It was a day of hurry up and wait. It started early (for us), with an alarm at 8am so that Carm could go to book our shuttle to the cruise port. I loitered in the shower until I finally made it out to meet everyone for breakfast.
Then the first wait… 2 hours till the shuttle and no where to go. We’d already walked the area the night before and it was no great hell - lots of traffic at high speeds. Instead of a walk we sat on a bench outside, visiting with the hotel employee that arranges the transportation. He was a nice chap from Colombia.
The shuttle came… and went… only two seats left and we were four. Wait, wait, wait for the next one to arrive. Finally we were on our way. Palm trees were everywhere. It was so strange to see such different fauna.
A maze of checking in, security, and who knows what else waiting in line and then we were walking the gangplank into the ship! I felt a welling of excitement: we were here.
We found our stateroom and unpacked while we waited for muster, an emergency drill. After that we walked around the ship, trying to get our bearings. I feel certain that I will never know where I am: port, starboard, fore, aft, I was all turned around.
We met up with Jo Ellen and Don to watch the cast off and then since all of us were starving since breakfast had been hours before we went in search of food. It was too early to wait for the dining room, and too late for lunch, so we sidled up to the buffet and enjoyed the blue hair supper looking out over the ocean and watching Ft. Lauderdale disappear.
More walking around, a comedy show at the theatre (with some dancing girls first), then a quiet visit with Jo Ellen and Don with ‘Love Boat’ showing in the background.
The wind blew like crazy outside and it was none too warm.
I fell into bed exhausted and was rocked to sleep by the gentle sway of our transit through the ocean.
It is ½ way throught the next day (today), but I’ll do this later.
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