We were awake very early, before 5am. G immediately turned on the TV to the channel featuring the webcam at the front of the ship, and we could see the very bright lights of Port Everglades and the slightly less bright lights of the Fort Lauderdale beach area in the distance. That's all G needed to entice him to get dressed and go out on an open deck to watch our approach. I tried to sleep some more, but, honestly, turnaround days are not good days for sleeping in. Not only could I hear the Steward Nazi wheeling his carts in the hallway, I could already hear the slamming doors of our neighbors as they were out and about. About 5:30am, the Emerald Princess entered the channel at Port Everglades and then the noise started in earnest, as the thrusters were used to back the ship into position at Pier 2.
Finally, I gave up on more sleep, showered and went up on the back of the Terrace Deck. It was already dawn-y, and I could see a hint of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and the lights of the 17th Street drawbridge just beyond the back of the ship. I phoned G (yay!! We had cell phone service!!) to see where he was and we met in the dining room for breakfast. While we ate, we formulated our plan for the day.
There was no doubt that one issue that needed to be addressed was laundry. Yes, we get free laundry and dry cleaning, but my white t-shirts are being returned with more and more stains every time I send them. I bear full responsibility- my sunblock is staining them- but every time I get a shirt returned with a little "Sorry- we couldn't get these stains out" note, I cringe. I didn't pack a lot of clothes to begin with. Between lost items and stained items, I could be out of clothes by next cruise. So, a laundry pre-treater topped our shopping list.
With 500 in-transit (doing back to back cruises) passengers, the most we'd ever seen, we wanted to get the heck out of Dodge, and decided not to wait to go through immigration with the group. At 9:15am we were walking off the ship; by 9:30am we were through immigration and on our way to the stores on 17th Street. That's pretty darn good. We've been held up in immigration alone for more than twice that long during past turnaround days.
Our first stop was Office Max. G wanted to get some stick on name tags for a Cruise Critic meet and greet on December 18th. Right next door was a Dollar Tree, a store I typically avoid like the plague, but found myself in this morning. No, I didn't buy anything...we were just hoping to find name tags there (we didn't). We then crossed 17th Street (a whole different sport today...no traffic with just two ships in port) and went to Publix. All along the way we were greeted by several crew members we know; we were all so happy to be at Pier 2 today.
We took some time to get set up in the Publix pharmacy computer with our insurance information. I'll need a doctor to phone in a prescription for me, but not until January, and G has a paper scrip to be filled after we return to the Emerald in late December. Our next stop was the Ace Hardware in the same shopping center for black electrical tape (don't even ask). And, finally, Walgreens had 18-packs of Mountain Dew on sale, so we swung in there to buy two. Actually, this was a really good thing...on the Noordam, where we'll be 10 days from today, there isn't an unlimited soda sticker program comparable to Princess. I can get by with water and Crystal Light I brought from home, but G needs his caffeine. By buying the Dew today, we won't need to go to a store on our next turnaround day when we're busy moving from the Emerald to the Noordam. How we're going to get all this stuff from the Emerald to the Noordam and back is still a mystery.
When we returned to the terminal about 11:30am, we were shocked to see that the in transit passengers who went through immigration as a group were still in the terminal, and not back on the ship already. This meant that we were also prevented from re-boarding. We found out that two in transit passengers were still unaccounted for, and this is a huge deal. After each cruise, the passenger count has to be "zeroed out", meaning that, as each passenger "clocks" off the ship with his ship card, the passenger count decreases by 1. Until that count goes to zero, meaning that every person has also had to pass through immigration in the terminal, no passengers can re-board the ship. This is all spelled out quite clearly in letters the in transit passengers receive towards the end of each cruise.
Apparently, some one didn't read his letter. After we'd been held in the terminal until about 11:45am, two passengers were escorted off the ship, in wet swimsuits with towels wrapped around them. A cheer went up in the terminal, and then only half-joking abuse was spewed their direction...they were the missing passengers, holding up all the in transit passengers and the newly arriving passengers from boarding the ship.
I don't know for certain, but I hope there was some serious butt kicking going on. That is really inexcusable.
So, that's how it came to be close to noon before we returned to our cabin hauling our purchases. I immediately grabbed every t-shirt I have, clean or not, and went to work with the Shout gel, and then put all the shirts in a washer in the self-serve laundry on our deck. It cost $2 to wash, and another $2 to dry, but it was well worth it. The shirts are, if not new looking, at least wearable, especially for on port days. I'll also pretreat all the shirts I send to the laundry going forward, in an effort to get them even whiter.
While the laundry was underway, we went to lunch in the dining room, our favorite lunch menu of the cruise. Mid way through I ran back to the laundry room to move the clothes to the dryer, no easy feat with all the mid-ship elevators tied up with newly boarding passengers and their carry ons.
It was 2pm before all the housekeeping chores were done (but at least I'm not laundering sheets and towels). I then spent the couple for hours before we sailed calling friends and surfing the Internet on my iPhone. The absence of always available high-speed internet is still rough to take, but it's getting easier with each cruise. I can tell you now that leaving the country the day after the election was brutal. I'm a news junkie, and I was certain I was missing talk of voter fraud, and succession and revolution...which I was. Some things are so predictable...hilarious and predictable.
We were in Skywalkers for sailaway and sunset. If G doesn't get his hug from bar supervisor Rhea, who oversees the Elite cocktail lounge, his day is just not complete. After the huge excitement of our last sailaway, with 8 ships in port, this one was a bit of a letdown...at least for us. We were the first ship to leave; there was no one else to watch.
After dinner tonight (which remains a high point of each day for us), we are once again early to bed. I know we sound like two boring old people, but when you're up before 5am, something has to give. We also move clocks ahead an hour to Atlantic Standard Time tonight. I had thought I might watch an episode of Downton Abbey on my laptop, but even that requires more energy than I have.
Maybe we ARE two boring old people...
Photo 1: 20 days of bedtime chocolates we're saving for the kids. Can you imagine what 120 days worth will look like?
Photo 2: this was on the ship's log channel, an obvious error but also an enticing goal. 366 days at sea in a row...I like it!
Photo 3: at sailaway, a view back towards Pier 2 and the 17th Street drawbridge.
Photo 4: along the channel from Port Everglades to the ocean, there is quite a mix of 1950s, unremodelled small homes (still worth over $1M), the newer McMansions that are replacing them (worth $8M+), and the high rise condos.
Photo 5: a virtual wall of condos. Will we live in one of these one day?
Photo 6: the view north, up the coast
Photo 7: looking back at the channel and Port Everglades after the Emerald enters the ocean