We're on the ship

Made it to …Ft. Lauderdale
Well we made it out of LA with lots of luggage which is not to say that we have everything we “need” and perhaps more what we want—or thought we wanted. We’ll see.
Our neighbor, Sue, was generous enough to deal with a final gift of our trash for this week. What are great neighbors you say? We have them in spades.
You would all be so proud of Ed. Packing is an oppressive job under the best circumstances but despite every room in the house having “stuff” in it that needed to be packed, he managed to get it all done and out the door ON TIME! But there’s more! The house didn’t look like a tornado had been through it when we left. I take my hat off to him.
Our original plan was to go to the flyaway and then to LAX but in the cab we mentally figured out the cost of this taxi, the flyaway for two, tips for porters and such, and told the driver to just take us all the way to LAX. This meant we arrived earlier than we had expected. But we were incredibly lucky because the lines were modest5 and we were whizzed on through in record time. We read a little and then decided to have some lunch before we boarded since the airlines don’t feed you anymore. Our choices were slim but we decided to splurge on a Whopper from Burger King; this is probably my first since my 30s. It was deeee licious! Ed kept pressing me to add cheese which I resisted. He told me upon his return that we were the only ones eating only a Whopper; everyone else was having double and triple whoppers!
We boarded around noon and were the usual sardines. I finished a large print novel and spent the rest of the time catching up with my classical and C&W music especially Allison Kraus, Lyle, Brad, Taylor and a few more.
The sunset over the gulf of Mexico from 34000 feet is SPECTACULAR! One of the extra bonuses of this flight.
We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale after dusk and fairly quickly made our way to the shuttle to the Marriot suites with other couples from So Cal, including some also on this cruise. One lady is a retired fashion design instructor from CSUN so we chatted about campus events and folks we knew.
We wanted an inexpensive place to stay and that’s what we got. There’s no place around to get food so we picked up two Lean Cuisines from the freezer next to the desk clerk ($5 each for those doing comparative shopping) and we had a wonderful gourmet dinner in our “mini-suite” next to the local freeway. Good preparation for the pleasure of dining aboard the Pacific Princess.
Ed took over the computer for some more “legal” work (whatever will happen when he’s not around?) and we got to bed about 11 pm E coast time. Sleep the night before wasn’t a full nite either.
We were both awake before the alarm rang and every piece of luggage save one was opened to pull out things we were using. Somehow he got all back together in time for the 10:30 am shuttle to the port—the only choice we were given. Before we left, we had a very nice breakfast downstairs and visited for a while with the CSUN lady and her husband.
It was a hurry up and wait issue. Even though the ship was just out of dry dock, they couldn’t board us until noon. Platinum and Elite were sequestered in a separate but large area and soon we heard the tunes from the steel drum band in the reception area. Not too bad.
Getting signed in wasn’t bad. You have to sign a public health form assuring them that you don’t have the usual suspicious symptoms: fever, diarrhea,vomiting… They are universally nice and helpful on these desks. She asked if we were “commodores” which was new to us. She said that or you take long trips. I guess travel agents are sometimes “commodores”; who knew?
I wondered where the ubiquitos photographer would be as they are always taking embarkation photos. Sure enough, on the bridge walking over to the ship, there he was. You couldn’t escape and there wasn’t any décor.
And immediately after I entered the atrium, I shouted “Angus!” He was the purser on our 2008 cruise. You can’t miss him: spiky blond hair, probably Scots or Brit, white framed glasses, at least 6’4” (and I am NOT exaggerating) and I probably outweigh him! So we caught up (he’s been on two other small ships in the interim). We heard JJ’s voice over the intercom just now and his wife is back with the boutiques. Frankie is on staff again as well. We believe the same German MD is onboard (Nicholas who’s wife’s name was Ursula). The captain is not one we recognize.
We dropped our rollaboards in our cabin which is exactly midships and a mirror image of our last cabin set up 2008. Some things are new: flat screen TV, you can smell paint everywhere and the carpets are clearly new. And you know what was coming next: FOOD! The Horizon Lounge is the same as before. Food is good. I ate modestly; Ed piled the plate as if he hadn’t eaten in at least 24 hours which I suppose might be a convincing argument.
We took the treasure hunt around to get our stamps for the drawing later (remember I won the bouquet on the Hawaii trip this way).Ed was excited because the gym has all new equipment; you just know Charles Atlas image was on his mind. He also wanted to check out our table in the DR which is in the middle and is for only 6 people. Next we got our cruise cards punched so we could wear them around our necks for convenience. Getting them punched can now only be done at the purser’s desk.
It is 2:30 local time and we have lifeboat drill in 45 min. Our luggage isn’t here but we’ve unloaded all our other stuff. We met our cabin steward, Edison, from the Phillipines. He’s older than most we’ve had. Gave him the usual requests for robes and such. Also, the safe is present but not bolted down; you can literally pick it up and walk out with it under your arm. So somehow that will happen soon.
I’m going to stop now as the first piece of luggage arrived. More later.