Wanderung 17

No Rain in Spain, not even on the Plain!

April-May 2008

Saturday April 12th 2008P>

Noon position: en route from Washington, D.C. to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Bob:

The flight from Dulles down to Ft. Lauderdale went as smooth as silk, and despite Monika's worries we retrieved our luggage and immediately caught a taxi, so we arrived at the pier well before 2 p.m., which was quite early enough from my point of view. I mean, even we showed up on the dock just before the ship was scheduled to depart at 4:00 p.m., would they just let us stand there and watch the ship steam off or would they bend over backward to hustle us on board ASAP? Any cruise line worth its (sea)salt will bend over backward to not upset paying customers, so I wasn't as concerned as Monika with getting there on the dot of 2:00 p.m. As it turned out we had plenty of time to process on board and have a bite to eat before our luggage was delivered to our stateroom.

Monika:

Our alarm clock was set for 6:30, but, of course, we both were awake before then. We were packed. All items on my To-do list had been accomplished by yesterday, so we were ready for our taxi 10 minutes early. Our bing cherry tree was already blooming, but the apple trees had not started. I was wondering how everything would look, when we came back. The taxi came on time and got us to the airport in next to no time. Check-in at JetBlue was easy and security also went quickly. So we were sitting at our gate 90 minutes before boarding time. Time enough for me to get a cup of coffee and a newspaper. The flight itself went very quickly. On JetBlue, Bob had enough leg room, and I could channelsurf the multiple programs on the little TV in front of me to my heart's content.

We were booked on a flight coming into Ft. Lauderdale around 1:00 PM. When we had talked to an RCI representative, we had been told, that the last RCI shuttle bus from the airport to our ship left at 12:30 and we HAD TO BE onboard the ship by 2:00 PM. So I, of course, had worried about this, to the extent of checking what it would cost us to book an earlier flight. This would have been $100, so we decided against that. But my worries were not necessary. Our plane was on time. The luggage came within 10 minutes, and the taxi to the ship only took another 15 minutes. A lot of people were still getting out of taxis or private cars. Since we are now at the exalted state of "Platinum" members (5 or more cruises, with 14 day cruises counting like 2), we had our own check-in line with no waiting. Another advantage of being not too early was, that our stateroom was ready and we could drop off our carry-on luggage before looking for food in the Windjammer.

Bob:

But that's when I found out that although there is a clear advantage to packing for a journey a week in advance, there is also a less obvious disadvantage. The advantage is not rushing around at the last minute stuffing the odd items into already-overpacked suitcases. The disadvantage is forgetting what you have already packed and ultimately leaving things at home that you had intended to bring with. Now some of those things might be really unimportant in the overall scheme of things, or things you can simply do without. I forgot, for example, the power cord for my new MP3 player and thus could only play it until the internal battery was discharged. But even so we were no worse off than on our previous trips when we did not have our CD collection available.

But some of those things you forget might be rather more critical, or at least embarrassing. In my case, I somehow forgot to pack the black pants for my suitcoat. That meant that on those shipboard "formal wear" dinners, I had the choice of wearing my suitcoat sans pants (highly embarrassing), wearing my suitcoat with my raggedy zip pants (moderately embarrassing), or simply skipping dinner on those nights (Not to be thought of!).

Unfortunately, I only discovered this lack when I was unpacking my suitcase when we were already in our stateroom on board the Navigator of the Seas. By that time, the ship was within an hour of sailing, which was certainly not time enough to run back ashore, hail a taxicab, drive to the nearest Wal Mart, purchase a 36" waist by 34" length pair of black pants, and hotfoot it back to the ship before it left the dock. Fortunately, while doing her usual exploration of the ship, Monika found a store that advertised the rental not just of complete tuxedos, but also of just the black tuxedo pants! I gave the tailor a call, and for a $25 fee he said he would lend me a spiffy pair of black pants to use for the voyage. As Life Lessons go, that was a relatively inexpensive one, so that problem was satisfied and we continued up on deck to watch our ship glide out of port.

Monika:

Our ship, the Navigator of the Sea, is HUGE. Huge enough to have a promenade in the middle of the ship on Deck 5 and an ice rink underneath on Deck 3. Decks 6-8 have inside cabins with windows onto the promenade. The Windjammer self-serve restaurant was on Deck 11 as it was on the smaller ships, but it has more seating. So it was relatively easy to find a seat, although, of course, everyone was having lunch.

After lunch we walked around a bit and then headed back to our cabin. Bob took his first GPS reading on our balcony. To my vast surprise, our luggage was waiting for us at the door. So we started unpacking. After I had finished, I noticed Bob kept looking around. His luggage was empty, he had his coat jacket ready in his hand to be hung over his black trousers. And there was the problem, no black pants, no matter how hard we looked. I guess, they have a comfortable rest on the love seat in our bed room. Well, we thought Hamilton, might have a store with black pants. So we decided to shelve the problem for the time being, and go to the mandatory lifeboat drill.


 

Bob:

As we slowly steamed out of the harbor, I was surprised by the number of people who took the trouble to wave at us. People in fishing boats, scuba diving boats, parasailing boats, and sailing boats gave us a nice farewell as we headed out the harbor entrance. We, of course, waved back enthusiastically. After we left the harbor, a narrow cigarette boat with huge, noisy engines went roaring around us just for fun, as far as I could tell, and finally the pilot boat came alongside, picked up the pilot, and returned to shore. Our ship continued off into the briny deep while we returned to our cabin to dress for dinner.

Fortunately, dinner was "casual" wear, so I could get by with my gray zip pants. We met our dinner companions for he cruise, Helen and Jeff from Great Britain, and Don and George, who were currently retired in Spain although they were originally from the West Coast of the U.S. They were quite amiable companions and we had a nice time discussing various places as we enjoyed our meal. We were also surprised when Pam, who had sailed across the Atlantic the other way with us on Wanderung 15, came over to greet us; it turned out she was sailing on the Navigator back to Spain to spend the summer there. Small world! We talked so long, in fact, that we missed the evening entertainment, but that was really OK because I was quite ready to get back to our cabin, put my feet up, and quietly read a book until it was time to turn in for the evening.

Monika:

We watched all kind of different ships coming in from a fun day at sea, while we sailed out to sea.

And then it was time to go to dinner. Our tablemates were a very nice couple from England, Jeff and Helen, and Don and George, a couple who were originally from Seattle and now lived in Spain near Valencia. We had an animated and enjoyable talk all through dinner while we watched the sun setting into the water. We were even more surprised, when Pam, our tablemate from our last cruise, came up to us. She was sitting at a table next to us. Small world.

Our table was one of the last ones to leave and it was way past showtime, which did not sound too interesting anyway, so we just went back to the cabin. I decided, to do a turn around the shops on the Promenade to see what they have, in particular, whether they had a pair of black pants. Well, they did not sell black pants, but they would rent you a pair of tux pants for $25. That would do nicely. So I dragged Bob down with me, he ordered a pair, and that little problem was solved.


 

Copyright 2008 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt
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