Solarium on Quantum of the Seas

Posted on June 28, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

solarium

Some ships or cruise lines have certain features that stand out in excellence above what other similar ships have to offer. Such is with the solarium on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity ships. The solarium on these ships is an area with hot tubs and sometimes pools with lots of deck chairs to relax in, but it’s not outdoors like the typical cruise ship pool decks. Instead the solarium has glass walls all around the outer edges of the ship, offering protection from wind and weather as well as great views.

cruise ships love odd statues – even in the solarium

With all else being equal when deciding which ship to book, I’d choose one with a solarium over one without because when the ship has one that’s my favorite hangout. It’s not just me either. My husband likes them too, and my two nieces who cruised on the Quantum along with my sisters, mother, and I loved it too. My nieces called it the terrarium because lounging there reminded them of a lizard sunning itself on a rock in a terrarium.

cascading pools

While the exact design varies from ship to ship even within the same cruiseline, the stand-out features always there are the hot tubs and deck chairs. The Celebrity ships we’ve been on had a pool in theirs reminiscent of the sort found in pay-extra spa thermal suite areas on some other ships. That’s the best thing of all about the solarium, it’s not a place you have to pay extra to enjoy. It is for adults only, but open to any adult passengers on the ship at no extra charge.

lower pool

On Quantum of the Seas, the front area of the solarium, which was at the bow of the ship, spanned 3 decks with cascading pools starting with one on its highest deck, with a waterfall into the middle one, and then another waterfall into one lower down. That level also had a hot tub on either side of the pool. One level below that sported deck chairs around the floor-to-ceiling windows that went up the entire height of the room. Those front row chairs by the window were course the prime seating and always the first chairs taken, but we did get lucky enough to find space available in that front row occasionally.

top pool

The top floor of the solarium had the most things. Doors on either side of the ship offered entry, and rows of deck chairs lined the window on either side with additional deck chairs in more rows behind them. It also had some basket-weave style covered pods that were big enough for two people.

No saving deck chairs!

Some of these deck chairs sported bright pink additions saying that saving deck chairs is not allowed. This seemed much more effective than the single sign at the entry found on deck areas of most cruise ships. Towels left on chairs in this solarium generally belonged to someone in the vicinity who had just temporarily left their chair rather than to someone who staked it out all day in case they might want to use it at some point, which happens frequently on most ships. It can be nearly impossible to find an open chair on ships where people selfishly leave their towels all day on chairs they aren’t actively using.

bar in front of the bistro

At the top of the area at the front of the ship above the cascading pools the solarium had its own bar so people didn’t have to go far to find something to drink even if nobody came around asking if they wanted anything. That happened infrequently so it was nice to have it close by even if they didn’t have the ingredients to make a mango daiquiri. The space just behind the bar and between the rows of deck chairs on either side of the entry level was occupied by the Solarium Bistro. It held a small buffet open for lunch and dinner. The selection was smaller than the main buffet, but the venue was far less crowded. It was a nice place to go if you were hanging out in the solarium and got hungry, or if you wanted to avoid some of the more crowded eateries elsewhere on the ship.

Barbara found a pink duck in a planter in the solarium

There were lots of plants in little planters all around the solarium giving it somewhat of a greenhouse or tropical feel. Or some might say much like a terrarium! Planters all over the ship were a popular place for people to hide cruising ducks. My sister Barbara found a pink one in a little planter there. Cruising ducks are little rubber ducks that people bring to hide for other people to find. It’s a thing. People sometimes post about them on social media. Usually the duck has a tag that will say conquackulations you found me or something similar. Some mention specific sites where they’d love to see a posting of their duck on, but you don’t have to post anything if you don’t want to. The finder can keep the duck or hide it in a new location.

indoor pool in the room next to the solarium

Some people prefer outside decks, which all the ships with solariums also have so it’s nice to have that choice. Quantum went one step further. Besides having the adults-only solarium and outside pool deck, it also had an indoor pool in an area similar to the solarium that was open to all ages. On a ship sailing to Alaska indoor pool areas are a really nice thing to have.

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Hits and Misses on Wonder of the Seas

Posted on June 21, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Wonder of the Seas in Saint Thomas

Everyone has their own idea of the best and worst features found on ships that they’ve sailed on. Those opinions are as varied as the passengers themselves so what one person thinks is a ship’s best feature another might consider the worst. These are the things I liked and didn’t like about Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas.

Hits

This ship class has the best cruise ship track ever. Often tracks on cruise ships aren’t much more than a painted line running a short distance through a crowded area on the top deck, exposed to the elements with no shade or shelter. A huge improvement over that is when the ship has a promenade deck that extends around the entire ship, which is a far better place for a run or walk than those useless top deck “tracks.” Even better on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class ships, the outside promenade not only runs completely around the ship, but is actually set up to be a track – even with separate lanes marked walk and run.

best cruise ship track ever

The dining room had a great head waiter. We were on My Time Dining so we did not have a set time, table, or waiter, but since we had dietary considerations the head waiter said to ask for his section and personally took care of our meals.

gluten and lactose free fried chicken dinner on Wonder of the Seas

It’s a big ship, but was divided into distinctive neighborhoods each with their own different vibe and offering of things to do. Some areas are typical to what can be found on other ships, but places like Central Park and the Boardwalk are quite unique to Royal’s Oasis and Icon class ships.

adults only solarium

The adults-only solarium is a great hangout, and a great alternative to outside deck chairs for people who want a place to relax out of the sun, wind, or weather. This glassed-in area has its own hot tubs, bar, towel station, and even a little restaurant as well as rows of deck chairs. It was our favorite hang-out spot.

window and balcony cabins above Central Park

Most ships have inside cabins and outside cabins, but this one has inside cabins with a view. Most also have balconies, though there are some with windows instead. These cabins mainly overlook either Central Park or the Boardwalk, which are interior areas that are open to the sky. There are also a few cabins with windows overlooking the Royal Promenade, an interior area of shops and eateries resembling a city street. We had a balcony cabin in Central Park, which has gardens with real live plants. We actually used this balcony more than we ever have oceanside ones as it was more sheltered. It almost always had at least some shade, and never got wet beyond the railing even when it rained.

Central Park view balcony on the Wonder

Our cabin came with an attentive steward who was prompt with cleanings and happy to assist if anything else was needed like a bucket of ice or on arrival a bathrobe. The cabin shower had a clothesline, which I normally wouldn’t even mention since that is standard on most cruise ships. I thought they all had one until sailing on Symphony of the Seas, where there was none to be found in our cabin. I was glad to see that Wonder did have it since it is the same ship class and a newer ship meaning they have not eliminated those from their ships entirely.

