Fort Lauderdale and Other Things

Renaissance in Ft Lauderdale

We're here! It's mid-afternoon and we're at the Renaissance waiting for our room. The Renaissance is looking great! They recently went through a renovation last year. You can definitely see the big improvements. They've rearranged their lobby...it's more spacious. Probably to accommodate the large cruise crowds.

We had lunch at the Bahimi Boatyard Restaurant (next to the hotel) which was fantastic. Lunch consisted of swordfish topped with thin slices of fried onion rings sitting on a sweet potato pattie with mango and corn sauce. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the meal. I didn't want to embarass DH by whipping out my DSLR during the busiest lunch hour (with many patrons) and start snapping away.

We wandered up the 17th Street Causeway towards the Port of Everglades. We were perched on the bridge enjoying the warm sunshine and cool breeze. It's about 70s here, cool for this time of year I have been told. We received a nice surprise...the bridge was raised to let boats with tall masts pass through. I took a ton of pictures here: raised bridge, many small boats, and the 3 cruise ships that are in port.

Walking along the Causeway approaching bridge

Watching the bridge open up

Oh and apparently there's a BCS Bowl (National Championship) playing here tonight. We saw a couple of buses (with the words Gator written on them) pass us as we were walking on the bridge. We also saw a party boat pass underneath us. That's it for the sporting event side of things.

Gator Party Boat...passing under the bridge

So, I'm in the business center typing away while we wait for our room. DH and I really need to change into t-shirts, shorts, and flip flops...then we can feel like we're in vacation-mode.

After 3pm, we checked into our room on the 10th floor, far end of the hotel facing the shopping center next door. We had a nice surprise as they updated the furniture and we had two windows to peer out of. One window faced the shopping center and the other faced a waterway and in the distance we can see Ft Lauderdale beach and all the high rise condos.

Our renovated corner room on the 10th floor with two windows

Outside at the Renaissance updated hot tub area

Where are we going?
We board the Emerald Princess sometime tomorrow and depart around 5pm. We are so looking forward to sailaway. We will be visiting several islands: Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St. Thomas, and Princess Cays.

I wanted to mention, there will be some posts that I will revisit and add photos when I can.

That's all for now. I will be back...