The Trip Home

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Geo: 26.1228, -80.1505

Our final day is here. The alarm tells me it's 7:30am. All quiet next door and that the way I like it. Looking out over our deck, I see our ship is docked in Ft Lauderdale along with 5 other cruise ships that I can see from here. It's going to be another busy day.

Soon Scarlett and Jonathan are up and about. Now she wants to fill out her paperwork. "What's this customs and immigration thing? What about this tip envelope? Where are we supposed to go?", she queries. It's all information that was passed out two days ago. Somehow we make it through this and go to breakfast about 8:30 in the Windjammer, leaving the room service food Jonathan ordered behind. Now the breakfast here is not bad but finding a seat is particularly difficult this morning. Many passengers are toting their carry on luggage into the restaurant, making it all the more challenging. Our small bags and jackets were left in our room over the protests of Scarlett. We find a table for all of us but Queenie's not hungry and she worried about our stuff left in our stateroom. Mom wants to get going too so off we go again. We can't exit the ship any faster than our schedule but it's the illusion they're after.

Luckily, we find all of our belongings intact and safe, untouched by the somewhat questionable stateroom attendant, the same guy that has had access to everything in our rooms for our entire week onboard. What a relief! Now to the Amber Room to monitor announcements concerning our departure sequence. But wait, Queenie was overcharged for her Michael Kors bag and needs to see someone in Guest Services to rectify. We wait patiently for her to return as they call, "Number 47, Number 47. Passengers holding a Number 47 please proceed to the gangway on Deck 5". Yep, that's us.

Queenie returns subsequently, the misunderstanding rectified. The charge was actually a gold bracelet she bought. Never mind. Now to and through the gangway, scanning our ship pass for the last time. We find our luggage, our bags somehow sitting in the port waiting for us, unnoticed by the thieves scouring the terminal for passenger bags. Another miracle! Grabbing our luggage, we enter the next line, the one for customs and immigration. This one snakes its way through the cruise terminal where we spend almost an hour waiting to be cleared. While Mom told Queenie to just copy my immigration form, she should have used her own name. The officer takes note of her hair color and waves her through.

Now outside, Queenie sees her "All Star Shuttle" that was to pick her up. We tag along since we have no prior travel arrangements to the airport. She checks and it's $10pp so we sign up. Unfortunately, it's a 45 minute wait for the next shuttle that has space, however, the line for a taxi is huge so we stick with this. The shuttle gets us to the airport in a few minutes and drops us off at Southwest where we say goodbye to Queenie and the kid, Jonathan. They're taking Jet Blue since she hates making any stops in between and her Jet Blue flight is direct. Who knows what could happen if you stop at another airport!

We are greeted with a line at the skycap, a line at security and a huge line at and around our gate. Lots of cruise passengers flying out today and there are no seats available in the terminal for a while. Scarlett calls Mom. She says the shuttle company had found her laptop that Jonathan left on the shuttle prior to the cruise and they're dropping it off at the airport for her. That's good. Finally, as passengers catch their flights, the crowd thins out and a couple of seats pop up, Mom picks us up some sandwiches and we board our flight, first 2 1/2 hours to Columbus, Ohio and then 5 hours more to Oakland. Not my first choice for our return. What ever happened to non-stop flights?

The flights are uneventful. At our connection in Columbus, we walked off the plane, used the restrooms, got in line and boarded the next flight. No wait time there. Its a long 5 hours now back to Oakland from Ohio. With the blog caught up, I try solitaire and Mom checks out "Angry Birds" on the IPad. She's terrible! We land in Oakland right on time, 8:20pm but for us, it's really11:20pm with the time change. Mom makes a call to our limo service, L&L, who is already on site and within minutes, picks us up. We chat through the 20 minute ride, getting updated on what happened here at home while we were away.

When we arrive home, Larry and Louann have soup and garlic bread, patterned after an old Banchero's recipe, packed and ready for us to eat. I like that extra touch which is why we use them. All was well at home. No damage from the storms. The cats were happy. Karen noticed that a ring on her hand that was loose fitting had fallen off somewhere on the way home but a call to L&L and their subsequent search of their transport vehicle reunited her with her lost jewelry. Being home now, I guess it's back to the grind. Or not.

While our experience aboard the Allure of the Seas was exciting, both of us prefer the more relaxed atmosphere offered by the smaller ships. We think these large cruise liners are better suited for families and younger couples who enjoy the crowds. Our first cruise was more relaxing but, I must say, Scarlett and Jonathan injected additional excitement into our second cruise, chasing "the kid" around, teasing Queenie and playing off her phobias. She was always a good sport throughout it all and I think that, after some recuperation time, we'd try it again. For now, I think we'll stick to the boats where we're "the kids".

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