by Joe Koshuta, TravelPage.com
January 5, 2000 - Greetings from Ft. Lauderdale, here's what happened today:
Well, it had to end sometime. After packing our bags last night and putting them out in the hall for pickup we caught a few hours of sleep. We docked early this morning in Ft. Lauderdale and began preparations for our trip home.
The first stop was the Frans Hall Lounge to pick up our boarding passes for our flights home. I tell you this is one area that continues to improve with each cruise. I remember a few years ago how we spent hours sitting around in the public rooms waiting to get off the ship. Then once we got to the airport we still had to check our bags and get our seat assignments. How things have changed.
We waited in line for a few minutes, but when we got to the table with the airline representatives they had our boarding passes and baggage tags ready. All we had to do was attach the tags to our bags in the customs area and then get them to the airline baggage truck which was waiting pier-side. From their they were transferred to the aircraft and the next time we saw them was on the baggage carousel at our home airport.
After we picked up our boarding passes we still had time for one last meal in the Rotterdam dining room. Our children had eaten most of their meals in the Lido restaurant so this was a nice change for them and a relaxing way to spend the last minutes on board the ship. After breakfast we headed up to the lower promenade deck to wait for them to call our disembarkation number. Minutes later our number was up and we walked off the ship, picked up our bags, dropped off our bags, and headed to the airport.
On our way out we stopped by the front office so the kids could say good-bye to their baby sitters for the week. As on our previous trips with Holland America, the front office staff were great with the kids. The children looked forward each evening's "pajama party" and they were asleep each evening when we returned to the cabin.
Our trip home was uneventful and we are beginning to look forward to our next cruise. This was the first cruise for about half of our group and I am happy to report that they too are talking about where they want to go on their next cruise. Overall, it seems like the group had a great time.
Over the next few weeks I will continue to report on our experiences and fill in the areas that I didn't have a chance to cover while I was on the ship. Keep checking back for those updates.
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