At Sea & Port Everglades January 20-21

All I can say is that the internet is miserably slow, there are a lot of people wanting to use it and then my learning curve on what is the best way to do the blog without using up all my internet time in one session is going to prevent me from making daily updates to this blog.….just wanting to manage expectations.  We aren’t sure about this satellite internet….maybe they are trying to connect with Sputnik?!  We haven’t had connectivity since noon today.

Yesterday, continued sailing along the coastline of the USA to Florida on very calm seas.  The ship stays far enough away from land to let you believe you are far out at sea.  The body of water alongside the coast of the Carolina’s is called the Sargasso Sea.  There is sea grass floating on top of the water.  Also, the Gulf Stream current meets the Atlantic Ocean while heading south and the Gulf Stream is heading north, noticeably slowing down the ship.

Today the ship pulled into Port Everglades (by Ft. Lauderdale, FL) early morning along with at least 7 Cruise ships and several container ships.  The announcement this morning mentions that this is a major fueling stop….must be why so many ships are here for the day.

This is not a new port to us so we are just staying on board, enjoying the ship with fewer people.  And you can watch the crew doing maintenance everywhere.  A server at lunch tells us that the Oasis of the Seas (docked next to us) is the largest cruise ship at sea with 6,000 passengers.  The Queen Elizabeth is just over 2,000 passengers.    

We have met passengers on this ship from all over and traveling to all over the world.  There are people who actually boarded in Hamburg and are disembarking in Florida.  There are others who are getting off in San Francisco; some will be on the Queen Elizabeth until Sydney and then change to the Queen Mary 2 to travel to Japan and others who will get on in Florida, San Francisco and Sydney.  For some people this is their second or more World Cruise. What way to travel without flying!

There are plenty of activities onboard the ship to keep you busy all day if you choose: classes and lectures, music and games, entertainment and casino, exercise or sleep.  With the weather warming up since leaving NYC, walking the promenade deck is an option or even sleeping in a deck chair.  Activities for us include:  exercising in the gym, classical music concert, evening shows and a lecture on Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (avast!).  The flutist on board is absolutely outstanding - Gillian Poznansky – she’s accompanied by Mark Tanner on piano.  The lecturer, Richard Cowley, made Captain Morgan’s story quite interesting with how he won over the Caribbean from the Spaniards.  Both Gillian Poznansky and Richard Cowley are on the ship until San Francisco.  Tonight, Tian Jiang (world renowned pianist) will be playing in the Royal Court Theatre.

Some of you may be curious about our unpacking.  Everything fit into our room’s closets and/or under our bed in our suitcases – a pleasant surprise.  There has been only one semi-formal evening.  Tomorrow the ship will be at sea and there will be the Cunard Ball – our first formal attire evening.

A few musings—Not many disabled wandering around, only a few people that we have seen in wheelchairs.  Norovirus advisory letter in our room, who has it?  The crew? Why are they serving the food, shouldn’t we be handing it to them?  Someone tells us that they weigh themselves in every port so they know whether or not they need to curtail their food and drink when the ship is at sea.  Sounds like a good idea!  Guess this explains why the gym is always crowded on cruise ships.

There have been some changes to our future excursions – no Napa Valley tour in San Francisco (don’t know why exactly) and the evening at the Opera in Sydney was changed to the second night because of a Cunard World Passenger Gala/Ball at the Sydney TownHall.  We are told by some friends who have done the world cruises before that the dinner in Sydney is not to be missed.  Something exciting ahead…….

The ship will sail away today around 5 pm and head to sea for one day.  Then we arrive in Georgetown, Grand Cayman.  See you there!