Today was a truly cautionary tale for all those people who ask how early they can book flights home after a cruise. Though this wasn't the worst disembarkation I'd ever seen (the worst was the time weather shut down tendering at Princess Cays and we arrived back in Fort Lauderdale the next day after 10am), it was the second worst. Too many ships in Port Everglades, too few immigration personnel, and being limited to just a single gangway (on a turnaround day?!?) all conspired to make it a very rough day. I felt for passengers who were surely missing flights, but felt even more for the Passenger Services Department and ship's officers caught in this perfect storm.
In the end, it kind of saved me. Months ago, when we first discovered that the Royal Princess and the Emerald Princess would be in Port Everglades together today, G mentioned wanting to visit the Royal on a Bon Voyage Experience package. He asked me to book it, but, at the time, it was too early to do so. And then...I forgot. In my defense, we did have some other trip planning keeping me occupied. But it didn't occur to me again until the last few days when I learned the Emerald Princess would be at Pier 4 today because the Royal Princess would be at Pier 2.
Gosh darn it. How did I miss that? Well, in the end, I'm not certain we would have been able to easily get off the Emerald Princess in time to board the Royal Princess. With just one gangway, I think we would not have wanted to add to the chaos. And who knows how backed up we would have been getting on the Royal Princess? They may have been having the same issues.
So, in the end, I have to believe that there was a reason for my forgetfulness. Even our simple plans for the day had to be changed; a missed Bon Voyage Experience would have been a real disappointment.
Backing up...
We were up very early after a fantastic night's sleep. We were already dressed and down on the Promenade Deck as we entered the channel to the port.
Sailing through the Port Everglades entrance channel. You can see how windy it was.
These next pics are of a series of events I didn't even know took place when we dock.
...and then threw the monkey's fist on the other end to the line handlers on land.
The cast of forklifts ready to begin their choreographed dance.
We finally walked down one deck to the Botticelli Dining Room for breakfast. We once again had orange segments followed by blueberry pancakes; we knew we'd be having lunch today, so it wouldn't matter if the pancakes didn't have much staying power.
There was no immediate indication that things were not going well in the terminal, but shortly after 8am we started hearing announcements that disembarkation was being delayed. For some reason (we think due to fueling activities), only one gangway could be set up, instead of the usual two, making everything more difficult. Then immigration in the terminal was ridiculously understaffed (we heard two agents for over 3000 passengers).
We had planned to disembark about 10am, walk over to Publix and be back in time for lunch, but disembarkation kept being temporarily halted because the immigration lines in the terminal were too backed up. The final disembarking passengers left the ship at 11:45am (compared to the usual 10:15am), and it was almost 12:30pm before those in transit passengers staying on for the next cruise had been cleared through immigration (fortunately, two agents came on the ship for that).
I immediately went up to the Calypso Bar by the MUTS pool and bought a half bottle of Robert Mondavi Chardonnay to have with lunch, then returned to the DaVinci Dining Room to have embarkation day salmon. G had the beef tenderloins and an orange soufflé for dessert and things got back to normal.
Meanwhile, Awesome Ambrish was also running late, due to the challenges of making up the beds with the new Princess Luxury Bed sheets. He said they were just so different to work with than the older linens; I hope it gets easier for him. The boarding delay today certainly helped him get his cabins ready for newly embarking passengers.
We don't have our new linens yet (since we were in transit, Ambrish doesn't change our linens on turnaround days), but we will get them tomorrow. Meanwhile, we peeked into the cabin next door for our first glimpse of what lies ahead. They're very simple and contemporary looking. The decorative pillows and throws that used to be on the beds are no longer used, and won't be replaced. We never used them anyway; we like the clean look better.
The line to board the ship stretched hundreds of people long all afternoon, and we decided to just stay on the ship after lunch. Muster drill, originally scheduled for 3:15pm, was delayed and delayed again to allow passengers to get on board. Somehow, it all got done and we sailed at 5pm. I think everyone was happy to see this turnaround day come to an end.
We watched sailaway from Skywalkers. It had been grey and windy all afternoon and the wind took on a chill as soon as we entered the open ocean. Captain Forteeze warned us that we'd be experiencing 10 foot swells overnight and that some of the public decks would be closed off. What is happening with our weather lately? We haven't had really nice weather since Roatan several cruises ago.
Dinner was short and sweet. How much appetite could we have after a day of doing nothing? I had a small serving of the pasta topped with chicken breast and the flourless chocolate cake, and we made it to the 7pm Welcome Aboard show with comedian Steve Caouette. That's 30 minutes I'll never get back. Cruise Director Neil, in his introduction of Steve, said that he had been a finalist in Princess' Entertainer of the Year contest. Okay.... Oh, I know I'm a tough audience for most comedians, but did find Tory Thirdgill to be harious last night.
As predicted, we are rocking and rolling up here tonight. Our minibar items are on the vanity waiting to be traded tomorrow for two coffee cards. We have a bet going about whether they'll stay upright though the night (me), or whether we'll be picking rolling beer bottles up off the floor at 2am (G).
I'll let you know tomorrow who won. ;-)