Central Park view cabin on Wonder of the Seas

Our cabin also had 3 Outlets and 6 USB ports, which is a great improvement over some of the older ships that have one outlet and no USB ports. It also had lots of storage space and plenty of hangers without having to ask the steward for more. We got some loyalty perks even though our tier in Royal isn’t all that high although I did still have to ask for a bathrobe even though my current loyalty point level is supposed to include one. It was already available for the asking when I was at lower levels so that particular perk didn’t really help any. At least there were a few others.

Golden Room tiny non-smoking casino

There was a tiny little non-smoking casino called the Golden Room. Since there was nothing advertising what it was and it only ever said Golden Room on deck plans a lot of people probably never even knew it existed since you had to wander in to find out what it was. It was just slot machines and a few table games, but at least it was there. They probably would have got more business on the table games if they lowered the minimum bet to something reasonable as they were ridiculously high – and the tables were empty when we were there, though there were people using slot machines.

zip line

There are lots of fun things to do onboard. This ship definitely has more than most when it comes to things to do. It has a zipline, rock climbing walls, mini-golf, waterslides, a flowrider, play areas for small kids, 10-deck dry slides, a carousel, and of course all the things ships normally have like pools, hot tubs, arcades, daily activities, shows, and kids clubs. Also pong-pong tables and shuffleboard. And not to forget the aforementioned track as well as a gym and spa.

pizza at Sorrentos

There are a lot of different places to eat scattered about the ship, and quite a few of them don’t cost anything extra.

Wonder of the Seas docked in St Thomas

They get people on and off the ship quickly and efficiently in ports in spite of it being such a large ship.

ice show

In addition to the regular sort of cruise ship theater shows, this ship also has an ice skating area where they have an ice show, and an AquaTheater with a water show. The ice and water shows are definitely worth watching.

Misses

Although it was the Port Canaveral’s fault rather than the ship’s, the initial boarding on this ship was our worst cruise ship boarding experience ever. It was extremely disorganized with early arrivals shuffled off to the side rather than being allowed into the already marked and set up, but empty lines while people who came later were allowed to line up first. Even later arrivals were allowed to board right away while people who had already waited hours stood in unmoving lines marked for long-since-past boarding times watching people who had just got there go by with nobody even checking what their scheduled boarding time was.

buffet on Wonder of the Seas

Every Royal ship we have been on prior to this one had an entire section of gluten-free food in the buffet. This ship had no gluten free section in the buffet at all and not a lot of gluten-free items available there either. The buffet usually only had 1 gluten free dessert offering, which was also sugar free and covered in dairy. A lot of people with gluten issues also have problems with dairy, but sugar-free is mostly a whole different segment of the population and artificial sweeteners are a problem for some people with other food sensitivities. As far as gluten-free food goes, this ship was a disappointment all around. While Symphony had made all sorts of special desserts for us in the dining room, always had several gluten-free options in the promenade café, and a whole gluten-free section in the buffet, Wonder had no gluten-free items in the café and though they did make gluten-free dinners in the dining room, the chef would not make any gluten-free desserts.

dining room

Although the ship had a 3-deck dining room, there was no dining space reserved for My Time dining. Instead they had an early seating in the dining room where My Time dining took place so though it was said to start at 6:30, the reservations they recommended making were not available before 8pm. It turned out best not to make reservations at all. Going down early enough to snag a table that someone in the early seating didn’t show up for that night worked out best.

Internet was way too expensive.  We normally get an internet package so we can keep in contact with our housesitter and whoever is taking care of our businesses while we are away, but the price on this ship was so ridiculously high we just had to wait until we were in port to make contact.

good thing I brought my own shampoo & conditioner

Luckily I always bring some shampoo and conditioner because you never know what you will find onboard. Sometimes they have decent bath products and sometimes they don’t. This one had all-in-one shampoo/body wash and no conditioner. There was also no kleen-x box dispenser in the bathroom. This was the first ship we’ve been on that did not provide tissues.

Prices onboard were expensive for pretty much anything.

Smoking was allowed in the main casino. It was a plus that they tried to contain it with doors, but a definite miss because the doors that were supposed to contain the smoke within the casino were way too sensitive. They opened every time anyone walked past them whether that person was inside or outside of the casino, even if they didn’t get anywhere close to the door. Since those doors were next to elevators and the closest bathroom to the dining room they spent more time open than shut when a lot of people were coming and going from meals, letting out a big cloud of toxic smoke each time they opened. Some outside doors on the ship had to be touched to open, which is what the casino doors needed to prevent that problem.

beach pool

Typical of all cruise ships, there are signs saying that reserving deck chairs is not allowed and that items left unattended will be picked up, yet if you actually want to use a one more deck chairs are occupied by towels than people. Some of those towels stay there all day without a person ever coming along to actually use the chair, yet nobody from the crew ever picks them up. On this ship they didn’t even seem to pick up used glasses and things around the chairs more than once every few hours. The glasses were all over the floor next to and under the chairs because there were no little tables between deck chairs for placing drink cups.

Dining room menus did not have the usual markings indicating gluten or dairy free, healthy, or vegetarian items that are normally there on cruise ship menus regardless of which ship or cruise line you are sailing with. Royal Caribbean is usually one of the best when it comes to providing alternative options so this ship was pretty disappointing in the food department after the standards set by our previous cruises on Royal Caribbean. Hopefully that was due to whoever was chef on the Wonder at the time of our sailing and not a lowering of Royal Caribbean’s standards.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024

 

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Balcony Cabin on the Noordam

Posted on June 14, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam balcony cabin 7020

There are a lot of articles that will tell you where to find the best cabin location on a cruise ship, but really it’s a matter of opinion. One person’s choice location could be another person’s worst option. For instance if you want convenience a cabin near the elevators is a great choice, but if you want quiet far away from elevators works much better. To reduce the amount of the ship’s motion you feel booking low and to the center is the most stable. While cabins near the center are considered more premium by the cruiselines, they also consider higher up better, opposite to where you feel less movement. If you like to be close to the food the back of the ship is the place to be because most ships have both the dining room and the buffet at the stern. Meanwhile if you’d rather be near the spa or gym those are often found near the bow on many vessels. Near the stern you might hear engine noise or feel vibrations from it, but if you have a balcony right on the stern you get the wake view. At the bow you’ll hear when they drop anchor, particularly in the lower-level cabins. Low level bow cabins can also be noisy in rough seas, sometimes sounding and feeling like the ship is bouncing over logs when it’s really just waves. Those same cabins are great for low-to-the water porthole or window views though. We tend to like cabins near the bow because that’s where you’re most likely to spot flying fish as they flee the ship when it moves through the water where they were.

view of the port side docking station from our balcony

Our cabin on the Noordam was close to the bow, just a few rooms back from the bridge on the next deck down. We could see people on the bridge when they came out to the docking station on that side.

