April 3--To The Ship!

I’m on the ship!

I slept OK, although I woke up a lot. The room was remarkably quiet, given the location between the interstate and the turnpike. I woke up very early (5am my time) and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I watched Law and Order for a bit, then drove to McDonalds (stopping on the way to get some of the bug juice off my windshield—the Apalachicola National Forest is missing a lot of bugs today) for breakfast, which I ate in the room. I checked my online class one more time, then headed out.

I had decided to take the scenic route again, going through downtown Ft. Pierce and then driving down AIA to Stuart before getting back on the interstate. Downtown Ft. Pierce is very cute, although a lot of the rest of the town is pretty run-down. There was a flea/farmers/artists market, but I didn’t stop.

The island was nice, with not much traffic and a well-kept two-lane road much of the way. I didn’t see the ocean much, not because there were condos in the way (at least at first, there wasn’t) but apparently this island has a healthy dune system that I couldn’t see over! Much of the island was park, although in the middle of the park there was apparently (and I’ll have to check this) a nuclear power plant! Somehow, a barrier island off Florida isn’t quite where I’d think to put a nuke plant.

Right about the time I got impatient I got back on the interstate, but not before someone almost took me out by turning right in front of me. Luckily I was watching and got to honk my horn at her several times, which made me feel better if nothing else. Driving the Interstate was also fun; I decided at one point to just go along with traffic, which meant I was breaking the speed limit by a not insignificant amount. But since everyone else was going faster, oh well!

I turned onto 595 at Ft. Lauderdale, and realized that I could see several cruise ships from there—these suckers are big! The park-n-go place I parked at was very nice—I got picked up at my car, dropped off right at the cruise ship “gate”, and given a phone number to call when I got through customs. Not bad! Although I am parked right by a bunch of gas storage tanks—then again, if those blow, the whole area will go up, and I suspect we’ll be docking in Miami! (I don’t know why I’m so negative today, but I am—poor Mom had to listen to me make Bermuda Triangle jokes, which she didn’t appreciate at all)

After being turned around a bit (and after riding to the port with a couple that had been on at least 60 cruises, and more than 25 on Princess Cruises alone!), I got in line. Everyone had been told to arrive at 2pm, and in fact there were still lots of people leaving the ship, but it only took me about half an hour to go through security, get processed, walk on the ship, and park myself at the pool (we couldn’t get into our rooms until 1pm). I then called Mom to gloat.

A bit after one to went to my room, even though it wasn’t quite done, unpacked, and headed out with my camera to take pictures of everything, which I’ll probably post later. We’re parked along the shore in the Intercoastal Waterway, which runs from Virginia to the Keys, so there was lots of traffic, particularly since it was a lovely day—warm and breezy. There were seven cruise ships, that I could see: two Princess ships, one MSC ship, one Holland America ship, one I didn’t get to identify, us (Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas) and Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, which is friggin’ huge. It’s the largest cruise ship, like, ever, and although I didn’t really have any good basis for comparison, I can’t argue.

After the lifeboat drill (for which I had to congregate in the lounge, without life jackets—they’re getting slack!) I headed to the bow to watch the boat traffic. There were small ships of all kinds—power, sail, little Zodiacs and huge yachts—and it was fun to watch. Then the police boats started zipping around, because it was time for everyone to leave.

I got a great view of three ships leaving, right in front of me, to head out the inlet into the ocean. Then the Oasis began drifting out a bit, but it would need to turn around, and we left first. On either side of the inlet people gather to blow horns and whistles and wave flags and everything else as we leave, which is nice of them! I suspect a lot of this was for the Oasis, and not us, but oh well! The Oasis followed us closely, and about a half-hour later pulled right beside us while a helicopter zipped around; I suspect they were filming a commercial or something, although I couldn’t tell because I was at dinner.

Ah, dinner. It turns out I’m seated at a table with six other people, all members of the same family. Given that I’m not necessarily that social anyway, it was rather like one of the circles of Hell for me (and I’m not sure it was that much better for everyone else!). I left after the dinner course, found that the same food (or much of it) was available at the buffet, and vowed that I wouldn’t go back. I suspect they won’t miss me. Besides, I’m too impatient to wait for food, and I missed all kinds out cool things outside (boats and such) by sitting inside.

After I bolted, I changed into my bathing suit and headed for the pool. The pool has a nice area for adults only, with a small pool (that is deep at one end—I suspect it’s where they do the scuba diving tests they tout here) and seats at a bar that I might commandeer to read at. There are also hot tubs that extend out over the side of the ship, so you can look all the way down to the water. I sat in one and watched the sun set over Florida (which was very far away at the time). I did go into the larger pool, although the wind is blowing like mad and I didn’t stay long—it may be a warm wind, but still. I then wandered a bit more, had a snack (since I didn’t have dessert at dinner) and then came back to the room to shower and write this.

I was thinking about going to bed, but it looks like we’re going to go THROUGH the Bahama banks, which I thought was pretty damn shallow. I love the map on the TV that tells us where we are! And yeah, we seem to be going to cut through the Bahamas, which I may have to be up on deck to see (even if it is dark). The ship is kind of shimmying now a bit, not enough to be uncomfortable, but I wonder if that’s coming from the banks? The water depth (which the TV also tells us) is all over the map, so that may not be it. We could be leaving the Gulf Stream, which might be enough for some jostling—we seemed to tilt a bit when we entered it, although since I was stuck at dinner it was hard to tell. Hmmm. At any rate, it’s been a good start!