Dude! Where's our luggage!!

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Despite having registered our luggage with Delta and being assured it will make the next flight, and despite having been awake for almost 30 hours, I didn't get much sleep. This wasn't due to the stress of the events of yesterday but probably due to the fact my caffeine count had shot through the roof!

At 08:45 I checked the delayed baggage tracker: 6^th April 2017 05:22 bags expedited on DL2227 ATL-FLL. I've no idea what that meant but the next entry, 6^th April 2017 06:57 bags on plane DL2227 ATL-FLL had to be a good sign. In a few hours normality will hopefully be resumed!

The dining room of the Fort Lauderdale Airport and Cruise Terminal Inn is a snug affair. Situated on the 2^nd floor, I counted 26 covers. There are seven stories in this hotel, six of which have rooms. There are approximately 20 rooms on each floor making 120 rooms. With an average of two per room and a short breakfast window of between 06:30-09:30, some guests are going to be disappointed. This hotel is popular with those about to embark on a cruise (the clue is in the title of the hotel!) Embarkation doesn't begin til midday so there is no incentive to take an early breakfast. Today was such a day as there was standing room only!!

When we eventually fought our way to a vacant table we found that the food was surprisingly fresh. The scrambled egg was fluffy and the perfect consistency whilst the sausages were piping hot. The pastries were fresh and the coffee pots never went empty. The plates were paper and the cutlery plastic but think of the saving on the washing up!!

We had no plans for today and as our luggage was still a few hours away we decided to do a little exploring. This is the third time we have stayed in Fort Lauderdale but never actually taken in our surroundings. We have either stayed in the immediate vicinity or used the city as a base to drive to the Everglades or the Keys. Tomorrow, we are booked on a three-hour river cruise, something we are both looking forward to, especially in a fresh set of clothes!

Roisin and I agreed to take the Sun trolley to the pier from which our boat trip will depart, just so we know where we are going. The Sun Trolley is a 'not for profit' mode of transport that has several routes. There is no actual bus stop for the sun trolley. By just sticking out your hand and waving the trolley will stop. It is $1 per ride or $3 for an all-day pass. We were given orange wristbands as we handed over $6 and took our bench seat on the ‘Beach' route. We headed down the 17^th St causeway and over the Port Everglades bridge. To our right we saw the Caribbean Princess tied up at pier 2, Northport. This will be the pier where we will embark the Crown Princess in a few days' time. Over the bridge and on to a long strip of land that is home to miles of golden sand, bars and hotels. Much of the beach was cordoned off today in preparation for a music festival. We alighted at the Ft Lauderdale Beach Park and entered a marina where the paddle boat, the Jungle Queen was looking deserted but it was still early in the day.

Time to check on progress. A new entry on the track and trace: ‘6^th April 2017 2:26pm Bags set up for delivery'. It won't be long now. I could sense the porters loading our luggage on to a truck as they passed from hotel to hotel dropping off all the delayed luggage. After a spot of lunch we took a stroll along the promenade. The temperature was touching 80 degrees F which meant the beach brigade were out in force. Now I have no problems with speedos being worn but each pair should come with a health warning. If after putting the speedos on you look down and can't see the speedos then you shouldn't be wearing them!! This experience did amuse us for a short while and helped us take our mind of our own immediate plight.

It was a few hours before we returned to our hotel as we failed to realise how infrequent the Sun Trolley was! It runs about every 45 minutes but a lot depends on how often it is flagged down or the amount of traffic!

On entering our hotel I eagerly paced up to the reception:

‘Any luggage deliveries from the airport?', I asked.

‘Not yet, sir. No', came the reply. Not what we wanted to hear but, hey! its early days. I'm sure there are hundreds of pieces of luggage that have to be distributed all over the Ft Lauderdale area.

Despite still remaining confident we decided a bit of forward planning was needed. It's amazing the power of social media. So far, we have already had an offer from my sister to FedEx some knickers. Roisin was tempted to accept but I still had a few days wear and tear in mine if I turned them inside out!! (an old trick I learned from my student days!!)

Drastic measures are not quite called for just yet so we visited the nearest clothes store that happened to be T J Maxx where we spent a very modest $194 on a mixture of underwear, shorts, t-shirts and assorted tops. I hear Kaftans are very comfortable and versatile however, unfortunately for me (but fortunately for the good people of Ft. Lauderdale) all kaftans had been left firmly back in the 70s and the only known shop in the Western Hemisphere still to sell these all occasions garment was in Benidorm!!!

‘6^th April 2017 11.02pm Bags to be set up for delivery'. There are more delayed bags than I thought. Perhaps Delta have prioritised all luggage. As they know we are not departing for a few days, we should get our bags back by tomorrow. What is worrying is that the narrative says ‘to be' set up. To me that means that they have not yet been set up and therefore are not yet on any wagon. I could be wrong though. I'm sure Delta have it all under control. I'm certain this is not the first time mass baggage has been delayed due to adverse weather. Keep the faith!! (Listen to me. I'm starting to sound like a despondent Arsenal supporter!!) It's only been thirty-six hours. Tomorrow is our final full day in Ft Lauderdale before we head out to sea. They'll be here in the morning!!

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