standard bathroom for balcony or oceanview cabins

The room was average size for a balcony cabin other than on Holland America you get a bathtub rather than just a shower in everything other than inside cabins. Which is quite nice even if you never actually take a bath because the clothesline is as long as a bathtub that way rather than just crossing a small shower. Plus there is lots of room to string more lines if you bring them. It has some structure on both sides for attaching extra clotheslines, which was especially useful on this ship as the shower walls were not magnetic enough to hold a hook when the line was full of wet laundry. Opposite of some ships where the shower is more magnetic than the walls. Having the extra space of a tub is very useful not only for hanging wet swimming suits, but also for doing your own laundry in the bathroom sink on long cruises if you don’t want to pay for the crew to wash your clothes since there are no self-serve guest laundries onboard the Noordam.

bed

The cabin had a bed which can be set as one or two as is normal for cruise ships. It had 3 closets, but no drawers with available storage space other than a couple small ones in each nightstand. There was a large drawer under the foot of each bed, but since they were full of spare supplies for the room steward that didn’t count as space to store our things. The room had a small couch and table, and a desk with a chair.

bath products

Besides a bathtub with a shower, the bathroom had a full range of bath products with separate shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower and liquid soap and hand lotion by the sink. Many ships have gone to just one useless all-in-one product in the shower and no hand lotion these days so it was nice to have a full range of products.

triple closets

There were bathrobes in the closet without having to ask for them, another thing that used to be pretty standard on a lot of ships, but isn’t anymore. As an added bonus there was a free beach bag waiting on the bed at arrival. There was also a little sheet you could fill out for the steward with requests for things like more hangers or towels, ice morning and/or night, and cleaning service once or twice daily. It also had options for having the beds changed if they were set the opposite of what you wanted as one or two. Later in the cruise they left everyone a second Holland America beach bag.

muster drill on the TV on boarding day

There was a large flat screen TV on the wall opposite the bed and a couple hooks on the wall for hanging things. We bring magnetic hooks to get more hanging space. Also a shelf under the TV where paperwork could be stored, but not anything much thicker than paper. On arrival there were mini bar items on the desk and in the refrigerator that are charged if you use them, but the steward removed them at our request. We always ask for removal of the mini bar items so we can use that space for our own things.

balcony

The balcony was standard size and had two chairs and a small table. Each chair had a footstool that fits under the chair if you don’t want to use it or have it in the way. The chairs backs could be set to recline so with that and the footstool it was something like a deck chair, though it could also just be a chair. That’s pretty handy on a balcony that doesn’t have room for both. It did have room to use a footstool with the chair so definitely not the smallest balcony we’ve had since we’ve had one that had no footstools or space to put them.

flying fish (internet photo)

We saw quite a few flying fish from that balcony when the ship was underway. Also some dolphins while anchored in Kona. In Brisbane we saw a big blue jellyfish, several turtles, a couple pelicans, and a bunch of other birds from our balcony. In Sydney we could see the opera house and all of Circular Quay, but had to go out to the back deck of the ship to see the famous harbor bridge. We were on the port side of the ship, which was facing port at most of our port stops so there was always something to see.

we saw dolphins from our balcony

Noordam is an old enough ship that the air system isn’t individual to each cabin. You can turn the airflow up or down, but you can’t turn it off. The large vent over the bed is quite noisy at night. There was a bit of wind whistling through the balcony door as well the first night, but once we mentioned it to the steward he had maintenance come out to fix it. About halfway through the cruise they apparently forgot they had already fixed it and came out when we weren’t in the room and fixed it again, which did keep the outside handle from moving around as much, but made the wind howl through it like it had before so they had to fix it a third time.

ships tend to have more outlets & USB ports than they used to, but it still doesn’t hurt to bring extras

There were 4 regular American outlets to plug stuff in above the desk and a USB port at either side of the bed above the nightstand as well as one at the desk. I had a 3 outlets on one plug adapter that increased our outlets a bit more, and I always bring a clock that has a couple USB ports so we were good with plenty of places to charge things.

we left something extra for the stewards along with the tip when disembarking

Overall it’s a pretty standard size cabin as balcony cabins on cruise ships go. Bigger than some since this one had both a couch and a desk. We left 3 ducks hidden in the room for future passengers when we disembarked. One in a small bag in a cupboard under the desk that held a mirror, so somebody will probably find that one fairly quickly. One behind the TV, which can be seen if standing close to the wall while hanging something on the hook next to the TV so someone could find it if they happen to look that way while in the right spot. The last one was under a band around a curtain next to the bed that is just there for decoration and doesn’t go far enough for anyone to bother using it so it may be there for awhile. We also left a couple ducks and a towel owl on the table with a tip for the stewards. We brought one big sparkly duck specifically for that purpose, but since the stewards worked as a team of two we left another duck as well. A lot of the crew like finding ducks.

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Balcony Cabin on Enchanted Princess

Posted on June 7, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Enchanted Princess in Tortola, BVI

On a 20-day cruise on Enchanted Princess, which consisted of two 10-day back-to-back cruises, we spent the first half in a standard balcony cabin and the second in a mini suite. I’m very glad it wasn’t the other way around. The balcony cabin seemed sufficient while we were in it, but if we’d moved there after spending time in the far more spacious mini-suite it would have felt tiny.

standard balcony cabin C202

As balcony cabins on cruise ships go, the standard ones on Enchanted Princess are on the small side compared to the size of balcony cabins on some other cruise ships. On many ships balcony cabins have at least a small couch and a little table, but this one had neither. It had one chair at a desk, but no additional seating in the room. Deluxe balcony cabins on this ship have a small couch in place of the desk so they gain a place to sit, but they lose the 3 drawers the desk has for storage.

large open closet and small closet with door

The entry area of the room is a small hallway with the bathroom on the left. Some rooms are mirror image of the one we had so it could be on the right. Once you pass the wall to the bathroom the area opens up into a little alcove with the door to the bathroom on one side, a large open closet opposite that, and a small closet with a door on the end. Beyond that is the main room, which consists of the bed which can be set as one or two, two nightstands, a desk, and a little counter with a small refrigerator in a cupboard underneath and 3 open shelves on the side.

corner unit has a refrigerator and some shelves

There is plenty of storage space in the room for two people. Each nightstand has 2 drawers and there are shelves in the enclosed closet as well as one above the hanging bar in the open closet. The open closet is quite spacious. There are also 3 drawers in the desk. There is space enough under the beds for suitcase storage.

bathroom

The bathroom has 3 small shelves in one corner by the sink, and one long shelf below the sink. The shower has a small clothesline you can pull across. There’s two hooks on the inside of the bathroom door and one hook by the door to the room for hanging things, but we increase our hanging space in the cabin with magnetic hooks.

artwork above the bed

Artwork in the room consisted of one picture above the bed. Bathrobes were not included in the cabin when checking in, but were brought upon request. You can also have ice brought daily on request, and choose whether you want one or two daily cleanings. The steward put the ice bucket in the refrigerator. We had not seen stewards do that before, but it was a good idea because the ice lasted much longer that way. The closet has hangers, but if there are not enough you can request more from the steward. If you send anything out for the crew to wash it comes back with additional hangers, but this ship has self-serve launderettes so you can save a lot of money by washing your own clothes.

