June 3, 2022 Fort Lauderdale
Yesterday after posting most of yesterday’s events – the saga continued!
We wandered to the end of the airport arm by gate C115 and found there was a Dunkin Donuts and a Wendy’s, so for dinner, sometime after 7 p.m., we each bought a glazed donut. We were assured by a gate agent earlier in the day that our luggage was put on the second standby flight and would be waiting for us in Fort Lauderdale. Shortly after we returned to gate C105, the gate was changed to gate C80. It was a 710 step walk to that arm of the terminal. There have been many flights changing gates due to continued disruptions from yesterday’s storm. Also, there have been many cancelled flights. We needed to pass the Customer Service counter – again. The line was at least three times longer than when we stood in it for almost two hours earlier in the day and there still were only three staff out of nine computer stations. The Portland, Oregon flight at gate C80 before our flight was delayed waiting for a plane, but another plane arrived and the decision was made for it to be used for the flight. The pilot was driving from home and a cheer erupted when it was announced that he was ten minutes from the airport. The Internet is no better at this gate, you suddenly get kicked out when even checking email. Our boarding pass stated that 10:22 p.m. was the boarding time, the Portland boarding was still underway, followed by the plane staying at the gate. A glance out the window, 45 minutes later, revealed luggage was being loaded onto the plane. Just when we thought that our plane would be next, an announcement asked everyone on our flight 1234 to move to gate C111. So back to the other arm of the terminal for the 10th? time – I have lost count. The screen posted 11:45 p.m. as the departure time, the flight crew was there at the gate and had been at the other gate as well. The plane was waiting, but speculation was that it was being cleaned as it had just let passengers off as we arrived. The boarding time was revised two more times ending at 12:45 a.m. The plane was in the air a little after 1 a.m. With an approximate flying time of 2 hours 46 minutes. The plane touched down at 3:43 a.m. We did not have to wait at the Terminal 1 baggage carousel since our luggage was waiting with several dozen others belonging to other standby passengers from this morning. Since the COVID testing office opened at 7 a.m., we decided to wait for it to open, then go to our hotel. We inquired as to where the COVID testing site was and were told it was in Terminal 3. It was raining, but the sidewalk to Terminals 2 and then 3 were covered and we stayed dry. We knew that the testing office would open at 7 a.m. It was only 4:15 a.m. There were only a few passengers, most were sleeping, with half a dozen sleeping on the floor in a quiet area near a baggage carousel.
The Internet connection was good in the nearly empty terminal. The $59US COVID test was quick, although Rapid test results only took 15 minutes for a paper printout and also emailed results. The hotel shuttle was just outside the Terminal 3 entrance and as we waited to receive the test printout we saw our hotel shuttle arrive & depart. There was nowhere to advise our hotel that we were ready so we waited for the next shuttle – for almost an hour but the shuttle never returned and we ended up taking a taxi for the seven minute drive to the hotel. What else could happen?
Our hotel reservation had been cancelled! The credit card we used had expired since the reservation had been made and the hotel could not contact us on Larry’s phone number since we did not bring his phone which would not work in the US anyway. We had been worried about being charged for the night before. No problem, there was room at the inn and we could have it immediately at 8:30 a.m. rather than have to wait until the 3 p.m. check-in. With the luggage in out room, we grabbed our jackets as the rain had returned and walked ten minutes to Lester’s Diner for a hearty breakfast. The hotel is a long stay and does not have a restaurant. There are many restaurants nearby. We had stayed here four and a half years ago. As we ate breakfast, the rain poured and there were puddles to be avoided walking back. Next was sleep. We slept for four hours and then checked the Weather Network for a forecast. It was still raining gently. There is a Tropical Storm Warning for southern Florida for the next few days. Thank goodness our plane arrived safely and getting here is not a problem as we are already here, but there could be stories of arrival difficulties tomorrow in person, the Facebook group or the Cruise Critic group. Tomorrow will be a rainy day, but the storm is heading northeast and the cruise is going southeast.
We are connecting to the hotel Wi-Fi, on Larry’s computer, mine will not connect.
We checked for the emailed COVID reports – the pop-up box for the result was blocked by the hotel Internet security, a photo of the paper test results will work too, since we had waited to receive the paper copies. We finished the next step of the ship’s Health questionnaire on the ship’s app. An email was sent only after noon today as a reminder. Tomorrow at the cruise terminal, if the same procedure is used as at Cape Liberty, presenting the paper negative COVID results will complete the Health section.
We next found the boarding passes for the cruise and the luggage tags, which we had printed at home to attach to our luggage in the morning. The Porters at the terminal will take the big suitcases to be taken to our cabin later. Our check-in assigned time is Noon. We have arranged with the hotel for the shuttle to take us to the cruise terminal, about a twenty minute drive and less than in Newark.
We had not arranged any tours for today in Fort Lauderdale and now we are glad that there was nothing scheduled because of the flight delay and today’s rain. We did remember our umbrellas, which we used to go to the strip shopping mall across the highway with a Wynn-Dixie grocery store. Since heavy rain is predicted for tomorrow, we decided that as we have a kitchenette, we would buy some fruit, yogurt and small cinnamon buns for breakfast. There is a coffee maker with coffee in a pouch to add to our breakfast.
Thank goodness we had a really nice first cruise to remember. Hopefully this next cruise also will go well. Tomorrow we board the Celebrity Equinox, passenger capacity 2,850, which is newer, 2009 vs 2001, and larger than Summit’s capacity of 2,156 passengers but it was only at 85% capacity on Bermuda cruise.
Dinner was at 84 Thai which is across the highway and has excellent Thai food. Larry had remembered trying 84 Thai on our last trip when we travelled out of Fort Lauderdale through the Panama Canal to San Antonio, Chile.
We took advantage of the large desk in the room, to allow both of us comfortable access to our computers.
It is an early night tonight to catch up on some sleep.
Our step count is about half of yesterday’s, only 9,668. We only walked to meals and the grocery store once we finished with traipsing through airports early this morning.
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