CAPTAIN SLOG STARDATE 68.13

Eric survived the night with one chance left, the Security man visited twice, so not only did he keep his room, he also kept his life and I was able to continue my holiday unimpeded!

There was the usual limbo time between stages of a holiday, you don't want to do too much nor do you want to do nothing. The shuttle to Port Everglades and stage 2 of my holiday, was due to arrive at 11am.

 I went down and had brekkie, carefully slamming the door to wake Eric.

 No ponyburgers today, they were replaced by greasy bacon, but the biscuits (like plain scones) and grits were replaced with corned pony hash, which was tasty and this time there was also fresh fruit salad.

I went upstairs, careful to once again slam the door, in case Eric was asleep.

I have managed to exorcise the coffee machine and it actually produced a reasonable coffee this morning, from the correct side, into a cup. A bit overcast today, so I decided to continue reading my book in my room for a while. It has to be one of the best books I've read. I love Andy McDermott books, good fast paced action, comedy and all based on archaeological mysteries and ancient civilisations. Maybe a bit inaccurate to the archaeological purist but damn good reading.

After giving the adjoining door between me and Eric a good bashing and slamming the room door so hard it nearly came off the hinges (sleep tight Eric) I went down and settled the bill which was zero and pain free.  The shuttle cost $7, very reasonable and straight to the ship. We had a full bus, but only two lots of cruise passengers, just three of us for Celebrity. There were six massive cruise ships waiting, Celebrity Eclipse, Caribbean Princess, Holland America Eurodam, MSC Poesia, Carnival Freedom and RCL Oasis of The Seas. It is one hell of a large port and, despite what looks like chaos, it is pretty slick.

Our driver managed to get into the wrong lane and was told to turn round and go to the back of the queue, so instead he dropped us off at the next pier and we walked back to the check in. To be fair, we were there long before anyone else in the correct queue.

The porter wouldn't take my bags until I gave him a tip, how rude! He inferred that my bags may not be handled as well as they could be without it. Bloody Hispanics!

Checking in was simple enough apart from the fact that I got the trainee and it took twice as long as everyone else. I was on the ship by midday sipping the first and last free drink - champers darling!

The cabins were not ready until 1.30 so most people were off to the 14th deck for sun, bars and lunch. Oh no, not I!! Now a seasoned Celebrity guest, I trotted off to the IT lounge on deck 6 and acquired myself a log in before everyone else started queuing, there was nobody there to help but it wasn't hard to do. So now I was all set up to send out my Captain Slog bulletins. Last cruise, I waited nearly an hour for the same thing.

Then back to the lifts, sorry, elevators and off on the 12th, again away from the mob, and into the spa area. All soothing music and classy. I found myself a pod and settled in.

A pod is a circular wicker basket  about 6ft across, with a foam filled cushion to sit/lounge on, and numerous scatter cushions. It also has a a big hood that comes up over the top ensuring your privacy. They are placed looking out of the window, nobody can see you!

I stayed there, just me and Naughty Bunny, until 1.30 when I went off to find my cabin.

7157 was in a good spot, right by the lifts but no luggage outside as yet. I unpacked the bags I had, cracked open a Bud and sat on the balcony watching the ship load. Not sure what the chances were of this, but I looked down and there was my luggage on the top of one of the trailers, being delivered to the ship. My pink holdall with fluttering UnionJack ribbon came through!!  Obviously the tip had been adequate after all!

My bags arrived about 30mins later and, having used my tried and tested poly bag method of packing, everything was put away in about 15 mins. Bearing in mind, I hadn't unpacked at all in Fort Lauderdale,  there was only one item creased, everything else was pristine. I had packed everything at home on Monday, following a 9 hour flight, various car journeys and 6 days in the case that's not bad going.

The ships started leaving round 4pm, we were third to go after Caribbean Princess and Carnival Freedom. God, was I glad that I wasn't on that ship! From the start there was all this hi-di-hi shouting over the tannoy with loud MichaelJackson best-ofs, urging the passengers to get down and party. Yuk, I think I would have thrown myself overboard by the time I'd reached open sea.

Just before sailing we had an emergency muster stations drill. I managed to combine it with a trip to the library where I picked up a couple of books for the beach , I'm not taking my Galaxy Note on field trips!

We slipped gracefully out of port about 4.45pm, dutifully waving to all the locals from their condo balconies and the beach. This musy be a full time hobby of theirs, they are equipped with flashing lights, large red foam hands and air horns!

I suddenly realised that I was on the early dinner which started at 5.45. Time to get ready....

I was sat at a table for 4. Not really what I wanted. My three companions turned up about 10 minutes later. Charlie, Heather and Louella from Canada. Nice people but not very sparky.  To be honest I think I may change to the later sitting, it's too early for me, especially after a day trip on the islands.  I need to have  a visit down to Guest Relations tomorrow to sort it out. I did warn my dinner companions that I may be changing

I was going to go to the opening show but really couldn't face it, so I returned to 7157 for an early night, especially as clocks go forward by one hour tonight as well.

Everyone is raving about a British guy, Perry Grant, who performs here nightly. He plays the piano, sings and jokes with the guests. Not sure I've ever heard of him and I'm not sure that I will find him amusing. We'll see....

Managed to remove the choccie from my pillow, we don't want a repetition of the previous cruise!

Night Night x