random door pad

Outside the door there’s a little computer pad that displays the first names of the cabin occupants along with their loyalty status in the form of a tiny picture of a medallion in the color of the occupant’s medallion. The pads also have dots that light up with a touch for privacy or room cleaning. When you approach the room it senses your medallion. The door unlocks automatically and the pad welcomes you to the room. It actually says welcome with your name and photo. The bit that says touch medallion is there in case the automatic unlock doesn’t work so you can unlock the door by placing your medallion where it shows.

medallion in a waterproof bracelet

Princess uses wearable medallions instead of the key cards used by most cruise lines. These are especially handy if you get a waterproof bracelet to put them in rather than hanging them around your neck as they come standard. Bracelets and other medallion holder options are available onboard or from Princess pre-cruise, but you can get the waterproof bracelets cheaper on Amazon. (The one in the photo is an Amazon bracelet.)

bathroom products

In the cabin bathroom there are jars of liquid hand soap and hand lotion by the sink. The shower has shower gel and a shampoo/conditioner combo. They at least did not combine all 3, but since there was not separate shampoo and conditioner I was glad that I had brought my own. The lotion was a nice addition since not all cruise lines provide that anymore.

cabin TV with the safety video

The mattress was quite comfortable. There is a TV on the wall opposite the bed. It has options for different TV shows and movies you can choose from as well as a bow cam channel and options for other info. On boarding day you can watch the required safety video either there or in the app on your phone.

balcony on Enchanted Princess

The small balcony is furnished with 2 chairs and a tiny table. The backs of the chairs have several settings for somewhat of a recline, but there are no footstools to stretch your feet out on. The balcony railing is pretty close though. There were extended balcony cabins below our room. Their balconies went out farther than ours so we could look down on the outer part of them. Their chairs did include footstools, and their balconies had plenty of space to use them.

view of ships docked in Fort Lauderdale and the extended balconies below our cabin

Our cabin was near the bow so we saw lots of flying fish whenever the ship passed through areas where they were while we were out on the balcony. Sometimes there were birds circling around the ship going after flying fish that the ship scared up out of the water. Mostly frigates, but sometimes other kinds.

for the steward at the end of the cruise

At the end of the cruise we left a little something extra for our steward along with his tip – a towel turtle and a big sparkly duck. The stewards did not make any towel animals on this cruise.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2024
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Ardastra Garden & Wildlife Centre

Posted on May 31, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

view of ships in Nassau from Fort Fincastle

Our 11-day cruise on MSC Meraviglia made two port stops in Nassau. On the first round I had a chocolate-making tour while John went to a wine-mixing tour, both at Graycliff Hotel. The second time around we first walked to Fort Fincastle and the Queen’s Staircase, then from there to Ardastra Garden & Wildlife Conservation Centre.

pink flower

Ardastra Gardens was established in 1937 by Jamaican horticulturalist Hedley Edwards. He chose the name from the Latin words ardua ad astra, which means striving towards the stars. It was first developed as an exotic garden and nature preserve, with endangered Caribbean flamingos from the island of Inagua added in the 1950’s. With a successful breeding program, the garden became a permanent home for its flamingos. Eventually they began to train them to entertain visitors. Inagua is the southernmost island in the Bahamas, made up of a pair of islands called Great Inagua and Little Inagua, or collectively Inagua. Little Inagua is an uninhabited protected turtle habitat and Great Inagua is home to the Morton Salt factory. Inagua is popular for ecotourism and flamingo sanctuaries. In 1980 native Bahamian Norman Solomon purchased Ardastra gardens and added more animals and the garden became a conservation center and boutique zoo.

flower at Ardastra Garden

Ardastra Gardens & Wildlife Centre is about a 3 kilometer walk from the cruise port, which google maps pegs as just over 30 minutes and a slightly shorter distance because its directions start where the port ends rather than out on the dock. It was about the same distance from where we started at Fort Fincastle, but a different route. Google maps said we had arrived at the corner of a street next to the humane society where there was just a sign for the garden & wildlife center with an arrow pointing down a nearby dead-end road. The actual entrance was about a block away at the end of that dead-end road.

turtles

Looking up things to do in Nassau before our cruise, I found Ardastra Garden, with info saying that admission was free. I’m not sure if they were dead wrong or just way out of date, but it actually cost $20 to get in. It’s a fairly small place at around 4 acres and the gardens seemed to be mainly plantings between animal enclosures rather than any specific garden areas. The price is kind of high for the size of the attraction, but if you consider it as a donation to the wildlife center then it’s not bad since it runs partly on donations.

flowers at Ardastra Garden

The site that said Ardastra was free may have been confusing this garden with the nearby Nassau Botanical Garden although online info says there is a small fee to enter that one as well. When we walked past what was probably a back entrance to that garden on the way to Ardastra there was an open gate with a small sign that just said Botanical Garden going into a forested area so someone could have gone in there and thought it was free – and that they were at Ardastra since it is nearby. The Nassau Botanical Garden opened on July 10, 1973 when the Bahamas first gained their independence from British rule. It features 18 acres of tropical flora covering over 600 species, including the Bahamas national flower, the Yellow Elder. That garden is in a former rock quarry that supplied stones for building roads and Fort Charlotte, which the garden sits behind.

parrot

The first creatures we saw after entering Ardastra were parrots on stands. They weren’t caged, but stayed on their perches and didn’t fly away. I don’t know if they couldn’t fly or just didn’t want to. They do take in injured animals there so some or all of the birds may have recovered from injuries that left them flightless. One of the aquatic birds in a pond had an obviously injured wing. Over 75% of the animals there are rescue or rehab animals. The flamingos are the national bird of the Bahamas and part of a breeding program for threatened species.

white peacock

A white peacock ran around loose and uncaged while a regular blue and green colored peacock was in a cage with a flock of peahens. There were some caged birds including a toucan, parakeets, and a barn owl. Chickens ran free in some places and were caged in others. One little area had other farm animals besides the chickens with several pigs, some goats, and a few rabbits. Most of the rabbits were in cages, but one was running around loose.

goose, probably male

There were a couple geese by a pond, probably a male and a female as the larger one had all sorts of things sticking out around his head that the smaller one did not.

capybara

One enclosure held a capybara, the world’s largest rodent. Capybaras are native to central and south America and live in swampy grasslands near water. They can stay underwater for up to 5 minutes, have webbed feet, and eat mainly water plants and grass.

serval cat

Another had a couple Serval cats, which sort of looked like a cross between a giraffe and a cheetah with their excessively long necks. These cats are native to Africa, can run over 50mph, jump up to 10 feet high or 20 feet in distance and have enormous ears for the size of their heads.

Let me out!

They also had some other random animals like raccoons. While some do live in the Bahamas, they are not a native animal there.

