Onward!
We didn't get up as early as we wanted to (shock!) but still easily made it to breakfast in the Palm Dining Room. We spent some time in our cabin sorting through the inevitable paperwork influx that occurs on every turnaround day and, mid morning, decided to walk off the ship and do...something. There had already been an announcement that embarkation was delayed, and in transit passengers (those staying on for another cruise) should meet in the Princess Theater at 11am instead of 10:30am, but when we walked off, though the immigration line in the terminal was long, it moved steadily. Once through the terminal, we decided to skip the Water Taxi today (it was extremely windy and cloudy, though it was warm) and any attempts to meet with a realtor to tour some condos in Fort Lauderdale. Instead, we opted to hop on the free shuttle to the Galleria Mall and see what the day brought there.
The free shuttle was a beautifully equipped touring bus (actually, there were most likely two of them) making the 5 or so mile drive to the Galleria Mall continuously (or continually? Heck, they both work!) from 9:30am to 4pm. We rode there along the beach, down Ocean Blvd., and, once we'd been dropped off, first went across the street to Starbucks (the food court in the mall was being renovated). While we were on that side of Sunrise Blvd., we also went into the Publix Supermarket right there to get a couple of things: some contact lens cleaner, more Wet Ones hand wipes and foaming hand soap. We had tried to get through these 28 days just using the round bars of soap provided in our cabin, but the norovirus on board forced us to give up. Psychologically, to us, bar soap does not seem to clean as well as foaming antibacterial soap.
We sat outside the Apple Store in the mall for awhile, using the free wifi while G downloaded some TV shows from Comcast TV2Go, and I downloaded more magazines onto my iPad using the NextIssue app. We were just two of several Caribbean Princess in transit passengers there doing the same sort of thing. We went to PF Changs for lunch (one thing we don't get a lot of on a cruise is Chinese food) and caught a shuttle back to Port Everglades about 3:30pm. Traffic was bad and it took nearly 30 minutes to go 5 miles, reminding me of one of the reasons we moved out of South Florida 25 years ago.
Arriving back at Terminal 2 at around 4pm, we walked right back on the ship. And once on board it was just a usual embarkation day, with music in the Piazza and people eating at the International Cafe. We dropped our purchases in our cabin and got showered for the evening while the muster drill was taking place at 5pm. Sailaway was at about 5:45pm, and we watched from Skywalkers for as long as we dared, not wanting to miss our table at dinner tonight, the first night of the cruise, by arriving too late.
With just two sea days and one port on this 4-night cruise, I will use internet minutes to upload menu photos, showing the new regional items, Internet speed permitting. They really are the most blog-worthy photos I'll have.
We made it to the 7:45pm show of comedian Phil Tag. His funniest line: Armoire is French for "no room for the husband's stuff". Yep, that's what it means at our house. ;-). It wasn't a typical Welcome Aboard show at all; no singers and dancers, no Princess slide show. I guess they didn't want to waste time on that on this short cruise. I'll point out other differences as I come across them. Big news: piano entertainer Bert Stratton came onboard today. I wanted to go to see him at 9:45pm, and still might, but G is done for the day (I think he wants to watch one of his new TV shows on his iPhone).
This is our first Princess cruise of only 4-nights, though we've done one on Celebrity years ago out of Seattle. We're curious about how this cruise will feel the same and differently from the 5-night cruise that just ended, which seemed to follow the usual Princess format (Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall, formal night; Captains Circle and MTP parties), so I'll be posting some information about that over the next three days.
As for our fellow passengers on this 4-night, (mostly over a) weekend cruise...there are many younger, working adults, of course, some families and many seniors, too. And several small groups of women of all ages cruising together. Everyone we've talked with so far is on for only four days, but I'm sure there are many here for this cruise and the next, another 5-night cruise. And there were nearly 700 in transit passengers who stayed on from last cruise. We've learned that the most traveled passenger has nearly 1000 days on Princess, only the top 10 couples receive a voucher for specialty dining (we're going Sunday night), and the cutoff for that was 440 days.
We have no formal nights this cruise, just one "Dress to Impress" night tomorrow night. No Captains Circle party, no MTP, and only one port, Grand Turk, on Saturday. We received free drink coupons in our cabin in lieu of the Captains Circle party (I want to use mine for a new Chocolate Journeys drink). There is an Elite Lounge in Skywalkers every evening. We did get an Elite minibar setup as usual. I can send in laundry (it's been getting back the very next day every time I've sent some in). So, for the most part, it seems like a typical Princess cruise. We've heard no grumbling at all about the delay in boarding today. Everyone seems happy to be escaping the cold, even if only for a few days, though the people we've talked with are combining this short cruise with a visit to relatives or friends in Florida or a trip to Disney.
A new cruise means new passengers bringing on board new energy and new excitement. It's one of our favorite parts of doing back to back cruises. The other: Instead of waking up tomorrow and facing an all day snow-shoveling session, I'll wake up to just another day in paradise.
Life is good. :-)
