Day Three

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Geo: 26.1228, -80.1505

I am awake before sunrise again. Peter too. Takes a few sleeps before we are in sync with the rhythm of the days. Today we board Serenade of the Seas. It will be a relief to be able to unpack fully at last and after our last cruise a relief to have something to unpack at all.

We breakfast at Denny's before returning to the hotel and making sure we have everything together and load the car up. We leave around 10am for the hour or so drive south to Fort Lauderdale. Peter is treated to a variety of my Spotify playlists. I like to introduce him to new artists and sounds...whether he likes it or not. His playlists, when he does them, are very different to mine.

I95 is pretty busy as we head south. It's Presidents Day today and a public (bank) holiday here in the US so that explains the volume of traffic. Just like at home there are a variety of drivers. Speedsters, middle lane hoggers, tailgaters & texters. Thankfully our TomTom guides us safely to the Crowne Plaza where the Hertz drop is located. We unload and are soon in the Hertz shuttle bus and heading to the port.

Check in is very smooth. I'd say from stepping off the shuttle to stepping on board the ship took less than 15mins and that includes security checks etc. We head straight up to Windjammer which is heaving and there is not a seat to be had and so we head to the pool bar to make use of our premium drinks package. We figure that seating in the Windjammer will open up around the same time they open up the staterooms for people at 1pm. They do and so we grab a table.

After a quick lunch we head to the back of the ship and our aft stateroom 9260. The balcony is very large but we can't stay out on it at the moment as some workmen in the port are drilling (they must be on double time to be working a holiday) and it's so noisy. Our room is very nice and we are pleasantly surprised the shower has glass doors instead of a shower curtain (it's the little things in life). No more fighting off a sheet of plastic as you lather up.

We attend the mandatory muster drill, which apart from the alpha, alpha, alpha emergency (medical) in the middle of it is very quick. All seasoned cruisers onboard I think who know the routine. Back in the stateroom we pop the champagne and pull out our Union Jack flag for sailaway. It's a little cloudy with some spots of rain so not ideal whether conditions. Sea is a bit choppy but not enough to bother a ship this size. We are the first of 6 cruise ships to leave port. Behind us follow Zuiderdam (Holland America Line), Emerald Princess, Royal Princess, Coral Princess (Princess Cruises) and finally Costa Deliziosa (Costa Cruises). We all seem to split in different directions when out of the harbour. We swing south and follow the coastline toward Cuba where we will turn southeast and sail between Cuba and Haiti toward Aruba our first port call in 3 days.

We take a walk around the ship after to familiarise ourselves with the layout. Very similar to Brilliance so it doesn't take long. We grab a snack in the Park Cafe before returning to room to relax before showering and changing for dinner.

We head to the Concierge Lounge in the Viking Crown. It was not too busy which was a surprise, then again there was a show on in the theatre. We had hoped to meet Ron, Lorna, Angie & Bill but they don't show. Turns out the earlier alpha, alpha, alpha emergency during muster drill was for Lorna who had fainted. We assume she was not up for coming out and so we head to the Safari Lounge for drinks. Like the Colony Club on Brilliance the Safari Club is a beautiful area full of dark woods and rich furnishings. We love it here but it is mostly deserted which is a shame. The barman makes us a couple of nice cocktails, Grand Margarita for me, a Long Island Ice Tea for Peter.

Dinner is at Giovannis which is very good. We have the Antipasti per Due to share and then both the Filletto De Manza. I tell Peter to have the Tiramisu for dessert but he doesn't. Big mistake, it's delicious. On leaving the restaurant we bump into Ron, Lorna, Angie & Bill and catch up with drinks in the Schooner Bar. Lorna is feeling much better now which is good news. Angie is moaning about how cold the weather is but as Brits we don't think 70 degrees is something to moan about and tell her so.

Realising it's getting late... 10.45pm we head back to our stateroom.

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