New Orleans/FL Trip (Day 26) - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Cruise Departure

After spending the night at the hotel, we finished sorting and packing for the trip, and brought the cruise baggage down to the front entrance for the hotel shuttle to the port (Port Everglades). We had signed up for the first shuttle departure time at 12:00 noon, but everyone going on the cruise who was staying the hotel showed up out front with their bags at the same time. The hotel was not particularly well organized on the shuttle maneuver and was also concurrently shuttling other guests to and from the nearby airport. After waiting around almost an hour, a tour bus eventually showed up to take people to the cruise ship, but alas, there was not enough room for everyone and the baggage. The main hotel shuttle with an attached cargo trailer was then diverted from airport shuttle duty to shuttling cruise ship passengers. It all worked out, but this part wasn’t particularly well managed by the hotel.

Eventually everyone made it to the port (about a 15 minute ride) and from there everything went very smoothly. To board our ship, the Celebrity Equinox, there was security screening similar to airline screening, but not as intense. The cruise lines have moving large numbers of people on and off ships down to a science. We were in our stateroom by 2:00 PM and up to the main café (Oceanview) for lunch. Our bags arrived later in the afternoon without a hitch and the ship left the pier promptly at 5:00p.m as scheduled. We moved smoothly away from the dock and out through the harbor, waving to people on land and on apartment balconies along the sides of the harbor. We will be at sea without stopping the first two days of the cruise so we will have plenty of time to explore the ship and see what she has to offer before arriving at our first Caribbean island.


We also had a lifeboat drill, responding to the emergency signal and proceeding to our assigned lifeboat station. We were shown how to put on a lifejacket and reminded that woman and children would board first in the unlikely event of hitting an iceburg and sinking into frigid Caribbean waters.

Everyone had an assigned table for dinner every night in the main dining room (Silhouette). This was included in the price of the cruise. Our seating was at 6:00 pm with the the 82nd SRS group seated in the same area. We sat with old friends Bob and Jane Hailey, John and Jeannie Meyer, and Ken and Myrtle Stoop. The guys were all navigators and had plenty of stories to tell about the “good old days” in Okinawa. The wives had their own stories as well.

There were over 2,000 passengers on the cruise and about 1250 staff members. Most of the staff was Pan Asian, African, European, or British Commonwealth. The senior ship officers were mostly European (The captain was Greek). We did meet a 2nd mate from Long Island. I am not sure what they pay everyone but staff were numerous, always smiling, and very friendly and helpful. It is amazing what you can do without a union if you treat your people right.

Food, entertainment, pool lounging/swimming , drinking, shopping and educational lectures and demonstrations are virtually available 24/7 on the ship. There are also plenty of shops and boutiques, endless opportunities to pose for and purchase trip photos, a casino, a walking/jogging track, and even a lawn with real grass on the top deck. There is a multitude of musical talent playing all styles of music in different lounges and locations around the ship each day. There is also a singing and dancing production in the large main theater each night with a different theme. There are also several lounges and late night shows in the lounges are common. We were told that the entertainment gets better and the jokes get funnier as the evening progresses. A few nights we actually stayed up until 11:00 pm or so (a big deal for us!)

Not everything to do on the ship comes with the price of the ticket. For example, beer, wine, and sodas cannot be brought onboard and must be purchased on the ship using your sea pass card – a charge/ID card you use to get off and on the ship while in port and to purchase items while at sea. Most food however, as well as coffee, tea and juice, except for the meals at three or four specialty restaurants, comes with the ticket. There was A LOT of food available almost all the time. We went as a group to one of the specialty restaurants one night and the the creperie restaurant twice, once for breakfast and once for dessert. Delicious.

New Orleans/FL Trip (Day 25) - Marathon, FL - Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Well last night was pretty exciting. After we returned to the RV park from Key West, the wind really started blowing and it was raining pretty hard. The waves also started getting higher, splashing over the seawall against the back of the RV. We were able to move the RV forward in our parking spot about 6 ft. This helped, but the wind kept blowing the waves up all night long. The cold front had moved through by morning and it was clear and cold and the wind had subsided somewhat, but not much. One causalty of the storm was a fairly large sailboat tied up at the RV park dock. Despite being secured pretty good it was swamped. As we were leaving, the boat owner was trying to figure what to do next and spectators were beginning to gather.





Since we had a relatively short drive today, we decided to not hook-up the VW until we could reach dry land and find a spot where it wasn't too windy. The drive north was a two-hands-on-the-wheel drive and we never did hook-up the RV. It took about 3 ½ hours to get to the La Quinta Inn in Ft. Lauderdale.

