Welcome to the Chronicles of
~ the Second Noordam Adventure ~ the 15th Anniversary Cruise ~
12/06/2008 - 12/17/2008
12/6 - Ft Lauderdale
One major thing that distinguishes this trip for the others that I have written about is the fact that we are not cruiseing out of the port of Manhattan. This cruise is out of Fort Lauderdale. That fact has advantages and disadvantages to it. By far the biggest disadvantage is the fact that you cannot throw as much stuff into the car as it can carry (or rent a van, as we did last time!), and drive right to the pier. This time, we had to fly out of Bradley International at the ungodly hour of 6am (which of course means an alarm setting of 3:15am). Luckily, this went without a hitch - I was half expecting to oversleep. This is the view as we hit altitude, and right before I went to sleep - yes, unlike Carol, I do sleep while in flight!
Yes, the picture sucks - a point and shoot out a window in the dark while half asleep is not very conducive to decent pix. But you get the idea. Better stuff is coming, I promise. Lighten up, Michael...!!!! Unfortunately, being Saturday, the flight was full and we could not buy our way into an upgrade to business class. Carol tried her best, but alas, there was only one seat up front to be had, and she was kind enough to not take it without me. We flew into Miami International, and found it to be a sunny day, 65F when we got there, and a little humid. Much nicer than the (dark and sleepy) 25F we left in Hartford. We got a car - it turned out to be a Sonata (amazing what passes for a full size car these days), which was okay. It carried our luggage, and held its own at over 80 mph - as we followed a brand new BMW 135 convertible (cute car!). We had lunch at the Cheesecake factory, and walked around Las Olas Blvd, checking out the galleries and some of the shops. All that walking made me have to go to the bathroom, so we went back to the Cheesecake Factory. I was gone for what? A minute, minute and a half? And when I came out, Carol was chatting with a woman from New Orleans who was going on the Noordam tomorrow with us! I swear she is incredibly popular! They seemed like a nice couple, and I am sure that we will see them around the boat. So, here we are at the Sheraton Yankee Clipper (on the beach), waiting for the room to be ready. I turned on my cell phone (I had shut it off before we got on the plane), and I wasn't sure I had a signal. Since they are going to call me when the room is done, I thought it important to make sure I could get the call. So, what did I do? I called the house, since no one is there. It rang, so I had a signal, and I hung up. Not 10 seconds later, my phone rings. Now, I am sitting there thinking "Wow, that was fast!" until I realized that it was my stepson, Joe. Apparently, he came down to do laundry, since we weren't going to be around, and he is doing a shoot with Calli tonite for me. He noticed my caller ID, and figured he would check to make sure nothing was wrong. I was cracking up! And Carol was worried that no one would be checking on the house while we're away! Tonite we are supposed to be going out to dinner with at least 2 other couples that we will be cruising with. They are people from the Cruise Critic forums, and it should be fun. It is always nice to know people on the ship before you get to the ship. I'll let you know how it goes. Meeting people from the forums is always an interesting process, since they are never quite what you thought they would be from the messages on the forums. This is both to the better and worse. And it is fun to see how your biases influence how you thought they'd be. Til then.... Keep Smiling!!!
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All Images and Accounts of this Adventure are strictly the doings of the Author, and have Nothing to do with the Official Positions or Opinions of Timethief Photography, its affiliated divisions, or anyone associated with the company. If you have any issues with the accounts, how people or places are portrayed, or with any statements of fact, take it up with him! Of course, he'll probably be off on another adventure!
Copyright 2000-2008, Timethief Photography
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