Day of sorting problems with hotel booking

Thursday, March 19, 2015
Port Everglades Terminal 1, Florida, United States
Woke early before 6am very overcast and humid (770C) as the Royal Princess docks at the Everglades Port in Fort Lauderdale. There is a height of activity on-board preparing the cruise ship for the next load of passengers, loading food produce, beverages, etc., fuel then off-loading the suitcases of passengers disembarking.
It was quiet in the Horizon Court/Bistro for breakfast said our goodbyes to Woody’s (Dominica Island) father’s long-time French friends from Quebec who were doing the first 10 day cruise. They didn’t like the food not rich enough for them but for us the natural vegetables, plain roasts, seafood and fresh fruit was great. It is very interesting to see how the Executive Chef reinvented the leftover roasts, fish etc. the next day. These we never touched.Silly me when we disembarked I forgot our Passports, as every time we berth at the port all passengers including In-transit like us need to clear Immigration and Customs. The ship’s Security Officer radioed the ship for someone to go to our cabin to get our Passports from our safe and deliver to us at the Princess Terminal.No problems with clearing Immigration and Customs (lovely Customs Officer) and it is nice to be an In-Transit passenger, as you go before the boarding passengers. Paid our US$16 for a shuttle to take us to the Embassy Suites and once there we went to Reception and altered our reservation for when we end our Caribbean cruise. Only one problem I need to email Yvonne at Jetset Travel to change booking at Embassy Suites from 29th March to 8th April. I cannot do this as it was booked/prepaid by Jetset Travel what a bummer. Hopefully she sees my high priority email and I have a reply when we dock at Antigua on Sunday 21st March.Found an Internet Café over the road from the Embassy Suites and did all our emails but still having problems with Microsoft Outlook have to go on the Internet and login to Westnet to send emails. A lot of bother with cut and paste of addresses and messengers.Walked back to the cruise ship and the place was abuzz with the new passengers finding their cabins and exploring the cruise ship. The Horizon Court/Bistro was a bit crowded with everyone having their late lunch.Departed on time at 4pm to the musical blast of the “Love Boat” tune and this is becoming a bit annoying, as the Captain plays this every time the Royal Princess leaves a port. Took some photos of the port, everglades mangroves, channel of water to Miami and the beach shoreline.The cruise ship seemed to be deserted when we ate in the Horizon Court with only half of the servery section open and the Horizon Bistro closed. Either the rolling swell has everyone in their cabins or eating in the Allegro or Concerto (Traditional) dining or one of the many other dining areas. Too late for the “Welcome On-board Show” in the Theatre, one needs to be early to get a seat plus when we came back later the music was too loud.After making friendly conversation with the different shop staff on Deck 7 we listened to Trevor Cole play Caribbean music on the Steel Pan. Then settled on the Atrium with a different show from the juggling team Rootberry followed by the New Deal Band playing all the oldies. Made a mistake of sitting next to the dance floor as we remembered the entertainers like you to get up and participate in their acts but not us. We enjoyed watching the new kids on the block dance especially a Malay or Philippine couple in their 50’s. You could see they had just learnt how to Ballroom dance they didn’t look natural seeing they were concentrating too much on the steps. When he started throwing her in the air everyone clapped and took photos it was like watching a bad version of John Travolta.
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