We arrived at the Inn about noon, parked the RV on the motel grounds, and checked in when our room was available. We were able to park the RV and the VW there during the cruise because we spent the night before the cruise at the hotel. About 20 of the 31 members of the 82nd reunion group spent the night there also.

We had lunch in the RV, sorted out and packed what we are taking on the cruise, and did one more load of laundry in the hotel. We also met some of the 82nd group in the hotel as they were checking-in, then went to dinner at TGI Friday's.

We will take the hotel shuttle to the cruise ship about noon tomorrow and will depart on the cruise at 5:00 pm.

New Orleans/FL Trip (Day 24) - Marathon, FL - Key West, FL

After a short night's sleep, we left the RV park at 6:00 am and drove down to Key West to catch the boat for the tour of the Dry Tortugas National Park. The tour was conducted by a private company under arrangement with the Park service. There are two companies that conduct the tours and they are limited to one trip per day.

We departed Key West around 8:00 am for the 2:15 hour trip to Fort Jefferson, the public centerpiece of the park on Garden Key, one of the numerous small coral and sand keys that make up the Dry Tortugas. The weather was overcast with lightning and occasional rain squalls on the way out to the park 70 miles west of Key West. When we got there after an occasionally bumpy boat ride (the boat is a 100 ft catamaran), the sun came out and it was partly sunny and dry while we were there. We had breakfast on the boat on the way out and a guided tour of Ft. Jefferson and lunch while we were there.





Ft. Jefferson is something to behold. It is the largest brick structure in the world after the Great Wall of China. It was built with 16 million bricks, all shipped in. The fort was built to protect one of the most strategic deepwater anchorages in North America and maintain an important advance post for controlling the seaborne approaches to the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Straits. Construction began in 1846 but the fort was never completed or fully armed and was abandoned by the Army in 1874. It was subesquently used by the Navy as a coaling station and used briefly during both world wars. It was established as a National Monument in 1935 and rededicated as the Dry Tortugas National Park in 1992.

The islands were discovered by the Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon in 1513 and named Tortugas due to the abudance of large sea turtles in the area. They were subsequently called the Dry Tortugas to warn mariners about the lack of any fresh water on the keys.





We departed Ft. Jefferson about 3:00 pm just ahead of a strong cold front heading towards the area. This was a serious weather system for the keys as the forecast predicted rain in advance of the front and strong winds (25-35 knots with 50 knot gusts) behind the front. There were at least 10 shrimp boats anchored in the lee of Ft. Jefferson to ride out the winds that were predicted to generate 9-12 ft seas.

It started to rain just as we docked so we decided to get out of town instead of staying there for dinner. It turned out to be wise decision. The wind and rain really increased and we returned to the RV Park with carry-out Chinese food for dinner. The wind is really blowing hard right now and waves are splashing over the sea wall behind the RV.

We are leaving in the morning for Ft. Lauderdale, checking into the La Quinta Inn near the airport/cruise terminal where many people are staying prior to the cruise. We will park the RV and VW there and take their shuttle to the cruise ship around noon on Friday, departing for the Caribbean around 5;00 pm.

New Orleans/FL Trip (Day 23) - Ft. Pierce, FL - Marathon, FL

We left the RV park in Ft. Pierce about 8:30 am and headed down Florida's Turnpike to Marathon, FL, about half way down the Florida Keys (Milepost 59). The weather was foggy with a slight drizzle when we left but it gradually got better the further south we went. We made good time and arrived at the Jolly Roger RV park in Marathon about 1:00 PM.











After lunch at a local eatery, we decided to take a ride down to Key West and look around. It is a pretty drive that took about an hour. We walked around town centered around Mallory Square on the waterfront, saw a lot of the famous places in town including Ernest Hemingway's house, Jimmy Buffet' s Margaritaville, and the Hog's Breath Saloon. We also walked along the waterfront promenade that is lined with outdoor cafes, street vendors, and local musical talent.

We then found the start of US 1 (mile marker zero) and the southernmost point in the Continental U.S., 90 miles from Cuba. Nearby, we also saw the southernmost house, the southernmost gift shop, and the southernmost tatoo palor, etc. While walking down one the main streets (Duval St.) back to our car, we also observed a lot of indoor/outdoor bars, restaurants, and shops. Key West is a heavy duty party town and there were a lot of people out on the streets and in the bars and restaurants.

















We are going back to Key West early tomorrow morning and take an all-day excursion out to the Dry Tortugas, a National Park 70 miles west of Key West. It will be a two hour boat ride each way and includes a guided tour of the large 19th Century fort that dominates Garden Key, the major island in that group of small coral and sand islands. The fort was originally built in 1846 to control navigation in the Gulf of Mexico; during the Civil War it was used a military prison. It will be a long day but who knows when we might be back this way again.