Day 09 - Sunday - 3/23/25 - Fort Lauderdale Embarkation

 Overnight I followed the progress of the Nieuw Amsterdam and estimated it would arrive around noon.  But according to revised email instructions from Holland America boarding would not start until 4:30pm and our floor would not start boarding until 6pm.  Passengers needed to be onboard by 7 and the ship would sail at 8pm.

We ate a quick complementary breakfast and chatted with a couple of ladies from New Brunswick who had no clue about the boarding delay.  We were able to share the email details with them and they were able to make arrangements for a delayed check out of the hotel at 1:30pm.

I had arranged for a late check out, which meant that we had to be out of our room by 1:30 PM. We chose to then just relax in our room for several hours. I went out to the Pool area to update my blog and I also chatted with the ladies that we had had breakfast with. I also arranged for a change in our shuttle time from 2 PM to 4 PM. It was challenging working with the front desk clerk as she wanted to keep us on a 2 o'clock shuttle, but I had already spoken with the shuttle coordinator and he indicated that it was no problem at all to do a 4 PM shuttle. I also helped another couple with their late checkout and booking on the 4 PM shuttle. They were very appreciative. 

Just down the street from the hotel is a county park called the Secret Woods. We had visited it pre-pandemic and really enjoyed it so we decided to revisit it. There's unfortunately no crosswalks across the four-lane highway, so we had to Jay walk to get across the street. While the park is open in terms of the walking trails, the buildings are not. We strolled the many walking trails and boardwalks and noted that the river trail had a blocked section as they are building a new manatee watching station which should be pretty cool. We walked back to the hotel and made a stop at the Marina 84 restaurant and enjoyed a late lunch of Korean ribs and french fries.

After a little over an hour, wait we were loaded into the 4 PM shuttle along with the other two couples. It's just a short drive from the hotel to the terminal and as we approach the terminal just after four I could see that there was a little bit of a line outside. All of the other guests at the hotel, who are traveling on the new Amsterdam had been shuttle there at 2 o'clock, which meant they had to stand and wait with no seating opportunities whatsoever. There are no services at the Port Everglades terminals. It's meant to be a processing point for cruise ship passengers and there's no ability to just enjoy the time there. Also, there was no checking people in according to their assigned boarding time, everybody just showed up and were processed.

Once we dropped our luggage off with the porter, we joined the line which serpentined its way into the building and that took about a half an hour or so to make it through security, which was the first stop. With our five star status we were able to then pretty quickly get checked in at the Desk and receive our boarding clearance. Once again because of our status, we did not have to wait in line or in the waiting area. We just immediately boarded the ship and made our way to our home on deck four for this week. The whole embarkation process took just under an hour which was not too bad, considering all the turmoil, the crew had to go through following the passenger death the previous day, and the delay of returning to Fort Lauderdale.. We have an obstructed window Cabin in class HH which was an upgrade from the class and that I had originally booked. Class N was an inside cabin so it's nice having a floor ceiling window with our view being obstructed by a lifeboat.

The cabin is a bit cozy with a double bed and a small sofa, but I like the look and feel of it much better than the cabin. We had last week on Princess with its light artificial tones. The color tone of the current cabin are a dark cherry , or some similar wood, and appear quite majestic to me. Our luggage was very quickly delivered to the room and we put that in. We also watch the Safety video which is part of the muster drill process, and then we found our muster station and checked in with it before taking a stroll on the level three promenade deck. As is my ritual, I called a cruising friend to let her know where we were and it's always a joy to chat with her and keep her updated on where we are in the world.

Up in the Lido buffet, I enjoyed a small steak dinner before we went to the evening entertainment which was Mark Laffey a Native American comedian who we've seen on other voyages. He's quite funny; actually he's very funny and we enjoy listening to him. Afterwards we didn't stay for any of the other entertainment, but returned to the stateroom to unpack and get some sleep. It'd be a long couple days with a bit of uncertainty and it was good to just chill out. I should know that Holland America no longer distribute chocolate on most nights so we had purchased some of our own Lindor chocolate and we enjoyed a couple chocolate balls before retiring for the evening.

We are projected to arrive at Half Moon Cay around 10:30 tomorrow morning and we're planning to go to the barbecue first and then do some snorkeling and then just hang out before returning to the ship. We really enjoy Half Moon Cay as it's a very relaxing place, and it doesn't have the theme park atmosphere like other private islands. They are focused on the nature and that aspect of visiting the island is what we enjoy.