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Beach at the Port Everglades entrance

November 9 - Arriving in Dania

We got to Ft. Lauderdale just about 3, and checked in. This is NOT a no-smoking room, but they are apparently pretty full. I had made the reservation on the internet with a Far Eastern agency called Agoda and they wanted me to pay in advance (which I did) and use a voucher to check in. There was no problem checking in with the voucher. I made a reservation on the Port shuttle for 10:00. The TV reception was crappy and Bob did something to it and it came in clear as a bell - then he did something else, and it was crappy again. Finally I wiggled where the cable came into the TV and it was clear again, so Bob told me not to touch it again.I made a reservation on the Port shuttle for 10:00. The TV reception was crappy and Bob did something to it and it came in clear as a bell - then he did something else, and it was crappy again. Finally I wiggled where the cable came into the TV and it was clear again, so Bob told me not to touch it again.

We went out to dinner at 5:30 leaving the TV on. There was a thing on the bottom of the TV channel list that said 10% discount at Don & Vinny's, so we went there. It would have been walking distance if we had known where it was and was daytime.

We sat with no service for some time because each waitress thought we were being taken care of by the other one. They didn't even bring us bread for awhile. Then we used the room key to get the discount and THAT had the Pancho's Backyard discount for 15% on the bottom of it which created a bit of confusion.Bob had spaghetti and meatballs for $12.00 and I had the Chicken Roberto with eggplant and mozzarella for $16.00. The food was OK. The bread was good. We didn't have dessert.

Then we filled the car up with gas and drove to the airport and turned the car in. Walked across to Terminal 1, and called the hotel for a ride back to the hotel on the shuttle.

After about half an hour we were picked up, and came back and watched football and read the Sunday paper, which was complimentary apparently.

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Round tug

November 10, 2008

We had breakfast - this Sleep Inn had cranberry juice, and also you could make your own waffles, although I forgot to set the timer on mine. They had scrambled eggs in kind of a pancake shape, but they seemed to be kept warm in a kind of water bath. They were hard to pick up with tongs - they fell apart easily. They also had orange quarters in addition to the sausage biscuits and all the usual stuff.

The front desk called us to come and get in the 10:00 van, which actually left about 9:35. One of the girls on the van was going to the airport. There were two other couples going on Celebrity. Then we stopped at the EconoLodge and picked up four more people. The other two couples were for RCI. There either weren't enough seats or the people in the back didn't sit close enough together - I think there should be space for four back there, but there were only three. So the wife of the man next to us sat on her husband's lap. She bumped her head on the roof when we went over bumps. They were celebrating their 10th anniversary

We let off the lady who was going to the airport first - she was going back home because she was apparently abandoned by her boyfriend - he didn't meet her like he was supposed to. So then we had enough seats.

But no - we picked up an additional man. This time one lady in the back sat on her husband's lap.

We got to the port, and we all had to show our IDs. The inspector was impressed (not) with the number of people we had in the van. He didn't think it was safe!! Since our ship was first in line, we got out first. Then there was room for everyone to sit.

We handed our luggage to the luggage people, and then van drove off before we could tip the driver. Bob was complaining about the fact that we were there so early, but that put us into the first group.

When we registered, they took our passports and shot records, and kept them, although they gave us a receipt. We sat in a waiting room, and then they moved us upstairs, and we sat some more.

I talked to the people across the row from us - from Canada. She said she could do Manchu Pichu and other sites from Canada and spend less than the excursion to the site from HAL. Plus she said you really should have time to adjust to the altitude - if you tried to do it in just three days, you wouldn't really enjoy it because you'd be either sleepy or sick. And we talked to a couple at breakfast this morning and they said that friends of theirs went but the altitude sickness made them so sick that the cruise ship didn't want to let them back on the ship because they were afraid it was something contagious.

Anyway when they let us on about 11:30, we went up to the buffet for lunch. We ate looking out over the ICW. We saw a round tug - both ends were equally round.

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Across the channel from the ship

We had been given table 140 in the lower dining room at 5:15 for dinner, with a grace period of 15 minutes. I thought that was way too early. The man up at the buffet said the options were 5:15 or 5:30. I thought that was still too early. I eventually tracked down the fixed dining guy for the upper dining room. I wanted to sit at the aft tables. But he said those tables and all the large tables were fully booked by large groups. The best he could do for me was a table for four. So I said OK to that. I went to the internet cafe and signed on using their computer - very very slow. Looked at email etc for maybe 13 minutes.

Then I went to look for Bob out on the promenade deck and couldn't find him. By now it was 12:30, so I went down and found the room (they've assigned us #403 which is an outside room in the stern under the dining room) and went in and sat and watched the safety video and read the plan of the day.

I wasn't supposed to be there - they hadn't opened the rooms up yet.

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Container ship going around the corner

We have a big bathtub and a room with what they describe as a partially obstructed view. In practice that means that we have a solid railing outside the deck instead of one that we can see through.

I went outside on the deck to watch the traffic on the ICW - saw a large container ship maneuvering past us - it looked form our angle as if it would run into the Celebrity ship. Then (about 1300) we were told we could go to our rooms. The announcement was so loud that I went right back to the room and got my earplugs out and put them in. When we did the lifeboat drill I was really glad I had them.

We got our suitcases. Two of them which were in perfect condition when we handed them over to the luggage people were basically destroyed by the time we got them. Bob had a side pocket torn off one of this bags, although he didn't think he lost anything. And my big black roller bag had one side of the aluminum pull out handle ripped out and the other side was twisted around so badly that it could not be re-inserted.

We left the pier about 1700, and I took photos and then went to dinner.

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Mussels

The dining room was half empty and no one came to eat at our table. I had mussels, spinach salad and what was called rockfish which was a white fish that was the consistency of chicken. I had to cut it with a knife.

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Bavarian rice cloud

I had Bavarian rice cloud for dessert and it was a kind of glorified rice pudding, but was good.

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Prime rib

Bob had fruit medley, strawberry soup (which he said he'd had better), and prime rib (which was huge and was supposed to be medium).

The ship started rocking and rolling. I went to the internet cafe and the lady said that the whole ship was wireless including the cabins, and if I had trouble I should just open the cabin door. Well I'm not always dressed in the cabin!! I have not been able to log on reliably from the cabin even though there is a terminal right outside the door. I did try. Finally I just edited photos, but I couldn't even stay awake to watch the end of Monday night football

Tomorrow is our day at Half Moon Cay (Little San Salvador Island) in the Bahamas