Fort Lauderdale

Today was devoted to shopping, and sure enough by the time we got to the airport to return the rental car we had 10 bags of newly purchased necessities to squeeze into our cabin.

Half way into our shopping extravaganza I became paranoid that despite the fact we had been told by the purser’s office that we had to be back on board by 9:30 PM, I decided that this would not be the first time we had been fed misinformation from them, and that the ship was due to sail any minute. I was frantically searching for departure information on the Internet on my phone whilst trying to follow the Google Maps instructions to our next destination. I couldn’t find what I wanted. Then I phoned the port, but the office was closed for the Martin Luther King holiday. Then I called Cunard, and the lady was very helpful, saying that if I could tell her our booking number she could tell me what time the ship would sail. She did not comprehend that I could not look for our booking number whilst trying to give Brian directions in busy traffic, and talk with her on the phone all at the same time. I am just not that talented. Luckily I did find a piece of paper with the number on it, so she told me we would sail at 10:00. Panic over for a few seconds, but I was still struggling with getting us to our destination as by now I was getting north and south confused.

We were finally all shopped out, and made our way through rush hour traffic to the airport to drop off the car. We were dismayed to find out that despite what the rental agent had told us in Port Canaveral, Hertz do not have a shuttle to the ship (Alamo does apparently). So off we went with all of our purchases to find a taxi.

The taxi driver did seem to be a bit odd, as when we told him we were going to the cruise ship port, he appeared confused, and was muttering away to himself. However, he did take us there. At the entrance to the port we had to show our driver’s licenses. As the guard handed them back to me, he politely enquired what time the ship would sail. Our driver was enraged by this question, and kept yelling at him “why do you need to know”. A shouting match followed, during which our driver was being extremely odd (trust me, I know odd), and increasingly nasty – pointing out to the Hispanic guard that the guard was not Obama. At this stage the guard headed off and came back with the sheriff, and the madness continued. I was of course sure that we were all going to be arrested, and QV would sail off into the moonlight without us. We kept quiet, but it was very hard for me not to tell everyone to get a grip, act right, and let us go to the ship. Finally the guard lifted the boom, and let us proceed. Yay! We were back at the ship. We went up the gangway where we were told to have someone call the purser’s office to bring us our new key cards. This seemed to confuse both the security guards, and the purser’s office, so we were left standing at the top of the gangway, clutching our many parcels, smiling at the other embarking passengers who were giving us weird looks, waiting for our new cards. Eventually they arrived, so we could go on board again.

Our bags and the plant were all waiting for us in the new cabin. It was quite late by then, so we decided to forgo dinner in the dining room, and we did the unpacking and went to the Lido. This was the first time we have been to the Lido buffet for dinner, and I must say we had an excellent meal.

Sail away was at 10:00 PM, and there was much whistle blowing, to my delight, and then our lovely ship sailed away into the moonlight as planned, with us on board thank goodness!