We had set a wake up call for 5:15 AM this morning so that we could get ready and go to Mass at 6:15 AM at the St. Lucie Catholic Church, located about four miles from the hotel. We both slept pretty well in the king size bed, but for some reason, the wake up call never came. I had woken up about 5:00 AM anyway, somewhat worried we would oversleep. We don’t know what happened with the call, but we had also set a backup alarm on one of our phones, just in case.
We left the hotel about 5:55 AM for the short drive to the church, which was just off of the main road, and was really easy to get to. We were quite surprised at the number of people attending Mass that early, there were easily about 150 people in attendance.
Altar in the St. Lucie Catholic Church
After Mass, we drove back to the hotel to change into our cruise day clothes, and went to the complimentary buffet breakfast, which was really good. The hotel was full, so there were quite a few people at the breakfast buffet. There were scrambled eggs that were some of the best I have eaten at a hotel buffet, they were really fresh, and not dried out.
After breakfast, we headed back to the room and gathered up our luggage and took it out to the car. We were in a room on the first floor, and were really close to one of the exits, so it made it really easy to handle the suitcases, especially since we were able to park right outside the entrance when we returned from church.
We were all packed up and heading to I-95 by 8:15 AM, right on schedule. We had about 90 miles to drive to get to the Ft. Lauderdale Airport to return the rental car. Traffic was pretty light until we got about twenty miles from Ft. Lauderdale, where it always gets a little congested. Traffic was better today than normal since it was Sunday morning, but still a little nerve wracking, especially when there are a few drivers who think they are at a racetrack and need to drive considerably over the speed limit, and weave in and out of traffic. We exited off of I-95 at County Road 84, which was where we had planned to stop and get gas before returning the car. It was just one exit away from the normal airport exit, and we already knew there were several gas stations on that road.
Returning Our Rental Car in Ft. Lauderdale
We filled up the car and drove the couple of miles to the airport car rental return. The return process was quick, and we were heading to the free shuttle bus for the port at about 10:30 AM. When we got outside to the shuttle boarding area, there was a large sign stating that the free shuttle service to the port was suspended, and gave us directions to get to alternate transportation at the airport terminal.
We headed back down in the elevator and found an information desk and inquired about the shuttle. The person did not know why the free shuttle bus was suspended, but informed us we could either take a taxi or the paid shuttle, and gave us directions on how to get to both by going across the walkway over into the main airport terminal. We opted for the taxi, and waited in a short line at the taxi stand before an available taxi arrived, and we loaded up our baggage. Our driver was really nice, but also a really slow driver. It did not take long to get to the cruise terminal, but then we waited in a fairly long line of slow moving vehicles as we headed to the drop off point for arriving passengers. About a third of the fare was wait time, so we gave the driver $20 for the $17.90 actual fare. It should have been less if he had been a little more efficient in getting us here.
Waiting In Line To Board The Regal Princess
After dropping off our checked baggage, we headed to the line that had already formed for the cruise security screening and check-in. The “preferred” boarding line was much longer than the regular boarding line, and we heard some of the staff say that there were over 1,500 “preferred” passengers on the cruise, preferred meaning Platinum and Elite past passenger status. Sometimes this happens on cruises of this nature, most of the passengers on transatlantic cruises have sailed may times before.
They did not start allowing passengers to check in until about 11:30 AM, so we waited in the line about 45 minutes before it started to move. Apparently, there were still passengers getting off of the ship from the previous cruise, and we were not allowed to board until that was complete and the ship was cleared by Customs. The line got much longer behind us, so we were glad that we had gotten there when we did.
The “preferred” boarding line did start before the regular boarding line and we were inside the terminal, through security and heading to our Elite Status waiting area in about fifteen minutes. By the time we got to the elevator to go up a floor to the holding area, the passengers who were already there were heading onto the ship, so we just got in that line and boarded. We were in our cabin by noon, which was pretty quick.
