Temperature: 72 degrees
Princess Patter-Today's Activities: Going Ashore!/Lotus Spa & Gym orientation/Art Auction pre-registration/Brains over Bronze/$500 Treasure Hunt/Free Hair Consultations/Meet your Casino Host/General Emergency Stations (Muster for the newbies boarding)/Sailaway Celebration/NFL Football Baltimore Ravens versus New England Patriots/Tour of the Ruby Princess/Lotus Spa Free Raffle Prize/Piano Melodies/Solo Travellers Get-together/Welcome Aboard Trivia/Show: Welcome Aboard with Ruby Princess Dancers & Ric Steel/Texas Hold'em/NFL Football Carolina Panthers versus Seattle Seahawks/Karaoke/ Music Trivia/Welcome Aboard Dance Party/Wake Show/Dance the Night Away
Cruise Life: Today is our "turnaround" day. I set the alarm for 6am which gives us plenty of time to eat some breakfast, shower, and tidy the cabin a bit before we have to leave our cabin by 8am. The crew is busy cleaning the cabins and changing sheets/covers/towels for the new cruisers who will be checking in today. Our In-Transit group is suppose to meet in the Michelangelo dining room on deck #5 around 10:15am. We head over to the International Cafe for our Skinny Mochas to go and then plant ourselves in the Vines lounge near a window. I burn through the last few minutes of my free Internet package and continue to write up my blog posts.
In between several bathroom breaks (that's what coffee does to me), I run into a Princess rep to find out if there are any delays in disembarkation. Yes, but only 10-15 minutes. After sitting around for 2 hours, we head over to the dining room and sit with the 70 other "in-transit" passengers. Within 5 minutes, we are given instructions to have our cruise card, passport, and "in-transit" cards in hand.
Several Princess security personnel armed with scanners are scanning the 70 passenger's cruise card. At this point, we're technically "checked-out/off" of the ship. Except. Yes, there's always someone who can't following the disembarkation process or appears to be missing. Someone on the bridge (not the Captain) is making an announcement for so and so from cabin #...please make your way to the Michelangelo dining room immediately. I counted 5 cabins that were MIA. After five minutes of waiting, everyone was accounted for.
We are given another set of instructions to get up and form a line and walk towards the dining room exit. Here we find a port security/immigration representative visually checking our cruise card and passport information. Once we passed his inspection we are then "scanned" by a Princess security rep and exit the Michelangelo dining room.
Now, we are technically back onboard the ship without ever actually leaving. Way cool. It's now 10:30am and the rest of the embarkation process can now start with the new passengers. That is the earliest disembarkation/embarkation process I've experienced with Princess. Kudos to Princess for always looking at ways to improve our cruising experience. The do read the surveys we all fill out.
Our main goal today was to eat lunch in the dining room. Last year I had to most delicious salmon meal. Hubby missed that and ordered something else. This time he did not want to miss it. Again, we don't normally eat lunch or breakfast in the dining room. This lunch was not to be missed. We had more time to wait as the dining room did not open until 12noon.
We find some seats at the International Cafe where the sweet delights are located.
I called my brother to check his pulse and see how he was doing. He initially called me via FaceTime and I was able to show him what the interior of the ship looked like. We decided to nix that idea as I was trying to find a quiet corner/room to have a conversation with him and the connectivity was weak. I then checked my emails and posted a few pictures on FB. All this from my iPhone.
In the dining room, folks all around us ordered the broiled salmon with a side of fresh vegetables. It was that good and delightful! For dessert we had the Orange Souffle (sp?). It was hot as in temperature hot and a nice way to end lunch. Again, we herd gasps from our neighboring two-top tables.
The weather in Fort Lauderdale was a bit cooler than last week and rain clouds were making their way towards the Port of Everglades. There were not many cruise ships in port today. I thought I counted four ships. That's rare for a Saturday. We were the last to leave which equated to an hour late in departure time. We were escorted out by the Broward County Sheriff boat as we cruised out of the port and into the channel.
I think tonight we're going to have a simple buffet dinner. I'm getting to the point where I'm tired of eating. Is that possible? Yes. For me all I want is a salad and some fish. My tummy is not used to the rich food nor the variety we encounter in the buffet. I've started to pass on the desserts that are available. Yes, I'm feeling well. No, I don't want to feel bloated all the time.
