Welcome to the Chronicles of
~ the Second Noordam Adventure ~ the 15th Anniversary Cruise ~
12/06/2008 - 12/17/2008
12/7 - Ft Lauderdale
We have arrived onboard the ms Noordam! Today, it is mostly cloudy, and about 70F. Of course, that beats the 1" of snow that we have heard happened back home. Of course, the Weather Channel makes it sound much worse than that.
This was the morning view from the hotel.
Carol wanted to knock on the door of this yacht and see if they would be kind enough to give us a private cruise on their boat that matched our itinerary. Unfortunately, no one answered when we knocked, but hey, no harm, no foul, right? Strangely, the SWAT team showed up to find out why we were on the dock. Go figure! Last night was fun. We met Dave and Vicki at 6:45pm at Bubba Gump's. Never been to one of those, but Michael (one of the guys who works shoots for me) had recently been to one in NYC, and he said the food was really good. I am happy to report that the food in Ft Lauderdale is quite good, as well. I had the coconut shrimp, and Carol had the "trash can," a mix of fried shrimp, lobster, and white fish. She told me she was going to share it with me, but I never got any, so I presume it was excellent, as well. Dave and Vicki were very nice, and we had a really good time laughing and joking with them. Neal and Deb, who we couldn't get a hold of, finally surfaced, and they joined up later. We were there talking until about 10:30, before the getting up 19 hours earlier finally caught up with me - I know, Rob, I should have practiced (in Rob's younger, wilder days, he and his gang would go to Vegas for a convention, and would start drinking to acclimate themselves a month before they went).
This morning we went to breakfast at the hotel, which was fine. Then we tried to go to the pier to drop off the luggage before we turned in the car. Now, were we leaving NYC, that would not have been a problem. In Port Everglades, they don't even let people onto the grounds before 11am for departure. So, we went to the store, bought some stuff, returned the car, and then waited until 11am to come over. Here is the view from the airport. The ships are so close, yet so far away! Traffic control leaves much to be desired at the drop off point. People just have no idea how to drive in a crowd here, and all the dockworkers yelling at then doesn't help. Once in, though, we just flowed thru everything. After check-in, we ran into Chuck and Grace, the people Carol started talking to yesterday at the Cheesecake Factory. They were talking about taking a tour alng the canals of Ft Lauderdale to see the houses and the yachts. It sounded like a great tour (one I definitely have to do one day), but when asked, they managed to miss it. Oh well, we'll just have to do it ourselves next time around and tell you how it works out. If you have never been down here, it is hard to imagine all the amazing yachts that are everywhere here. I'll have to plan better bext time.
Anyway, so we made it up to the Lido Deck (where the buffet is). The rooms won't be ready for another hour or so, so Carol got some prime rib, I got a soda card (I might regret that purchase), and pulled out the laptop to do the update. Here is the view out the window across from the table. Well, I'll add more later when we got to the stateroom, and give you a tour. Til then.... Keep Smiling!!!
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Copyright 2000-2008, Timethief Photography
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