Departure
from Ft. Lauderdale and First Three Days at Sea
Our hotel, Hyatt Place, made arrangements to get its guests
to the cruise ships Sunday morning. We gathered in the lobby and about 11am with
our luggage on the trailer and the bus left for Port Everglades where our ship
was docked. We made sure our luggage was off the trailer and into one of the
ship’s containers and then joined hundreds of others waiting to get through
security and get our boarding cards.
This is our first cruise as “Elite” passengers (15 or more
cruises with Princess). We got to skip the long lines, quickly got our cards
and made it up the gangway. There the ship’s security takes your photo and we headed
for our balcony cabin # B428, on the 11th deck, port side, amidships.
Our first job was to unpack the carry-on bags and go to lunch.
Remember! We don’t miss the meals!!! By
the time we got back our two other suitcases had arrived and we set about
unpacking and getting things in order.
We were ready to cruise.
The mandatory emergency drill was next so we joined our other
passengers in the Explorer’s Lounge and listened to the rules on the ship.
Truthfully, I slept through most of it and woke up in time to put my life
jacket on. Don’t worry, I’ve heard it before.
Our days at sea usually begin around 7am when room service
knocks on the door with a pot of coffee and yogurt. Couple hours later we go for the rest of
breakfast.
Mary Alice has found a beginners’ Zumba Dance class she likes,
also a Portuguese refresher class, and Trivial Pursuit which is for both of us.
The dance exercises and foreign languages are strictly hers. I normally walk
three miles on the Promenade Deck. After a light lunch (this means skip the French
fries and only get one scoop of ice cream), we find something to do in the
afternoons. For me this often includes reading a few pages and taking a nap. MA
likes to go up to the pool and the Jacuzzi.
Our first day on the ship we went to the Crooners Bar for a
prearranged get-together with our new friend Mitch from Chicago. Mitch had helped
MA online with bus information from the ship to downtown London (for the end of
the cruise). They chatted about this on
a Princess feature called “roll call” where you could chat online with fellow
passengers on your same cruise and compare notes about tours, weather, who
plays bridge, etc. “Roll call” was how
we found out about Alla tours in Russia which turned out to be a great option
to ship sponsored (more expensive) tours. For some reason Princess recently
took “roll call” off line. Maybe that’s why!
Bermuda is
our first port of call. See you
later. WW
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