Well, we are back in the USA this morning, good to be here, but it also signals the end of the cruise.
The ship was scheduled to dock at 4:30 am this morning, apparently due to the fact that all of the crew members need to go through immigration prior to the passengers being allowed to depart. At least, this was the explanation given to us by the Captain when we left Nassau yesterday evening. It was another sunny morning, and we had the alarm set for a 5:45 am in order to finish packing and get some breakfast before we were scheduled to get off the ship with the “Express Departure”, where you take all of your luggage off the ship yourself, and are supposed to be off the quickest. We had car rental reservations at the Downtown Miami Hertz office, and there was a free Hertz shuttle between the port and that office.
Early Morning Skyline – Miami
The express departure instructions told us to be in the “Studio B “area, which is the ice skating show rink on Deck 3, between 6:30 and 6:45 am. We had a little difficulty getting an elevator to go from our deck (8) to deck 3, there were many other passengers going to the express departure, and you can’t get many folks and their luggage on an elevator at the same time. We finally made it there, and then the fun really began.
There was nothing “express” about getting off of the ship, although to be fair, I believe it was due more to the U.S. Customs set-up at the Port of Miami, than the cruise line. There were apparently some significant delays in the whole process, we did not get off of the ship until about 8:30 am, only to then stand in another line outsider of the ship, waiting to go through Customs.
What made the whole process worse was that the groups scheduled to be in the same waiting areas as we used for our Early Departure group started showing up at their designated time, but due to the delays, we were still there. I believe there ended up being at least 2-3 additional groups in our waiting area before we actually were called to get off the ship. The biggest problem was that we needed to be on Deck 4 to get off of the ship, but they queued us on Deck 3, meaning we either had to carry all of our luggage up a flight of stairs, or take an elevator. There were probably 300 people trying to get out with the express departure, all with at least one large suitcase apiece. Of course, by this time, most people were a little impatient, some trying to make flights at the Miami Airport, others like us trying to get to the rental car agencies. Once we got to Deck 4, we again waited another 10-15 minutes only to go wait in another line to go through Customs. It appeared that there were only 3 or 4 custom’s agents working and the lines were long. There were no separate lines for USA versus Foreign travelers, everyone went through the same Custom’s processing. At least they did the immigration and customs at the same time. Finally, we were off of the ship and through Customs at about 8:55 am, after having been in the waiting area since 6:40 am. That was the longest it has ever taken for us to get off of a ship. By the time our “express” group got off of the ship, there were regular scheduled groups also disembarking. We really got no advantage using the express departure, it only meant we had to tote our luggage around for 2 hours instead it it being already off the ship for us to claim. It almost seemed like the system was set up to discourage this process, more than to encourage it. What was most disappointing was that there were non-express regular departure groups waiting in the dining room on Deck 4, and they only had small carry-on luggage, their larger luggage was taken off by the staff. We had been told to wait in our area on Deck 3, with all of our luggage, and then having to go up to Deck 4 with the luggage to disembark the ship. We were not sure why the cruise line would not put the express departure folks on Deck 4 to avoid them having to go up a deck on the ship to get to the gangway, with all of the luggage in tow.
Once out of customs and immigration, we asked one of the attendants outside about the Hertz Shuttle, and he told us where to wait, and that it ran every 15 minutes. He also was going to call and make sure it was on the way. Five minutes later, the shuttle was here, and we were aboard heading to the Downtown local Hertz Office about a mile away. Unfortunately, there is no rental car service at the port itself.
We had no issue renting the car, that process went very smoothly. We were planning on driving by the house I grew up in, located in the Perrine/Kendall area of Miami. We took the scenic route through Coconut Grove, and down Old Cutler. It all seemed a little familiar, but not enough to do without some guidance from our Google Map. Once we were close to the old neighborhood, it was more familiar to me, but when we actually got to my street, all of the houses looked different, they all seemed smaller, and of course, older. It looked nothing like I remembered, either from growing up, or from being there about 10 years ago. We took pictures of the neighborhood, and of the old house. Of course, no one I knew while I was growing up there still lives in the neighborhood, but I wanted Stephanie to see it. After the experience, I doubt I will ever go back, it was just too different, and nothing really looked familiar, more like the opposite, very unfamiliar.
After that, we drove out of the area and headed for Interstate 95 for the long drive home. It was nice to get back home, sleep in a larger, more comfortable bed, and have a nice large bathroom. We unpacked, and just took it easy, other than starting some laundry.
At least we have Sunday to rest up before going back to work on Monday.
Again, we will be making some updates to the posts, probably adding a little more detail, certainly more pictures, and then adding a photo gallery. It will probably take a few weeks to get this all done.
Hope everyone enjoyed following the trip along with us as we traveled.
Chuck & Stephanie