Caribbean flamingos

At Ardastra flamingos are the stars of the show, literally. One flock was loose in the park, but stayed in a little grassy area next to a small arena. Another flock was in an enclosure. The loose ones performed in a flamingo show where they moved together as a group under the commands of a human drill sergeant. The talk accompanying the show said they were trained for that using their normal behavior patterns. Flamingos in the wild tend to hang out in cliques with quieter birds staying among other quiet birds while the noisy ones hang together with each other.

performing with the flamingos

During the show the trainer picked a couple people to come in one by one and pose with the flamingos. He picked me first and asked me to stand like a flamingo. Since they are famous for standing on one foot that’s what I did. It’s not like I could become all pink and feathery or anything. The other girl that came in after looked like she was posing for phone selfies rather than doing anything flamingo-like, but I guess that worked for her. She probably doesn’t look nearly so awkward as me in her photos anyway.

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Canopy Tours NW

Posted on May 27, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

barn at Kristoferson farm where the zipline tour starts and ends

Ziplines probably aren’t the thing most people associate with Seattle or the surrounding area, but there are several in the vicinity. The one we went to is Canopy Tours NW, a zipline course at the Kristoferson Farm on Camano Island about 60 miles north of Seattle. This course includes 6 ziplines, a couple short trail walks, a suspension bridge, and a final descent that is sort of like repelling except that it is done with a constant velocity device where the participant is just along for a ride down at a controlled speed.

view from one of the zipline platforms

This is a great course for first timers as none of the lines are extremely long or fast. It’s also fun for experienced zipliners because it’s a long enough course to be worth the drive to Camano Island. It goes through a managed forest on an organic farm with some mountain and water views from platforms along the way. On the day we went our group of 4 included Chris and Justin and the other group of 5 we were combined with contained Christa and Justina so there was a bit of a name coincidence going on.

zipline harnesses ready for people to step into

Before the tour starts participants check in at a small store in a corner of a large historic red barn. The store sells some products made from lavender, apples, and other things grown on the farm as well as canopy tour t-shirts and a few other things. Harnesses are laid out on a cement aisleway down the center of the barn, ready for people to get buckled into prior to the tour. They had 11 harnesses ready to go, but only 9 participants came so there must have been a couple no-shows. While harnessing each person up they ask if you’ve ever done a zipline before. Out of the 9 only Chris and I had previously done a full course, but they told Linda they’d count her short onboard zip on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas. Some ziplines allow people to go hands free in any position they want including turning upside down, but they said these harnesses were not the right sort for that so everyone was required to remain upright with at least one hand on the yellow strap while on the zipline.

stairway to the first platform

A short van ride up a steep and curvy dirt road brings everyone to the start of the zipline tour where a stairway leads to the first platform. It’s not a real high stairway, but there’s still enough drop between the first two platforms. Although there were a couple other platforms within the course accessed from the ground, this was the only one with stairs.

Linda on the first zipline

The first two zips are the shortest and slowest on the course, designed to give newbies a chance to get accustomed to ziplining before moving onto longer and faster lines. They have a braking system operated by one of the guides. The days of having to keep a gloved hand over the line to brake yourself with on zipline courses seem to be long gone as all the ones I’ve been on anytime recently have some sort of passive or active self-braking system. I did notice that the guides on this tour wore leather gloves and stopped themselves by hand the old-fashioned way though. The first one over to the next platform had to as there was nobody there to operate the braking system for them, but the one following the group did so as well. Most of the ziplines I’ve done recently had giant springs at the end that stopped people on their own without anyone needing to control anything.

the second zipline ended with a ground ramp

The first line went to the platform where the second one starts, as is common in zipline courses, but the second one went down to the ground where people could choose to either run up a ramp as they landed or keep their feet up and land the usual way.

strapped to a tree waiting for the next turn

While on tree platforms between ziplines there is a strap with a giant carabiner on it keeping everyone safely clipped to a cable around the tree trunk. There is also a railing around the outer edge of the platform so nobody would fall off even without the clip. Most of the railings had some sort of information about the trees or animals or plants native to the area.

part of an informational sign on one of the platforms

The two guides kept in contact with walkie talkies so each always knew when they were ready for the other to send or retrieve the next person. At each platform the next person steps up on a little stairway block while the guide attaches all their necessary equipment to the line and doesn’t remove the cable from the tree until after informing the other guide that the person is ready to go.

guide talking about plants on the trail walk between ziplines

After the second line we had a short walk along a trail while one of the guides talked about various plants along the way – and warned anyone who might not be from the area not to touch the stinging nettles that commonly grow in Washington’s forests. Often there are sword ferns growing near nettles. If you do get stung fern juice rubbed onto the sting will offer some relief. There were a lot of salmonberry and huckleberry bushes alongside the trail. Both are edible, but it was not the season for either one to have berries on them.

Linda taking off on platform 3

it wasn’t very far between the third and fourth platforms

The next couple zips were longer and faster than the first two, with one going platform to platform and the other to the ground with a warning not to try and run up that ramp as the speed at the end of this line would be too fast for that to work. Keeping feet up and using the braking system provided was the way to go there.

refreshment stop

The landing for the fourth line was on the ground. Water and hot chocolate waited at a little clearing next to the platform with a cup dispenser hanging nearby and a fire pit that was covered at that time, but probably there for use on colder days. A wooden bench near the water cooler had WOO HOO carved into the seat.

Linda on the wonky bridge

Another short walk brought us to the log bridge that the guide referred to as the rickety bridge. It had a cable above it for the clips that usually went on ziplines or trees and people could hold the straps hanging down from there for better balance. They warned against going too fast which might result in falling between the logs and getting bruised. The guide also said to step across two logs at the middle, but that didn’t work so well with my short little legs and one foot did slip off. Quickly raising both feet allowed me to slide along the cable somewhat like a zipline for a few inches until setting a foot back down on the next log, which worked much better than letting that fallen foot hit a log – and no bruising involved. Stepping on every log after that prevented any more slips. Only stepping on every other one is fine for tall people with long legs like the guide, not short people like me.

Justin on the 5th line

One of the people from the other group was smaller and lighter than me. She went just ahead of me on the second to last zip and the guide asked her if she wanted to go with velocity, which meant he would give her a push at the start so she’d go faster than just stepping off the edge or curling up her feet and going off on her own like we all had on the previous lines. She said yes to that and when it was my turn I asked if I could go with velocity too. On the last line he asked me if I wanted to have velocity again (but not her), so I did. More fun the faster it goes after all. Heavier people go fast on their own.

the guide has the braking system out ready to stop Chris

The guide who went ahead of everyone else put the braking system out on the line on the landing platform for each person to catch them as they came in.

guide taking care of Justin’s harness

The guide at the takeoff platform hooks you up to the line before you go and the one on the landing platform unhooks everything when you stop there.

