Ormon Beach & Fort Lauderdale, Florida - Jan 1, 2008 - Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States

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The year starts at the Sunshine Holiday Daytona Campground in Ormond Beach, Florida. On January 1st we began to get ready for our cruise. We drove to the Daytona Beach Airport (about 8 miles from Ormond Beach) and picked up a rental car. On our return to the campsite we started packing up. We filled three bags and a backpack and we also decided to take Ken's guitar. On the second we put our Jeep and home in the campground storage (at a cost of $75/month) and drove to the Marriot Courtyard in West Palm Beach, about 200 miles from Ormond Beach. After an overnight stay we drove another 50 miles to Fort Lauderdale. Ken dropped Joan and the luggage off at the pier, returned the car at the Fort Lauderdale airport (about 4 miles away) and took a shuttle back to the pier.

It took us about 20 minutes to complete the paperwork and board the ms Prinsendam. Since our room was not quite ready we headed for the buffet and some delicious roast beef.

After lunch we checked out our room. We found out a couple of days ago that we had received an upgrade. We went from an inside cabin on the lower deck (steerage) to an outside cabin two decks up. It is a decent size room and convenient to all the public rooms. Next we took a tour of the ship, it is a beautiful ship and just the right size. It can hold up to 800 passengers but currently has only 721.

After unpacking we proceeded to the mandatory life boat drill. The drill consists of putting on your life jacket and standing at your lifeboat station. The ship was supposed to leave at 5:00 PM but was delayed because all of the supplies had not arrived yet.

Dinner was excellent and the captain finally got the ship rolling about 7:30 PM. We checked out the two bands and piano player that were performing in the different lounges (all decent musicians) and then called it an early night. Our long awaited voyage was on the way.