There is little notable news of the day today, other than the number of in transit passengers (those staying on from last cruise to this cruise) and the weather (cool but brilliant), but most significant is that this is our final turnaround day of our Winter 2015-16 cruising season, and that always makes me hopelessly sentimental. The same things that tend to start driving me nuts after four months at sea (the same.old.elevator jokes, the people who stop in the middle of everything and block traffic, the formal night and MTP and Captains Circle party obligations cruise after cruise after cruise) suddenly stop driving me nuts and instead everything is viewed through rose-colored glasses. It's kind of like the first cruise of the season all over again. I like it.
We had planned to be on an open deck when the Emerald Princess arrived in Port Everglades today, but didn't make it. Oh well, there will be others. No wait...there won't. ;-) We had a quick and simple breakfast in the Botticelli Dining Room and returned to our cabin to do the normal sorting of paperwork and setting up of a calendar for the cruise starting today. We had heard that there would be between 700 and 800 in transit passengers today, scheduled to meet in the Princess Theater at 10:15am to go through immigration, and we knew we didn't want to get involved with that. Instead, we walked off the ship about 9am, and bypassed the immigration line in the terminal by using our Global Entry cards.
We later heard that the in transit immigration was held up for 45 minutes by someone who ignored the letter about meeting in the Princess Theater at 10:15am and was using a treadmill with ear buds, causing her to miss the announcements being made for her, too. Oy vey. That's why we left the ship early.
We first walked up and over the 17th Street drawbridge, and though the Harbor Isles neighborhood (I think that's what it's called) on the other side of the bridge; just for exercise, then stopped at the top for awhile to enjoy the cool sunshine and the Saturday morning boat traffic on the intercoastal. We didn't want to get back to the terminal until 11:30am, when we would be allowed to re-board the ship.
A slow Saturday at Port Everglades: (from left) RCCL Independence OTS, HAL Westerdam, RCCL Oasis OTS, Emerald Princess
We stopped into Walgreens for just a few more things- Wet Ones hand wipes, hair spray and another bottle of Barefoot Bubbly and protein bars that will be our lunch and dinner next Saturday when we fly home- and walked back to and through the Pier 2 terminal and right onto the Emerald Princess. We dropped our purchases in our cabin and went down to the DaVinci Dining Room for our last embarkation day lunch of the season. This was no time to hold back; we had salads and entrees AND orange soufflés for dessert. They don't serve those on Southwest!
I had thought about taking my iPad off the ship and sitting in the terminal to use the Port Everglades WiFi, but...shoot. We'll be home in a week. Things can wait. Instead I went up to the Adagio Lounge and phoned Mom (she is doing so well!) and texted friends and downloaded another audiobook to see me through the next seven days. My calendar is already starting to fill up with appointments and commitments, including hanging with the twins for a long weekend in March while the rest of their family is out of town. Such a chore! ;-)
Muster drill at 3:15pm marked shower time, and I returned the cabin to see that G had had the same idea and was just finishing up. By sailaway, we were out on the Terrace Deck for our last sailaway of the season (weep) accompanied by a bottle of Barefoot Bubbly. It had been such a gorgeous day, cool and clear and dry, and was probably the prettiest sailaway from Fort Lauderdale we've had all season.
It was so pretty on the Terrace Deck that we stayed there talking to Dee and Bill from England, who we'd met last cruise, until it was time to go to dinner. The last Caribbean shrimp! The last pasta conchiglie with chicken strips! The last flourless chocolate cake! Every course was especially savored.
We went to the early Welcome Aboard show (good grief...not even Cruise Director Neil's same old same old jokes grated tonight) and stayed for comedian Eric Lyden (Neil's were the better jokes). I dropped a final bottle of Merlot off at the International Cafe only to discover that dear Cherry returned home today, then stopped by the International Cafe for a cup of coffee and to check out the new faces among the crew there. With only a week left, things there will never feel quite the same again.
But what great memories I have of being spoiled for the the past almost two months! :-)