We woke up at 5:30 am to finish packing and get ready for our four hour drive to Miami where our ship was waiting. Goblin has little interest in moving at all at 5:xx am and I am the same way. We both took advantage of Sandra getting the first shower and snoozed until around 6:30 am when she woke us up.
It is 28 degrees outside which is very unusual for Orlando and we heard the CIty of Titusville had left their sprinklers running all night causing icy roads and traffic problems. Hopefully we wouldn’t have the same problem on our way out of town.
Heidi came by and picked up Goblin at 7:00 am as we finished loading the car. He was going to visit his girlfriend Foxy while we were gone which should keep him busy.
After picking up breakfast and filling the tank we were off and pretty close to being on schedule, we were planning on boarding the ship around 11:00 am.
After four hours of sleep, a four hour drive is not very easy. We stopped for drinks once to stay awake and spotted the Orlando – Miami shuttle that runs daily for $20/person. It would have been a good idea for this trip especially considering the $20/day parking lot at the port. (Our 11 day cruise cost us an additional $220 in parking fees)
It was too late to worry about that now and as we pulled into Miami we were in need of a bathroom break. We tried a CVS where a really rude employee said they don’t have a public bathroom, or even a trash can for an empty soda can we wanted to throw away. Neither did the Hard Rock Restaurant for that matter, they must pee in the bushes down here.
Finally we made it to the check in and were close to boarding the ship. Then one last quick form to fill out, a health form…
“Have you had or been in contact with someone who has had:
runny nose, fever, sore throat, headache, sinus congestion, cough
in the past two weeks?”
“Have you been in contact or close proximity to anyone diagnosed with swine flu in the past two weeks?”
Pretty obvious they are worried about swine flu so “No” and “No”. Then Sandra says, “I just had a cold so I have to say ‘Yes’.” She’s just too cute to lie so off to a holding room we went to wait for the ships doctor to check her out.
Twenty minutes go by and nobody has even checked on us. We decided to wait outside of the room where we couldn’t be forgotten and where we could watch everyone else head toward the ship coughing, sneezing and sniffling. Liars, every one of them.
Ten more minutes and the guy that sent us to the holding room told Sandra that it was “preferred” that she wait out of sight inside the back room. I was irritated, she was devastated. Me because he was being an ass, and she because we planned this trip almost a year ago and they may not let her on the ship.
Finally the doctor came and asked a few questions. Told her not to worry and said if she had any more sniffles to stop by the infirmary. Finally we were on our way!
We grabbed a quick lunch, a long nap and headed to the muster drill. We seem to always need a nap when we take a cruise out of Miami and overall we have had a pretty good day so far. We had a last minute email check as we pulled out of the port then watched the Hannah Montana movie in the ship’s cinema before heading to the room to unpack out stuff before dinner.
We have a great group at our dinner table, there is a couple from New York, a couple from Connecticut and a family from Toronto all places we had been on our road trip this summer. They were all very nice and had great stories from their past cruises.
We finished our dinner and headed off to bed. We loose an hour tomorrow as we sail around Cuba and in two days we hit our first stop… Aruba.