It’s amazing how many times an hotel manages to get the final bill wrong.It happened at the Crowne Plaza at Heathrow and it happened again today. The bill which was pushed under our door this morning showed a complete charge for the stay when in fact it was all pre-paid. This necessitated an early morning visit to reception to sort this out which also gave an opportunity to confirm the check-out time (11.00am) and book a taxi to the port for 11.30.
Sylvia completed the packing as I watched Arsenal being knocked out of the FA Cup by Watford. We then met Win & Jim on the beach for a paddle in the ocean and some last minute photos before leaving Fort Lauderdale.
Including a rare one of Sylvia and I together.
Returning to our room we made the final preparations for departures when housekeeping knocked on our door to ascertain whether we had checked-out. As it was still only 10.15 I told her that we would be at least another 15-20 minutes and she went away. Having finished all our tasks we decided to make our way to reception and wait in the lobby for our lift. The bell boy, who was organising the taxi, informed me that our cab was ready but I felt that this was far too early so he sent it away.
After a short discussion with Sylvia we decided that as the time approached 11.00am we may as well make our way to the port so a taxi was duely hailed. The port is only a few miles away from the hotel and the first part of the journey passed very quickly but as we neared the port gates it was obvious that there would de delays. Apparently there were EIGHT cruise ships that were leaving today, in total around 20,000 passengers would be embarking. Here are a selection of them.
The taxi driver was well used to the traffic and took us through a private car park and in doing so jumped a large portion of the queueing traffic. Embarkation was easy and we were on the ship and in our cabin in no time at all. A quick unpack of our hand luggage and we headed off to explore the ship and have some lunch. We were somewhat surprised ,considering how early we had boarded the ship, by how many people were already occupying sunbeds around the pool. We made our way to the dining room to be informed by the young lady manning the door that “Lunch finished at 1.30” but I protested “It’s only 12.50 now!” Embarrassingly I was then told that the clocks had gone back last night something that both Sylvia and I had failed to notice. This explained both the housekeepers agitation and the “early” taxi. Luckily for us the buffet was still open and that was our next port of call.
We had a quick tour of the ship before muster station including the pool area...
..and a feature that is unique to this ship , the sky walk. A glass bottomed platform that loops around on the side of the ship.
We also had a chance to catch up with some of the entertainment including this string quartet in the Atrium.
More about the ship over the next two sea days meanwhile I have an hour to catch up with!!
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