You have to admit, for someone who's been living a pretty utopic life for 100 days, it was a lot to handle at one time. Still, I endured. Barely.
But I'm getting ahead of myself again, so backing up to the beginning...
Of course we were up early. There's no question of it on turnaround day. Betsy walked off the ship around 8:00am and G went with her to help her with her bags and to make sure her SUV started. I had warned him that he wouldn't be able to re-board the ship...and he wasn't. Martha and I sat in the buffet (there was no where else to go, with the rain) until sometime close to 9:30pm, when I delivered her to the gangway and G met her after she went through immigration and took her to the taxi stand. With all the rain, and because there was nothing we needed from a store, I stayed on the ship until all the in transit passengers (those staying on for another cruise) were walked off the ship around 11:00am and through immigration. Meanwhile, Martha had taken an iPhone charging cord ashore to give to G, so he plugged it in the terminal and interneted there.
With 503 in transit passengers, we didn't re-board the ship until 11:30am. The rest of the day was a blur of lots of people and not enough ship. When the outside decks are off limits, this ship seems crowded!
What was there to do? Where was there to go? Absolutely nothing and nowhere. I spent most of the afternoon hiding out in the Adagio Lounge, and we watched sail away from Skywalkers. Cruise director Lee announced that the sail away party normally held on the pool deck was being moved to the Piazza.
I felt sorry for people taking their one cruise of the year, and even worse for those on their first cruise; with 66 degrees and heavy rain, this sail away was memorable only for the weather. It was the second worst sail away we've ever seen, topped only by the time we sailed from Fort Lauderdale in January 2009 in the rain and 44 degrees, and it had been warmer back at home. It happens, I guess.
We spent some time listening to band Sol Provider perform in the Piazza this evening, but at 8:30pm are already back in the cabin. I'm hoping we'll have a nice weather day tomorrow on Princess Cays, and plan to get lots of rest tonight to be able enjoy it.
And to end on a more positive note: we're entering new territory with this cruise, not geographically, of course, but chronologically: this is the first time we've cruised more than 100 consecutive days.
Life is good.
:-)
Photos: grey and wet, not the prettiest day in Fort Lauderdale (and, for the second time this winter, the Emerald Princess was docked with its bow towards the 17th St. Drawbridge. Very curious!
