Monday, July 22, 2019
Port Everglades, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Outfit: Dark blue "Cozumel" T-shirt, jeans shorts
Drinks: Just two "Drink Special" Florida Coolers (aka Screwdrivers with a splash of Triple sec and and orange wedge) and one Stone IPA
Prepaid parking at Park N' Go, right near the port, was a breeze. In quick, on the shuttle bus and to the port terminal. Very smooth. On the shuttle, mom and young daughter on their first cruise, she said she wasn't sure if she'd like it (saw her later that night on board and they seemed to be enjoying themselves). Also on the shuttle, older guy said he'd been on 110 cruises! Yeah right! He probably really meant 110 total number of cruising days over the years. That's more believable.
Port Evergaldes is an awesome "ship spotters" port...lots of cruise, cargo and leisure boat travel in and out. Mix in the fact that there were also parasailers, commercial jets taking off and landing at the nearby airport and bi-plane sign pullers (those advertising banner planes), dock cranes and workers, and it was a beehive of activity to just sit back and enjoy. From my perspective, I look at all those active working people and humbly sigh, thankful I'm not one of them. Let the young workers of the world take control...I'm done with all that.
Cabins were unavailable until the cleaning crew was finished at 1:00 so had to chill out on the Promenade Deck with my luggage until then, but, they did have them opened on time so once able, I dropped off my luggage, took a quick video of my cabin and made my way to the buffet for lunch. As expected, was way too packed for me so instead I headed up one deck to Sorrento's where it was much less crowded. Pizza was pretty good. Nice thin, crispy crust and good sauce and cheese.
Watched Sail Away party from the sun deck and filmed us leaving port. Stayed up on deck for quite a while, soaking up rays (forgetting to put on sunscreen for which I got a slight burn) and tried to figure out what cities could be seen that were on the Florida coast in the distance. Figure they were Hollywood, North Miami and Miami Beach/Miami proper from right to left.
At 6:30 went and had dinner at the Windjammer buffet and I really liked the selection. Much smaller array of choices compared to the Breakaway but tastier and more of the comfort food variety I prefer. Flank steak, meat lasagna and the mashed potatoes and gravy...all so very good! Free coffee, like the free lemonade I'd had for lunch was awesome. Why buy the premium stuff at the specialty coffee shop onboard called "Latte-tudes"? In fact, for the remainder of the cruise, the great quality free soft drinks and the outrageous prices on the alcoholic drinks kept me, generally, gravitating more to a non-alcohol trip than any of my past cruises. That and the fact I hadn't brought any of my own hooch, allowed or not, onboard with me.
Evening show at the "A Chorus Line" Theater was a little song and dance "welcome aboard" number hosted by our cruise director, Tornado Tanya a forties-something Brit gal who wears nothing but A-line dresses. What? No pudgy gay Filipino guy? Nope. Not even her second who was some clueless looking Costa Rican dude in his twenties. His title was actually "Activities Director" and if he was the one at fault...shame on him and his total lack of ingenuity. Bingo, Trivia and Karaoke along with the Bobblehead Breeder games like "Battle of the Sexes, Not-So Newlywed Game and Poolside "sexy" games." Boring. But I did make the best of it with the karaoke. Oh, not by participating mind you...not ready for that just yet, but I attended most of them and there was a bit of a competition so it was interesting seeing many "regulars" as the week went on spar against each other.
There was a stand-up comedy act headlining the entertainment in the theater tonight. Cary Long, older white dude in a black suit like he was going to be attending a funeral later. He was okay. Standard D-List cruise ship comic material. He did have a small string of jokes relating to the staff on board cruise ships which hit the nail on the head. He parodied their sing-songy vocals and staccato accent perfectly. A little bit racist, even though he tried to say he wasn't trying to be. (But we know he was. ;))
My steward was a Filipino guy named Vic. As usual, and sounding like the comedian's character, very obsequious and sing-songy ("Helloooo Mister Mike!" from half way down the long row of cabin doors).
It had been a warm and sticky day so I took a shower and dressed again after the show, had a snack at the Ben & Jerry's concession (stale sugar cone and semi-crystalized Cherry Garcia) for a $3.75 upcharge, chilled out to some cool Caribbean band in Bolero's, the Latin-themed bar mid-ship and caught a lame gameshow "Majority Rules" and the late-night "adult" comedy show by the same comic as earlier. Not very racy or adult at all...many walk outs. I hope he won't be around in September.