Chris passing over the leaning tree

The last line passed over a tree that looked like it was leaning over to get out of the way of people going by on the zipline, which ran above it only because of the lean. The base of the trunk sat on one side of a small stream while the top came up at an angle on the other. It likely had partially fallen in a storm long before the zipline existed, but survived and grew crooked. That probably was a lifesaver for that tree because if it had grown straight it likely would have been cut down to avoid people on the zipline running into it.

hole in the last platform

The last platform had a square hole cut into it, which is for the descent. When your turn comes you hold a rope and stand on a small bit of platform between the tree and the hole – while still clipped to the tree so there is no danger of falling. From there they clip on the apparatus that lowers you to the ground, then you drop through the hole and descend. It’s not super slow, but not fast either. After landing on the platform below you get out of the way and go stand on the ground nearby so the next person can go. Once everyone was down they sent down the apparatus they’d used and the last guide repelled down and then yanked that rope down too. They put those things into a plastic tub to take with them since there was not another group that day. They don’t leave the ropes out to get weather-worn, but have to set them up each day that there are tours.

Justin coming down

There was no need for the van to pick anyone up at the end of the course because it finished within sight of the barn where we first started so people could just walk the rest of the way back. Once back at the barn the harnesses were removed and dropped back on the cement for the guides to put away. A tip jar sat on a table by the entrance to the center aisle.

view of the barn from the end of the course

They do not allow anything brought along that doesn’t fit into a pocket and recommend not using back pockets as things are likely to fall out there. Keys can be left at the store for safekeeping so they don’t get lost on the course. At least one hand is required to hold on while actively on the line, but phones or cameras can come out of the pocket for taking photos from the platforms in between. The whole course took about 2 and a half hours, but according to my Garmin watch I only had a bit over 11 minutes of moving time. Most of the rest of it was standing on platforms waiting for the next turn other than the snack break.

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iFLY on Quantum of the Seas

Posted on May 24, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

iFLY above the flowrider

iFLY indoor skydiving is a skydiving simulator in a vertical wind tunnel. There are locations on land in various places. When sailing on one of Royal Caribbean’s Quantum class ships you can also experience it at sea. Five of our group of six on an Alaska cruise on Quantum of the Sea booked iFLY, and were joined by one small boy who had just randomly booked the same time as us. We were very lucky to have him there. Though he might have rather had some kids instead of a bunch of women, he did come with a set of parents who were not joining him in the experience.

Barbara in the iFLY

While not allowed into the wind tunnel or its waiting area where riders go while others are inside, tag-alongs with booked guests are allowed to watch from outside of the wind tunnel structure. They are also allowed to take photos, while those inside are not allowed to bring cameras or phones even into the area that’s not actually the wind tunnel. We did not know either of those things ahead of time and had not brought my mom along to take photos for us. The guide said sometimes pro photographers from the ship are there, but there were not any that day. Luckily the boy’s parents took some photos for us or we wouldn’t have had any at all.

flappy cheeks in the wind tunnel

The experience starts by checking in at a desk in the iFLY area on the deck below the actual wind tunnel. First they have everyone go into a little room to watch a short educational movie about what to expect when you go into the wind tunnel. It shows various hand signals as you can’t hear anyone talking in the wind tunnel so any communication between the guide and rider has to be done with their hands. The movie also shows a drooling guy with his cheeks flapping in the wind. They warn you that you too will look that way as you don’t necessarily have control of your face while inside the vertical wind tunnel.

suited up and ready to fly

Following the movie they hand out flight suits, helmets, and glasses to all the participants. All of the suits were blue, but they had different colors of cuffs and trim for different sizes so the guides could grab the correct size for each person at a glance. The helmet colors varied per size too. The instructor had a full-face helmet which protected her from any flappy-cheek or drooling problems. She also moved about in the wind tunnel with ease, though for the inexperienced it’s not nearly as easy as she made it look. There was a rack of little cubbies for people’s belongings that were not allowed into the wind tunnel. Things like jewelry, phones, cameras, purses, or pretty much anything other than the clothes you had on under the flight suit.

doorway in the iFLY chamber

Once everyone was ready we all went upstairs. There’s a little waiting area with a bench for whoever is not currently in the wind tunnel to sit on while they await their turn. From that area there’s a small opening into the wind tunnel itself. There’s not a door over the opening, but all of the wind stays inside and doesn’t pass through the doorway. It’s all quiet until the wind tunnel starts up. Then it sounds like you’re sitting next to a jet plane. You can still hear in the waiting area, enough for the instructor to decide who went in what order, but once you pass through the little doorway you can’t hear anything above the roar, hence the need for the hand signals.

iFLY instructor

You don’t get just let loose in there. The instructor shows you how to lean forward and let your feet come up so you’re floating rather than standing. It would take more time than one session allows to learn how to fully control your body in there so the instructor mostly holds people. You have to learn how to fly before you can do it on your own.

flying free

When anyone got into a good position she’d let go briefly so they could float on their own, but catch hold again before they got out of control. At the end of the turn we all had to hold onto the sides of the opening and pull ourselves out, but the instructor just popped out the door hands free like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Jen floating free

Each person got 2 one-minute sessions during the round. On the first session you’re mostly learning how to get into position, but on the second one if you do well you get little chances to float free.

Mel in flight

It was a fun experience and definitely something out-of-the ordinary, especially for things to do on a cruise ship.

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Promenade Deck on Wonder of the Seas

Posted on May 17, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Life Ring

Wonder of the Seas and other Royal Caribbean Oasis Class ships have the best promenade decks at sea. It’s kind of like two decks in one since the Royal Promenade on the inside of the ship is a completely different area than the outside promenade.

car on the Royal Promenade

The Royal Promenade sprawls through a good portion of the center of deck 5. The theater and spa are at the front of that deck and the main dining room at the back. The Royal Promenade somewhat resembles a city street, but without the traffic. There is one car as part of the decor, but it doesn’t move so nobody has to worry about getting ran over.  It’s an old car to go along with the Route 66 theme of the decor.

looking down on the Rising Tide bar

the Rising Tide has risen

The center is a wide lane dotted with shopping booths and items of decor. The Rising Tide Bar is sometimes there, and sometimes it rises up to Central Park leaving a hollow in its place. Drinks are not hard to find on the Royal Promenade even when the Rising Tide has risen because it is also home to a couple of pubs and the Bionic Bar, manned by robots.

