Day 31 - 12/20 - Ft. Lauderdale

While the Volendam was first in port at its berth 19, it was really before 7 when a crew member eager to begin changeover activities opened the door to our darkened room and two sleepy bodies still in bed. Since we didn't have to vacate until 9am, we weren't in a hurry to get up. Besides we had to wait for the person presently in our new cabin 2679, 2 doors down the hall from 2673. We went to the Lido for breakfast and said goodbyes to a few people who were disembarking.

We then returned to our room and noted our new room was open and our stateroom attendants, Chandra and Randi were ready for us to move our things. We didn't need it clean; we just wanted to store most of our stuff on the soda and in the safe. So we moved our things, and obtained new keycards for the new room and disembarked the ship as "in Transit" passengers. To our surprise, there was no US immigration inspection. For that I'm especially glad for our international passengers who endured the immigration fiasco in Key West yesterday.

Being the Energizer Bunnies we have been labeled as, we walked from the terminal to. Ross and the Dollar store on Highway 17 which is about 2.5 miles away. Both stores were packed with crew and after speaking with one of the HAL crew I learned that they have a crew van that shuttles them to do shopping. There was a nearby Mexican restaurant and our lunches there were great and very tasty. We then walked back to the ship and reboarded it just before 3pm. And wonder of wonders, my key card wouldn't work. So I had to wait in line at the front desk for a replacement key.

Before the safety drill, I unpacked and wandered around the ship. It feels so strange to walk around a ship one has been on for 30 days and not recognize a soul. The age demographic definitely dropped on this cruise compared to the last one. There are a number of kids on board with their families.

The mandatory safety drill conduct by the passengers in lifeboat 9 and 11 was the poorest I've seen on a HAL ship. The talking was incessant and people left before the drill was over. Unfortunately, an older man in the lifeboat 9 group collapsed and that certainly got the attention of the drill staff and medical staff attended to him. Given that I've had a REAL emergency on this ship and two others, these drills are important.

Since the Volendam was the first to arrive this morning, it was the last to leave. Plus the Captain announced that we and the Zuiderdam were waiting for a provision truck to arrive. Finally, we watched the Zuiderdam back out of its berth 26 (ours 30 days ago) and sail away. Then our lines were released and we pivoted counterclockwise and sailed out of the harbor in the bear darkness. In a scant twelve hours, 7 more ships will do the same passenger exchange and 24 hours after that 8 more ships will do the same. It's a busy time here. And all the ships are full including ours.

After our Lido dinner area we drank hot chocolate and cider and some ate Christmas cookies in the Atrium . We listened to a nice speech from the Captain and also sang Christmas carols and then a young lady from Canada did the honorary lighting of the Christmas tree. Many HAL staff wore Santa hats and a number of passengers were dressed in Christmas garb. Many stateroom doors are also festively decorated.

The final event of the day was Ian's audio visual presentation of the 150 years of HAL history. It was better the second time around especially since I stayed awake.  

Two sea days are ahead of us, and the schedule is pretty light although I may be giving a Christmas message at the Sunday interdenominational service. We also received our shore excursion tickets for the upcoming ports. We've gone a bit overboard on snorkeling trips, but that's okay as a change from the pace of the first 30 days of this cruise. Stay tuned.