Day 9: Ft Lauderdale - Turnaround/In-Transit

After having two calm sea days, we arrive quietly into Port Everglades.  We are awake just after 6am and find the Caribbean Princess backing into Terminal 21.  My favorite ship the Regal Princess is already docked at Terminal 2.  Since the Caribbean Princess is using a different terminal today versus Terminal 2 at the start of our cruise, Princess is providing free shuttle service between the two terminals for those who are parked near Terminal 2.  Princess uses these two terminals as well as Terminal 4.

We docking near a HAL ship and across from a Royal Caribbean ship.  It’s amazing to see these ships up close and with their lights on..

We catch an early breakfast before the buffet gets too crowded.  Even though we are part of the “in-transit” group, we still have to leave our cabin by 8am.  This will allow the cabin stewards to turn over the cabins:  Change out bed sheets and covers, scrub down the bathrooms and cabins, rearrange bed configurations (from twins to queens or vice versa), and basically get the cabins back to normal.  I think of it as “reset” or “default” setting.  The cabin stewards have a lot to do in 3 hours and it’s quite impressive when you think about the number of cabins that are under their care.  I think Sandy has 12 cabins to tend to.

BTW, we are getting a new cabin steward.  Sandy has finished his 9-month contract and is going home for 3 months.  He will be back on the Caribbean Princess to work for several months.  Maybe we will see him again.

We grab our necessities, iPad, laptop, and cell phones and head up to the Lido deck to enjoy the warm weather in Ft Lauderdale.  We meet up with D and M and hang out with them until they have to disembark at their appointed time.  We say our goodbyes and wish they were sailing with us on our next adventure.

We eventually hear an announcement that disembarkation is running early and all in-transit passengers should proceed to the designated venue.  Hubby and I meet our group in the Princess Theater.  Since we are part of a large group (550), Princess will be bringing Immigration onboard to process us.  Yeah, team!  We get to stay on the ship!  We are “officially" back onboard around 11:15am.  It’s amazing how fast 550 fellow cruisers can disappear on this ship.  We stop by our cabin and it’s ready for the new week.  I drop my bag and take my camera to go on a photog adventure around the ship. For about an hour, I almost had the whole ship to myself.  There were no “chair hogs” by the pool.  Come to think of it, I only saw a handful of fellow cruisers lounging around the two main pools.

Did I mention it was a beautiful day in Ft Lauderdale?

By 1pm, I notice the hum of my fellow cruisers and they are starting to mill around.  My ship is getting crowded.  I head back to the cabin to check on Hubby.  He is sitting out on our balcony and enjoying the weather as well.

I am using my time wisely while in Ft Lauderdale:  checking emails, texting with D (by this time took the trolley to FLL beach), and texting with my friend T (who will be cruising with his wife V real soon) to let him know I see his ship the Celebrity Silhouette next door.  Did I mention there were 5 ships in port today?

We are not rushing around today and for some reason…it feels like a looooooong day.  Probably because we had an early turnaround day, the cabins were refreshed quickly, and most important we were already in cruise mode.  I get a chance to settle in at our desk (in our cabin) and update my blog and quickly review a few hundred pictures.

At some point we meet our new cabin steward, Hector, from Mexico.  He is all smiles and wanting to know to make sure we have everything we need for the next adventure.  He brings us our complementary champagne and disappears as he has 12 other cabins to tend to.

We hear the announcement for muster.  Since we went through muster last week, we are not obligated to attend this week.  So we hunker down outside on our balcony and enjoy our view.

We set sail around 4pm.  I am waiting for the “battle of the horns” between the Caribbean Princess and the Regal Princess.  I mostly want hear the Regal’s horn play “The Love Boat”.  We hear nothing.  So hubby does his best imitation of the Regal’s horn.  That appeases me and one day I will get that on video.

I forgot to mention that there are Italian contractors onboard our ship.  They are doing the prep work for laying out the miles and miles of cables on this ship.  Have you seen the Princess ads for the new technology called the “Medallion”?  Well, Caribbean Princess will be one of first three ships to undergo the transition and have this new technology in 2018.  Our ship will be going into dry dock in a couple of weeks and will be fitted with this new technology.  Great planning on Princess’ part for getting everything in place, testing it out, and then flipping the switch in 2018.

Here we go on our next adventure…to the Western Caribbean!