Land and Sea 2014: Getting Started

Fort Lauderdale, April 2014

Michael and I flew from Denver to Ft Lauderdale on April 17 for a two-night stay before beginning our month long cruise. The date just happened to be the fifth anniversary of the day we met in Appenzell, Switzerland. We celebrated with a seafood dinner at the 15^th Street Fisheries, a wonderful restaurant on the inter coastal waterway not far from our hotel. The two of us spent the following day riding on a number of water taxis exploring the various rivers, canals and waterways of Ft Lauderdale and Hollywood Florida. It is always fun to start a cruise with a day of boat rides. Friday evening, we had another sea food dinner with Michael’s old friend Neil who drove up from Miami to see us.

We stayed two nights at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 on 17^th street, just east of a large drawbridge. The location was fabulous. We could see the cruise port, Port Everglades, from our 16^th floor balcony and had a view of the inter coastal waterway in two other directions. Unfortunately the hotel is not the four star resort that it claims to be. The property has the amenities but caters to the mass-market cruise crowd. That means a crowded lobby, overpriced restaurants and huge waits for taxis or vans to the cruise terminals. The staff is friendly and helpful but stretched thin. The reception clerk offered us a “beautiful” fourth floor room upon our arrival but we were instantly moved up twelve floors when we asked for something better. Apparently, it's standard procedure to place hotel guests in the least desirable rooms unless they complain. On the good side, Michael was able to negotiate a substantially reduced room rate that eliminated the included $40.00 breakfast. I don’t think we will be staying there again.

Embarkation

We arrived at Pier 25 to board the Silver Spirit shortly after noon on April 19. We did not plan it that way but we have in just this past year managed to be on a cruise on July 4^th, Thanksgiving and Easter. This cruise includes both Easter and Mothers Day. I wonder what else we will manage to miss during upcoming trips this year..

Michael and I dropped our luggage inside the pier and boarded the ship. We had cruised on Silver Spirit in November-December 2013 so it was as if we were returning to the ship after a long shore visit. The big difference was that this time we were in a basic suite on four deck in the middle of the ship as compared to our huge suite on 11 deck during the Caribbean cruise. Low and in the center is a good location on an ocean crossing in April.

Everything proceeded smoothly until we discovered only three of our four suitcases had arrived on deck four. Michael panicked. His large suitcase with all of his formal wear and most of his clothing for the month long trip was missing. As the time to sail approached, Michael threatened to disembark unless the missing luggage appeared. The hotel director and the food and beverage manager started personally looking and they found the missing bag in the ship’s hold. The paper tag indicating our suite number had come off and the baggage handlers, waiters really, had set it aside without informing anyone that there was an extra, undelivered piece of luggage. They apparently never looked at the prominent ID tag with Michael’s name on it. The issue was resolved but Michael was upset for days over the way it had been handled.