Bionic Bar

There’s a pizza parlor, a cafe, and a karaoke club mingled in with the shops. Even though the ship has its own cafe/coffee shop, there’s a Starbucks there too. Shops range from liquor to expensive jewelry, accessories, clothing, and pretty much all the other usual sorts of things found in cruise ship shops. There’s also a gift shop that had lots of logo items, but not the one thing I always look for. They did not have any ship model Christmas tree ornaments of the Wonder available during our cruise, though it was near Christmas and they had other ornaments. There are also some shops in other areas of the ship.

two levels of places to go and things to do

The Royal Promenade is open in the center up several decks, with skylights into deck eight’s central park in its ceiling. There are a few public areas on the sides of deck 6 with views onto the promenade including a bar and the shore excursion desk and photo gallery. On deck 7 there are a few interior cabins with a view window over the promenade.

booth on the promenade

Sometimes the promenade gets pretty crowded, but other times – like really early in the morning before anything opens there may not be anyone else there. If they have a sale at any of the little booths in the center there’s sure to be a crowd. Even more so when there are activities going on there. One day there was a pirate parade.

little boat getting ready for a pirate parade on the Royal Promenade

Although the Royal Promenade on the inside is great with its city-like atmosphere around shops and eateries, that’s not all the promenade deck has going for it. While I’m usually pleased just to find an outside promenade deck that goes all the way around the ship since so many ships don’t have that these days, this ship class goes above and beyond.

best cruise ship track ever

The outside promenade deck is actually set up as a running track. Although it is on the outside of the ship it’s mostly sheltered. The bow area is under cover and both sides are mostly protected by lifeboats, with a few view spots in between. The back is wide open for a great view of the wake and where the ship has been. On the inside edge of the track at the back there are windows into the AquaTheater and a view of the rock climbing walls and Ultimate Abyss 10-deck slides.

room at the side of the track

Each side has a wide area of open space to the water side of the track where there isn’t a lifeboat. These spaces have places to sit and things to do. One has shuffleboard and a ping-pong table, the other more chairs and tables. Lifeboats surrounding the track means there are no rooms with their views blocked by lifeboats on this ship.

sometimes you have to pass several ceiling signs to read the whole thing

It’s not just the surface area of the track that makes this deck special either. It has signs posted with how many laps equals how much distance. There’s a walk lane, a run lane, and a bit of extra space alongside the lanes where people can pass by slower movers. If you start at the space marked starting line and run the number of laps indicated there are markers along the track to tell you at what point you have reached your goal. Overhead signs give encouragement and entertainment along the way.

the rest of the rhyme

The downside of such a great promenade is that other people like it too. Going out for an early morning run there were already crew people using the track when I started, and other passengers by the time I finished. At least there weren’t any people swabbing the deck, which is a hazard on early morning promenade deck runs on some ships.

rehearsal for the AquaTheater show seen through the window from the track to the Boardwalk

Most of the other people are courteous and will let faster movers by without any trouble, but there are always those few entitled folks who want to sprawl across the entire track area walking slowly and looking quite affronted when you want to pass by them in the run lane even though that lane is clearly marked for runners, not baby buggies and slow walking groups. They have the walk lane for that. Runners on the other hand are usually quick to move aside into the walk lane if a faster runner comes up behind them. Crew people are the most courteous of all. They will try to get out of the way for a passenger even if the crew person is the faster runner.

yay, dessert

The promenade deck on this class of ship is my favorite of all the ships I have been on so far. Mainly due to the track, but the Royal Promenade is nice too.

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Nawiliwili Bus Tour Kauai

Posted on May 10, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam approaching Nawiliwili

The only last-minute tour offered at our port stop in Nawiliwili was a 3-hour tour on the bus that said hop on hop off, but really wasn’t. It ran shuttles to a mall for the first couple hours in port, then the tour which was just the one bus with the same people getting off and back on at each stop rather than an actual hop on hop off bus that would drop people at stops and come by later to pick them up – which usually involves more than one bus on the route. The tour sold out before the last group came to the mall so we were lucky to have come on an earlier shuttle while there was still space available even if it did mean hanging out in the mall a bit before the tour. We had more than enough time to get a bit of shopping done.

bus at a tour stop and lots of feral chickens

Everyone showed up for the noon tour with time to spare, along with one confused couple expecting a shuttle ride back to the port even though the driver had made it quite clear when he dropped people off at the mall that the last shuttle back would be at 11:30 and after that people were on their own. He took them somewhere in the mall, I assume to find help for them arrange for an uber or taxi or something to take them back to the port.

hala tree

Though the driver was originally from the east coast of mainland USA, he had been living in Kauai for some time and was quite knowledgeable with plenty of information and interesting tales between stops. Along the way he pointed out extra things to see as we drove by like the shell of a hotel where an Elvis Presley movie was filmed. At the time the movie was filmed it was a nice hotel, but between then and now a hurricane pretty much destroyed it.

Opaeka’a Falls

Our first stop was at Opaeka’a Falls. A pathway led to an overlook of three side-by-side waterfalls. One of the trees alongside the path had fruit that looked something like pineapples, but they’re really not. Pineapples don’t grow on trees. They grow individually under the ground, one per plant. The tree was a hala tree, a native Hawaiian species. The fruit is edible, but is said to taste like a combination of sugar cane and mango rather than anything resembling pineapple, and also looks nothing like a pineapple on the inside.

Wailua River

The other side of the road had an overlook to Wailua River, the largest river in Hawaii. A scene from an Indiana Jones movie was filmed there. A scene from Jurassic Park was also filmed somewhere along that river, though not at the place seen from that overlook.

Spouting Horn

Next we stopped at a place called Spouting Horn, one of the few places without a Hawaiian name. A rocky shoreline with a series of blowholes, of which the two main ones at Spouting Horn were the largest. The smaller hole had the biggest splashes, each proceeded by a loud noise which seemed to come from the larger hole, though I could be wrong about that. The guide said that originally the larger hole produced by far the biggest spout, but at some point in the past a local farmer dynamited the hole because it kept spraying saltwater in his field and ruining his crops. So that was either an extremely large spout or his farm was way too close to the edge of the sea. Or both.

flower on a tree

Along the way we passed by many large banyan and monkeypod trees as well as flowering trees like plumeria and lots of fruit trees including banana and papaya. Kauai is called the garden island because of the abundant rain and excellent growing conditions. It’s the oldest of the Hawaiian islands. Though it was volcanically created its volcano has long since gone extinct as the earth’s plates shift.

monk seal

The last stop brought us to Poipu Beach which is not just a popular spot for humans. Monk seals and green sea turtles like to rest and relax there as well – even with a crowd of people there. One end of the beach had a snoozing monk seal, surrounded by caution tape that people weren’t allowed to cross and a sign saying it was a 2-year-old male who had been lying there since early morning. The guide said they sleep there while digesting a recent meal. It was quite sound asleep, never moving or even batting an eye.

green sea turtles

On the other end of the beach a ring of cones surrounded two large green sea turtles, one all the way up on the beach and the other far enough down that incoming waves would partly cover it until they receded back from shore. The turtles were more alert than the seal, with open eyes and a bit of movement. Both those animals are on the endangered species list.

feral rooster

Far from endangered, feral chickens were everywhere, often in quite large numbers. They’re descendants of chickens that escaped their coops during hurricanes, mainly Iniki in 1992. A lot of the islands we visited on our Noordam cruise had feral chickens.

hen and chicks by Poipu Beach

Some of the roosters are quite colorful. Mostly we saw adult birds, but one hen by the beach had a family of half-grown chicks. Wild boars are also a human-introduced nuisance on the island, but we did not see any of those. We did see a phone booth by Poipu beach though, something not seen all that often anymore.

phone booths still exist

All of the homes near that beach are relatively new and very expensive. Since all the original buildings were completely destroyed in a hurricane you would think they would put in some sort of effort to replace them with hurricane proof construction, but they all just looked like ordinary houses.

