Orlando to Fort Lauderdale

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Geo: 26.1228, -80.1505

Orlando to Fort Lauderdale

Jet-lag. That must be why the clock says 04.35 but my body says 09.35. Not so bad though as was asleep by 9 last night. Bed was really comfortable.

First stop is breakfast and when in Florida that means Denny's. a Grand Slam Slugger. Then a quick trip to Wal-Mart for some essential last minute toiletries and a aux cable so we can play the iPod in the car for our journey to Fort Lauderdale later.

Rule changes means we can take 2 bottles of wine/champagne onto the cruise ship now so we also stop by a liquor store for some Veuve Cliquot and a Californian Chardonnay. The Champagne will be a whole lot cheaper than it is on the ship.

We set off around 10.30. Temperatures already climbing up into the 80's at this point so we are thankful for the aircon in the car. Our routing is to follow Route 91 south for about 3.5 hours

As we hit the highway the bugs start hitting us, literally. The windscreen is dotted with kamikaze insects within minutes and so the windscreen cleaner and wipers are in constant use. At our first rest stop we spy a long line of traffic all making use of the automated jet-wash to clear their windows. We join in and the high powered jet clears the more stubborn insect carcasses.

With music playing loudly we sing along (badly) as we head further south. The landscape of central Florida is not very inspiring. It's all pretty flat with plenty of swampish lakes and waterways close to the highway. Look closely and Alligators are easily spotted waiting patiently in the shallows for an opportunistic meal to come their way.

We grab a quick lunch at Wendy's (home of the square burger) before arriving at the Lago Mar Resort some 4.5 hours later. The reception is in a beautiful colonial style with very friendly porters and reception staff to greet us. The lady at reception is at first apologetic when she says they do not have the room type we booked available. Momentary deflation before she advises us we have the deal of the day. A upgrade to an ocean-view suite. The room is huge. 3 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms and separate lounge/kitchen.

We venture out to the Promenade Bar for a cold beer before walking along the beach to the headland where we can see Oasis of the Seas (sister ship to the one we are sailing on) depart. Gargantuan is not the word.

Back to the room and a quick shower/change before grabbing a cab to the Las Olas district of town for dinner with our friends Joyce and Jerry. We met them both on our Transatlantic Cruise in 2011 and we found they would also be on our cruise this week. Nice to have dinner and chat with people as obsessed about cruising as much as we are. The venue was the Cheesecake Factory and the food as ever is gorgeous. They serve more than just cheesecake, although that's what their speciality is, with the huge portions though we have never made it to dessert. Only downside is that they served the main course almost as soon as we had received the starter. I should have sent it back but I guess it stopped me over indulging on the nachos we had first.

Joyce and Jerry dropped us off at our hotel where we headed for the bar and a nice glass of wine before heading to our room where we both soon headed to bed. Takes a few days for the jet lag to disappear.

Tomorrow it's Allure of the Seas. We have travelled on some pretty big ships but none like this. It's partly why we have booked a small ship for our next cruise, for the contrast as some say the smaller ships better and more intimate than these behemoths. We shall see.

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