Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

MA (Mary Alice) and I are off on another cruise, this time to the Eastern Caribbean. Our day began at 4:00 AM so we could get to the airport, clear security and stop at the Continental Club for a bagel before going to the gate. We flew to Fort Lauderdale looking forward to some Florida sunshine and warm weather to replace Houston's 19 degrees we left behind. It was not to be! Cold rainy skies greeted us as our flight landed.

We had some Hyatt points to use up so we decided on the Hyatt Regency near the cruise terminal port. MA was joking with the room clerk about suites and lo and behold he clicked around on the computer, gave her a nice smile and the keys to a top floor suite overlooking a view of six cruise ships loading up for their next trips. That doesn't happen to us often!

You're probably wondering why I haven't mentioned lunch! Well we sat down in the lobby restaurant which had 4 waiters and about 100 customers. Once glance at all that and a menu which told us a glob of pasta and an individual size pizza was going to cost about $40 changed our mind about dining at the Hyatt!

We decided to brave the cold and rain and race across the street to Blimpies, get a couple of sandwiches, water, pop, chips, for less than $20. We carried our gourmet "finds" back to the room and dined in style in the suite while we revisited the itinerary ahead.

We sail at 5pm tomorrow and the first port of call is Princess Cays, Bahamas. This is a private resort owned by Princess Cruise Lines. After a day at sea next, we dock on the third day in St. Maarten, Netherland Antilles; then on to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands and finally Grand Turk. I'll try and keep you filled in on the day's happenings, interesting places and people, and of course a photo here and there.

This first one was taken from our hotel balcony and it is of the cruise ship port. You can count the 6 (six) cruise ships waiting to depart. This place is cruise happy which explains why 100 people are willing to spend $40 for lunch, Wendel's excepted!