Travel Tips

Send Photo to a Friend

Photographer at the last formal night

The cruise director said that he wanted one person from each cabin at the disembarkation talk, and then he didn't announce the talk over the loud speaker system so I was a little late. Since I had been to the previous one, I doubt if I missed much.

After we left Half Moon Cay, we had to get packed up, ready to dis-embark in Ft. Lauderdale. Bob was, of course, packed early and went to bed. I was still up shifting things around in the suitcases a good bit later. Fortunately I had put a small fabric folding suitcase into my bags, so I had enough room to put the small amount of things that I had bought. Bob had the problem of packing his Xmas presents (3 books) and the three bottles of wine that were a gift from the travel agent.

I also had a 5x7 photo gift from the photo shop, but when I went up there to redeem it, the guy said that only gangplank pictures "counted", and I couldn't have the one taken at the formal dinner unless I paid another $4 for it. There was nothing about that in the information I received and we had not had any gangplank photos taken. I asked if I could have just the photo of me and not Bob (because his eyes were shut and it was a horrible picture of him, but he said no, that I'd still have to pay extra for that. He allowed me to take 3 'postcards' instead, but I thought the guy behind the counter (not the same as the photographer) was quite snippy and annoying.

Send Photo to a Friend

"Express" breakfast

They gave us luggage labels with colors and numbers or letters, but I could make no sense of what the colors meant. They seemed to be random. So one couldn't figure out when they might be called. Maybe they did that on purpose, but if I had a deadline it would have worried me.

They had breakfast both in the dining room and in the Lido - according to the plan of the day, the dining room was supposed to have some kind of express breakfast, but they didn't seem to know that it was anything different when I ordered it.

We could stay in our room until our tag numbers were called.

Send Photo to a Friend

walkway across the road from the bus stop

We got off the ship for the last time, and went up and down escalators until we got to the room where the bags were. There were people with walkie talkies and clipboards attempting to make everyone go to the proper location where there bags were. Unfortunately, we had more bags than we could handle on our own because of being away from home for almost 40 days in weather from tropical to frigid.

So Bob sat me down with one of the bags while he went to get the rest of them. The shepards kept trying to get me to move, but I could not. There was no problem getting through customs (even though I had bought coffee in St. John and my luggage smelled strongly of coffee), and they didn't ask us anything or seem interested in what we had.

The luggage person took us out to where he said we could be picked up to go to the rental car place, and when he did so, he retracted the handle on my large (new and expensive) rolling bag with which one pulls it and it broke. So I am unable to pull that bag around anymore.

Send Photo to a Friend

Shuttle bus (inside) to the car rental

I didn't know it, but the Hertz location where I had rented a car had closed, and it was now necessary for us to take the shuttle to the airport. After several fruitless phone calls (which I made while sitting on the sidewalk), I finally walked down to some policemen and other official looking people and asked, and that's what they told me. The shuttle was free, but of course at the airport we have to pay an additional airport pick-up fee.

Eventually the bus came, and we got onto it, even with all our luggage. In the process, Bob dragged my down coat (which I had hung temporarily on the suitcase) under the wheels of the remaining roller bag and abraded two holes in it, so now down keeps floating out.

Send Photo to a Friend

Side of the car rental bus

The bus let us off at the end of a big building that had all the car rental companies in it. We were by the Budget and Enterprise area. So I left Bob with the bags and scooted ahead to the Hertz counter, which made me first in line of the people on our bus.

Problem: Bob was to drive, but wasn't there to sign. I went out to look for him, but he had stepped back closer to the windows and I couldn't see him. So I rented the car with me driving. When I got the ticket for the car, I saw that I was being charged about $150 more than my reservation printout said. I pointed that out, and the rental agent looked at it and said "Oh My GOD". But after consulting with several people, he honored the original rate, which was $259/week. He couldn't help the airport pick-up fee and the fact that the taxes had gotten higher.

The rental agent told me to take the keys, go to the car (which was supposed to be a Hundai or something, and ended up as a Chevy Malibu) and put the rental agreement on the dash, lock the car and then go get Bob and the luggage. So I did that.

Send Photo to a Friend

Another view of the van

I found Bob waiting not very patiently. We had to get a cart for the luggage and there was one, but he said he didn't have any change, and I had locked my pocketbook in the trunk of the car so I didn't have any either. I asked the shuttle bus driver, and he gave me a token, and he refused to take anything for it. When I got around to the other side of the cart rack (which I hadn't been able to see before) I found that it wasn't just spare change for the carts - it was $4. And they also took credit cards.

Send Photo to a Friend

Train - so you know you are in FL

After we got everything loaded, we took off for Jupiter to see the lighthouse. Bob drove.