Monday, December 11, 2023

Time to get off the ship

We pulled in to Fort Lauderdale harbour at around 0630 this morning and so at about 0700 we rose and showered and finished our last minute packing and headed off for breakfast and to await our call to leave the ship and collect our suitcases.

When we had finished breakfast we went to the main lounge on the 5th Floor to await our call to disembark which was given at about 0820 and so we headed of down the ramp into the terminal and collected our suitcases and discovered that there was not a shuttle to the Avis Rentacar as published and so we hopped in a taxi for the 15 minute ride. The site office was very quiet and so in about 8 minutes I had the key to a black Honda Accord and following the receptionist instruction where to find the car. Could we bloody find it and there were loads of cars and I was just about to go back to the office and up wandered one of the staff and said I need some help which I appreciated and its  not surprising that I could not find it as it was silver grey and not black, there is a difference.



Anyway we got loaded up and headed off to the Venice of Florida to get a trip on the Carrie B boat trip around the rivers and sea of Fort Lauderdale. There is a huge amount of high rise condo building taking place and also there are so many boats, the tour guide that there is one boat per three people of the population and some are really massive. 



We have done this 90 minute  trip several times before but it was nice and filled in some time before we could check in the hotel. We then went for lunch at the ‘The Cheesecake Factory’ where we both had the grilled salmon and broccoli and fries, it should have been served with  mashed potato but that was made with garlic and hence the fries. Noel could nearly finish his but Jennifer struggled, I think  the eating on the boat does offset your palette after a while and you yearn for a basic sandwich.



After this we headed off to a Publix supermarket to get some food for the room so as to avoid having to go out again for food. The suites hotel is fine but the area where it is located is a bit rough however we got there and checked in to a suite on the 19th floor with a great view of a Bright Side  train station.

In the evening we took it easy with Noel catching up with photos and blogs and fixing an appointment to meet a consultant to review my current intestine issues.

And so to bed