Cruising - April 19 - Embarcation

European Vacation - 2015

This blog will relate our Big Summer of '15 trip cruising to Barcelona, followed by driving through Europe for a month and a half. This will a be a "sampler" drive of several thousand miles, not spending a lot of time in any one place (four nights max). We actually need the blog for ourselves so that after the trip we can sit back and reflect. We had fun planning this happening over the past four months and we have been assured (by ourselves) that everything will go precisely as planned. So stay tuned.

April 18 - D-Day!  Our neighbors, Bob & Linda, picked us up at 4am for the drive to the airport.  Stars were out and no-one on the road.  We got to the airport to see a line already snaking around turnstiles at Southwest - but no one appeared behind the counter until 5am. 

(Leo & Suzie, the LeTote bag is perfect for travel)

At the TSA checkpoint, Norm was able to walk right through with a pre-TSA check on his boarding pass while Pam had to wait in line.  Same thing happened last year on our Hawaii trip....it frosts her cake that she's the one with the TSA federal clearance yet Norm gets the pre-check status.  Things appear to have changed as there were no bins but Pam still took the baggies out and shoes off and iPad out, etc. - no one was there to tell us otherwise...but we breezed right through.  Pam didn't recognize ANYONE working there.  Years have gone by....

With Starbucks in hand, we settled in for an hour wait to board.  We were lucky to snag an exit row having only 2 seats so we were as happy as can be to the first leg - to Phoenix.  And speaking of "legs", Norm had restless leg syndrome, sometimes called "legs in a box" the entire way. He is certain he caught thrombosis from too much contact between his knees and his nose. 

But as we lined up to board for the Fort Lauderdale leg - with our (paid extra for) "A" boarding pass in hand - we noticed a dozen people lined up in wheelchairs, plus families with - horror - little kids with preemptive rights to board ahead of us "A" class folks, grabbing the best spots. Even a service dog boarded ahead of us!  We finally did get aisle seats across from each other and every seat on the plane was filled.  

Pam talked quite a bit to Barbara and Russ from Phoenix who sat next to her - also headed to "Allure of the Seas". In fact, it turned out most of those on board were part of the 6,000 strong passenger contingent we'd soon be sailing, swimming and dining with on "Allure". We'll soon all be finding out what living the fun life on board the largest cruise ship in the world is all about - at 255,000 tons, it is six times the displacement of the "Titanic". (Perhaps that's not best reference point, on second thought.) 

We arrived at our hotel - Quality Inn - without a hitch.  This place is a cruisers' mecca and we always stay here - free pickup at the airport, free breakfast and free transport to the dock.The shuttle bus was packed so Pam headed to check-in while Norm retrieved the luggage.  Unfortunately the room wasn't ready yet - what?  It's 5:30....so we sat for 1/2 hr with everyone from the shuttle.  After a bit of prodding, we were ensconced in our room and ready for dinner.  

Pam's sister and her husband, Linda and Robert, had arrived yesterday so they were relaxed - unlike us.  We decided to do our own thing and will meet up for breakfast in the morning.  We crawled next door to McDonalds for a burger.  We don't go to McDonalds at home but since it was next door...geez, $14.61 later for two burger meals.  Guess we're not in Kansas anymore.  

We're headed back for a long winter's nap and to dream of the fine cuisine on the ship tomorrow - certainly a huge step up from our fine dining tonight.

April 19:  We took the shuttle to the cruise dock at 10:30 for embarkation.  Boarding was a breeze what with the army of Royal Caribbean personnel available for checking. 


                 Here we are on the shuttle bus heading to the port:

                                         Linda & Robert:

 

 Once on board, we settled into a table at a brewpub until our rooms were ready.  A couple of beers later...we headed to our stateroom to find our luggage waiting outside our door - like clockwork.  

 

 

These paintings were in the brewpub - as a rower, Pam loved them!

 

 

Linda and Robert bit for the unlimited soda package for $92/ea - special cups included - that's a lotsa Coke. The ship is a miracle of varied and creative revenue streams. Still, there's a great deal of food and fun provided as part of the cruise. However, the unlimited WiFi package for $180 per device was a must have. That means one our two Ipads could be connected to the ship's high speed internet at a time. We got a 30 buck discount because of our exalted status as Diamond members.