On every cruise, we have to face the dreaded Disembarkation Day. Disembarkation itself is not usually that bad, but it signals the end of the cruise, and time for us to head home.
Stephanie and I set an alarm for 5:30 AM so that we could get ready at a leisurely pace, have some breakfast, finish the last of the packing and head to our designated waiting area at around 7:00 AM. The stated time for our Disembarkation was 7:15 AM, and our meeting place was the Island Dining Room on Deck 5. We always try and get there a little early because it is typically crowded, and dining rooms are not the best venue for people toting their luggage. However, the dining room is close to the location on the ship where the disembarkation gangway is located.
I went down to the International Cafe to get our breakfast sandwiches, and was disappointed to find out that they would not heat them today, there was no heating grill in sight, and when I asked, they said they were not heating sandwiches today. I got two anyway, along with a back-up white chocolate chip blueberry muffin. We usually like the sandwiches heated extra to make sure they are warm inside, and we had never been refused getting them heated on any other cruise disembarkation day.
I headed back to the cabin and when we tried to eat the sandwiches, the eggs were a little runny inside, which is terrible for Stephanie, she likes her eggs well done, like a hockey puck. It was edible for me, but not the best, but I also had the muffin as an alternative.
We packed up the last of our items, and found that we had not really needed as much time to get everything ready to go as we had planned. I guess we had flown home the last couple of cruises, and it is a little more time consuming to try and get the last items to fit in the luggage, and also get the weight correct on each bag. Since we were driving, space and weight were not issues, and we easily got everything packed in short order. It gave us some extra time to relax, and we were able to watch other ships come into the port through our window.
We headed down to the designated waiting area at 7:00 AM, and we still had to wait on a couple of full elevators before one arrived that had room enough for us and our luggage. The elevators are not that large, and with luggage, only a few people can board before they are full.
There was already quite a crowd in the dining room when we arrived, and we found a small area off to the side large enough for us and our luggage. We were waiting on Beth and Ryan to show up, and were not sure if we had told them we would meet in the dining room our in the atrium outside the dining room entrance. I went out to see if I could find them, but they were not outside. A few minutes later, Stephanie went outside and found them heading to the dining room. They also had trouble catching an elevator and had to split up in order to have enough room to get down to Deck 5.
About ten minutes after they arrived, the ship’s attendant made an announcement that we were ready to disembark. After security scanned our cruise cards for the last time, we left the ship and headed down the gangway to the area for Customs and Immigration. We were the first group off of the ship, so there was not much of a crowd, and within ten minutes, we were through Customs and Immigration, and heading outside to the parking garage. It was just a short walk to the garage elevators, and we headed up to the 6th floor where I thought we had parked last Saturday. That was the roof level, and too high, so we headed down one floor, and were still to high. Not sure why I though we were that high up, I had looked when we had parked, but somehow got it all wrong. Everyone waited on Deck 5 while I took the stairs down to deck 4 and found the car. It was on the up ramp, so it was sort of between decks 4 and 5. I drove up the one deck and we loaded the luggage into the car for the long drive home. The disembarkation process had gone really well, it was not even 8:00 AM, and we were already on the road driving home.
The drive home was long, but the weather was great and the traffic was not bad since it was a Sunday. We got home about 5:40 PM, and Beth and Ryan loaded up their luggage in their car and headed out.
It had been a great cruise with great weather and we had fun spending time with Beth and Ryan. Now for all of the unpacking and laundry!!
I was glad to finally be able to catch up on the ABC Cruise. Good job! Wish I had been there to enjoy all the good times drinks and foods. Mom
Reading this was like enjoying the cruise all over again!