the two Captains, we made it safely back to Ft. Lauderdale with a lot of fun in between.