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Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port

Posted on May 3, 2024 by LBcruiseshipblogger

view of a blimp from stateroom balcony while docked in Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale sits on the coast of Florida about 30 miles north of Miami. Besides being a vacation destination on its own it also hosts one of the larger cruise ports. It is one of the busiest ports in the world. While not as big as the nearby cruise port in Miami, it does have 9 terminals.

inside a port terminal building

The port in Fort Lauderdale is called Port Everglades. It’s mainly an embarkation and debarkation port rather than a place ships go for a port stop. Each terminal has its own building. Some belong to just one specific cruise line. Terminal buildings contain facilities for checking cruise passengers in for their cruise as well as customs for when they return. Also open areas with seating space for passengers who check in before boarding actually begins, though if they arrive too early they have to wait in line outside of the building. It’s not just passengers that need to get onboard while the ship is in port. All their luggage has to be loaded as well as fuel and provisions for the cruise. Any new crew starting their hitch that day need to board the ship as well.

forklifts at work loading supplies on Enchanted Princess

The port first opened in 1928. Ships of that time were quite a lot smaller than the cruise ships of today. Proximity to the Caribbean is a big draw for ships in this port.

after checking in you go up to the second floor before boarding

A lot of people fly into Fort Lauderdale a day ahead of their cruise. The cruise port and airport are not far from each other so there are hotels with shuttles to both. Some hotels have more shuttles than others. If you happen to book at a hotel that doesn’t have enough shuttles and your plane comes in during a busy time it’s better just to take a taxi or an uber because the wait for a shuttle with space available could take hours for a hotel that only has one or two. Both taxis and ubers were under $30 on the day we were there.

people making their way through the terminal to the boarding area

Most hotel shuttles are free both to the airport and to the cruise port, but if you happen to have one that charges by the person it may be cheaper to take an uber, especially if you aren’t traveling alone. The cruise shuttles will run at various times throughout the morning. If you like to be near the beginning of the line and don’t mind standing outside and waiting for boarding to start take an early shuttle.

the gangway at last

If you’d rather just walk in without much of a line and get right on the ship without wating around in the port take the latest shuttle available – or if there aren’t any late enough shuttles take a taxi or uber an hour or two before all-aboard time if you have somewhere to go between hotel check-out and then. If you don’t want to stand outside waiting for boarding to start and would rather be in a moving line take a shuttle that gets there around the time boarding starts – though if you get there right when it first starts the line will likely be quite long so one that gets there after the line has a bit of time to clear is better.

looking down on the gangway between the ship and terminal building from the ship

Once onboard all passengers have to complete the muster drill before the ship can depart. On most ships this now consists of watching a video either on the stateroom TV or in the app and checking into your assigned muster station, which just means you go there and check in with the crew manning that post so they know that you found it. It’s a whole lot better than the pre-covid muster drills where everyone had to crowd together at the muster station for a drill that someone was always late to keeping everyone else waiting. There’s still usually a few people that don’t bother to get it done when they board that get their names called near time to depart to do their drill so the ship can leave the dock.

view from our cabin balcony on the Enchanted Princess in Fort Lauderdale

Boarding time usually ends an hour before sail-away, but most people board earlier and have some time to relax, explore the ship, and have something to eat before it leaves port. Ships always toot their horn before leaving port. In Fort Lauderdale Enchanted Princess didn’t just toot, it played the theme from the old Love Boat show on its horn as it sailed away from the dock. There was a lot of boat traffic in the channel leading from the port to the ocean and in the port area so a police boat held traffic to make room for Enchanted Princess to leave.

view of the channel leading out to the open ocean while sailing out of Fort Lauderdale

When the cruise ends the ships disembark in the morning and people often don’t have flights home until afternoon or evening. Cruise ships offer disembarkation excursions that end in a drop-off at the airport. Our cruise on Enchanted Princess offered limited availability for Everglades Airboat rides or a cruise on the intercoastal waterway with drop-offs for both Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports.

passengers leaving Port Everglades after disembarking at the end of a cruise

Besides the fact that those excursions don’t have room for everyone, some people have already done them or aren’t interested. People can of course go hang out at the airport all day, but if you aren’t allowed to check in your luggage until relatively close to the time of departure that keeps you out of all the parts of the airport that have shops, eateries, and places to sit because there isn’t much in the entry area. There are at least seats in the baggage claim area, which is the only other accessible place before checking in luggage.

Everglades airboat excursion

Renting a car is a possibility, but going anywhere and doing anything means leaving your luggage vulnerable in that car where someone might steal it. There is another option though. Many of the area hotels offer day passes. The higher priced ones include a room, but for a lower fee you get access to the pool area and the hotel will store your luggage while you are there.

at the Mariott Airport hotel in Fort Lauderdale

We tried the hotel option at the Marriott Airport Hotel. When you first walk in the hotel somewhat resembles an airport, but it’s actually a nice hotel. There’s a restaurant next to the check-in desk. They tag the luggage and cart it off to storage, giving each person a wristband and a card that allows access to the gym next to the pool, which is where the restrooms are located. It’s important that you know which Mariott you’re going to if that’s the one you choose because there is another one closer to the cruise port.

the hotel had a really nice pool

The pool there is large and pretty warm for an outdoor pool. It’s surrounded in loungers, some under a shaded area. There’s also several covered beds with curtains you can draw around them, and a couple furniture groupings of couches around a table. We picked one of the couch set-ups on the shady side of the pool for our party of 4. Our friends eventually bailed to one of the covered beds when one opened up, but we found the couch more comfortable and it stayed shady the whole time we were there due to the tall buildings around it – though the area on the other side of the pool had some sun in spite of having tall buildings there as well.

view of the courtyard from the pool deck

One side overlooked the hotel grounds with a lawn and some ground-level seating. There was a small bar out by the pool with drinks and snacks, but for more substantial food people would need to either go to the restaurant our walk to others nearby. We took an uber from the port to get there, but had a ride to the airport in a hotel shuttle, which ran every hour and half hour. This was a pleasant way to spend the hours where we had nowhere else to go, and cost less than half as much per person as the cruise ship debarkation excursions.

If you drive to the port there is parking available, which can be booked in advance to insure you have a spot. For those arriving a night ahead of the cruise some hotels offer parking with a hotel stay and will shuttle people to the port.

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