During the early evening hours we stop by the Internet Cafe to figure out the issues we're having with getting an our free Internet package for the new cruise week. An older couple is sitting nearby when I overhear the issues they are having logging in. I spend a few minutes explaining what packaged is available to them (they are Platinum members like we are) and how to login and logout. The one major problem I could not help them with is how to get to their email and their password. They told me at home they just click on an icon and bam(!) they can access the email messages. I explain to them it can't be done like that on the Princess computers. We need to know more information (e.g. account name and password). I suggested they wait for the Princess rep to arrive and ask her for help. They both thanked me for the help and the husband offered me his free 150 Internet minutes. I told them I was glad to help and I couldn't accept those free minutes.
I left the Internet Cafe and came back to see if the Internet Manager was available. I had an issue where the system acknowledged that I was a returning cruiser, but I could not see my free minutes for the new cruise. Gabriella waved her magic wand and managed to fix my account as well as hubby's. Life is good.
Tonight we decide to catch an evening show called "Welcome Aboard Showtime" featuring the Ruby Princess dancers and Vocalist Ric Steel. We enjoyed this entertainment immensely. Ric is a wonderful singer and I could listen to him sing all day. He's scheduled to do a full show the evening when we're in Cozumel. I believe that's Wednesday evening.
Tonight's movie at MUTS: None. NFL Football game is showing tonight.
Hubby is out like a light around 9pm. I'm still on my laptop trying to catch up on the blog posts. When I get back on land I will have to do some major edits and add the many missing pictures to each post. I'm quickly fading.... Good night everyone!
In the dining room, folks all around us ordered the broiled salmon with a side of fresh vegetables. It was that good and delightful! For dessert we had the Orange Souffle (sp?). It was hot as in temperature hot and a nice way to end lunch. Again, we herd gasps from our neighboring two-top tables.
The weather in Fort Lauderdale was a bit cooler than last week and rain clouds were making their way towards the Port of Everglades. There were not many cruise ships in port today. I thought I counted four ships. That's rare for a Saturday. We were the last to leave which equated to an hour late in departure time. We were escorted out by the Broward County Sheriff boat as we cruised out of the port and into the channel.
I think tonight we're going to have a simple buffet dinner. I'm getting to the point where I'm tired of eating. Is that possible? Yes. For me all I want is a salad and some fish. My tummy is not used to the rich food nor the variety we encounter in the buffet. I've started to pass on the desserts that are available. Yes, I'm feeling well. No, I don't want to feel bloated all the time.
During the early evening hours we stop by the Internet Cafe to figure out the issues we're having with getting an our free Internet package for the new cruise week. An older couple is sitting nearby when I overhear the issues they are having logging in. I spend a few minutes explaining what packaged is available to them (they are Platinum members like we are) and how to login and logout. The one major problem I could not help them with is how to get to their email and their password. They told me at home they just click on an icon and bam(!) they can access the email messages. I explain to them it can't be done like that on the Princess computers. We need to know more information (e.g. account name and password). I suggested they wait for the Princess rep to arrive and ask her for help. They both thanked me for the help and the husband offered me his free 150 Internet minutes. I told them I was glad to help and I couldn't accept those free minutes.
I left the Internet Cafe and came back to see if the Internet Manager was available. I had an issue where the system acknowledged that I was a returning cruiser, but I could not see my free minutes for the new cruise. Gabriella waved her magic wand and managed to fix my account as well as hubby's. Life is good.
Tonight we decide to catch an evening show called "Welcome Aboard Showtime" featuring the Ruby Princess dancers and Vocalist Ric Steel. We enjoyed this entertainment immensely. Ric is a wonderful singer and I could listen to him sing all day. He's scheduled to do a full show the evening when we're in Cozumel. I believe that's Wednesday evening.
Tonight's movie at MUTS: None. NFL Football game is showing tonight.
Hubby is out like a light around 9pm. I'm still on my laptop trying to catch up on the blog posts. When I get back on land I will have to do some major edits and add the many missing pictures to each post. I'm quickly fading.... Good night everyone!
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