9 October 2005:
Early Morning:
Well,
it turns out that those Gale Force 12 winds really were pretty strong. If I can believe the navigation status screen, then
yesterday during the high winds, while we were steaming along at full speed the ship was blown backwards by 130 miles. Yep,
Commodore Girly-Man, while running with the pedal to the metal managed to lose over 100 miles during the day. This morning
all is well, the seas are calm, the wind is light and the sun is shining. We are still about 65 miles out of Fort Lauderdale
but we should get into port by 12-1pm. Unfortunately, that will be several hours too late for our flight home. Apparently
it is also too late for any flight to Dallas. The best they could do was to book us on a Monday afternoon flight going to
Dallas by way of Charlotte, NC. So, we will be spending the night in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, the vacation capital of South
Florida…..where, as the promotional video that they’ve been showing incessantly on TV for the last 12 hours says:
“The FUN never sets”. We’ll see about that.
Evening:
It was quite a day. The Princess Cruise Line people on the ship were well organized and efficient as usual. We disembarked
the ship around 1pm…..and found ourselves in third world country surrounded by refugees. Except these refugees were
well-fed, sweaty, cruise ship passengers….and they were about to riot. The Princess Cruise Line people at the cruise
ship terminal were totally disorganized and overwhelmed. We were in the middle of a surging, pushing crowd of hot, sweaty,
pissed-off people who didn’t know where to go or what to do. It was pretty ugly. After nearly an hour of standing in
the crowd not making any progress or getting any information I managed to find out that there was a bus to a local hotel that
was trying to load….I say trying to load because the sea of people were pressed up against the bus so tightly that
they couldn’t get the baggage compartment doors open. Fast forward…..after a lot of pushing and shoving….(Note:
little old men with canes and little old ladies with walkers can be pretty feisty but ultimately they do not stand a chance
against my size, weight and girth)……we found ourselves on the bus with our bags. We ended up at the Westin Ft
Lauderdale Hotel; which, by the way, is a very nice hotel.
Princess definitely
looses points for the disembarkation fiasco……angry phone calls and nasty letters to follow.
10 October 2005:
Morning:
The plan
for the day is to head to the Ft Lauderdale airport later this morning….we’ll be taking a taxi…saw enough
of the shuttle bus situation yesterday. Then we have to fly to Charlotte and Dallas…..through what the local TV weather
guy is calling ‘severe thunderstorms’. I wonder if that will delay our return home. Surely not…..we NEVER
run into problems on our trips.
So, I’m sending this email….which
I really hope is the Last Update…from the beautiful Westin Hotel in sunny Ft Lauderdale.
Lessons
Learned From This Trip:
- Meclizine
Hydrochloride is your friend…..always bring lots of drugs. And keep your liver under control with massive doses of
alcohol.
- Pack one spare change of clothing in your carry
on bag….you never know when or if you will see your checked bags again.
- Always
book a cabin located near the center of the boat….we met people who had cabins near the bow of the ship who had to
take their pillows and blankets to one of the bars the other night to sleep during the Force 12 winds….because they
were being tossed out of their beds.
- The
promotional videos from the cruise lines all show calm seas, beautiful sun-drenched ports with smiling natives…..your
experience may vary.
- Being a big ol’ fat-boy can be an advantage when you are competing
against crippled octogenarians to be first in line for a bus out of hell.
- But all-in-all
a bad day on a boat is still a pretty good day. I’d do it all over again.
