Weather – 23º, windyfinally here!
Steps – 5,832
Travel day! We thought our travel day would be
uneventful…we were just slightly mistaken! We had another lovely lie in not
having to be at the ship until our assigned check in time of 12:30.
We foolishly assumed that getting an Uber/Lyft
would be easy-peasy. This was a fool us twice moment. We had our ride cancelled
on us 2 days ago when it is was raining and guess what…that happened AGAIN!!!
So ANNOYING! PLUS, the original ride I booked was $38 and the new one was $58! A rider will get penalized for cancelling a ride, but drivers can do it.
Anyway, by the time we found Daniel (or as we
came to call him – DJ Mario) we were 30 minutes behind schedule. Our plan was
to arrive at the port around 12:30, but we didn’t get there until 1. In
addition to leaving late, traffic was BRUTAL!home for the next 10 days
The ship wasn’t leaving until 7, so we weren’t
at all worried, but just wanted to get on, have a glass of champagne and get
this cruise on the road.
Daniel was an amazing driver. He drove faster than
the vast majority of the other vehicles on the road and played music he
selected specifically for us…loud. His Spanish accent was a bit tough to
understand, so when he first asked us if we like Maroon 5, we had NO idea what
he was talking about, i can usually figure things based on context, but this time I was clueless. When we finally Miami sail away
realized he was asking us about music we
said we liked everything – we explained that we were going to a cruise where we’d
spend the next 10 days listening to ‘oldies’ and as long as the music wasn’t from
the 40s or 50s, we’d be fine – and please for the love of God, don’t play Lady
in Red! I kept hoping he’d play some Latin stuff, but we had to be satisfied
with AC/DC, Queen and as Daniel put it “classic stuff. I had a feeling he sussed us
out and played what he thought we’d like. He wasn't entirely wrong, but a bit more Latin flair would have been the cherry on top of the ride.
Over an hour later (should have only been 45
min) we were at the port and 30 minutes after that we FINALLY had our welcome
glass of champagne.
A bit of lunch, a visit to the library, and a visit to the tours desk to change a tour that had been cancelled on us (theme for today??) and we our room was ready.
Since Covid, there have been NO face-to-face safety
orientations. Now, all you have to do is watch a 3-minute safety video a couple
of times prior to boardingmore Miami skyline
and find where your muster station is as soon as you
board. The video also plays on the TV - the channel can’t be changed until the
video plays a few times. I’m not sure how safe this new procedure is, but the
old way probably wasn’t super safe either. Once everyone is onboard, there is also an
announcement about safety and then that is that.
I started napping prior to the safety announcement and knew I’d be disturbed, but figured a short nap is better than no nap. I woke up, but I think I may have slept though some of the info.We put out the laundry we accumulated over the past few days in Fort Lauderdale. Laundry used to be a perk for sailing a certain number of days. Once we got it for our loyalty level back in 2019, we were thrilled. This is another change since Covid. Now it is included for everyone on Regent – stuff all your dirties in a bag, itemize them on a slip and it’ll be back tomorrow in superb condition. They give us $100 to make up for it. Included laundry is worth so much more to us than $100, but as long I continue to get it, I don’t care. Next cruise we’ll be up another loyalty level and will get dry cleaning…I may just bring my parka to be cleaned even if it is a hot weather cruise!!
It didn't take long for us to fall back into our old cruising routine. A predinner drink, followed by another while we waited for a ‘table by the window’, dinner and then the show.
After the show we wandered through the casino which was surprisingly busy. We didn’t stay, but picked up a coffee and sweet snack to finish the day back at our room.
1 comment:
Wishing you a wonderful cruise. It already sounds looks and sounds amazing!
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