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Ft. Lauderdale, FL - All AboardDec 19, 2008
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Port Everglades, one of the busiest ports
Some of the Ft. Lauderdale Skyline
Boating Activity in the Harbor
We woke up pretty early, not out of any particular necessity. I think we just missed Foxy; she’s usually rattling around in the morning before we get up but the house was pretty quiet last night. We were ready to hit the road by 7:30 a.m. When we’re destination bound, we don’t map out the most scenic route; but, we were hoping to see a little of the countryside along the way to Ft. Lauderdale. For the first 80-90 miles, we navigated our way with squinted eyes through pea-soup dense fog.
By the time we reached the turnpike at Yeehaw Junction, the sun had burned off most of the fog and we were ready for a rest break and a refill on the coffees. So, we made a stop at Starbucks at the Service Plaza to re-provision. The ride south on the turnpike is expensive but worth the tolls for the resulting light traffic. Since we were running early and couldn’t predict how long we might be in the embarkation lines at the pier, we decided to stop and have an early lunch.
We parked at the Park & Fly and the shuttle bus transported us directly to the pier at Port Everglades. Ft. Lauderdale is a busy port with no less than 6-8 cruise ships unloading and loading passengers. However, they have their act together. We were checked in and onboard the ship in less than 10 minutes. Of course, the bad news was our cabin wasn’t ready yet…so, what’s there to do while hanging around? Well, eat, of course….so, we found the Lido Buffet and had a light snack. By 1:30, the cabin was ready and one of our bags delivered. We knew what that meant; the other one had been pulled for extensive security screening….we knew it would come later. We unpacked the one bag and had time to take a quick wander around the ship. Our first stop was the Internet Café to sign up for a package of minutes for connectivity. We also found our cabin is one of the ones with a hot spot; they must have known we’re techie junkies.
Our second bag arrived and we unpacked that with just enough time to spare to get to our muster station for the mandatory emergency procedures drill. We all looked cute as we donned our lifejackets and listened as they explained what would happen with the lifeboats if they were required. This ship seemed to do a more thorough, or at least a longer, drill….taking cabin attendance by muster station. Let’s hope we don’t need to remember any of these procedures for the next ten days. We were slightly late sailing so we hung out on the Observation Deck watching the other cruise ships sail out, disembark the local pilot outside the breakwaters, and set sail on their chosen course. Then, it was our turn and we sailed out as well on an easterly course toward the Bahamas.
We had signed up for open seating for dinner. This is a new option by the ship; you make reservations, or just show up, you get seated and have dinner. Fixed seating means you eat at the same table, with the same people, at the same time, every night of the cruise. Open seating means you might have a different table and different table mates each night….might make for meeting more interesting people, and we can vary the time we want to eat depending on what activities we are engaged in during the day….we’ll see how we like this option.
Our Welcome Aboard dinner was excellent. Joe had prime rib and I had fish. We had two other lovely couples at our table, one from Charleston, SC and the other from Ft. Myers, FL. Since this is a Christmas cruise, they also did the ceremonial lighting of the Christmas Tree. The Welcome Aboard show was an introduction of the HAL Singers & Dancers, the Cruise Director, Johnny, who is from Oklahoma City, and a few funny games aimed at making light of life aboard a cruise ship, with a little audience participation to add interest.
By this time, we were thoroughly exhausted and decided to call it a night. Tomorrow, we anchor at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas……..tune in again later for news from the sea.