Sunny Port Everglades
After dropping off our carry on bags in the cabin, we headed down to purchase a beverage package for Stephanie, and to find out how to get my beverage package sticker that was not on my cruise card as we had expected. My beverage was pre purchased before the cruise. We had done this for my package so that we could earn some Princess Visa points to redeem for shipboard credit before the cruise. We inquired about the sticker at the purser’s desk, and were informed that stickers are no longer used to indicate you have the beverage package, it is just handled electronically when your card is scanned by the bartenders. This was a recent change because stickers had been used when we cruised to the Caribbean just a few weeks ago in January.
Next, we headed just around the corner and purchased Stephanie’s beverage package, which was about $30 more than the price if you purchase it before the cruise, but then we needed this expense onboard to utilize all of the ship board credits we have for this cruise, which totals $1,175. Sort of a catch 22, but we knew that heading in.
We also stopped off at a phone and made reservations for the Crown Grill for Thursday, April 6, which is my Birthday. Stephanie was on hold for a long time before she was able to get thorough, and the best available time was 6:30 PM.
After getting all of these initial cruise items completed, we headed for lunch in the buffet. After lunch we headed to the Seaview Bar and found a couple of bartenders we knew from our transatlantic cruise on the Regal Princess in April, 2016. One was Ref, who had been in Vines, but was now in Seaview, and the other was Zivka, who had been in Crooners last time. For this cruise, she was assigned to the Wheelhouse Bar, but was helping out in Seaview for the afternoon. It was good to catch up with them.
After a couple of beers, we headed back to the cabin to see if our luggage had arrived, and were pleased to find out it had. We always like to get unpacked as soon as we can, so we put away our clothes and felt like we were finally on board. The Muster drill was scheduled for 4:15 PM, but we had a little time to kill, so we headed back outside to watch some of the other six ships that were in port with us today as they prepared to depart. It had gotten a little cloudy as the afternoon wore on, so we could not really sit out in the sun, so we stopped back in at the Seaview Bar and had another beer.
At 4:00 PM we went back to the cabin to load up a special passport/customs app on our phones. We had seen some information on this app when we were waiting to board, so we thought we would give it a try since we have to go through customs In the crowded Atlanta Airport when we return on this trip. We wanted to get this done while we still had wi-fi cell phone service since the app needs to communicate via the internet. It is an interesting app, it scans your passport barcode and loads up your information automatically, and then you take a selfie picture of yourself as part of the information. We put both passports on both of our phones and by the time we finished that, it was time for the muster drill, and so we headed to the casino, which was our designated muster station. Muster drill took about thirty minutes, and we headed back upstairs to watch the last three ships depart, the Crown Princess, the Allure of the Seas and one Holland America ship.
There was a sail away party scheduled for 5:00 PM on the pool deck, even though we were not scheduled to depart until 6:30 PM. The departure time had been changed a couple of weeks ago from 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM, but I guess they could not change the party time since it would then overlap the start of the early seating dining. So, we basically had a “sail away” party that was over long before we actually sailed away.
Heading Out To Sea
We left on time at 6:30 PM, and of course, were the last ship out of port. The weather had cleared some, so it was really enjoyable out on deck as we departed. They played the Love Boat Theme on the ship’s horn as we departed the port, and we captured it on a video posted on the right sidebar of the main blog page.
Dinner In Alfredo’s
Afterward, we headed to Bellini’s for a glass of wine before heading right across the deck to Alfredo’s, where we ate dinner. We both had pasta dishes, and bread with dipping oil. Both were good, and we enjoyed the seats near the window, and actually met a server who we recognized from last April, he had been our assistant waiter in the Crown Grill for a dinner on that cruise.
After dinner we headed to the Wheelhouse Bar to visit with Zivka. There was a guitarist playing, and we actually met him after he completed his show. His name is Simon Wilcox, and he is from London. We talked with him for quite a while. After a few beverages, we called it a night and were back in the cabin by 11:15 PM. We were tired and it had been a long day, and we were already scheduled to lose our first hour tonight as the time is adjusted forward as we head to Europe.
Refreshments At The Wheelhouse Bar